It's early to say that Pablo Sandoval is back. But the biggest thing I came away with today is how balanced and pretty his swing is looking. Even when he fouls balls off, he looks good. And his 2 huge hits today were vintage 2009 Sandoval. Yes, it's only been a short stretch, but this stretch could be different from the other fake "Panda is back" stretches we've seen in the past few months. For the 1st time in a while, he's hitting the ball FAR. Hopefully he keeps it up. The confidence he'll get from this past series should only help him.
Now for a little negative: if I'm willing to put 1 foot on the Panda bandwagon, I refuse to go near the Freddy Sanchez one. He still shouldn't be hitting 2nd. And Aaron Rowand shouldn't be leading off. By batting him leadoff, Bochy guarantees more at bats for the player who makes more outs than anyone else on the team. I know I repeat that over and over, but it's necessary until some sense is brought to the way a lineup gets configured. Dream lineup for the SD series: Torres, Posey, Huff, Burrell, Sandoval, Uribe, Ishikawa, Sanchez, Pitcher. Burrell is killing the ball right now. Sure his BABIP is kinda high for him, but not drastically so. He's just hitting the ball HARD all the time, and his patience at the plate is as good as it's ever been. How can we account for his amazing turnaround in SF? I don't know.
Matt Cain did not have a great start today. His pitch count went way to high early, a product of Cubs hitters fouling off pitches and then hitting weak singles. But even with his high pitch count, he only walked 1 batter while striking out 9. With just a bit of luck, his line could have looked much better.
The bullpen did not have a good day, and it was mostly Guillermo Mota, who has been pretty good lately. Chris Ray gave up a single run in the 7th. Lopez walked the 1st batter of the 8th and was removed. That's the problem with having a guy who's only safe pitching to lefties. Mota was clearly not on, giving up rockets to the outfield. Sergio Romo came in and successfully limited the damage as best he could, setting up the Giants for their walkoff in the 9th.
I agree, Sanchez needs to bat 7th or 8th. Rowand shouldn't be anywhere near the starting lineup and when he is in the lineup he should bat no higher than 8th. I think Boch should take advantage of Pablo's hot streak and bat him second. making the lineup look like Torres, Sandoval, Posey, Burrell, Huff, Uribe, Sanchez, Rowand
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