Baseball Musings: One-Run West

April 11, 2007

One-Run West

All four western games played Tuesday night ended with a one-run difference. The Giants raised their scoring average half a run as they held off a late charge by the Padres to take the contest 6-5. The Giants bullpen won't want to see Adrian Gonzalez again as he homered off both Kevin Correia and Armando Benitez late in the game make it a close one. Benitez now owns two saves, but he also owns a 7.71 ERA. On the positive side for the Giants, Matt Morris pitched another decent game, although for the season he's walked more than he's struck out. He's on his way to Rueterville. The Giants also moved Bonds to fourth in the batting order, which for some reason had magical effects:

Bochy had wanted Bonds to hit third so he would bat in the first inning in every game. Bochy also thought he might be able to remove Bonds for defense earlier in games, better preserving his legs.
But after watching the Giants score 14 runs in their first seven games, Bochy decided the benefits were outweighed by a lineup imbalance that had four lefties or switch-hitters atop the lineup followed by three right-handers.

...

"This isn't going to be a back-and-forth thing," Bochy said. "That's not the message I want to send to the club, that I'm a panic guy who shoots from the hip with my lineups. It's important we settle in and have a stable lineup. I don't want these guys to think I'm going to change it just because we had a bad week. That's not going to be the case."

Isn't that what you did, Bruce?

The Reds/Diamondbacks game started as a slugfest with five home runs in the first four innings, but then neither team scored for six straight frames. Finally, in the bottom of the 11th, a Jackson single and a Hairston double ended the game. The Reds were 8 for 39 in the game, the DBacks 9 for 40, and both teams knocked out 17 total bases. The two starters lasted seven innings, allowing six hits and four runs. The game was even all around.

Brett Tomko impressed in his 2007 debut, but it was an unusual start for him. He walked more batters than usual (three in six innings), but he also struck out more than usual (nine total). That made him pretty unhittable as Colorado managed just one hit.

But Rodrigo Lopez pitched his second strong game, and the Rockies were able to tie the game at one in the seventh. But Byung-Hyun Kim gave up his one hit and walk back to back, setting up a sacrifice fly in the eighth for the winning run. It was the Dodgers fourth one-run game of the season, and the third time they held their opponent to just one run.

And in the lone western AL game, the Athletics eked out a win over the White Sox 2-1. Jon Garland and Mike MacDougal held Oakland in check for eight innings, allowing just three hits and three walks. But in the ninth, the A's found Jenks an easy target. They knocked out four hits, culminating in a two-out single by Mark Ellis with the bases loaded to push the winning run across the plate from third. It's the third 2-1 game the A's played in their last four, with Oakland taking home the victory in two of them.

Posted by David Pinto at 07:51 AM | Games | TrackBack (0)

Comments

Bonds should bat clean-up because then he'll either hit with a man on base in the first inning, or he will lead off the second inning. In the 3rd spot there will be many times when he hits with two outs and the bases empty. Of course it's all a lost cause anyway if the Giants are planning to have Pedro Feliz lead the team in games played again this year.

Posted by: Mike at April 11, 2007 01:40 PM

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