The Giants finally got some good news Wednesday. Not only did they defeat the Braves 7-5, the Diamondbacks also lost closing the gap in the NL West to 2.5 games. They club has Tim Lincecum on the hill Thursday against youngster Mike Minor – another positive sign that things might be turning for the better (especially since Lincecum has killed it on the road this year going 7-4 with a 2.08 ERA and 1.13 WHIP over 13 starts). Third, Sergio Romo’s injured elbow is structurally sound. Though he was placed on the DL surgery isn’t going to be needed. Fourth, and this might be the best news of the bunch, Brian Wilson’s wonky elbow is alright. Wilson, who had Tommy John surgery on his wing before he turned pro, went to visit Dr. James Andrews to get his elbow checked out. The diagnosis? Just like Romo, Wilson has no structural damage in his elbow. Even better than Romo, it appears that Wilson will be able to avoid the DL as long as he takes a few days off. You can breath easier Giants’ fans.
Let the good times continue to roll…
Matt Cain dominated the Braves when the Giants needed him most. Cain walked just one batter while striking out nine to end a personal three game losing streak. Cain started a bit slowly, but in the end he retired the final 18 batters that came to the plate against him. “He’s so steady,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s got that calmness you look for, both on the mound and in the clubhouse.” The eight inning, zero earned run outing dropped Cain’s ERA to 2.86 as he pushed his record up to 10-9. He obviously deserves a much better win-loss mark than that for the excellent way he has pitched this season.
Jonathan Sanchez, who sprained his ankle the other day while fielding a bunt (it looked really painful), is doing much better. In fact, there is growing optimism that he will be able to make his next start for the Giants.
Now the bad news. What, you thought there wouldn’t be any? Haven’t you been paying attention the past week?
Eli Whiteside injured his noggin on a slide. He stayed in the game for a couple of more innings but eventually he had to leave with dizziness. Chris Stewart will start on Tuesday. As of press time, Whiteside was not believed to have suffered a concussion, so he should be able to return to the lineup shortly.
Jeff Keppinger’s status? Keppinger will have to rest for a few days in a best case scenario. A worst case scenario would be surgery. Jeff injured his right wrist early this week, and his visit to a hand specialist revealed that his injury was in a tricky spot (if he were to break the scaphoid bone that could be a career threatening situation). Therefore, it wouldn’t be shocking if he missed the rest of this week. In his absence it would seem that Mike Fontenot would see the majority of the starts at second.
NUMBERS
The Giants tied a franchise record with four sacrifice flies Wednesday.
The Giants head out on a 10 game road trip on a decided down note. They went 3-7 on the home stand to fall half a game behind the Diamondbacks for the NL West lead. This is the first time since 2008 that they have lost 3-straight home series. They have only seven hits in their last 58 at-bats with runners in scoring position (.121). Oh, and the three teams they are set to play on the upcoming trip – the Marlins, Braves and Astros – have not lost a single game to the Giants this year (to be fair they’ve only played six games against the three clubs as they haven’t yet faced the Astros).
Ugh.
Carlos Beltran has an injured wrist, and while the team is trying their best to soft peddle the situation, concern is growing that a DL stint might be necessary. Beltran has already missed three games, and the working plan was for him to return to the lineup on Friday. That has already been ruled out – and clearly the level of anxiety is growing. The Giants desperately need a healthy Beltran in the middle of their lineup, so if he were to hit the DL it would be a devastating loss for an offense that struggles to rub two quarters together most of the time.
Ugh.
Jeff Keppinger hasn’t done much since he joined the club. He’s hitting a solid .280, but he has only two RBI an a .646 OPS through 20 games. He isn’t a difference maker on offense, but it would be nice to see him contribute something other than a hallow average. However, compared to what the club has gotten from Mike Fontenot over his last 20 games – Mike has hit .185 with a .472 OPS – Keppinger has looked pretty good. I know, that’s setting the bar pretty low.
Ugh.
Jonathan Sanchez lasted just 4.1 innings Wednesday as he allowed five runs, four earned, in the outing. Per his M.O. he racked up the strikeouts, he had six, he also walked four batters (all four of the batters that he issues free passes to came around to score). The Giants aren’t even committing to using him in his next outing, and Steve Kroner of the San Francisco Chronicle even suggests that Double-A lefty Eric Surkamp could be called up to make the start (Barry Zito is still working his way back and doesn’t appear ready to take the ball for the Giants in four games). As for Surkamp, who has never appeared in the big league before, he has had a great season to date with a 2.03 ERA and 156 Ks in 128.1 innings. However, would it really be wise to give a guy his first big league start in the heat of a pennant race?
Ugh.
