Your 2016 Giants: PQS 1st Rotation Turn

I don't normally cover the first turn of the rotation, but this time, I felt like I should, this turn (this week) feels like it'll be significant.
ogc thoughts

The Giants had an OK week with their first rotation turn.  Two DOM starts (Cueto and Cain) and three MID (Bumgarner, in spite of suffering greatly from the flu, he had to lie down on the flight to Milwaukee the day before, still pitched OK, Samardzija and Peavy).

The rotation beat the other pitcher by PQS in 4 of the 5 starts, tying in the other (Cueto's start).  The other teams had one DOM, one DIS, and three MID.   The Giants went 4-1 in this rotation turn, a great start, a direct result of beating the other team in PQS in each game.

Sometimes No-Hitter Could Mean No Talent

The interesting one was the Cain start, where the rookie Ross Stripling no-hit the Giants for 7.1 IP before being pulled out for reaching 100 pitches.  As shocking as this may sound, Cain beat Stripling per PQS, putting up a 4 PQS, while Stripling only had a 3 PQS.  How?  Because he walked 4 batters and only struck out 4.  He needed to strike out two more in order to make it a DOM start, or had walked two less.

It is a good reminder that just because the pitcher is throwing a no-hitter, extreme luck with the BABIP might be the overarching factor why.  In this game, he walked as many as he struck out, but, and it was in that middle badness, as that worked out to 4.9 BB/9 and 4.9 K/9.  Both are very bad.  And, obviously, his K%-BB% worked out to a poor 0%.  

So, although a lot of people felt like the Dodgers did the wrong thing (some faulted Roberts, some felt the organization had set the limit at 100, meaning the decision was out of his hands), I was OK with the decision, which had nothing to do with it helping out the Giants.  It was his first MLB start, and while he was headed for history (no rookie since the 1800's had a no-hitter in his first professional game; one pitcher did throw a no-hitter in his first MLB start, Bobo, but he had a few relief appearances first), at 100 pitches in the 8th, he was headed for 120 pitches at minimum.  Even veterans are kept on a shorter leash early in the season because pitchers are still working into shape to throw deeper into games.  And as nice as making history would have been great, what if he stayed in, gave up a hit anyway, and injured himself?  It was for the best, I feel, for his career.

Beat LA!

And I thought I would note the Giants beating LA in their series, 3-1, and if it were not for some bad pitching by Casilla (but that does happen) and poor defense by Tomlinson at 2B (why Panik or Adrianza was not brought in for defense then, I'm not sure, other than Bochy was trying to show some confidence in Tomlinson; hopefully that was just bad timing and not a regular occurrence) when Casilla got what he wanted in that situation, an easy double-play grounder to 2B, the Giants would have swept LA and beat Kershaw (he didn't get the loss when they tied it up on Casilla).   Of course, they did it at home, and will see LA in the next series after the Rockies, so will need to win that series to make a statement this season.  This is already a pretty good statement, but then you need to back it up by not giving some of that back in LA.

But it was nice, we got three DOM starts out of four, from Cain, Bumgarner, and Cueto.   Cain had what could be called a typical Cain start pre-Perfecto, the only thing missing was more K's.  But a 4 PQS will do in his first start.  Bumgarner was Bumgarner once more.  He has had poor first starts since being anointed the staff ace with the Opening Day start, for whatever reasons, but he righted the boat right quick this season with a great 5 PQS.  He would have won this game over Kershaw if not for Casilla giving up all those baserunners, then Tomlinson booting the double play ball that could have gotten him out of it.  There was the worry over Tomlinson's defense in MI during spring, and reportedly he impressed the coaches, but hopefully, then, this was just a bad blip on the radar.

Sometimes a Lot of Hits Could Hide Talent

Cueto showed the other side of BABIP luck with his LA start.  He was beat upon in the first inning, with the Dodgers batting 1.000 after the first time through the lineup (5 for 5, HBP, BB, SF, SAC), but after finally getting out of that inning, Posey and Pence came to him and told him to hold it at 5-0, and they'll take care of the rest.  After that horrible first time through the lineup, he pitched 6.1 innings, giving up 5 hits and 2 walks, for 1 R/ER with 8 strikeouts, with all 8 happening from innings 2 to 5!  That's 8 of 16 batters!

And, given that first inning, that usually ends up being a disaster start for 99% of any MLB starting pitcher, but not only did Cueto save the bullpen by going 7 innings, he turned it around into a DOM start, 4 PQS, by going deep, not walking many, striking out a lot, and not giving up the long ball (in fact, only 5 singles in that bad first, then one double in the 5 hits afterward).  If he continues to do this, he will earn every penny of his contract over the next two years, and he'll opt out for a bigger contract, at which point, the Giants probably let him go his way, opening a spot for a young starter (Beede? Bickford? Johnson? Coonrod?), who hopefully has earned his way to the opportunity (else the Giants might be bidding again for Cueto).