Monday, March 3, 2014

Spring Training Game Wrap 3/3/2014: Padres 7 Giants 2

Tim Lincecum pitched 2 scoreless innings in his spring debut, but Yusmeiro Petit got shelled for the second time as the Giants dropped the decision.  Key Lines:

Juan Perez- 0 for 1, BB, 2 Assists.  Little Juan nailed 2, that's right 2, Padre runners at 3B.  Runners still not respecting his arm, still paying the price!

Tyler Colvin- 1 for 2.  Colvin drove in both the Giants runs with a single.  Probably not a coincidence that the 2 guys battling for the last OF roster spot had the 2 highlight lines for the offense in this one.

Tim Lincecum- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  After getting 3 GO's in the first inning, Timmy started elevating his pitches in the second.  He stopped, took a couple of shadow deliveries and settled back in.  Good stuff!

S. Casilla, Sergio Romo, Dan Runzler, Erik Cordier- 1 IP, 0 R.  Romo had 2 K's in his inning of work to bounce back from a  rough outing.  It helps to be able to throw his slider.  Cordier continues to make a run at a bullpen gig.

Yusmeiro Petit- 1.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  The Arizona air is not conducive to Petit's style of pitching, but still, gotta think he's leaving the door cracked open for a dark horse candidate to make the long relief/spot starter role.

Tommy Medica(Padres)- 3 for 3, 2B, HR, SB.  Man!  Gotta hope the Padres are stupid and go with Yonder Alonso as the starting 1B.  This kid is a way better hitter than Alonso ever thought of being.    Major, major sleeper  here!

No box score for the morning B game.  Mike Kickham started.  No word on his final pitching line, but he hit a batter with a cutter he learned from Madison Bumgarner.  Kyle Crick allowed a run in his first inning of work but struck out the side in the second including Javier Baez and Jorge Soler.  Jeremy Affledt pitched a scoreless inning and said his command was "scary good."  He did throw one "scud" in the outing.  Ehire Adrianza continued to impress with 3 hits including a double.  He also threw out a runner at home from the SS position.

Overall, the news coming out of spring training is almost all good.  In fact, it is very good!  Although spring stats do not mean anything, I have learned that if the members of your starting rotation are all throwing down zeros, it usually bodes well for the regular season.  The young players are also shining when given a chance.  On the health front, Scutaro continues to come along slowly but with the way Adrianza is playing, that may be a blessing in disguise as a DL stint to start the season might buy the Giants some time to make a decision about Adrianza vs Abreu.   Brandon Belt's stiff neck does not sound like it should be a lasting problem.  Other than that, pretty much everybody is healthy.

Around the League:

Clayton Kershaw allowed 5 runs in 2 IP as he got shelled in his 3'rd consecutive start dating back to the  final game of the 2013 postseason series against the Cardinals.

Look out in D'Backs land!  Archie Bradley went 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K's against the Dodgers.

Wouldn't you know, ex-Giants farmhand Seth Rosin would wind up playing for the Dodgers and look what his spring line is so far:  5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K's.  Loved that draft pick by the Giants and hated to see him go in the Pence trade, but you gotta give to get and Pence has paid off big time.

15 comments:

  1. Working backwards, the Phillies dumping everybody from that deal. Tommy Joseph is the last holdout.

    If Medica is this good, they should try to sell Alonso to the Pirates.

    It's way early for Petit, but after 12 baserunners + an HR in 2.1 IP, this could start to creep on him. One more bad outing and this thing is in his head and that door is open.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Medica is a patient hitter with walk rate above 10% throughout his minor league career, but when he gets a pitch to hit, he lets it rip. 19 and 18 HR's in A+ and AA respectively. He gave Giants pitchers fits late last season. Kruk and Kuip were raving about him. He looks for real to me. I was in love with Yonder Alonso during his draft year in college, but from what I've seen of him in MLB, he just does not impress me. Not nearly enough power for a first baseman and the rest of his game does not make up for the lack of power.

      Delete
    2. You are going to love this, Doc:

      Tommy Medica was drafted in the 14th Round! out of Santa Clara U. He also went to Bellarmine Prep! Right in the Giants own stinkin' backyard! Sheesh! Were all their scouts out of town during the baseball season? and need I enumerate all the players the Giants picked instead? Gary Brown for one.

      ;-)





      Delete
    3. You can't draft everybody! Seriously, I remember Medica from college days. I followed him before the draft and thought he was interesting. Put up huge numbers for Santa Clara. Missed most of his junior season so stayed on for a 4'th year and that may have hurt his stock. Very interesting player, a bit on the old side, but just one more example of why you should not write kids off just because they are a year or two older than their peers at a given level.

      Delete
  2. Hey, FYI, your blog got included in a consensus Giants prospects list! Thought you all would want to see this.

    http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2014/3/3/5461638/2014-san-francisco-giants-consensus-top-72-prospects

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the tip, ogc. I will definitely look that up!

      Delete
    2. That's awesome!

      Delete
  3. Timmy might have more to live up to this season than any other player on the Giants. Let's hope the adjustments this offseason are for real. Kershaw is probably going to leave camp with a 10+ ERA, then run out a sub 1.5 number this season when the games count. It would be just like him to set us all up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Way to early to get hopeful, not to wish any bad luck or harm to anyone, but he is a Dodger after all! The thing that makes me have a sneaking suspicion that something real may be up is that this bad run for Kershaw started back in the last game of the postseason. I also am a bit suspicious of why the Dodgers are now saying he's not going to pitch in Australia.

      Delete
    2. Kershaw lost the plate in the 3rd. Didn't get hit hard, but couldn't throw a strike to save his life. His first couple of innings were fine. He didn't come off the fastball in the 3rd, so he was trying to correct something (never did). 6 batters, 4 walks, 2 singles.

      Delete
  4. totally freaked me out when i heard that rosin is now with the bums

    hopefully they have to trade him for a bat...i would hate to have to hate him

    breaking news....no one is gonna pitch for the bums in australia....they just announced that greinke will also not pitch in any games

    and how about ian kinsler burning bridges....what up with that...especially since he is still in the al

    can anyone please explain the new play at the plate rule to me?

    catchers can still block the plate and runners dont have to slide but will get penalized if they hit the catcher in a blocking style?

    why didnt they just adopt the ncaa rule?

    as for the bums....after broadcasting the first week of st games on radio, where goofus and doofus spent most of the time biyatchin about going to aussieland, they havent broadcast one since...way to excite a fan bases

    bacci

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe it's a bit of wishful thinking on my part, but it does seem like the Dodgers are about where the Giants were last spring. Not in a good place!

      Very odd comments by Ian Kinsler. He's trying to say it as all a joke and taken out of context, but that's a mighty strange sense of humor there.

      I think catchers can only block the plate if they are holding the ball. Runners can't lower their shoulder or go out of their way to blow up the catcher. The Buster play would have clearly been illegal in the current rules. I think it's a step in the right direction, myself.

      Who are the Dodgers radio guys now? Charlie Steiner and Rick Monday have to be the two most sleep inducing baseball broadcasters alive! Are they still doing it?

      Delete
    2. still steiner and monday and they still have no chemistry and continue to babble on about stuff during play

      i still would prefer the mlb using the ncaa rules....would make it easier for the ump to determine what is and what isnt, legal

      bacci

      Delete
    3. What are the NCAA rules? I'm not familiar..

      Delete
    4. even with the ball the catcher cannot block the plate and the runner must slide

      collisions are verboten

      if catcher blocks plate, runner is awarded the base (run scores)

      if runner collides with catcher, automatic out

      hasnt hurt the game in the slightest

      bacci

      Delete