Results tagged ‘ Ryan Sadowski ’
Mid-Season Reports Cards — Pitchers
Yesterday we graded the Giants hitters based on their first half performances, so today we’re going after the pitchers. Like I said before, I’m going to be as objective and as straight-forward as I can (without the use of profanity), so without further ado, here are your Giants’ pitchers’ report cards.
Starters
Tim Lincecum – Probably the easiest pitcher to judge out of everyone. With expectations after a Cy Young award running super high, Lincecum got off to a little bit of a rocky start. But then it all seemed to click and today he’s sitting with a 10-2 record with a 2.33 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP. And to add on that deliciousness, the kid’s got 141 Ks in 127 2/3 innings. His assault on batters throughout the month of June was phenomenal and he could be looking at a second consecutive award. Grade: A
Matt Cain – After a couple of up and down seasons and withstanding the lack of run support, things have turned around for Cain and the Giants. Not only is he pitching better than ever, but the Giants are responding with tremendous run support. He also is 10-2 and is currently sitting with a 2.38 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. His walk total (46) is a little high, but other than that, I have no complaints. Grade: A
Barry Zito – Talk about bi-polar players….yeesh! Zito has flashed some brilliance this season, but unfortuantely follows it up with atrocity. Two starts ago he was pitching shutout ball into the 9th and the start after that he can’t get out of the 5th without giving up 9 earned runs. It’s tough to rely on a guy with no consistency, but even the most fanatical of Giants fans will say that this has been his best season for them to date. Grade: C-
Randy Johnson – There were two simple requests made of Johnson when he came to the Giants: give us whatever you have left on the mound and teach our kids how to be major league stars. Well, he’s given us both. Johnson’s presence in the clubhouse and his mentoring of Lincecum and Cain have paid major dividends while his 8-6 record and 4.81 ERA has given us a decent, not outstanding, middle of the rotation guy. I’ll expect a little more out of him on the hill when he comes back after the break (so long as his shoulder is ok), but for now, he’s been solid. Grade: B
Jonathan Sanchez – Seriously…as great as it was, we can’t put this kid on a pedestal for throwing a no-hitter against the woeful Padres. It was a tremendous feat, but let’s be realistic. That outing (plus a couple of scoreless relief appearances) actually lowered his ERA to a 4.69, and even that number seems low considering what he’s given us. He’s a 26 year old lefty who could be a huge commodity in the trade market after his acccomplishment, but for us this year, he’s been nothing short of disastrous. Grade: D
Ryan Sadowski – The rookie from nowhere got the call up instead of bigger names like Tim Alderson and Madison Bumgarner and performed admirably. His first 2 starts were rock solid and even his last one where he got touched up a bit, wasn’t awful. He doesn’t have great stuff and a guy like him concerns me down the stretch. I don’t think he’ll be up with the Giants for much longer. Still, he did ok for us whil ehe was here. Grade: B
Relievers
Brian Wilson – While the twittering has stopped, the mohawk still has to go. As does the anxiety he brings to each and every trip to the mound. I don’t know if he’s too amped up when he gets out there, but it looks like he’s overthrowing 80% of the time. His 23 saves rank among the tops in the league, but that 3.66 ERA ranks among the worst for closers. 15 walks in just over 39 innings is way too high. The kid’s got talent, but there’s not enough Pepto Bismol in my medicine cabinet to watch another half a season like this. Grade: C+
Justin Miller – Quietly becoming one of our better guys out of the pen, although he’s mostly been used in non-pressure situations. He’s appeared in 29 games, pitched 41 innings and has a 1.98 ERA with 24 Ks. The numbers aren’t phenomenal, but they’re certainly helpful to the team. A guy like him definitely has value when you need to call on him in the 5th and 6th innings when a guy like Zito falls apart. Grade: B-
Brandon Medders – Another decent bullpen guy that hasn’t done too poorly this season. Sure, he’s had a hiccup or two (who hasn’t?), but his 2.72 ERA and 32 Ks in just over 36 innings is pretty solid. The one major thing that isn’t solid is the 17 walks issued. That number is gonna kill us if he doesn’t fix it. Grade: C+
Jeremy Affeldt – I lauded this signing in the offseason and have not been disappointed one bit. OK, maybe a few times (also 17 walks in 34 innings….yeesh!) but overall, Affeldt has solidified the 7th and 8th innings with his performance. Batters are only hitting .209 against him and he’s leading the league in holds with 19. The walks are the only reason he’s not getting an A. Grade: B+
