George Kontos sitting in the bullpen, May 25th, 2012. (Photo: Mac)

The Giants traded Chris Stewart to the New York Yankees for right handed pitcher George Kontos this past off-season. It was a trade that involved a backup catcher and someone that appeared to be stuck in AAA for a long time — not necessarily something that would make the big hot stove headlines.

However, Kontos has been solid in his time with the Fresno Grizzlies, putting up an ERA and FIP of 1.95/2.51. He has a K/9 rate of 7.16 and a BB/9 rate of 1.30. His K/BB rate is at 5.50 and his 0.98 WHIP.

It’s easy to ignore Kontos’ stats, considering he will be 27 in about two weeks, and was the Padres’ Rule 5 pick following the 2010 season (he didn’t make the team, thus returned to the Yankees organization). But maybe there’s a bit more to him than organizational filler. » Continue reading “Curious About George: Why Kontos Could Help the Giants’ Bullpen”

So let’s talk about Tim Lincecum. Of course we’re going to talk about Tim Lincecum, what the heck else would we talk about? His line tonight was pleasantly mediocre – two runs, one earned, in seven innings, with four hits, five walks, and six Ks. It looked like a very good Jonathan Sanchez game, in fact! Which is not really something we want to be the gold standard for Timmy, but these days, that’s promising.

Examining it a little more, there’s things to be optimistic about. The point was made by someone on Twitter earlier today – I forget whom, my apologies – that thus far this year Timmy’s been absolutely disintegrating with guys on base. Going into this game, the splits:
-Bases empty: .244/.320/.400
-Runners on base: .287/.400/.474
-Runners in scoring position: .344/.468/.574

All of which adds up to a 59% LOB, third worst in the majors among qualifying starting pitchers. Timmy has been pretty close to league average with the bases empty, but he’s been very bad with runners on and unspeakable as soon as they get to second. But I promised optimism! Tonight, Timmy kept his composure with runners on. He did well out of the stretch, and almost escaped a leadoff double unscathed, giving up an unearned run thanks to a bobble by Gregor Blanco. After 6, he was at only 93 pitches, and when Bochy sent him back out for the 7th he worked his way out of trouble despite eminently hittable stuff. » Continue reading “Giants Recap: Giants Sweep The, Ha Ha, No.”

MELK TIME (Photo: Keith Allison/flickr)

Ryan Vogelsong did Ryan Vogelsong things. The bullpen did vintage bullpen things. Buster Posey did Buster Posey things. On a lot of nights, those would be the story. But it’s not every day that a Willie Mays record (even if it’s one of his “lesser” ones) gets broken by pretty much the hottest player in the National League.

When the Giants traded for Melky Cabrera, it was a high-risk, high-reward move. Jonathan Sanchez has tremendous raw stuff that he couldn’t quite put together despite always seeming to be on the verge, and Melky Cabrera was coming off an outstanding year that could easily have been an anomaly that the Giants would never see. It really could have gone either way. At this point, I think it’s safe to say things have worked out awfully swimmingly for the Giants, who have suddenly found themselves in possession of a .966 OPS, 170 wRC+ number three hitter who is not Pablo Sandoval. I don’t want to get premature here, but it’s pretty nice to think about this lineup with the addition of a healthy Pablo Sandoval, considering that they’ve managed to score some runs on a reasonably consistent basis even without him.

But for now, a win is a win, and that was a pretty nice one. Fingers crossed that tomorrow’s battle of struggling aces falls the Giants’ way.

The Giants look to face the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three game series home at AT&T Park.

Barry Zito faces Trevor Cahill this afternoon. Ryan Vogelsong goes on Tuesday against Joe Saunders. On Wednesday, Tim Lincecum goes up against Ian Kennedy.

It’ll be interesting to see if Melky Cabrera can continue his milk-bottle-shattering numbers throughout the homestand. On the road trip, he was getting hits after hits after hits. On the season, he’s got a line of .369/.412/.556, wOBA of .417, ISO of .187, and a BABIP of .406.

Please don’t let the regression bus stop by anytime soon. This whole having-a-competent-hitter-thing is swell.

The Giants will be arriving home with a 4-3 record on this road trip following a win against the Miami Marlins.

I feel like this could’ve been a routine Matt Cain game: pitch well enough to go deep into the game without many mistakes, hope the offense gets enough runs to win, hope the bullpen doesn’t implode fireworks.

Melky Cabrera had a day that would make The Melkmen proud: 4-for-4 with three runs scored and one RBI. Not bad, Melky, not bad.

Otherwise, y’know, there’s Ryan Theriot making routine plays look really hard. But he is the man behind the TOOTBLAN, so it’s probably fitting.

And Buster Posey is Captain America who ain’t havin’ base stealers. There is no doubt about it at this point.

The Giants didn’t do well today and lost.

Madison Bumgarner did not pitch to the best of his abilities. The defense threw some clown’s shoes onto the field and it jumped through hoops where dolphins threw up rainbows and Gloria Estefan started a congo line.

And then it just kinda ended and the Marlins won.

Gregor Blanco went 3-for-5 today with an RBI. Not that teh ribeyez matter, but. That’s there. They scored three runs. And. Yeah.

I mean, what else is there to say when the Giants just throw red noses onto the field and say, “HEY, TAKE THESE NOSES.” And the Lisa Frank-induced hallucinogen that is the Marlins home run sculpture just takes it.

The Giants scored fourteen runs today — FOURTEEN.

It seems like I could be making that up, but I’m not. And it’s actually kinda spectacular.

Except that there’s this part where the bullpen gave up runs. But, hey, they won, so.

Yeah, I still don’t know what to make of it, either.

But this Melky Cabrera fellow is pretty good at baseball, don’tcha think?

The last time the Giants played the Marlins…I’d rather not think about it. I was at two of those games. That wasn’t fun. But alas, Matt Cain had been Cained, Barry Zito was perfectly Zitonian, and Ryan Vogelsong had a tough time throwing strikes in the early innings, but managed to stay in the game for a while but the offense had a problem with RISP.

This doesn’t really seem that different from any other series, I suppose.

And tonight, they venture into the wild of South Florida, where there is– » Continue reading “Series Preview: Giants Going Fishing In Miami”

The Giants gave up six runs in the first, but only two were earned. Barry Zito was particularly Zitonian today and gave up eight runs total, but only four were earned.

Marco Estrada hit an RBI double. And then got hurt. The Brewers had to go to their bullpen before the Giants did. And Zack Greinke came in to pinch-run for Estrada. » Continue reading “Giants Recap: Baseball Is Weird”

The Giants scored six runs today. Which is odd, because they don’t normally do things like that. But I won’t complain because it’s nice to see them score runs.

Matt Cain pitched decently enough to get the win, I suppose. I mean, 7 IP, 8K, 0BB. Not bad or anything. Four runs were given up, but otherwise, he was Matt Cain. Plus, the offense actually managed to get him enough runs.

Plus, Sergio Romo. Also, Melky Cabrera has an awesome arm. And Captain Handsomepants Buster Posey hit an awesome home run. And Joaquin Arias did, too! First career home run! I didn’t know he could actually hit like that, but I’ll take it.

The game is on at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning, which I think is way too early to be subjected to watching Barry Zito pitch. That’s just me. And maybe a couple other people. But I’ll be fine with it if Perfectly Acceptable Zito shows up tomorrow. Please.