Showing posts with label Buster Posey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buster Posey. Show all posts

Thursday, 25 August 2011

Stay focused, Giants

The Giants won their biggest game of the year yesterday.



They were just a few innings from going 1-9 against the Padres and falling 4 1/2 games out.



They were a few innings from losing a series at home against the very team they should be chasing down.



But they came back, played smart baseball, Posey took an extra base and AT&T Park went nuts.



Congratulations. Now dust yourself off and do it again today.



This is what makes baseball the greatest sport of all and the most pressure packed in some ways. If a team wins a football game like this, there's a whole week to get ready for the next game. Basketball and hockey usually have a rest game.



In baseball? Yesterday's extra innings thriller is already in the "What have you done for me lately?" file.



Lincecum is on the mound. A loss today and it will still be a series loss at home to the team the Giants are trying to catch.



A win and suddenly the Giants will be 1 1/2 games out...3 back in the loss column and tied with the most wins in the NL.



Focus... focus..



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Sunday, 21 August 2011

I have a feeling the Rookie of the Year race will come down to Strasburg and Posey





























When I made my award picks at the 1/3 mark, I had Jason Heyward as the NL Rookie of the Year.


And when I my made 1/2 way mark picks just this week, I had Cardinals pitcher Jamie Garcia as the rookie of the year.


And if the season ended today, he should be...
But don't you get the feeling that Heyward and Garcia are going to be in third place at best when all is said and done?


I am guessing Stephen Strasburg and Buster Posey will be battling this one out.


Stephen Strasburg (whose presence in the All Star Game may have boosted its ratings above "Worst Ever" territory) just kept doing what he does best last night in Florida.


6 shut out innings and 7 strikeouts lowering his ERA to 2.03, giving him a 4.86 strikeout to walk ratio and a WHIP of 1.02. He's struckout 68 batters in 48 2/3 innings.


And his ERA+ is 203.
Now I confess, I have no clue what ERA+ means, but it sounds good.




Meanwhile Buster Posey has been everything the Giants would have wanted and then some.
Since Bengie Molina was dealt away to the Rangers and Posey was given the full time catcher spot, his average has gone up from .289 to .352.


His slugging was at .381... now it is .566. And OPS jumped from .695 to .954.


That's almost comical. Throw in the 6 homers in the 13 games since the Molina deal and maybe the Giants finally have a centerpiece for their line up.


But of course the main worry was can he call a game like Molina?
Well, the Giants have let up a grand total of 2 runs in their last 27 innings that Posey has called.


He knows what fingers to put down evidently.


What I am saying is if Jamie Garcia wants some hardware this off season, he had better pick up his game.




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The Giants are making all the right moves... SO WIN ALREADY!

I've been calling for the Giants to make some key moves since May.


And because the San Francisco front office evidently listens to me, they've been taking my suggestions.


Burrell is a Giant and homering.


Posey has been recalled as has Bumgarner.


And now the Giants took a risk by dealing away a terrific pitch caller in Bengie Molina. But they are putting Posey behind the plate where he should be for the next 10 years and they brought in Chris Ray who should give the bullpen a little depth.


The sum total of all these moves?
A 6 game losing streak.


And not just any losing streak... the last 4 have been to the Dodgers and the Rockies, two of the teams that they are bunched up with in the NL West race.


What the hell? They are improved and yet have dropped nearly a week into the loss column.


Let's pick it up, Giants. You've got 3 more in Coors Field, and I am heading up to the Bay Area this weekend and will spend some time with my dad, the biggest Giants fan I know.


He's happier when the Giants are winning and I want a happy dad.
You've got the pieces... WIN!






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Friday, 19 August 2011

Hey Giants... keep listening to my advice













About a month ago, I gave the Giants all sorts of advice. And they seemed to have taken it to heart. (Yes, I firmly believe the Giants front office reads this blog.)

I told them to give Pat Burrell a shot and I said to just bring Buster Posey up and play him where ever he can fit.

Done and done.
And tonight Burrell homered and Posey tripled and the Giants are scoring some runs.

Good work. You listened to your pal Sully.
The lineup got a much needed injection... and they got it without calling BALCO.

Now KEEP LISTENING.

The Bullpen is nothing special. In fact I think it is downright mediocre. Wilson is OK but hardly a slamdunk. Romo is eh, nothing special. Affeldt has been awful. Now Casilla and Bautista have done well but the Giants need to bolster their bullpen.

And like with Posey, I think they should start from within. And I told them what to do last May and I stand by it.

Eric Hacker is pitching well in Fresno and at age 27, there's really no reason to keep seasoning him. He pitched well this week against Sacramento and basically is a Quadruple A pitcher at this point. Why not put him in the pen and see what happens?

But Madison Bumgarner should seriously be inserted into the bullpen as their lefty set up man. What does he have to prove in the minors? He has a career 33-6 record with a 1.95 ERA over 61 minor league games. I think he's ready.

But he's also only 20 years old and they don't want to blow his arm out.
Fine. There are 16 weeks left to the season.

Bring him up and have him pitch 4 innings a week... all out of the pen. Bring him in at the beginnings of innings and give him days off between appearances.

That's 64 innings. The Giants don't wear him down and those 64 innings come late in the game when chances are won't have faced him before.

And as I said before, starting in the pen didn't hurt Jim Palmer, Jimmy Key, Pedro Martinez and Adam Wainwright's career.

Make those two moves, improve the pen and all this without giving up a single player.

Listen to me Giants... when have I steered you wrong?




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