Results tagged ‘ Barry Zito ’
GIFcap: Six is enough for Zito as Giants avoid a 1989ing
The twenty-five errors the Giants have posted in May have cast a dark shadow only the Giants could cast over themselves, and say what you (accurately) will about fielding percentage, but having the lowest FLD% in the NL in May does not seem to be an incorrect evaluation of the Giants poor defense if you’ve watched them play. Still, the Giants, with their win today, are 14-13 in May and cannot finish the month with a below-.500 mark for May, which hopefully does serve as a confidence booster despite what they (haven’t) put out.
The Giants fell behind, as they usually seem to do, and when Andres Torres saw the ball bounce out of his glove on a single to LF, I was wondering how bad things were going to get. A four-game sweep was the least of my concerns. But yet, Barry Zito danced through danger. Six walks, including a first inning that saw second and third with no outs after a double steal with Coco Crisp at the front of it. The A’s didn’t even score that inning, but BZ clamped down on Oakland rallies and even being at 101 pitches through five and struggling to get ahead on hitters, came out for a solid sixth inning to save the bullpen that much more work (and most importantly, got through it unscathed).
The Giants, saving the bulk of their scoring towards the latter half of the game (a familiar pattern at home), had Brett Pill (line drive), Brandon Crawford (handsome double), Pablo Sandoval (2-RBI single), Hunter Pence (single up the middle), and Brandon Belt (2-RBI double to LCF) all get involved for contributing to a lead that the Giants would never give back, ending the inning up 4-1.
It took Ramon Ramirez, George Kontos, and Jeremy Affeldt to get through the seventh, still up 4-2 after one of the dudes RamRam walked came in during Kontos’ stint, but hold the lead they did with Affeldt throwing his two-seamer for a swinging strikeout to get the Giants ready for their half. Nick Noonan would begin the inning with a nice push bunt for a hit while Gregor Blanco decided to make Adam Rosales hate the seventh inning with this pop up:
And then Brandon Crawford would ground into a fielder’s choice, but then Rosales decides to try and make the impossible out at first and instead send the ball to somewhere not in the first baseman’s mitt:
This would be all the scoring done in the game, but not all the interesting parts were done as the frustrations of Andres Torres came to kill his bat after his strikeout in the eighth
Love the expression of the lady in the lower right corner of the shot.
Sergio Romo would close it out on thirteen pitches, and only one whiff of all of those, coming on a slider to Yoenis Cespedes. Still, he got the job done, and the Giants would get to salvage a game from their four-game set with the Athletics.
Yay jump!
Mike Krukow was harping on home plate umpire Dan Iassogna’s strike zone, saying Zito should have got more borderline pitches, and I wanted to check out if he was right.
I’m sure you’ll have to click on that to get a better idea, but Iassogna’s strike zone was pretty good, and he called most of the close pitches on the sides correctly. Might have been a couple that are technically strikes, but if someone showed you that you would be getting that strike zone for the game you’re about to watch, I think I’d have a hard time finding people that wouldn’t take that.
The Giants are off for a weekend in St. Louis where it is raining right now in a game between them and the Royals, and my Yahoo! weather app is telling me there will be thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday (but there is a little sun logo behind the cloud, so maybe there’s hope), so hopefully those storms will only happen after the baseball games have run their course.
Also a positive for the Giants who have had to use their bullpen a lot lately, in the next eleven days, they will have three days off.
Lineups Posted: Zitoohhhh, Canada (sorry)
The 2012 World Champion San Francisco Giants head out to pre-season 2013 World Series favourite Toronto to square off against the Blue Jays who haven’t started the ’13 season the way they had hoped (last place in the AL East), but have gathered a little confidence in them as they come off of a two game win streak to finish a series in Boston. Like the Giants, they had a day off yesterday, but unlike the Giants, they have a day off on Thursday so they have a lot of freedom to use a lot of pitchers here and there. The Giants will be heading to Colorado for a four game series right after they’re done in Canada.
