Skip to main content

Unit, Wilson Hammered By Mets

The Giants haven't quite figured out the Mets yet, or how to pitch David Wright for that matter. The Mets have rolled into San Francisco and taken the first three games of a four game set vs. the Giants, including laying a flat-out beating on the 45-year old Randy Johnson, and twice beating all-star closer Brian Wilson.

In the last post, I touched on how The Unit's season has been pretty much hit or miss so far. He is either on it and gives opposing hitters a tough match-up, or he has gone the other route and been absolutely pounded. In Saturday's match-up vs. the Mets, he got pounded. RJ gave up 11 hits in 4+ innings of work along with 7 earned runs and wasted a winnable opportunity vs. the NL's current best pitcher. The Giants got to Johan Santana for 3 un-earned runs, but Johnson couldn't keep the Mets off the board, something that has been an issue through the first three games of the series. The Mets scored 8 runs on Friday night, in a game which their ace, Tim Lincecum, pitched vs. the Mets #5 starter, Livan Hernandez. The Mets even got to Lincecum for 5 earned runs in 6 innings of work a night after they touched up Jonathan Sanchez for 4 runs on 9 hits in 5.2 innings. But it's not just the starters who have yet to figure out the Mets' lineup, the bullpen, and Brian Wilson in particular, has had a rough couple of games here as well. Wilson was actually the one charged with the losses in both Thursday and Friday nights' games. The Giants' gave up 3 runs in Thursday nights game, then came back Friday and blew another one.

It's not just the Mets who have touched up Giants' pitching in recent ballgames though. The Nationals scored 23 runs in their 3-game set in San Francisco earlier in the week as well. The offense has actually been doing their part for in the last few games, getting runs in from third w/less than two outs, and moving runners along on the base paths. They're also doing it without their full starting 8 all playing at 100 percent healthy at the moment. The teams starting shortstop, Edgar Renteria, has sat out the last couple of games and probably won't return until the middle of next week as he nurses a sore hamstring. Renteria has been a solid cog in the Giants lineup since starting off the season a little slow. Over the last month, Renteria is hitting .297 with 2 homers, 17 runs and 17 RBI and has been a steady hand at shortstop for the team. After his fall off in Detroit (Detroit Tigers Schedule) last year, Renteria was the signing that everyone was planning on hating this year, but he's actually been a solid add thus far and is looking more like he did in Atlanta (Atlanta Braves Schedule) that Motown. He's doing more for the team than Aaron Rowand, who's being paid significantly more than Renteria and offensively, he's providing more production than any Giants' starting shortstop since Rich Aurilia back in early 2000's.

Fred Lewis has been nursing a minor injury of his own as well. The left-fielder is having issues with his toe again, as it's kept him out of the lineup a few times this week. Lewis has cooled off mightily since his hot 2-week start to the season. However, Lewis is showing some signs of coming back to life, going 4 for his last 9 with a home run, 2 doubles and 2 RBI. The bum toe could be a sign of his slight fall off in production, the fact that he's hit for minimal power and the low stolen base total (3). I think Lewis will be fine, but if he's not %100, the Giants shouldn't be forcing into the lineup everyday right now. It's definitely a situation to keep an eye on.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I have to admit, I hated the Renteria signing, but he's been pretty good so far. But why hasn't he been in the lineup lately?
Brutis said…
Renteria hasn't been bad at all. Better than what Brian Bocock and Omar Vizquel (who's playing very well in Texas by the way) were giving the team last year, so all those scouts can go suck it.. Everyone always wants to hate Sabeans signings just because he's had a few bad ones.
Schruender said…
The runs allowed is a definite problem. The Mets don't even have Carlos Delgado right now which is a pretty big loss.

I think Lincecum will be fine. Sanchez and Johnson have been hit or miss all season so there's no sign that says that won't continue to be the case. If anything, with Johnson you have to worry that one of these starts he will give too much effort and his body will just give in. Very concerning.
Anonymous said…
Cainer was great on Sunday night baseball tonight.. Awesome game for the Giants. Also good to see Brian Wilson get back on the right path!

Popular posts from this blog

WORLD SERIES: Giants Move Up 2-0 on Texas

PreGame After taking game one in a surprising slug-fest , the Giants look to go up 2-0 on the Rangers in the World Series on Thursday night. The Giants are sending out Matt Cain, a guy who I'm sure every Giants' fan is pretty confident in. He'll be a opposed by C.J. Wilson, who's in his first year as a full-time starter, but has been brilliant in the role. He did struggle his last time out though, so hopefully the Giants can get to him early and get into his head a bit. I'm going to do something I've never done here on this unique occasion, and sort of do an in-game post. updating this post every time I feel I have something to add. So go Giants, and be sure to check back throughout the game, and after, to vent or whatever! As long as Matt Cain keeps rolling, and the Giants keep coming up with those clutch 2-out hits, we should be OK. Texas has that high-powered offense that can score in a hurry, as we saw last night, so the Giants cannot let down and have to t

Giants Still Need Infield Help

On Saturday, the Giants finalized a 2 year contract extension with Freddy Sanchez, who they acquired in July for Tim Alderson. The new deal for Sanchez will pay him 12 million over the next 2 seasons instead of 8.5 million for just 2010, which was his option for 2010. I've voiced my disappointment in Sanchez a few times here since the Giants dealt for him over the summer. He wasn't able to stay on the field full time to help this club with their run at the NL Wild Card, and even when he was in there, he didn't seem to make much of an impact in th e lineup. Now, I wasn't necessarily hoping the Giants would cut ties with Sanchez (they probably would have had to pay 4 million or so to buy him out), just didn't think he was worth upwards of 10 million dollars, and would have liked to see the Giants pursue someone like Orlando Hudson with that money. The Giants already have an infielder who's being paid about 3-4 times what his play over the last 2 seasons would indi

Giants Notes: Lincecum Signs, Ross to Boston

Well, even though I touched on it a little bit in our last post, I haven't really had a chance to get my thoughts out on the new Lincecum deal since he and the Giants agreed earlier in the week. Also, on the other end of things, the Giants missed out on shoring up their outfield by letting Cody Ross sign in Boston for only $3 million in 2012. First off, obviously, wanted to talk a bit about Lincecum. I've already said here that I didn't expect him to sign a long-term deal that takes him through free agency, but it doesn't mean he wants to leave San Francisco like everyone is suspecting. I mean, if I were Lincecum, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I planned on eventually signing with the Giants long-term. Why take a chance at mitigating your value to just sign a deal? Granted, a 5 year, $100 million deal isn't anything to sneeze at, in this market, if he were a free agent, Lincecum could probably easily command a 8 year, $200 million deal. If he could get