Friday, July 1, 2011

Game Recap: Giants 4, Tigers 3

-- Excellent start from Madison Bumgarner, who appears to be taking his game to the next level. A few days ago, pitch f/x expert Josh Smolow took a look at MadBum over at the Hardball Times, pegging him as a good candidate for a breakout:
The increased usage of his slider and change-up in its location has resulted in Bumgarner overall having his swinging strike rate increase from 7.8 percent in 2010 to 8.9 percent in 2011, while Bumgarner's rate of hitting the strike zone has essentially stayed the same (actually, it's increased slightly).

This is a significant change, and it's one we'd expect to result in Bumgarner having a greatly improved K rate alongside a similar BB rate to 2010. Thus, an improvement in his peripherals would seem a likely possibility for Bumgarner.

In his last two starts, Bumgarner has tossed 14.1 innings, striking out 20 while allowing just two walks. Conclusion: this kid can pitch. Really well.

-- I'm genuinely worried about Brian Wilson. Just a rough patch, sure. But he's clearly been worse this year. His K/9 is down to 8.53 (it was 11.23 last year). His BB/9 is all the way up to 4.97 (up from 3.13 last year). He's been successful, but a lot of that is due to a home run rate that seems unsustainable (he's allowed one home run in 38 innings this year -- though that's partially helped by an improved groundball rate). Dude's not the same. Oh yeah, and these stats are from before tonight's meltdown (which will inevitably make the 2011 stats worse). I am without a doubt more confident in Sergio Romo than Brian Wilson at this point.

-- Speaking of the meltdown, man, was that stupid of him to explode in the dugout like that. I realize he's an emotional man, but punching stuff with his pitching hand is just a bad idea. We've had enough injuries this season. (By the way, Productive Outs has video of the meltdown, if you wish to see it...)

-- Bill Hall sucks. We probably won't see him for much longer though:


Gotta think Hall. RT @itsblim: @hankschulman Who's most likely odd man out when Fonty comes back?Sat Jul 02 05:44:18 via Echofon


-- Brandon Crawford: Three walks in five plate appearances!

-- Aaron Rowand: Three hits against right-handed pitching! Wow.

-- The Giants had more walks than strikeouts in this game; they've only done that eight times in the post-Bonds era.