Here’s what the Giants are sending out:
Tonight’s #SFGiants lineup: Pagan cf, Scutaro DH, Sandoval 3b, Posey c, Pence rf, Belt 1b, Blanco lf, Noonan 2b, Crawford ss, Zito p
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) May 14, 2013
Buster Posey will be DH-ing tomorrow, per Boch’s interview with Jim Bowden. The Blue Jays, cellar dwellers of the AL East bring you:
Tonight’s @bluejays lineup:Cabrera-DHBautista-RFEncarnacion-1BDeRosa-2BLawrie-3BIzturis-SSRasmus-CFBlanco-CBonifacio-LFDickey-P
— Blue Jays-Official(@BlueJays) May 14, 2013
Old friend and World Champion Mark DeRosa batting cleanup, and other old friend and kinda sorta World Champion Melky Cabrera leading off and DH-ing. Also, this is a reminder that Henry Blanco is still playing at age 41 — wow.
In terms of pitch usage for both of these fellows, one may seem more obvious than the other, but here goes:
This one, as you guessed, is for Barry Zito, who throws many pitches, and many sliders and curveballs, too! Loves throwing in that extra pitch to right handers as well.
R.A. Dickey will mix in his fastball every now and then, but definitely more when the batter is ahead, and RHH will definitely be aware of that when they face off in less than a couple hours. That scouting report may not be good enough, so here’s Dickey’s game log for this year:
| Date | Opp | Rslt | DR | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | BF | Pit | Str | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2 | CLE | L,1-4 | 99 | 6.0 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4.50 | 27 | 104 | 60 | |
| Apr 7 | BOS | L,0-13 | 4 | 4.2 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 8.44 | 26 | 100 | 63 | |
| Apr 13 | @ | KCR | W,3-2 | 5 | 6.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5.82 | 26 | 100 | 64 |
| Apr 18 | CHW | W,3-1 | 4 | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 4.30 | 20 | 64 | 47 | |
| Apr 23 | @ | BAL | L,3-4 | 4 | 6.0 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 4.66 | 27 | 118 | 70 |
| Apr 28 | @ | NYY | L,2-3 | 4 | 7.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4.50 | 26 | 94 | 59 |
| May | Opp | Rslt | DR | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | BF | Pit | Str | ||
| May 4 | SEA | L,1-8 | 5 | 6.0 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 5.36 | 26 | 100 | 56 | |
| May 9 | @ | TBR | L,4-5 | 4 | 6.0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5.06 | 26 | 110 | 66 |
| 48.0 | 43 | 30 | 27 | 22 | 38 | 8 | 5.06 | 204 |
Five homers in his last three starts, but none in his last start, so that’s an improvement. He’s had two solid starts this year, while being not-so-Cy-Youngish in the rest. The Giants hope they get that version today, and maybe Zito can mystify the Blue Jays.
It’s the first time the Giants are playing a game in the Eastern Standard Time Zone tonight, so you can catch the game starting at 4:07PM PST, then get ready for your Sharks-Kings hockey game when the baseball concludes.
Lineups: Another rematch tonight between Champs and Pads
After a classic low scoring Giants-Padres matchup on Friday night that saw Tim Lincecum go seven, and the Giants offense not being able to cash in on RISP — their only run scoring on a wild pitch — they get a rematch with Eric Stults, whom they got five runs off of in his seven innings of work at AT&T last Sunday. Buster Posey got his first big fly, and Angel Pagan along with Pablo Sandoval contributed RBI to the cause in a 5-0 win (all off of Mr. Stults). Both sides only needed two pitchers to get through the game, as Barry Zito also spun seven innings of shutout magic, but just like Lincecum’s previous start, Carlos Quentin was missing from that lineup, also. The last time the Giants lost three in a row this season, they went on to win four straight, so they hope a winning streak at least that long is in order now.
