Slump Status: Unbusted.

Published by on August 9, 2007 | 3 Responses

Favorite moment from today’s 3-1 loss to the Washington Nationals:

I think it’s the 5th or 6th and the Giants are stringing together a modest rally that never came to fruition. Durham has just walked to bring the leading run to the plate with 2 outs. I’m watching FSN Bay Area and of course between hitters they are doing the usual “panning the crowd for cute kids / fans / etc.” deal that they seem to do so well. Earlier in the game the cameras caught a young group of kids sitting together. The cameraman decides to cut back to the group of kids to find one of the young girls unwrapping a homemade sign she brought to the park. Keep in mind this young girl is 12 years old at the very oldest. She finally gets her “Go Giants!” sign unwrapped and holds it up triumphantly. Krukow notices the sign and in all his infinite wisdom cracks, “She’s a future slump buster“. I know it was a harmless statement by Kruk but I couldn’t help but laughing.

Misch looked good again but not great. Scattering 8 H’s over 5.1 innings while giving up 3 ER’s. Correia chipped in with 2 scoreless innings of work and the rest of the bullpen did well too, throwing up a collective zero. Rajai Davis keeps on making a good impression, he went 3-4 on the day that included a bunt single and 2 SB’s.

Some questionable moves in the game by Boch. First inning, Roberts at 3rd and Omar at first, Klesko is at the dish with 1 out. Bochy calls a double steal, the Nat’s catcher throws down to 2nd but the throw is a tad off line. Omar is safe but Felipe Lopez fires home to nail an awkward-sliding Dave Roberts. Roberts ends up getting injured and pulled out of the game. If Roberts is out for a extended period of time I’m assuming Rajai Davis will get the starts in CF.

I can understand with the sputtering offense Bochy wants to be aggressive and fire things up, but I don’t like that call. Klesko is at the plate with a 3-1 count against a Hanrahan who was having trouble finding the zone early on. Why not let your cleanup hitter swing the bat? The Giants end up loading the bases in the first without scoring. That was the theme for the day, the Giants stranded 12 base runners in the game.

Frandsen continues to look brutal, hitting into a double play and going 0-4. Frandsen is a career (.328/.393/.459) hitter in the minor leages. I just can’t get a read on the guy. I didn’t expect him to rake right away in the bigs but I also didn’t expect him to hit this bad. He’s barely above the Mendoza line with a (.215/.277/.278) line. Every time he makes contact this year it looks weak and everything seems to be on the ground. I can’t remember the last time I saw him hit a hard line drive. This year Fransden has a GB% of 56.2%, that’s not good. Almost everything he’s hitting is staying on the ground, and as a result is easier to turn into a out for the defense.

The other bigs news of the day was the trade between the Giants and Dodgers, the first deal between both teams in 22 years. The Giants sent Mark “Professional Hitter” Sweeney to the Dodgers for a PTBNL. I can see why the Dodgers would want Sweeney, he’s been hitting well lately from the bench, but I don’t get why they traded away Wilson Betemit in the first place. I would definitely take Betemit over both Sweeney and Scott Proctor. Dan Ortmeier was called back up to fill the roster spot lost by Sweeney.

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obsessivegiantscompu
obsessivegiantscompu

I don't know the baseball strategy on the double steal in a detailed way, but with a very fast runner at 3B, running a delayed steal like that is an agressive move that pays off usually (or seemingly so against the Giants :^). I didn't see the play but to me the out seems to be on Roberts for not getting off 3B soon enough or fast enough. Yeah, with our cleanup hitter up and 3-1, plus the pitcher straining, you hate to run into an out, but Klesko has a very good sense of the strikezone (hence his high walk-rate over his career) so you don't expect him to have a strike called on him, you expect him to either foul it off or hit it into play. I guess part of it was on him as well for that, unless it was a ball that the umpire called a strike... Frandsen was actually doing OK when in starting situations until about a month ago - his OPS was just around that of the average 2B - but has been in a horrible slump since then. Part of the problems with his stats early on was coming in games cold and not hitting, but he was doing OK in his spot starts. I think he just needs to play and he'll get into a groove, so hopefully we can clear out a spot for him for 2008. I think the best bet would be to play him at 3B in 2008 - as much as I think Feliz might have finally turned the corner on knowing how to hit plus his great defense - we need to see what Frandsen can do but we have Durham for another year and his hitting makes it unlikely we will be able to trade him without taking on a lot of his salary. Plus I don't want to be paying Feliz $5M+ again to see if he can continue to hit. Frandsen used to play 3B in college, so it is not unfamiliar with him; he's probably not going to be great there defensively, certainly not as good as Feliz, but he should be competant. He won't hit as well as the better 3B, but he should be around replacement level for there plus probably hit better than Feliz has at 3B for the past 2.5 seasons. I think given his ability to adjust to each level coming up, he'll be able to adjust enough if given the ABs. On Misch, without the HR, he probably would have just gotten a no decision. Part of pitching is getting out of jams and he did. But that's two HR in two starts and he throws a lot of GB, so that seems to be bad luck playing there, plus maybe a high BABIP.

Chris
Chris

Frank, It was a strike on the outer half of the plate, Klesko made no effort to swing. Either Klesko missed a sign or Bochy called a double steal hoping to sneak Roberts in on the front side. If he was trying to hit and run I'm not sure I like the call either. The pitcher, Hanrahan, wasn't exactly shutting people out in the first and had some trouble finding the zone. I'd rather make the pitcher work to throw strikes first but I guess that's why I'm not a big league manager. You just hate, hate, hate to run into outs with a guy on 3rd like that.

fttts
fttts

If the count was 3-1, it is a perfect count to run on - an unhittable pitch = ball 4; a hittable pitch should be put in play by klesko, guaranteeing a run scores and the runner on first is in scoring postion - and the GIDP is avoided. I'm not inclined to object to the strategy - I'm inclined to think Klesko fucked up. I didn't see the game, so i don't know what Klesko di on the pitch - swing and miss? or take it?