An early storyline in 2013 for the Giants has been Ryan Vogelsong’s trouble keeping the ball in the yard. Through 39.1 innings pitched, the right-hander has faced 183 batters and allowed 129 balls in play, nine of which have left the yard. For the purposes of this post, I’m using HR/9 as my measurement of home run rate. A rate… Read more →
I’ve been watching the Giants for almost 20 years now and I can’t remember a Giants pitcher that pitched off his fastball more than Ryan Vogelsong over his last two NLCS starts. Maybe Jason Schmidt, when he was dominating the National League, but it’s pretty damned special what Ryan Vogelsong is doing right now with his fastball. Velocity. Movement. Location…. Read more →
I’m going to ask you to remember way back in the middle of August and September. Way back to when Ryan Vogelsong was struggling. Before August 13, Vogelsong’s league leading ERA sat at 2.27. Seven games later, Vogelsong’s ERA sat at 3.65. Panic ensued among the fan base. Was Vogelsong finished? He was giving up a jillion hits per start…. Read more →
Saaaay, I remember this offense! We’re just a few Jose Castillos and Aaron Rowands away from collecting the entire set. First things first: Ryan Vogelsong did an excellent job of giving the Giants a solid start. Vogelsong ended up pitching five innings of one-run baseball with five strikeouts and three walks. The pitching line by itself isn’t incredible; however, it… Read more →
For the longest time – and by ‘longest time’ I mean the past 4-5 years – the Giants have followed a formula that included great pitching with just-enough-offense to win games. This is known as “Giants Baseball.” And to the uninitiated it’s often a frustrating blend of baseball, but it’s hard to feel bad for yourself when you get to… Read more →
In last night’s 8-6 loss to the Arizona Diamonbacks, fans were once again treated to a weird Vogelsong start. The good news is this: Vogelsong faced 20 batters and he struck out seven of them — that’s a K/9 of 18.90. The bad news: it took 81 pitches to get through 3.1 innings of work and he gave up nine… Read more →
Earlier today, ESPN turned over the keys to the SweetSpot blog to me. My topic: Giants starters seem to throw a lot of nonfastballs to start hitters off. In short: I found that, after running some numbers, three of the top 10 starting pitchers in baseball that start batters off with nonfastballs were Giants starters — Cain, Vogelsong, and Bumgarner… Read more →
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… Read more →
In last night’s win against the Dodgers, Ryan Vogelsong, feel good baseball story of the century, continued to excel for the San Francisco Giants in a way that is truly perplexing to me. I know the facts by heart: he’s throwing a little slower this season, but the results are nearly identical. In 2011, by PitchF/X, Vogelsong threw 979 pitches… Read more →
1. Santiago Casilla has been very, very good over the past three years. Rk Player ERA+ IP 1 Mariano Rivera 233 129.2 2 Craig Kimbrel 230 122.2 3 Scott Downs 226 136.2 4 Sergio Romo 222 128.0 5 Santiago Casilla 212 133.1 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used Generated 6/16/2012. That’s the top-five ERA+ ranking for relievers that… Read more →