The lineup for the visitors:
Tonight’s #SFGiants Lineup: Pagan CF, Scutaro 2B, Sandoval 3B, Posey C, Pence RF, Torres LF, Belt 1B, Crawford SS, Zito P
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) April 27, 2013
Interesting that Andres Torres is batting before Brandon Belt, Bruce Bochy being one of those “ride the hotter bat” guys.
While the home team stacks up like this:
@followthepadres SD lineup: Denorfia 8, Cabrera 6, Headley 5, Quentin 7, Blanks 9, Alonso 3, Gyorko 4, Hundley 2, Stults 1.
— Tim Powers (@timpowers) April 27, 2013
The specifics of the pitches of the man who is Barry Zito for this year look like this:
So yea, you could find that velocity at your local batting cage, but at least this season Zito has been excellent at AT&T with his defense standing strong behind him for 21.0 IP and 0 ER. I find it interesting that his cutter/slider has the same (average) velocity as his four-seam fastball. His one start away from home was in Milwaukee, and we’re still trying to forget that whole series.
Eric Stults doesn’t really bring the heat, either, but he’s still got enough pitches for batters to think about. An average ten MPH difference between his four seamer and his changeup, the two pitches he likes to use most.
Game’s starting in less than a half-hour, at 5:40PM PST. If you’re in the LA market you can see it on MLB Network. If you’re not in the LA market, you know the drill… I hope.
GQ Photos: Not sure what Buster Posey’s wearing and what Barry Zito’s doing
Buster Posey shot a photo for GQ magazine that you can see here
As much as I love BP, I’m not sure I love the $325 capri sweatpants.
then there’s Barry Zito…
I’m just not sure what’s going on in this picture. You can see the other athletes in the slideshow on GQ here.
GIFCap: #SFGiants dance and blast their way to a sweep of the Padres
Barry Zito delivered seven shutout innings to bring his home shutout streak to twenty-one consecutive innings to begin the regular season. The game began with a couple disputable plays thanks to instant replay, and these calls would go against the Giants. First, Marco Scutaro‘s tag on Chase Headley that was not ruled correctly, though a very difficult call.
And Angel Pagan‘s hit by a pitch on his toe that Bob Davidson ruled was just a ball.
Lucky for the Giants, the bottom of the order began to rally, with Andres Torres and Brandon Crawford getting on base, and then Angel Pagan delivered a double to RCF on a 3-0 pitch. The broadcast pointed out that he cheked the dugout after the 2-0 pitch to maybe see if he had the green light. If so, maybe Angel Pagan was acknowledging that trust.
Pablo Sandoval capped the three-run rally with a bad ball seeing-eye single up the middle on a pitch a little less than a foot off the ground.
Buster Posey would get his first homer of the season, a two-run shot that put the Giants up 5-0.
If you’re wondering how pitchers can keep their ERA down, a good defense behind you can really do the trick.
Joaquin Arias got pretty good contact on a ball later in the game, and Kyle Blanks made a great catch but crashed into the wall and this would ultimately take him out of the game.
We just hope he’s OK.
We also hope that there will be more dance lessons outside, because why not.
Today’s jump wasn’t all that awe-inspiring, but we’ll take the sweep.
Arizona comes in to begin a three-game series with the Giants tomorrow night.
Lineups Posted: #SFGiants go for sweep against the Chase Headleys
A series after the Giants got swept, San Francisco looks for its second consecutive sweep at home. Barry Zito takes the hill for the Giants, looking to continue his home magic, while his opposite number in Eric Stults looks to eat up some innings since teammate Andrew Cashner had to make an emergency spot start yesterday. The lineups for today’s game have been posted and this is what Bud Black has given us:
#Padres vs. #SFGiants: Denorfia 9, Cabrera 6, Headley 5, Guzman 3, Gyorko 4, Blanks 7, Hundley 2, Venable 8, Stults 1.
— Corey Brock (@FollowThePadres) April 21, 2013
Jesus Guzman gets the start at first, Yonder Alonso getting the day off.
