3 Reasons Why Joaquin Arias Should Be The Giants' Everyday Shortstop

The Giants have had their share of issues, but none of those problems are quite like shortstop. Joaquin Arias had provided the thump lately, while Brandon Crawford has flashes the leather. 

However, Arias deserves the starting job. 

Here are three reasons why:

Platooning Isn’t Effective

In the Giants’ situation, platooning seems like the only plausible solution to having two average utility infielders. Not so fast. While Arias hits southpaws far better than right-handers, Crawford doesn’t hit righties much better than he does, which is the pretty much the point of using a platoon.

Granted, playing time is inconsistent for both of them and the numbers ultimately boil down to whose on a hot streak. The difference is small, however. Arias owns a .263 WOBA against right-handers while Crawford’s WOBA checks in at .273. So a ten point separation exists between the two. Is that small difference actually enough to use a platoon rather than just having Crawford give Arias a breather every few days? Not really.

Name some playoff bound teams that employ the platoon tactic. It’s tricky seeing that there are none. The Dodgers have Hanley Ramirez, the Nationals have Ian Desmond, the Reds have Zack Cozart, and the Cardinals have the veteran Rafael Furcal. The difference is immense, obviously, and platooning isn’t an easy approach to juggle, specifically in the postseason where riding the hot bat ultimately overshadows any alternative approach.

Arias is a Tad Better With RISP

Clutch might not be a big piece of the pie in terms of importance, but Arias’s late game heroics have paid dividends of late. In respect, Crawford has come up with some crucial hits in his own right, it’s just not represented by his .348 OPS with RISP and two outs. Arias’s OPS in the same situation checks in at .529. However, his .200 batting average doesn’t paint the picture of much of a clutch hitter, neither does Crawford’s .105 average. If you want to go by the stats, Arias has a slight edge. If you want to go by a general standpoint, Arias still has the advantage, although Crawford’s few clutch hits should be taken into account as well.

Big hits come from the unexpected in big situations. Arias has fit that bill of late. The Giants, who struggled to scratch out the big hits, have been craving his knack of coming with the big knock of late.

Will it continue? Time will only tell.

Defensive Would Remain Neutral 

Crawford has been exceptional with the glove. There’s no denying that. However, Arias hasn’t been too shabby with the leather, either.

 Before drawing any comparisons, you must take into consideration that the majority of Arias’s action has come at the hot corner while all of Crawford’s action has come at shortstop. So it’s tough to determine whose better given the minimal sample sizes.

But it’s worth a shot

Crawford’s range is off the charts illustrated by his plus five UZR. Additionally, his RngR stands at 4.1 compared to Arias’s -1.8 RngR at shortstop. Crawford has the edge, but Arias’s quick throwing release and steadiness to make the routine plays makes up for his average range.

So I’m throwing a bunch of stats at you. Exactly what do they mean, though?

Defensive is key to the success of the Giant’s pitchers. The entire pitching staff boasts 45.6 ground ball percentage which is about average, so nifty infield defense is a necessity. In retrospect, nifty wasn’t quite what you would call the Giants’ defense a few months ago when they led the N.L in errors. And a lot of those errors were just routine plays. However it isn’t such of a weak spot these days.

In short, defense is a big piece of the puzzle for the Giants. When the hitting isn’t effective, pitching and defense have to be effective. While Crawford might have a better overall defensive portfolio, the Giants wouldn’t lose much by putting Arias at that spot everyday.

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Long Ball Kills Giants in 7-1 Loss

Tim Lincecum’s starts have been everything but Cy Young type starts this season. And that trend continued on Sunday night, as he put himself in a hole early and ultimately put the Giants in a hole that they couldn’t climb out of, losing 7-1.

The first inning has been a cause for concern for Lincecum in all of his starts this season. That trend also continued on Sunday. He walked speedster Michael Bourn, surrendered a single to Jason Heyward, and walked Freddie Freeman to create a mess. Martin Prado grounded out but got the Braves first run home. Then, Brian McCann blooped an RBI single into shallow centerfield to extend their lead to two.

Meanwhile, the Giants’ offense was silenced by Tim Hudson who had excellent command of his pitches. Inducing ground ball out after ground ball out, he took a shutout into the seventh inning. San Francisco loaded the bases, but only collected one run on Brandon Crawford’s sacrifice fly.

The Braves smacked three home runs in total off the Giants. Two came in the ninth inning off the bats of Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman. The other long ball came from Juan Francisco.

The Giants have now lost two in a row after running off five straight. However, their lead in the N.L West is still two.

