Alright, maybe not “beautiful” but watchable baseball? Maybe.
This years incarnation of the Giants is never going to be a great one but they’ll win the occasional game. We must exercise caution and not get too excited, the Giants are not a playoff team and in no way should we get our hopes up. But, a lot of things went well last night in the 4-3 win over the Padres.
Leading off in the good news department was Tim Lincecum’s performance. I think we can all officially get off the ‘Lincecum Panic Bus’ for now. His start wasn’t perfect but it was resoundingly solid. After walking Marcus Giles to start the game, Lincecum K’d the side with 97mph heat and was on a roll for the game. The walks are a little high, 4 on the night, but you’ve got to love what you saw from Lincecum. When Lincecum throws strikes, he’s a good pitcher.
Despite Correia giving up the three run homer to Mike Cameron, the bullpen has been good on the whole this year. I can’t get too mad with Correia because the Cameron at bat was a battle. Cameron fouled off several very tough pitches in a row before hitting the home run. You’ve got to tip your hat to him and move on. Hennessey and Chulk both combined for 3 scoreless innings. Kline on the other hand didn’t look so hot but defense didn’t do him any favors. Cruz Jr advancing to 2nd on a single and fielding error by Nate and Adrian Gonzalez’s “double” which Winn got a horrible break on and would have been caught most nights.
The Chron notes that the pen has been solid this year
They went toe-to-toe with the best bullpen in the majors, by ERA, and emerged triumphant. It might surprise fans to learn the Giants’ bullpen has the fourth-best ERA.
The bullpen was an early fear of everyone this year, mine included. The Giants ranked 15th last year in bullpen ERA and it was important this year that the bullpen improve for the Giants to win. Guys like Correia, Hennessey, Chulk, Messenger, and Sanchez all have ERA’s under 4.00 and have pitched very well. Kline has been walking the tightrope for most of this year and Taschner has his moments. I’ve been particularly impressed with Jonathan Sanchez since his return from Fresno, he’s just been nasty. The Giants also have a deep well of relief arms to draw on from AAA (Wilson, Sadler, Misch, Giese, Atchinson) it’s a nice mix of veterans and younger guys. I’m liking the way the pen is shaping up for 2008.
The other crucial moment that I loved last night was the Dave Roberts pinch hit AB. The Giants come to bat right after the momentum has swung over to the Padres after the Cameron 3-run HR and have to face one of the toughest relievers in the NL, Scott Linebrink. Roberts comes to the plate with guys on 2nd and 1st. The Padres try to pitch Roberts aggressively away so that he can’t pull the ball. Linebrink is just pounding the outside of the plate and eventually Roberts ends up pulling a ground ball between 2nd and 1st for a base hit. Huge at bat from Dave.
A win can cover up some of the ugliness of a struggling team and that’s what happened last night. The Giants had some great opprunties that they squandered late in the game, opportunities that they are lucky didn’t come back to haunt them (such as Durham’s AB in the 8th with runners on the corners, a sac fly would have given the Giants the lead) this team is still not great but they aren’t as bad as they looked during the 8 game losing streak.
I guess I feel compelled to point out factual errors. I think it is inaccurate to say Kline has been walking a tight rope. Kline actually has been very reliable. He had a good April (ERA 3.38). He has had a very good June; last nights runs were the first ERs he’s given up all month and he has an ERA of 1.59 for June (11.1 IP). Even in May, his poorest month, 5 of his 7 ERs came in two bad outings, the blowout against Oakland (15-3), where he loads the bases then gives up the slam to Ellis and a game against Colo where he puts a runner on and Hennessey comes in and gives it up. In those 2 appearances he gets 5 ERs without an out. In every other outing he has been effective to very effective. He doesn’t has the thrill or excitement value of Sanchez or Correia as he is not a strike out pitcher. But he has a long career of sub 4 ERA (except for one year in Baltimore, which allowed us to get him relatively cheaply). And, yes, his numbers got raped last night. He should have had man on 1st, one out, rather than men on 2nd and 3d, 0 out. Entirely different inning. Our two OFs make the plays their expected to make and maybe no runs score.
If Kline isn’t walking a tight rope then what is he doing?
His peripherals just aren’t good at all, and its not some SABR nerd stat talk here. He’s not striking guys out and he’s giving up more hits than innings pitched. Pretty simple. He’s just not a good bet to be one of the stronger members of this bullpen. His WHIP is 1.773 he’s not that great of a LOOGY either.
Versus Left Handed Hitting
2006 – .261/.340/.337
2007 – .302/.362/.372 (I know its early but I thought I would include it anyways)
Career – .234/.314/.328
2004 was really the last year he had success against LHH. He’s had some great years in his career but the last three years are pretty much what you can expect from him.
I don’t hate Kline but he is what he is, and it’s not very good. If we needed someone to fill his role, which is basically a mop-up man, I’d rather see Misch take his place.
Oh, and the last thing I wanted to say is that I don’t blame Kline as much for the 8th inning as I do Bochy. I have no idea why he chose to use Kline, it could possibly be because the bullpen was tired and he’s got a rubber arm but I still don’t like to see him late in the game like that.
The defense did let him down though.
I would rather see Misch than Kline, too, but that is not the issue. The issue is whether or not Kline was a viable choice at that point of the game. I say he difinitely was. He has been at least as relaible as Chulk and Correia (I haven’t researched that assertion). He had a decent April (3.38 ERA) and June. His June ERA is 1.59 and the only runs he’s given up in 11.1 IP are the two tainted runs from last night. He gave up 7 ERs in May, but 4 of those came in a game we were already buried in (he loaded the bases, then gave up a slam to Ellis = 4 ER, 0 outs). He had one other semi poor outing against Colo, where he faced one hitter who got on then scored when Hennessey melted down. Sure, they count, but take them out and in the other 8 or 9 appearances in May he gave up 2 ERs. Up until the bogus runs from last night his ERA was 3.60. With two exceptions, all of our RPs have ERAs in the 3s, which means all of them are going to give up a run every 2nd or 3d appearance. Kline has several (most of his apperances) scoreless appearances and, while he gives up hits, gives up few HRs (1 all season, to a RH hitter), and has a 20/8 GO/AO ratio to LH hitters this year. Obviously, Bochy wanted LH RPS to face Cruz and Gonzalez. He had Taschner (5.48 ERA) and Sanchez (3.96 ERA), both of whom pitched the night before. I don’t have any problem with the decision. I have a much bigger problem with the lackluster defense at a critcal juncture of the game. If the defense was doing their job, there would be a runner on 1st, 1 out when Kline came out. Huge difference. Much less pressure on Correia.