Bobby Howry – Another signing I was pretty happy about as I thought, with him and Affeldt, the bridge between starter and closer would be solid. Howry’s been ok, but not great. His 3.38 ERA doesn’t enthrall me and he’s given up 27 hits and a dozen walks in just 32 innings. Lately it seems like he’s losing his hold on his set-up spot, but he’ll still be a solid asset the rest of the way. Grade: B-/C+
Merkin Valdez – Tremendous potential, but he just doesn’t have it right now. He’s still pretty erratic and gives up far too many walks and hits to be an effective set up man. His 4.97 ERA and 1.45 WHIP are not the numbers ytou want from a guy whom you brought in to help protect a lead or even just to keep things from getting any worse. He’s like my mom’s chicken….needs more seasoning. Grade: D
Sergio Romo – This kid’s just getting started. He’s only got 13 innings to date, but his 2.77 ERA and 16 K’s are a pretty good indication of better days ahead. He seems to be getting some of Howry’s workload lately, so keep an eye on him. I think there’s fantastic potential here. Grade: B+
I’ve quietly left out guys like Osiris Matos, Alex Hinshaw and Joe (ouch, right in the noggin!!) Martinez due to a lack of quality sample size. Consider all them them “incompletes”. Maybe we’ll see a little more of Joe later on, but I don’t see any of the three having any kind of a major impact.
So that’s what it looks like, Giants fans, and it doesn’t look to bad. I think we’ll probably see some of our youngsters in late August/early September, depending on what we do with Sanchez, and eventually Zito, but for now, our pitching is still our biggest asset.
The season starts back up on Friday in Pittsburgh, so enjoy the second half. We’ve got plenty of work to do, but I think we can do it. Go Giants!
Marlins Give Giants Trouble at Home in Series Finale
When I saw that the Marlins would likely be missing All Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez, there was an overwhelming sense of jubilation as I thought about making up ground in the division and separating ourselves from the others in the Wild Card hunt. To take a bat out of a lineup like that was huge and there was no doubt that Dave Righetti and the pitching staff were licking their chops. Funny though, how things don’t always turn out the way you hope in the baseball world.
The opening game of the series actually added fuel to my fire, and the second one, even more. I was expecting a low scoring game, hoping we could scratch out a couple of runs against All Star Josh Johnson and praying that Barry Zito could pitch well enough to atleast keep the game close. The Marlins bullpen look spretty bleak these days, so if Zito could just keep us in there, maybe we could fight back for a win in the later innings.
Well, much to my surprise, Zito did plenty more than that, and as we scratched and clawed to eke out 3 runs against Johnson, he held the Marlins scoreless through a very impressive 8 1/3 innings of 4 hit ball. I couldn’t tell you how many double takes I did as I repeatedly glanced back at the TVs while at work behind the bar, but the neck is definitely still sore today.
I didn’t expect our bats to do too much against a kid like Johnson, so the fact that we even plated 3 runs (thank you Juan Uribe) was impressive as well. Impressive only in the sense that if it wasn’t for that fluke pitch that Uribe planted in the seats in left, we would have been sweating this one out even more, going with Sergio Romo in the 9th for the save.
But the jubilee didn’t last much longer than that. While the Giants seemed more inclined to promote voting for Pablo Sandoval during BP the following day, the Marlins were getting ready to exact some revenge. The second game of the series was as ugly as you could get.
We mustered 5 measley hits against Marlins starter and complete game winner Chris Volstad, the luck ran out on rookie Ryan Sadowski, Sandoval committed his 7th error on the season (a terrible throw to first that started the 6th inning), and Justin Miller and Merkin Valdez raised the bullpen’s ERA as they allowed a total of 4 runs in 3 innings. Just a terrrible overall performance on what coul dhave been such a beautiful day.
But again, it’s about taking the good with the bad, and instead of focusing on yesterday’s dismal game or on making sure there are enough “Vote for Pablo” shirts to go around, the Giants need to focus on the upcoming 4 game series against the Padres that starts tonight. We’ve had a very tough time with the boys from San Diego and we need an impressive showing for these last 4 games before we close out the first half.
We’ve got and All Star of our own in Tim Lincecum going tonight, so my expectations are pretty damn high. The Pods are throwing rookie Josh Geer at us, so I want to see some patience at the plate as we methodically carve him up. Like I’ve said before, it’s a fine line between free-swinging and uselessly hacking away in the dirt. We need to be smart and we need to walk away with a sweep here.
