from ESPN:
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Francisco Giants - Recap - July 27, 2014 - ESPN:
Second baseman Dan Uggla committed two errors, including one that helped tie it early after he scored the game's first run in the bottom of the third. Uggla's fielding error leading off the top of the fourth allowed Ramirez to reach and Uribe later singled in the tying run. The Giants lost for the 19th time in their past 25 home games.
"It's going to be important to put it behind us," Bochy said. "We have to regroup."'via Blog this'
- Pagan is sorely missed at the top of the lineup even with Blanco finally starting to hit.
- Uggla is a sieve at 2B right now, so Scutaro and/or Panik have to grab this thing by the throat or you trade two/three more prospects to chase Zobrist/Utley/Rollins and maybe Ben Revere for top of the lineup spark pending Pagan's return. We knew Uggla forgot to hit, that's why the Braves released him, we didn't know he forgot to field. Bochy can give him the "we rushed him up" defense all he wants, but he pulled the gate up on a routine grounder. The Braves don't give up on guys with production left in the tank. I think that will be confirmed with Uggla.
- Belt has to come back quickly..
I have no problem with the trade for Peavy. Hembree may still be future closer type material, but he slipped a bit this year in velocity and if you're going to be a one-pitch closer, that one pitch better be HOT and Hembree's fastball is more NOT right now. Escobar IMO slipped a lot. From a shade below Crick at the top of the list to production more like DePaula who was recently DFA'd (dismissed). So yes we traded two prospects who have scattered support across Giants nation but from recent performance perhaps only one of the two will pan out in a meaningful way and perhaps neither will. Sabean is gambling here that the success rate falls closer to NEITHER than BOTH. Right now, I'd say that is a safe bet but of course I reserve the right as a fan and blogger to employ the benefits of hindsight to second guess the decision in the future while limiting Sabean and the organization to make decisions with foresight. Fair enough?? OK.
Let's be fair and not set up unrealistic expectations here. Peavy is a band-aid replacing a disappointing Cain. And perhaps now we know the reason why the arm-slot was dropping, the sliders were hanging and the fly-balls were flying farther versus Cain the last year or so. He may need a 100,000 mile (slider?) tune-up on that elbow. If we see him back to form next year I would be happy. I am afraid this story line is leading up to a 2015 shutdown/clean up of the elbow and a 2016 return to form for Cainer.
So for two prospects we stabilized the staff. But at best we currently have only three reliable starters working in Bummer, Hudson and Timmy. Peavy and Vogie are the same guy, a 5th starter type who will grind out starts and eat up innings, but you better score runs for them to win. And the Giants don't score runs very well recently with a third of the starting lineup in the MASH unit.
It was interesting to watch Puig work Timmy in this series. It's hard to say for certain without putting myself in Puig's head (and who wants to do that?) but it seems like he played a little possum with Timmy during those AB's. He looked like he was "hitting backwards" in the same sense that you hear of pitchers "pitching backwards" ie: using the curveball to set up the fastball rather than vice versa.
Puig appeared to be spitting on (taking) FB's instead of jumping on them like a junkyard dog jumps a steak sandwich. He was signalling that he was laying on the CB. The bench or Posey should have recognized and made the adjustment. If he was employing this as his hitting approach, it worked like a charm with a 4-5 night and three triples. He may have felt like Timmy wasn't going to give him a FB in a spot he liked, so why not wait on the breaking ball, harder to spot, and just drill it wherever he puts it in the strike zone.
This approach roughly rhymes with the old saw that pops up when a catcher sets up in a certain spot (generally outside corner) and the pitcher delivers the pitch right to that spot, the umpire strikes it (even if it's a little off the plate) with "He sits there, he gets there". Don't laugh, Greg Maddux is in the Hall of Fame with a similar approach. Well, Puig might just be advancing to superstar status with a hitting philosophy of "He sits on it, he gits on it". At least he seemed to execute it versus Timmy and the Giants.
It was awesome to see except for the whole evil Dodger bludgeoning our poor little Timmy thing. The Giants may need to scout opponents better or make better on field adjustments if we're going to seriously get back in this thing. Or maybe all the injuries have slowed down the team's mental faculties as well.
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