Giants Look to Get Back on Track as They Welcome the New York Mets

VS.

By Vince Cestone 

@vintalkingiants

Madison Bumgarner and the San Francisco Giants will look to rebound after getting swept by their rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Although they lost three straight games at home to Los Angeles, the Giants are still in sole possession of first place by a mere .001 percentage point (.545 winning percentage for the Giants compared to .544 for the Dodgers).

After being shutout twice in a row by Los Angeles, Madison Bumgarner (11-6, 3.10 ERA) will look to be the stopper. Bumgarner is coming off a gem against the San Diego Padres on July 24 where he pitched seven inning and gave up two earned runs in his no-decision.

The Giants' offense is leaking oil. In their last four games, they have scored just six runs and many of their offensive starters have gone cold.

Brandon Belt, despite going 3-for-5 on Friday night and 4-for-10 in the Dodger series, is hitting .180 in July with a .261 on-base percentage and 26 strikeouts in 61 at-bats.

Angel Pagan has also suddenly gone stone cold. After getting off to a good start, Pagan is hitting just .217 in his last seven games, with a .250 OBP and a .348 slugging percentage.

The Giants are hitting with very little power, if any. Scoring just 19 runs in the last week, San Francisco has hit just three home runs and 15 total extra base hits.

The Mets will ask Jeremy Hefner to face the struggling Giants' offense. Hefner (1-4, 5.40 ERA), in his last appearance, pitched a quality start, throwing six innings and giving up just two earned runs.

Here are some more tidbits:

• Mets' outfielder Scott Hairston is 0-for-6 against Bumgarner in his career.
• Hefner pitched three scoreless innings against the Giants in his major league debut in New York on April 23.
• Bumgarner is 7-1 with a 1.89 ERA in nine home starts this season.
• The Giants have no been shut out in three straight games since June 23-25, 1992.
• The Giants have won 11 of their last 15 games against the Mets
• Giants' catcher Hector Sanchez is eligible to come off the disabled list Thursday.

The Giants are 2-4 on the homestand.

...

The Giants are playing awful baseball right now. They look like they have no idea what they are doing at the plate and it shows.

The Giants twice on Saturday had leadoff doubles that never came around to score. The Giants twice on Sunday made baserunning gaffes that killed potential rallies.

They are swinging at pitches way out of the strike zone and taking pitches right down the middle. The situational hitting is lacking in a big way and it's due to their overaggressiveness.

Can it be the result of trying to do too much?

Case in point. Buster Posey lead off the bottom of the second inning in Saturday's game with a double. The next batter, Angel Pagan, swung at the very next pitch and popped the ball up to left.

It is going so bad that even when the Giants do make hard contact, it is finding a glove. Newly acquired infielder Marco Scutaro can tell you all about that.

Scutaro scorched the ball in each of his three at-bats on Sunday, but only had one hit to show for it.

Defensively, the Giants made costly errors both on Saturday and Sunday. Brandon Crawford's ground-ball miscue and Scuatro's botched pop-up both led to runs.

The bottom line is the Giants are still in a great position to win the National League West. They are percentage points ahead of the Dodgers in first place and have an incredibly easy schedule coming up.

They won't step foot east of Chicago for the remainder of the season. Can the barrage of games remaining against San Diego and Colorado be enough to carry them into the postseason--and dare I say beyond?

Giants Look to Salvage a Game, Stay in First Place in Series Finale Against Dodgers

By Vince Cestone
@vintalkingiants






                              VS

The San Francisco Giants sit atop the National League West with a slim one-game lead, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and their new shortstop Hanley Ramirez have plans to share the top spot.

The Dodgers bolstered their lineup by acquiring Ramirez from the Miami Marlins in exchange for pitcher Nathan Eovaldi and a minor leaguer. Although Ramirez is batting just .252 for the season, he has 15 home runs and is 6-for-16 with the Dodgers.

In his first at-bat with Los Angeles against the St. Louis Cardinals, Ramirez tripled and then came in to score. He proceeded to hit a game-winning home run for the Dodgers on a hanging slider from Sergio Romo in the 10th of inning of Friday night's game against the Giants.

So far, the Giants have countered by acquiring Marco Scutaro,who will play third base in the absence of Pablo Sandoval, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Saturday with a hamstring strain. Scutaro is batting .271, with four home runs and 30 RBIs.

Although the Giants may be short-handed, San Francisco will send Ryan Vogelsong against the retooled Dodgers in the series finale. Vogelsong (8-4, 2.26 ERA) is 2-0 against the Dodgers this year with an 0.63 ERA.

In order to avoid the sweep at the hands of their rivals, the Giants will have to be on top of their game. The Dodgers' ace Clayton Kershaw (7-6, 3.14 ERA) will face off against San Francisco for the third time this season.

Vogelsong beat Kershaw twice this season by scores of 2-1 and 2-0.