And Bruce Bochy hath dishes out this:
Today’s (4/21) #SFGiants lineup: Pagan cf, Scutaro 2b, Sandoval 3b, Posey c, Pence rf, Arias 1b, Torres lf, Crawford ss, Zito p
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) April 21, 2013
Joaquin Arias hasn’t had a start since April 10th, but has played in five games since his last start, so Brandon Belt gets the bench duties against the lefty today. Andres Torres, your platoon bat, also sees a start, and Brandon Crawford moves back down to the eight spot, all moves you can bet are due to Stults being a southpaw.
A different chart to take a look at from Brooks Baseball, as you see Stults’ velocity has gone down with his pitches, while he’s used the cutter and the four-seamer earlier on. Kind of interesting there’s a space underneath the 0% on that chart on the left.
Zito meanwhile, has had his cutter featured on MLB Network when they talk about him, but his slider and fastball that have seen the increased usage so far this year. Encouraging to see the velocity holding pretty steady so far, and you see he spreads out the use of his pitches, and with the velocity he has, you can’t blame him for not relying on a 82-84 MPH fastball.
In two games, these teams have only combined for seven runs thus far, which of course is a credit to their pitchers and their bullpen, so if it’s another low scoring game, go ahead and keep that shocked face of yours stored away for another day, although after Zito got lit up in Milwaukee, there may be people just waiting for that to happen again. We’ll see, none of the Giants starting pitchers really did well there, and maybe there’s something different about home for Zito.
Game starts at 1:05PM PST. The Padres have a night game against the Brewers in San Diego tomorrow, while the Giants will open up a series against the Diamondbacks at AT&T.
Pulse Check: Sixteen games in for the #SFGiants
There being 162 games in the season, 16 games in seems like a fine place to check in with 10% of the regular season finding its box checked by the Giants. The Giants are 9-7 after getting swept by Milwaukee, but I can’t say that these last three games speak to what we’ve seen out of this team so far. They’ll be in second or third in the NL West depending on how Arizona does tonight against the Yankees tonight, and I’d be lying to you if I said I wasn’t concerned if they had the record of the Marlins (3-12), but the record you have today shouldn’t be a predictor of where you finish.
Baseball Reference won’t have all sixteen games until tomorrow, but this is what the Giants season has looked like so far:
More of the “W” than the “L,” and have swept the division leading Colorado Rockies (what year is this?). Sure, the Giants are suffering their longest losing streak since the end of July last year, but I think they just needed to get out of Miller Park. There may be some obvious stars and goats from this first ten percent of the season, but there are also some legitimate questions for each player we look forward to see being played out.
Some of the Heroes
Brandon Crawford is always known for his defense, but have you noticed his productive start at the dish? How about a very handsome .352/.435/.593 line, tied for first in fWAR with Justin Upton at 1.3, so his value isn’t only coming with the glove. Crawford’s fWAR last season? 1.7.
Barry Zito didn’t have a very productive third start in Milwaukee, but then again, anyone who pitched there wished their day went a little bit better. Being a contributor with his pitch hand and his bat, Zito was a welcome surprise, continuing his postseason success with two straight starts with his defense helping him to two victories.
Sergio Romo had been called on to work in a eight of twelve game stretch, which is plenty of games for any reliever and wouldn’t bode well if that’s the rate at which he was being used when worrying bout fatigue. A 41.4% strikeout rate with no walks is pretty incredible work so far, and to have the guy that comes into the 9th inning not walk anybody saves all of us a few years of our lives.
Some of the Goats
Brandon Belt is the obvious choice for the guy that’s having the slowest start. His .214 BABIP has kept his hit count low, despite the line drives we’ve seen him hit. His nine hits in fifty-nine plate appearances don’t look stomach pleasing, and Nick Noonan is actually catching up to him in hits since the rookie already has seven himself. The ropes Belt’s hitting right now aren’t finding the ground, maybe it’s me being an apologist for him, but I gotta believe he’s close.
