When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

07.25.2007
Post-Game 7/24: Nearly the Improbable

Braves 7, Giants 5, 13 innings: Exciting game from the bottom of the ninth, unless your brand of excitement consists of batters pounding Tim Hudson sinkers into the ground, in which case you would have loved the first eight frames.

That was vintage Huddy, as nasty as he ever was with the A’s. Give the Giants credit for taking advantage of gifts, starting with the two 9th inning walks from Hudson, who had been practically untouchable until that point. Then Willie Harris comically misplayed Feliz’s deep drive for a double. It wasn’t a can of corn, but it should have been an out. If you want to pick a single pitch that did the Giants in tonight, it was the 1–0 to Ray Durham that inning. Improbably, delightfully, the 4–0 deficit had turned into a tie game, and Ray could have sent everyone home with a ball in the alley or down the lines (Molina was the runner at second). The one-oh pitch: fastball down the middle. That was it. He took it and eventually popped to left.

Jonathan Sanchez didn’t pitch too well, either.

Almost forgotten: Matt Morris pitched decently. Any left fielder but Bonds, and the Braves would have only scored two in the 4th. But was it good enough to convince other GMs that he’s worth trading for?

PLODAG: Randy Messenger, with three shutout extra innings, including an impressive K of Chipper Jones, who otherwise looked like his 1999 MVP self tonight. Runner-up: Feliz, who had two great at-bats with the game on the line and drove runs home each time.
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17 Comments

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#99 | July 25, 2007 11:40 AM | Reply

ELM,

Sabean gets a lot of crap for his recent trades, and probably rightfully so, but Messenger looks like a pretty good find. Nice job getting what looks to be a useful pitcher for a guy (Linden) that will probably never have a steady job at the major league level.

someguynamedg | July 25, 2007 11:48 AM | Reply

I'm starting to like this Feliz kid. Where did he come from?

Also we traded Benitez for Messenger. Linden was released I think.

someguynamedg | July 25, 2007 11:51 AM | Reply

I'm starting to like this Feliz kid. Where did he come from?

Also we traded Benitez and cash for Messenger. Linden was DFAed and then released.

#99 | July 25, 2007 12:09 PM | Reply

Someguynamedg,

That sounds right, my bad. Benitez for Messenger, HA, even better!

mxmob33 | July 25, 2007 12:11 PM | Reply

Some of Sabean's smaller deals recently have looked pretty good..

Pichardo for Tucker

Messenger for Benitez

Blackley for Ellison

None blockbusters, but getting something useful for throwaway players is nice. Does Sabes have some mojo left? I suppose we'll find out in the coming days.

ELM | July 25, 2007 12:14 PM | Reply

Yes, it was Mando for Messenger. And remember the Giants are paying Mando's salary, so it's almost like the Giants are paying Messenger $7 M this year.

sfgfan | July 25, 2007 12:15 PM | Reply

By "Any left fielder but Bonds", are you including the likes of Manny Ramirez and Gonzo?

someguynamedg | July 25, 2007 12:38 PM | Reply

ELM,
I know the Giants sent a trunk full of cash along with Benitez but I look at it a different way. Right now I see us paying Messenger $3.5 million and paying $3.5 million to NOT have Mando on the team. Sounds like a steal to me.

-G

trilljester | July 25, 2007 2:10 PM | Reply

Messenger looked really good last night. Has his name been tossed around for closing in the future? He did what a good closer should do, throw strikes. He mixed up the pitches well, and completely baffled Chipper Jones. Impressive.

BawLa | July 25, 2007 3:09 PM | Reply

Messenger is definitely in the brotherhood.

I'm not really upset with Sanchez at all. He had a K/9 of almost 12 coming into last night, and by all rights he should be in AAA getting stretched out to be a starter. Plus, he should not have pitched last night until after Chulk got an inning or two in. Another bad call by Bochy.

Feliz hitting an offspeed pitch below the knees into the gap with the game on the line was probably one of his better career moments here. But he still has a long way to go before he gets my vote of confidence.

ELM | July 25, 2007 3:24 PM | Reply

I just watched the video highlights. What struck me was a lot of good pitches turned into hits. Aurilia's single in the ninth -- he reached across the plate. Feliz and Molina also hit pitches out of the strike zone. Sanchez missed his target and came down and in to Renteria, but it wasn't right down the middle, which it seemed as I watched last night from the third-base line.

These are all pitches that on any given night could easily have turned into harmless outs.

Most impressive was Chipper's HR. Sinker away, perhaps not even a strike, and he slapped it into the LF bleachers. As Dusty liked to say, Dude can hit.

ELM | July 25, 2007 3:35 PM | Reply

I'm not upset with Sanchez either. But you don't need to be upset to say that he didn't pitch well last night. Walking Julio Franco? Ugh.

I also noticed something. Just before he uncorked the brutal wild pitch that moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd, he cast a glance back at the runner on 2nd.

Instead of turning his vision back to home before starting his motion, he started his motion THEN rotated his head. Sometimes this is clever and keeps the baserunner guessing, but sometimes it throws a pitcher's equilibrium and sight lines all out of whack. Guess which happened last night?

#99 | July 25, 2007 3:38 PM | Reply

Yeah, tough to be too upset with Sanchez especially since he had thrown 2 innings the night before. Hmmm, at what point do you use a starter in relief? There are no off days coming up so burning a starter might be tough but seems like Sabean/Bochy could make a move or two after the game to get some fresh arms from AAA.

Jeff Russell | July 25, 2007 4:02 PM | Reply

You said "any left fielder but Bonds" and then blamed the Braves left fielder for not catching Feliz's hit. Maybe you expect too much of left fielders.

However, the Giants center fielder leaves a lot to be desired. He gets poor jumps and can't pull in pops that stay up forever.

ELM | July 25, 2007 4:08 PM | Reply

>Maybe you expect too much of left fielders.

Perhaps I was harsh on Barry, but that popup seemed to stay up forever and he was only a stride or two away when it landed. Thus, any LF with more speed than Barry probably would have caught it.

bpfastball | July 25, 2007 4:43 PM | Reply

But Barry did make a helluva catch on McCann's sinking line drive, gotta give the old man credit on that one.

And now, a complete change of subject - can somebody make Ryan Klesko go far, far away?

I've developed a real Hillenbrand hatred for him.

someguynamedg | July 25, 2007 5:54 PM | Reply

"can somebody make Ryan Klesko go far, far away?" I am getting there. I asked a friend last night, "just think how good he would be if he didn't swing for the fences EVERY time". He has been putting up decent numbers so he obviously has the ability. It just drives me nuts when has one of those tornado like swings when we need base runners late in a game.

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