Saturday, April 23, 2011

Tim Hudson Dominates, Giants Lose

  • Tim Lincecum walked the first two batters of the game. Not a clean outing from him overall -- 6.1 IP, 6 K, 6 BB, 5 R...FIP at 3.96; the one positive: 73.3% GB rate, a skill that complements high BB/9.
  • On the other side of the mound, Tim Hudson was pretty dominant. 8.2 IP, 0 BB, 2.44 FIP. Yep, the Giants did not draw a single walk.
  • Pat Burrell and Cody Ross both looked pretty good, going 5 for 8 with a couple of doubles. The rest of the Giants' offense went 4 for 26, without any extra-base hits.
  • Tim Hudson only needed 13 pitches to get through the fifth and sixth innings.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. It's easy to say the San Francisco Giants have a capable offense when they're hitting home runs; but when they're not, their massive weakness shows -- on-base ability. They live and die with the long-ball, and unless it stops, they'll never have a "consistent" offense.

The Giants, coming into today's game, ranked seventh best in the majors in isolated power (ISO). However, they ranked eighth worst in BB% and OBP. See the problem? Here's where a guy like Brandon Belt becomes useful.



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