Tim Lincecum‘s struggles continue, and while Hector Sanchez did cost Lincecum strikes in his first start with his framing abilities, Timmy has not been helping his batterymate out with his lack of control. It’s amazing that a) he has gone at least five innings in each start, and b) the team has won each of the three games he’s started. His walk count in his three starts have gone from 7 to 4 to 1, so that is encouraging.
George Kontos is my choice from the reliever corps, though it’s not like it’s a runaway. His 15.2% left on base rate is pre-tttty low, and that will go up as the season goes, and his Opening Day homer to Clayton Kershaw still burns in my brain. He is not a question mark for me, just not a hot start.
Some of the Questions
How real is this personal catcher situation? Last year, we experienced the Hector Sanchez-Tim Lincecum experiment with Buster Posey at 1B. With Guillermo Quiroz getting a hit today, now the question is if he is being auditioned to take Sanchez’s spot. Also of note, since Posey got a day off today in a day game after a night game, might that set him up for catching #55 on Saturday? While Hector has given the team a better walk rate recently, his bat is not the answer.
Speaking of Posey, what the heck’s going on with the 2012 MVP? One more hit than Belt, and a slash line that you’d expect more out of 2011 Brandon Crawford than 2013 Posey. Articles on him suggest it’s just a slow start, that he’s feeling fine. If he’s feeling fine, I’m not worried about him catching back on. Same goes for Matt Cain.
When does Heath Hembree get the call-up? I believe it was Pavs that said when the Giants call him up, the Giants want it to be for good. When it comes to that, you’ll see MLB teams calling their prospects up in June so that they may hold on to their players for an extra year.
What the Chad Gaudin? I know, right? He’s been surprisingly better than decent, but has been used in more low leverage situations than in a situation you might see Santiago Casilla or Kontos showing up in. It will be interesting to see how aggressive the Giants are with Gaudin as the year goes on, especially when Gaudin regresses.
What to look forward to
How about five straight series with NL West opponents? Padres, D-Backs, @ Padres, @ D-Backs, Dodgers that will carry us into May, all of these sets lasting three games a piece. Arizona gets to have six straight series with NL West opponents, so that should be fun for them.
The Giants, students of the comeback for some of their victories, are indeed lucky to be where they are, but the record is probably around what you might have expected out of them. You cannot win the division in April, but so far, they are not losing it.
Looking forward to more of those.
World Series Preview: #Tigers vs. #SFGiants
Will the powerful Tigers be the patty-cake champions in 2012?
The two number three seeds in the Postseason have championed their respective leagues in their own fashion: one used its pitching to outlast a story everybody wanted to see and then swept an imploded opponent, another used elimination games to win six of their seven games on their way to the World Series. Each team does this on the backs of multiple players, and the decisions of their managers can shift the balance of the game, and possibly of the series itself. The drama and excitement begins on Wednesday in San Francisco, and the audience will get to continue to have the opportunity to critique each word spitted by Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. All games are scheduled for 5:00PM PST. Games 2-4 starters for the Giants have not been announced yet, so those listed are my guesses.
Wednesday, Game 1: RHP Justin Verlander vs. LHP Barry Zito
One sentence summary: JV has owned this Postseason, and Good Zito just showed up against the Cardinals, so this has the potential to be the 20+ run game we all expect it to be.
Thursday, Game 2: RHP Doug Fister vs. LHP Madison Bumgarner
One sentence summary: Fister has provided 13 K’s in 13.1 IP, but allowed 10 baserunners in his last outing even though the Yankees were unable to cash in, and if Madison Bumgarner can show he’s cashed in on some extra time off in fixing his delivery, it could make for a very happy flight to Detroit.
Saturday, Game 3: RHP Ryan Vogelsong vs. RHP Anibal Sanchez
One sentence summary: In May, Anibal Sanchez was involved in a 14-7 loss to the Giants while he was with Miami, surrendering 7 hits and striking out 7, while Vogelsong has just come off a career performance of striking out nine.