Maybe Pablo will find his way in to the All Star Game and celebrate with a 4 for 5, 1 HR, 5 RBI night. Keeping my fingers crossed for the Panda! If you haven’t voted yet…and you have a very short time left….then click here to vote!
Go Giants!
Giants Split First Two With Astros; Lose Unit to DL
”So we sadly drop the final two games of the Cardinals, come home, open up a can of whup-*** on the Astros on our fireworks night and then not only lose to them the following day, but lose Randy Johsnon as well. I know they say it’s about taking the good with the bad, but the bad really sucks. What if I want to opt out for the bad?”
These were actually the words of a friend that I was talking to as we were walking our dogs this morning.
“Opt out of the bad?”, I said. “Then don’t be a Giants fans anymore.”
That was my advice, plain and simple. If you’re only looking for the ups without the downs, the positives and not the negatives, then it’s time to stop rooting for the Giants. You just can’t have one without the other. Not with this team, and realistically speaking, not with any team.
Not that he was being serious or anything, but I understood what he meant. It was that sad sack sort of way of looking at his team doing well only to have to watch an integral part of that success falter. I can understand how he’s feeling.
And it does suck, for lack of a better phrase. Your team’s on a roll, they’ve got a fairly easy schedule coming up before the break and then suddenly your pitching staff suffers a blow when Randy Johnson ends up on the DL with a shoulder strain. But unfortuantely, there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s baseball, and these things happen. And let’s be honest. He’s how old? He’s thrown how many innings in his career? You didn’t think that he wouldn’t suffer from any problems that can be attributed to age and over-use? If you didn’t, then your cock-eyed optimism is going to be the death of your fandom. You just won’t be able to go on rooting for your team with each and every crushing blow you’re dealt.
So the Unit’s out. What can you do? Not the worst time in the world for him to be down….so long as it really is just a mild shoulder strain. At the time of this, Johnson’s MRI results have not been released and everything from shoulder strain to Bengie Molina’s diagnosis of “it was scary” are pure speculation. Wait until word comes before allowing panic to settle in.
In the meantime, let’s atleast try to look on the bright side of things. Rookie Ryan Sadowski has been more than solid and can hopefully deliver another quality start or two before the break. If the Giants just use Jonathan Sanchez as his rotation replacement, maybe he can turn some things around for himself. We’re not playing anyone that’s got any kind of a Murderer’s Row lineup, so maybe he’ll look sharp — sharp enough to maybe give him a little added trade value? Who knows? But I’m sure teams will be watching.
There’s also the fact that the All Star weekend provides a little extra time off, so that might be good for Johnson to take it easy and rehab properly. It’s one thing for this to happen in the heat of a playoff run in mid-August, but with the extra few days off with the break, there’s not that huge sense of urgency looming. It’s not much, but it’s something.
We can also be looking at the fact that our hitting has been light years ahead of where it was just a month ago. I’m not saying that we’ve got our issues settled, but we’re scoring a lot mor eruns lately and we’re looking sharper at the plate, for the most part. We do need to rein in this “free-swinging” mentality a bit.
As we’ve seen, it’s pretty sink or swim and when it’s not swimming it’s sinking hard. There is a subte difference between being a free swinging club and a group of bums that strike out all the time because they’re swinging at pitches int he dirt. We’d rather be the former with no mention of the latter, but like I said to my friend at the dog run, you can’t opt out of the bad.
The rubber match against the Astros is tonight at 7:15!! Go Giants!!
Is It In the Cards?
Short and sweet today, kiddies. Short and sweet.
The Giants open up a big 4 game series against the Cardinals in St. Louis today and there are a lot of pressing questions that this series might be able to answer. We’ve got our “big 3″ in the rotation going with Tim Lincecum getting things underway, followed by Randy Johnson and Matt Cain. But that little fact is neither a question nor an answer
Can Barry Zito pitch well enough to keep the Giants in the game on Thursday? Hell, forget Thursday….can he do it from now until the end of the season and (gulp!) the playoffs? And how about our fifth starter? Can Ryan Sadowski pitch well enough to squelch the cries for Tim Alderson and Madison Bumgarner? What’s up with Nate Schierholtz and Andres Torres? Is one of them going to be moved in a deal? How will Jonathan Sanchez react to his demotion? Will the Giants trade for a bat at some point? Is Matt Downs the answer at second base?