Pablo Sandoval hit a home run Wednesday, the 19th straight solo homer the club has hit. That ties the major league record set by the 1914 Phillies. It seems like this team is big on making history, though it’s not always in a positive way. Speaking of Sandoval, he’s hitting .310 on the year and has hit in eight of the last nine games. Dating back to the All-Star break, a span of 26 games, Pablo has hit .326 with a .905 OPS. If that level of production sounds familiar, it should. In 2009 Sandoval hit .330 with a .943 OPS.
Nate Schierholtz hurt his hip when he scored from first on a single in the 8th inning Wednesday. It looks like he could miss a couple of days. His loss, when added to that of Carlos Beltran and Pat Burrell, leaves the outfield pretty thin right now.
Desperate for offense, and suddenly beset by a myriad of injuries, the Giants made a deal Tuesday to add a bat to their infield. It is not an elite bat, not one that is going to push the lineup over the top, but given the cost to acquire Jeff Keppinger, the deal seems like a win for the Giants. “Without being harsh, this group is not getting it done,” GM Brian Sabean said. “We’ve got to extend the lineup any way we can, and I think this is an upgrade.”
THE DEAL
Giants give: RHP Henry Sosa, RHP Jason Stoffel Giants receive: Jeff Keppinger
Sosa is nearly 26 years old, and though he has a nice arm the team no longer considered him an upper echelon prospect. As for Stoffel, who was the key to the deal on the Astros side, he was a bit harder to part with. At High-A ball last year he had 25 saves with an 11.72 K/9 mark, and this season at Double-A he has 13 saves. He was a 4th round draft pick after a college career at ASU as a closer.
REASON FOR DEAL
As for the reason for the deal? It’s pretty obvious.
Freddy Sanchez is on the DL with his injured shoulder. He continues to make solid progress in his recovery. However, he’s just begun to throw, the hardest part of his recovery, and though the team is hopeful he will be able to contribute this year, they simply don’t know if he will. “There are no guarantees he’s going to be ready before the season is over,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “You’ve got to cover yourself.”
The middle infield news got even worse when Miguel Tejada was sent to the DL with a lower abdominal injury (Bill Hall is also on the DL). The injury comes at a bad time given that Tejada had finally started to hit (.283 over his last 32 games).
With Brandon Crawford barely hitting .200 – he’s at .201 through 139 at-bats, and Mike Fontenot best suited for a reserve role, a deal was needed.
WHO IS JEFF KEPPINGER?
Keppinger is a solid major league hitter – a “professional hitter” if you will. The owner of a career .284 batting average, Jeff figures to never hurt a club in the average department, not with his superb eye at the plate. The owner of a 1.18 BB/K ratio in his career, a mark that is more than double the big league average, Keppinger swings at strikes and puts the ball in play. He has little power to speak of, only 30 homers in his career, and his .337 OBP is barely better than the league average, but given the state of the Giants offense his addition was sorely needed. Keppinger is hitting .307 this season and is coming off his best year as he batted .288 with six homers, 59 RBI, 62 runs and four steals last season in 137 games with the Astros in 2010. Stop me if those numbers sound familiar. If you can’t place why, just take a look at the back of a Freddy Sanchez ball card. The two are very similar hitters.
One other fact that has been bandied about by the local press is the success Keppinger has had against lefties this year (.421 average, 1.137 OPS in 38 at-bats). Not just a one year wonder, Keppinger has always beaten up lefties with a .337/.386/.498 slash line in 546 such at-bats.
OUTLOOK
For now the plan appears to be for Keppinger to play second on a full-time basis while Fontenot and Crawford man the shortstop position. When Tejada returns to full health, and if Sanchez returns to the fold, things will get crowded, but for now look for Keppinger to play pretty much every day as he tries to bring some offense to a club that is starved for it.
Sorry Jonathan Sanchez, but Barry Zito has no intention of allowing you back into the starting rotation. Thursday night Zito improved to 3-1 by holding the Padres to a mere run over eight innings of work (in the victory the Giants won their 50th game, the first time they have reached that mark before the All-Star break since the 2003 season). Zito had it all going with seven strike outs, four hits allowed and, wait for it, not a single walk (he retired 14 of the final 16 batters that took a bat to home plate). In three starts since returning to the bump Zito is 3-0, has allowed a total of three runs (1.29 ERA) and has posted a WHIP of 0.81. You can’t pitch much better than that. The Giants faithful were so pleased with Zito that they actually gave him a standing ovation as he walked off the field. How do you like them apples Giants fans?
