Madison Bumgarner looked great today. As Keith Law pointed out on Twitter, pitching in Petco Park against the Padres will have that effect. Bumgarner went 7 innings, gave up only 3 hits, 1 of which was a HR, struck out 4 and walked none. He only had 79 pitches when he was lifted for a pinch hitter in the 8th, and could have conceivable gone the full 9 innings.
Unfortunately the Giants themselves only managed 3 hits against the Padres the entire game. Yeah, it was one of THOSE games. Not much else to say.
I agreed with Bochy's decision to lift Bumgarner in the 8th. At that point, your offensive outs are extra precious, and you can't waste any on a pitcher batting. On the other hand, I didn't understand the decision to pinch hit Pablo Sandoval for Freddy Sanchez. Sanchez is a hot hitter, hotter than Sandoval. It seemed like Bochy was going for the more powerful bat in hopes the Giants could tie the game with a HR. I don't agree with that. Especially in Petco Park, you don't play for the HR. You try to string together hits. And Freddy Sanchez would have been a better option for that. Whatever. We'll get them tomorrow. The Old Lincecum is going up against a terrible lineup. He has to shut them out. Mat Latos will finally have a non quality start. It's gotta happen that way.
YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT IN YOUR ASSESSMENT OF BOCHY'S MOVE INSERTING SANDOVAL FOR SANCHEZ.
ReplyDeleteTHIS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF WHY FANS ARE CALLING FOR NEW MANAGEMENT. VERY FRUSTRATING.
ALSO, JUST CURIOUS, WHY DO YOU THINK THE PLAYERS DID NOT MAKE AN ADJUSTMENT TO THE UMP'S FRUSTRATING STRIKE ZONE?