Phew! Now that’s a bunch of questions. None of which will we see answers to here in the first half of the season, I’m guessing. From my perspective it looks like the Giants will wait until the All Star Break to make the decisions, and if that’s the case, this series with the Cardinals has quite a lot riding on it.
Not only will the Giants need to use this series (and the one after against the Astros) to keep control of the Wild Card (I’m still laughing about talking about it so early), but this 4 game series is going to be like an open audition for the players mentioned above. Each one of them needs to step up their games this week and really show us what they’ve got.
Downs, Schierholtz, Torres and Sadowski have been solid, but can they maintain that level of play for an extended period of time? Sanchez already has one scoreless inning of relief under his belt, but can he continue to perform to show either A. the Giants, that he can return to the rotation or B. other teams that he has value they want to acquire in a deal?
Zito was much better in his last outing and has shown that the shellackings are coming a little less frequently, but will that hold through a grueling second half?
These questions….and probably a ton more….will hopefully be answered soon. The fun starts tonight in about an hour. Lincecum vs Brian Thompson.
Who?
Exactly.
Go Giants!
Rookie Sadowski Salvages Trip to Milwaukee
I have to admit it…between the 5-1 loss and then the blown victory last night, I was concerned with today’s game. Nothing sadder than losing on the road with the knowledge that you aren’t able to sleep it off in your own bed for atleast 5 more days. And that sadness could have gone two ways. It could have spread throughout the clubhouse thus handing a sweep over to the Brewers or it could light a fire under a team sitting 2 of its better hitters and relying on a 26 year old rookie to pick up the slack left by Jonathan Sanchez’ demotion to the bullpen. Good to see the Giants went with option B.
By no means was today’s victory some stellar display of baseball bravado on the Giants part. It was just a plain old win. It’s easy to get excited when a rookie pitcher comes in and shuts down the opposition, but we need to be realistic about this. Ryan Sadowski, as solid as he was today, is not the answer to the back of the rotation issue the Giants have. He’s a band-aid….granted a decent one today, but give other teams a better look at him….give them better scouting reports, and you’ll understand why Sadowski has a 4+ ERA at Triple-A Fresno.
But I don’t want to dwell on that. Let’s just appreciate today for what it was. It was a well played 7-0 victory that saw everyone get in on the action. Sadowski went 6 strong shutout innings inducing a crazy number of ground ball outs and every Giants starter had a hit. Nate Schierholtz smacked his third home run and our best second baseman since Jeff Kent (sorry Ray Durham), Matt Downs smacked his first career dinger. It was a great offensive display even with Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand both getting the day off.
What I especially liked….and someone needs to get this to the Giants to read, is the success they had by really working the count against Jeff Suppan. Strangely enough, it was in the 2nd inning where they plated 3 runs, the most in any other inning today. 43 pitches, they saw. 43. Funny how not swinging at the first pitch can ease you into an at bat and allow you to wait on a pitch or two. Funny how not falling behind 0-2 on two pitches can affect your plate appearance. Funny how protecting the plate with 2 strikes forces the pitcher to change things up and eventually make a mistake. Your honor, I’d like to offer up Edgar Renteria’s and Randy Winn’s at bats in the second as evidence.
Both times, the hitter worked the count and protected the plate when there were two strikes. And both times, the hitter found success. Renteria knocked a run scoring, ground rule double to left on an 8 pitch at bat while Winn finally drew a bases loaded walk in his own 8 pitch at bat after fouling off the last 3 pitches to stay alive. Now that’s baseball. That’s the cat and mouse game that a pitcher and hitter should go through on a regular basis. That’s what charges you up as a fan — watching your guys work at it and being rewarded for their efforts.
And as the game went on, the Giants kept their foot on the gas, plating runs in the 5th, 6th, 8th and 9th innings. That’s what we want, and it was good to see them do this before heading into a 4 game set versus the Cardinals. At some point we’re going to need to deal with a legitimate 5th starter, but for now, we should simply ride this wave until it breaks. We still have another servicable arm or two in Fresno and there’s still Tim Alderson and Madison Bumgarner in Double-A. We’re playing some decent ball and there’s no need to rush things right now.
Let’s enjoy today for what it was and move on to St. Louis. Big test for our pitchers again with Albert Pujols leading the charge, but I think we can do it. Go Giants!
P.S. Big fan of sending Sanchez out there for mop up duty in the ninth. Maybe this is the lesson he needs to get his head straight and work on his game and mechanics.
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