The Giants lost Game 1 in the 10th inning on Ramirez's home run, after they tied the game in the eighth on a Brandon Belt two-run single. Los Angeles routed Barry Zito and the Giants 10-0 in Game 2, thanks to seven combined RBIs from Matt Kemp and Hanley Ramirez.

Matt Cain received a no-decision in Game 1.

Too much great pitching from Chad Billingsley and too little hitting doomed the Giants.

San Francisco has still been hot since the All-Star break. They have gone 9-5 to start the second half, including a strong 4-2 East Coast road trip.

Here are some more news and notes about tonight's rivalry game.

• The Giants outscored the Dodgers 13-0 in their three-game sweep of  Los Angeles June 25-27 at AT&T Park.
• The Giants are 4-4 against the Dodgers this season.
• ESPN predicts the Giants will have a 45% chance of beating the Dodgers today.
• The Dodgers are 2-2 since acquiring Ramirez.
• The Dodgers have not shutout the Giants by this large of a margin since 1997, where they beat them 11-0.
• Kershaw's career ERA against the Giants is 1.45, the lowest all-time--over a minimum of 50 innings.

Weather Report:

The game-time temperature will be a cool 61 degrees. An 11-mph  west-northwest wind will carry the ball to slightly right of center, a spot Dodgers' slugger Matt Kemp loves to take the ball.

Who's Hot:

• Melky Cabrera: 30-for-79, .380, 3 HR, 13 RBI, .414 on-base percentage.

Who's Not:

•  Brandon Belt: 10-for-58, .172, 4 RBI, 25 strikeouts, .258 OBP, .207 slugging percentage, .465 OPS.

 ...

The Giants have been playing good baseball since the break. Although the Dodgers took the first two games of the series, the Giants can still escape with a two-game lead in the NL West by winning one-out-of-three.

Even if the worst happens and the Dodgers sweep, the Giants will still be percentage points ahead of the Dodgers, but if the Giants can continue to pitch well at home and get just enough offense, they should have a great chance of winning today's game.

Of course, they will need to catch the ball too. Shortstop Brandon Crawford committed one miscue in the game yesterday, and Melky Cabrera failed to hit the cutoff man on a play at the plate.

San Francisco must also improve on their situational hitting. Both in the second and fifth innings, the Giants had a runner at second with nobody out, but failed to move the runner over or get him in.

With the Giants needing to play scrappy, especially with Sandoval out of the lineup, they cannot fail in those productive-out situations if they expect to win ball games. Once again, the Giants were plagued with their overaggressiveness with runners on base.

Still, the Giants are in first place by one game. They must realize that the pressure is on the Dodgers--not them--so it is their job to stay loose and look like the team ahead in the standings.



Follow me on Twitter @vintalkingiants

Be sure to subscribe to my blog (subscribe button is on the left side of the web site).

Information from ESPN.com contributed to this article.

Check out my NBCBayArea.com article on the San Jose Giants' Joe Panik.

San Francisco Giants' Sergio Romo Wrongly Snubbed from All-Star Game

By Vince Cestone

@vintalkingiants

Photo by SD Dirk/Flickr

2-1, 0.83 ERA, 4/4 in save opportunities.

These video game-like numbers are not part of my MLB 12: The Show season. They represent Sergio Romo's 2012 real season.

Wouldn't you put this man in the 2012 All-Star Game in Kansas City? Apparently not.

Romo was not chosen to represent the San Francisco Giants and the National League when selection ended Sunday, even with his excellent numbers.

Romo is the best right-handed setup man in the league. Although he is second in the league in earned-run average, Romo has a minuscule 0.74 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and a 4.83 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Not dominant enough for you?

Romo averages 12 strikeouts per game with his premier slider and sneaky fastball. In addition, he has given up just 10 hits in 21.2 innings pitched.

The original purpose of the All-Star Game was to showcase the best each league had to offer (which is why I do not agree with every team needing one representative in the All-Star Game). The National League players and coaches missed a great addition to their bullpen.

Here are the relievers who made it to the Midsummer Classic over Romo:

• Aroldis Chapman: 4-4, 1.98 ERA, 64-12 K/BB, 9/13 Saves, 0.77 WHIP
• Joel Hanrahan: 3-0, 2.10 ERA, 35-15 K/BB, 20/22 Saves, 1.07 WHIP
• Craig Kimbrel: 0-1, 1.50 ERA, 50-10 K/BB, 23/24 Saves, 0.77 WHIP

Romo has a better ERA, save percentage (albeit Romo only had four chances), and a better WHIP than the above relievers who made the National League All-Star Team.

Romo may have been overlooked because he is not a closer. Regardless, the bearded right-hander's numbers show he is a more effective pitcher than the above All-Star relievers.

Was Romo undeservedly snubbed? My opinion is clear, but the players and coaches had something else in mind.

