Understandably everyone's abuzz about the Bumgarner-Posey show Monday night, but neither had a dominating game. Bumgarner buzzed through the first few innings then ran into a fifth and sixth inning grind that ran up his pitch count and drove him to the showers. Posey had an RBI single in an early two-run rally then looked anxious at the plate the rest of the game, often swinging at sharp sliders down and away.
I thought the game was notable (beyond the huge win, of course) for the performances of Pablo Sandoval and Jeremy Affeldt. Both looked like their 2009 selves, which is a major development for the Giants. Panda started to sting the ball into the alleys last week against the Mets, and he continued Monday. Even his outs were impressive: one was a hard drive to center, one was a long fly to left that, in the first half, probably would have been a rolled-over ground ball to the right side. He's being more patient, his hands are staying back, and he's driving the ball to all fields.
Affeldt's work was even more heartening as he made short work of two of the best left-handed hitters in the league in key situations. With the score 4-2, Ethier grounded out with the bases loaded in the seventh on a high fastball, and Loney struck out in the eighth on a series of perfectly placed curveballs. You'll rarely see Loney look that off-balance.
I'm far too emotionally scarred from the past few years to declare the offense fixed -- at least not until the Giants score double digits in eight consecutive games against the Padres. But the supply of juice the team has managed to squeeze from guys like Mota, Casilla and Bautista cannot last forever (can it?), and my skeptical self wonders if relief pitching has surpassed impact hitting as the team's top priority. A revitalized Affeldt would help immensely.
Relief pitcher? Big hitter? Bat? Relief? What should the Giants trade for first and foremost? Discuss.
I thought the game was notable (beyond the huge win, of course) for the performances of Pablo Sandoval and Jeremy Affeldt. Both looked like their 2009 selves, which is a major development for the Giants. Panda started to sting the ball into the alleys last week against the Mets, and he continued Monday. Even his outs were impressive: one was a hard drive to center, one was a long fly to left that, in the first half, probably would have been a rolled-over ground ball to the right side. He's being more patient, his hands are staying back, and he's driving the ball to all fields.
Affeldt's work was even more heartening as he made short work of two of the best left-handed hitters in the league in key situations. With the score 4-2, Ethier grounded out with the bases loaded in the seventh on a high fastball, and Loney struck out in the eighth on a series of perfectly placed curveballs. You'll rarely see Loney look that off-balance.
I'm far too emotionally scarred from the past few years to declare the offense fixed -- at least not until the Giants score double digits in eight consecutive games against the Padres. But the supply of juice the team has managed to squeeze from guys like Mota, Casilla and Bautista cannot last forever (can it?), and my skeptical self wonders if relief pitching has surpassed impact hitting as the team's top priority. A revitalized Affeldt would help immensely.
Relief pitcher? Big hitter? Bat? Relief? What should the Giants trade for first and foremost? Discuss.