Sunday, Game 4: RHP Matt Cain vs. RHP Max Scherzer
One sentence summary: 18 K’s in 11 IP for Scherzer is a tribute to his high strikeout ratio while only seeing five hits go by him in his two starts, while Matt Cain will get one day’s extra rest to put it together and hopefully get lucky against the Tigers like he did with the Cardinals by not getting the mistake pitches crushed.
Monday, Game 5*: LHP Barry Zito vs. RHP Justin Verlander
Wednesday, October 31st, Game 6*: RHP Doug Fister vs. LHP Madison Bumgarner
Thursday, November 1st, Game 7*: RHP Anibal Sanchez vs. RHP Ryan Vogelsong
*-if necessary
A Possible Difference in Performance
While the Postseason is full of small sample sizes, it’s still interesting to take a look at how players have fared thus far. Take a look at how the Tigers have done in the LCS, and in the Postseason overall:
Pretty good overall hitting, getting on base at a reasonably good tick, and slugged the stuffing out of the Yankees in four games. Now, the Giants:
Getting on base nearly as much as the Tigers have over a few more games, and who’d have thunk it that Pablo Sandoval is slugging the best out of all the starters remaining in the Fall Classic? Really amazing how the Tigers manhandled the Yankees and how the Giants just scraped by the Cardinals, who were rumored to be immortal.
Needless to say, Buster Posey and Hunter Pence need to wake the f up because if you’re relying on Belt, Blanco, and Crawford to drive in your runs, then expect that elimination games streak to be challenged once again. I can only wonder how many more runs this team would have if those two were even hitting at the rate Belt and Blanco have for the postseason.
Power, Production and Speed from the Motor City
Everyone has heard about Miguel Cabrera and his famed Triple Crown. The 44 HR within that and the .417 wOBA for the season are pretty scary, but the 28 double plays he grounded into are certainly exciting. Prince Fielder had another 30 HR season with exactly that round number, a .398 wOBA, and grounded into 19 double plays, which is the same number that Buster Posey grounded into. Delmon Young and Jhonny Peralta also grounded into 20 double plays a piece. However, these two do have double digit HR (Jhonny 13 and Delmon 18), as did Omar Infante with 12, and leadoff man Austin Jackson with 16, and AJ is 3rd on the team with a wOBA of .371. The burners on this club are Quintin Berry (21 SB), Omar Infante (17), and Austin Jackson (12), so these guys can add an extra element to the game if/when they get on base.
Who’s the Designated Hitter for the Giants?
There’s a part of me that is hoping that this Hector Sanchez-Barry Zito/Tim Lincecum experiment really takes a back seat in this series, but we’ve had enough messing around with a free-swinging switcher and watching Belt be benche. However, with the DH, Bochy can have his cake and eat it too. My heart says Bochy and company wise up and keep Hector from catching, but my head says if Lincecum is given a start, we will see Posey DH a game. I like the idea of Pablo DH-ing and Joaquin Arias starting at 3B, maybe even to break up the line of LHH the Giants have going on in that 6-7-8 spot. Hector Sanchez will be an option for a DH, as will Aubrey Huff, but I’m thinking Pablo sees the DH the most of the three possible games he can be there.
Prediction Time: Sticking With What Works
Will this happen again in 2012?
If you’re a reader who’s stopped by often, you know how this part works. I pick the Giants to win a series, and tell you how they do it. It’s not going to be any different here.
Game 1: Giants win (Crazy World Series is crazy)
Game 2: Tigers win (Starting pitching not slid as Tigers continue to hit)
Game 3: Giants win (Vogelsong lights up Detroit)
Game 4: Tigers win (Tigers take advantage of Giants mistakes)
Game 5: Giants win (Giants beat Verlander twice, Kate Upton asks me if I’m available)
Game 6: Giants win (Giants come back against Detroit’s bullpen to seal their 2nd title in 3 years)
I hope this or any variation of the Giants winning in 4-7 games happens. Boy I’d like to attend a parade.