The other Giants in the 2012 All-Star Game were voted in by the fans as starters. Buster Posey will start at catcher, Melky Cabrera will patrol right field, and Pablo Sandoval will man third base.

The Giants have not had this many starting players on an All-Star team since 2001 when Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, and Rich Aurilia all represented San Francisco for the National League.


Follow me on Twitter @vintalkingiants

Be sure to subscribe to my blog (subscribe button is on the left side of the web site).

Information from ESPN.com contributed to this opinion article.

Check out my NBCBayArea.com article on the San Jose Giants' Joe Panik.

Giants Look to Even Up Series Against Reds in Game 4 Behind Ryan Vogelsong

 VS

By Vince Cestone
@vintalkingiants

Pitching has dominated the first three games of the series, but it did not all come from the San Francisco Giants.

The slugging Cincinnati Reds added another dimension to their recipe for success in 2012. Their pitching has drastically improved, as they are fourth in the National League in ERA at 3.47.

Cincinnati's bullpen, anchored by the flame-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman, has become automatic. Reds' relievers have a 2.67 ERA this season, good for first in the National League.

This is why the Reds are in first place in the NL Central by one game over the Pittsburgh Pirates (Pirates are 42-35 if you can believe it).

The Reds are also second in the league in fewest errors, committing just 40. Strong pitching and defense has been a 2012 theme in Cincinnati.

Pitching, defense, and just enough hitting (Reds are eighth in the league in runs scored) is a great recipe for success, especially in the National League.

In this series, the Reds have beaten the Giants at their own game.

Game 1 featured a masterful pitching performance by Madison Bumgarner. In his effort, Bumgarner threw his first career complete-game shutout against the Reds, a team he has struggled against throughout his career (0-2, 8.56 versus Reds coming into the game).

In Game 2, the Reds showed why they were a first-place team. Mike Leake threw a complete-game of his own, but not a shutout thanks to Pablo Sandoval's ninth-inning solo homerun.

Leake beat Matt Cain, who has seemed more hittable after his perfect game. In his 18 and 2/3 innings pitched after the perfect game, Cain has given up 9 earned runs.

Giants' nemesis Mat Latos shut down San Francisco in Game 3 of the series. In his nine-inning effort, Latos struck out seven Giants and allowed just one earned run on two hits.

In three consecutive games, a Giants or Reds pitcher threw a complete game. Also, for the second straight game, the Giants scored a lone ninth-inning run to break up a complete-game shutout (courtesy of a Brandon Belt triple, followed by a run-scoring groundout).

Barry Zito pitched well in Game 3 but suffered the loss. Zito's only earned run in six innings pitched came on a bases-loaded walk to catcher Ryan Hanigan.

Zito's walk proved costly as the Reds edged the Giants 2-1.

The Giants figure to like their chances in Game 4 of the series. Ryan Vogelsong, who has been their best pitcher, is 7-3 with a 2.23 ERA.

Vogelsong will be opposed by the struggling Bronson Arroyo who is just 3-5 with a 4.13 ERA. The Giants look to have the upper hand but only if they score runs.

The Giants' bats have gone suddenly cold after Game 1. The Giants scored just two ninth-inning runs in the last two games, but have not taken advantage of the few chances they had.

In Game 2, Cain's inability to get a sacrifice bunt down dashed any hopes of the Giants getting back into the game. With the Giants trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Cain struck out on a foul bunt with Brandon Crawford at second base.

The next two batters grounded out, and the Giants did not score. The Giants lost the game 5-0, but if they had gotten that run in the fifth inning, the Giants would have been down only 3-1, giving the Giants some momentum throughout the game.

Who knows what could have happened then? Good teams make good use of the few chances they have, even if the opposing pitcher is dominating.

The Giants are a scratch-and-claw offense, so they must produce a run on almost every runner at second base and nobody out situation if they hope to make the playoffs--or beyond.

Here are some interesting stats and notes heading into the series finale.

• Bronson Arroyo, today's Reds' starter, has never won a game at AT&T Park. He is 0-4 in San Francisco, with a 4.34 ERA.
• Ryan Vogelsong has pitched 11 straight quality starts and holds a 1.28 ERA in eight home starts this season.
• Reds' slugger Joey Votto may not play in the series finale due to inflammation in his left knee. Votto is hitting .350, with 33 doubles, 14 home runs, and 47 RBIs.
• The Giants are currently in a 13-game stretch against teams in either first or second place. They are 4-2 in those games.
• The Giants have not lost three in a row since early May.

 The Reds are 4-2 against the Giants this season and have already clinched the season series.
 

Follow me on Twitter @vintalkingiants

Be sure to subscribe to my blog (subscribe button is on the left side of the web site).

Information from ESPN.com contributed to this article.

Check out my NBCBayArea.com article on the San Jose Giants' Joe Panik.