Everyone talks about the Phillies and their vaunted pitching staff, but how many clubs have a 4th starter in the All-Star game (Ryan Vogelsong), a 5th starter who is a Cy Young winner (Zito), and a 6th starter that is averaging more than a strikeout per inning (Sanchez is actually fifth in baseball with a 9.23 K/9 mark)? I’ll put the Giants’ starting pitchers up against any in baseball.
Brandon Belt (wrist) was activated from the DL and sent to Triple-A Fresno to begin his on the field work. Will he be back soon? It doesn’t sound like the team will rush him at all. Here’s a tweet from Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. “Bochy says Brandon Belt will Be a nice insurance policy at Fresno if anyone gets hurt. Giants want him to get at-bats, build momentum.” Here’s another telling quote. “Bochy says Brandon Belt will Be a nice insurance policy at Fresno if anyone gets hurt. Giants want him to get at-bats, build momentum.” That doesn’t sound at all like a guy that will have a significant role any time soon. This certainly hasn’t been the type of season that Belt, the team, of those who own Belt in fantasy baseball leagues had hoped to see from the clubs reigning Minor League Player of the Year. His future is still plenty bright, but his greatness is in a holding pattern for now.
Mike Fontenot will not activated as hoped Friday. Fontenot has had a few setbacks in his attempted recovery from his groin issue. He just can’t seem to get over the hump as each time he ramps up his activity he’s set back. With Bill Hall injured after being spiked by Jason Bartlett (Hall could end up on the DL), the team really could use a boost up the middle. Luckily, and I’m as surprised to write this as you are to read it, Miguel Tejada is providing that spark. Tejada had two hits Thursday night, and since the calendar flipped to July he is batting .421 over 19 at-bats. Going back a bit further he’s at least been respectable at the plate hitting .277 over his last 94 at-bats. Hey, it’s a start.
Pablo Sandoval’s hit streak reached 18 innings. That’s the longest by a Giant since Buster Posey had a 21 gamer last year. Sandoval is now hitting .302 on the year.
You can read more of Ray Flowers’ work at BaseballGuys.com and you can follow his random musings on the baseball universe at the BaseballGuys’ Twitter account.
Tim Lincecum has been a party to slumps before, just check out his horrid performance in the month of August last year (0-5, 7.82 ERA). When he started out similarly slowly in the month of June with a 7.59 ERA and 0-2 record over his first four starts of the month the whispers began to grow yet again regarding the mighty mite. He’s too small. His body is going to wear down. Sooner or later that funky delivery is going to catch up to him. To all of you that took any of those positions Lincecum has a statement for you – he’s back.
The Twins didn’t stand a chance Thursday as Lincecum dominated them on his way to 12 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings. Moreover, The Freak punched out nine of the final 12 batters that were forced to come to the plate against him. “Not worrying about what’s going to happen if I throw a pitch is the biggest thing. I always wondered if throw a pitch, what’s going to happen if I leave it over the middle? I wasn’t thinking anything like that.” It’s one start, but he certainly looked like the Lincecum of old.
Mark Ellis is a solid major leaguer who owns a good glove and a passable bat at second base. However, injuries are always an issue, and with the A’s being able to turn to Jemile Weeks, their second baseman of the future right now (Weeks has hit .321 with six steals in 15 games with the club), Ellis’ value is minimal to the A’s who will only use him in an a super utility role. With his contract set to expire at the end of the year, the A’s will look to unload his salary if they can find a taker. Obviously the Giants have come up as a possibly landing spot for Ellis. Not only do they potentially have a need with Freddy Sanchez out with shoulder woes, Ellis also is a local boy, at least in terms of his big league career (every big league at-bat of his career has been with the A’s). There’s also this little diddy. Ellis literally lives blocks from where the Giants play their home games. Despite all of that, it seems like the Giants aren’t interested. They are holding out hope that Sanchez will be able to return at some point, and they also feel that the soon to return Mike Fontenot is capable of filling in at second for an extended period of time if needed. Sorry Mark. It looks like if/when you get dealt you’re going to have to find a new place to lay your head at night.
Andre Torres, who I wrote about yesterday in Vogelsong Making History, has been held out of the lineup for two games to see if he can find his groove, something he has clearly lost given his .207 batting average over his last 92 at-bats. “I talked to Andres last night,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He even said he could use another day.” I doubt two days on the sidelines will solve anything, but hopefully he’ll return to the lineup on Friday and the results will follow.
Brian Wilson lost his scoreless streak at 16 games when the Twins scored a run off him in the 9th inning. It mattered little though in the end as he still picked up his 21st save of the year.
You can read more of Ray Flowers’ work at BaseballGuys.com and you can follow his random musings on the baseball universe at the BaseballGuys’ Twitter account.
