Sometimes when I watch Ryan Vogelsong pitch, I’m reminded of this video. I imagine that Ryan Vogelsong is wearing a kilt in some wooded area, surrounded by major league hitters, and he’s running around throwing ping-pong balls, chanting “two-seamer, two-seamer, two-seamer, changeup at your knees, two-seamer.” Also, Matt Holliday has a foam sword and he’s crying.
Tonight, the Giants scored 15 runs. Generally, any night that the Giants score more than four runs is something to write about, however, the real story was another excellent Ryan Vogelsong start. Vogelsong’s line: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 SO. Ho-hum, really. It goes without saying — but I’ll say it anyways — Vogelsong has turned himself into the baseball story of, maybe, the past decade. What he’s done, what he’s doing, is fairy tale stuff. If the story isn’t absurd enough for you, consider this factoid: Tonight’s game marks the 17th straight start in which Vogelsong has pitched at least six innings of baseball while allowing three runs or fewer. That ties him for the franchise mark with Gaylord Perry’s steak from 1967-1968 and Hal Schumacher’s streak in 1935.
* As Ryan in the comments section points out, Vogelsong actually had his quality start streak snapped on August 3rd after he gave up four earned runs against the Rockies. My apologies; however, Vogelsong’s 16 consecutive quality starts in a row is still mighty impressive.
Over the past two seasons — not including tonight’s start — Vogelsong has the following pitching line: 315.2 IP, 272 H, 90 ER, 25 HR, 106 BB, 241 SO, 2.57 ERA, 135 ERA+.
If you run a search on Baseball-Reference with the following parameters — past two seasons, 300 IP, 60% games started, sorted by ERA+ — you get the following results.
| Rk | Player | IP | From | To | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Verlander | 170 | 419.2 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 2 | Johnny Cueto | 165 | 309.2 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 3 | Jered Weaver | 164 | 366.2 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 4 | Clayton Kershaw | 149 | 389.2 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 5 | Jordan Zimmermann | 138 | 300.2 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 6 | Roy Halladay | 137 | 330.0 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 7 | Ryan Vogelsong | 136 | 315.2 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 8 | CC Sabathia | 136 | 372.1 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 9 | Matt Harrison | 134 | 327.2 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 10 | Cliff Lee | 134 | 366.0 | 2011 | 2012 |
/looks at list
/drops mic
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OK, we’ll talk a little about the offense. New Giant, Marco Scutaro, went 3-6 with a grand slam in the 9th; Scutaro, according to the radio, is the first Giant to knock in seven runs in a game since Jeff Kent in 2001. Replacing Emmanuel Burriss/Joaquin Arias with Marco Scutaro sure is something. Yup, something indeed. Buster Posey walked three times, raising his wRC+ to 155. Posey’s OBP is currently .399. Melky Cabrera had yet another multi-hit game, going 2-5 with a double.
The Giants scored 15 runs. Baseball is weird.
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Brandon Belt watch: 2-5 with a double and no strikeouts. Belt’s seasonal slash (AVG/OBP/SLG) now stands at .251./.347/.390. That’s good for a 105 wRC+. Belt’s gone on some nice mini-streaks this season, along with some slumps, but it would be great if he could find a little groove over the remainder of the season. By WAR — the FanGraphs version — Belt is at 1.0 WAR; over a full season, at the same production, he’d be worth around two wins — or, an average player. Not too shabby, but I think Belt can be better, and if he can start driving the ball a little more, he will be.
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GIF of the night: Brandon Crawford’s hitting isn’t that great; his defense, however, is beautiful.
