I said my dauber was down, not down and out. I still see the half glass full, just I was really disappointed that they showed no life when Lowry had pitched the best game of his season. I'm still aiming for the World Series.
And I still believe it's a very solid lineup up and down, I'll post more detailed thoughts on that another day (or refute myself if the data don't support it).
All I can say is that things are different in the playoffs, barring a major injury. If we can get our guys to the playoffs (assuming we make the playoffs) healthy enough, we should be very competitive with the other teams, probably Mets, Cards, and maybe Reds or even another NL West team, we're all in the hunt for the Division title and the Wild Card spot.
The Cards starting pitching is so bad that they resorted to Ponson and now Jeff Weaver. The Reds or NL West team or heck any of the teams only 5.5 games out, all have their weaknesses too.
But our ace in the hole, if things continue to work out are Schmidt, Morris, Lowry, and Cain as our starting four plus our bullpen.
If the losing streak happened 3 weeks earlier, it probably would have been followed by a long win streak to balance things off, that is the way it has been all season long, not too far up, not too far down, for all the NL West teams. Like for the Dodgers right now, they won 10 games straight and they are still not in first place, because they lost something like 13 of 14 before that. Yin and Yang.
We just need to get it going enough to get into the playoffs, then we have as good a chance there as any NL club, the Cards I mentioned, the Mets are trying out rookie starters left and right to find someone who will stick, scrounging for Orlando Hernandez as their savior, but if our rotation is humming along like it has been plus our lineup is healthy, we can get into the World Series. Pitching is the best way to get there and our rotation is shaping up pretty well now, we don't need to be the greatest during the season, we just need to be good enough to get into the playoffs and just be on a roll by then.
Martin, I am wondering if Jamie Wright is just having unbelievablly bad luck. In the last 2 or 3 games he has induced a lot of ground balls, especially with men on base, only to see them go into the outfield instead of to a fielder. I haven't seen the games on TV, so I can't really judge. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you OGC. The playoffs, in many senses, is an entirely different season. The team has the experience to know they need to step it up, and we have the rotation to keep them in the games early. After Wright left last night, our bullpen did well (enough) to keep the DBacks scoreless.
ReplyDeleteI look foward to the rest of this month, and September... GO GIANTS.
@allfrank: I'll lean toward yes and no. Yesturday's game, he indeed did induce a lot of ground balls with RISP (or on base in general), but the balls just happend to find holes. However, some of the ways people got on base before those ill-fated ground balls were mistake pitches he's consistently been making his last few starts. As Kruk points out on a per start basis: his sinker has been riding high a lot.
Yesturday, I don't know what pitch it was he was trying to throw, but I saw it fly away from his hand (and wildly out of the strike zone) at least a dozen times. There's something wrong in the mechanics... or his confidence.. or both. He isn't trusting his stuff, and in turn he's trying to force other stuff. I think he's been given quite a few chances to shape up, and it should be Hennessey's turn now...
Allfrank, I was stumped as to what to say then Lefty posted some stuff germane to your question: http://leftymalo.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_leftymalo_archive.html#115514249742417009
ReplyDeleteAs I posted there, I agree with Lefty that Correia is the best choice now for that, just to shut him up, either way, we could use another starter competing for a spot next season, especially since Wright is pitching his way off the team.
Yes, Martin, I saw Lefty's piece. It was excellent and did convince me. Your piece on Martis, likewise, is just excellent.
ReplyDeleteI am so bummed from the game last night. Maybe it was a fluke, but I am really wondering about the drive within the players. I am on the outskirts of LA, so when I go to a sports bar to watch the Giants, I am also painfully and obnoxiously inundated with the Dodgers game, often, as last night, right next to the Giants game. Jesus, are the playing well - aggressively, intelligently. Meanwhile, Finley fails to get down a bunt with runners on 1st and 2nd, no outs, resulting in a scoreless inning. Feliz and Winn both fail to advance to third on flyballs to the outfield, one to the warning track, one in medium center. And, I don't think this falls on the manager. For all the talk about camaraderie in the Spring, it is starting to look like their head is not in the game. 5 DPs? and no productive outs (that I recall). How can a major league team have men on first and second five times, no outs and each time hit into a DP? Is the answer really, to have the # 4 hitter, the #5 hitter bunt in that situation? It was definitely frustrating for me. I am very apprehensive about their coming to Dodger stadium, the way the Dodgers are playing. At least we have our 3 best pitchers going.
Thanks for your excellent work, Martin, it really adds to my knowledge and appreciation of the game and the GMs game.