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Giants' Offense Erupts for 10 Runs En Route to 10-1 Slaughtering of The Padres

Yes, Melky Cabrera is still fresh on the minds of the Giants and their fans. Yet, that didn’t seem apparent on Friday night. Matt Cain cruised through eight innings and the Giants offense scored ten runs behind him en route to a 10-1 slaughtering of the Padres. For good measure, the Giants have never scored double digit runs at the spacious Petco Park.

The Giants, who are the second best offensive team on the road in the National League, proved that once again against the Padres. San Francisco has won 10 of their last 14 road games, outscoring their opponents by nearly 60 runs during that span.

Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro were the prime offensive producers. They combined for five hits on four RBIs, two a piece. Scutaro smashed a solo home run in the first inning that skipped over the left field wall to spark the offensive outburst. Though the real spark would come in the third inning.

Every Giant reached base during the third, as they accumulated eight runs to blow open the game. Brandon Crawford, who has quietly totaled a .429 batting average over the past week, jumpstarted the eight run outburst. He doubled and scored on Pagan’s triple. He came around again to score on Pagan’s second hit of the inning. Even Matt Cain got in on the act with an RBI single of his own.

Hunter Pence, who came into the game hitting an abyssal .038 against San Diego this season, lined an RBI double in the third. Pablo Sandoval and Gregor Blanco also recorded RBIs in the inning.

While the offensive performed and overshadowed Cain’s dominance, the Giants’ right-hander essentially the same script he has followed all season. He took a no-hitter into the fifth, but Yonder Alonso tainted his no-hit bid with a double. Alonso would score the Padres only run on Everth Cabrera’s RBI single.

However, Cain would go on to pitch eight strong innings, striking out six on four hits and no walks.

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Giants-Padres Game Update

 

The Giants are rolling in San Diego as we speak, scoring 8 runs in the top of the 3rd inning to lead the ballgame 9-1.

Angel Pagan already has 3 hits, and Brandon Crawford's 2 hit's (scoring 2 of the Giant's 9 runs) brings his hitting streak up to 9.

Matt Cain has been dominant, stymieing the Padres offense to allow only 1 run on 2 hits and a hit batter through 5 solid innings.  With a ground-out from Posey, Cain will take the hill again at the bottom of the 6th inning.

--

 And that's the ballgame.  Matt Cain get's his 12th win of the season, as the Giants win 10-1 in game 1 of a 3 game series against the Padres on the road in San Diego.

Barry Zito will look for his 10th win of the season tomorrow at 5:30 PM.

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Bumgarner Pitches the Giants to a 6-1 Victory Over the Nats

Behind Madison Bumgarner, the Giants rebounded from a 14-2 beating last night, to even the series with a 6-1 victory.

 Bumgarner was magnificent. He allowed just one run on five hits and six strikeouts en route to his second complete game of the season and his career. He recorded his 13th win of the season, and lowered his ERA to 2.97.

Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence combined for six hits. Belt drove in three runs, but missed two home runs by inches. The first was an opposite field drive to left in the second inning. The ball ticked off the wall and scored a run, but Belt, who hesitated while rounding second base, was thrown out at third to kill a rally.

The second ball that Belt crushed hit off the top of the brick wall in right, caromed perfectly to the right fielders, and Belt was again thrown out trying to take the extra base. He did drive home his second run of the game, but his was obviously frustrated.

Bumgarner, who surrendered seven runs to the Nationals on the fourth of July, showed no signs of any carry over affect. He was poised throughout all nine innings of his masterpiece. A deep drive to right field by Jayson Werth spoiled his chances of a shutout. Pence looked to have a beat on it, but he flinched slightly and it fell as Werth raced his way to third. Adam Laroche followed Werth with a sharp ground ball that kicked through Brandon Crawford's legs at shortstop. Werth trotted home to score the Nationals' only run of the game.

The Giants offense erupted in the bottom of the eighth inning. Melky Cabrera sparked the four run inning with a leadoff double. He advanced to third on a wild pitch from Drew Storen. Buster Posey walked. And Sandoval drove Cabrera in with a sacrifice. That was just the peek of a much needed inning for San Francisco.

Belt would collect his third RBI of the game with a single to right. Brandon Crawford and Angel Pagan  both collected an RBI in the inning. Pagan beat out a chopper up the middle to cap off the inning.

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Giants Fall 14-2 to the Nationals In Game 1 of the Series

I'll try to make this short and sweet.

Ryan Vogelsong didn't have his stuff or luck on his side on Monday night. If it wasn't for a couple of bloop hits, questionable calls, and bad defense, we might be talking about a different game. That my friend is baseball, though.

Vogelsong didn't even make it into the third inning. He allowed a season-high eight earned runs, and just like that, his 22 game streak of making it into at least the sixth inning was snapped.

Behind 21 hits, the Nationals scored 14 runs. A seven-run third inning ultimately put a damper on the Giants hopes of posing a comeback.

Bryce Harper, Ryan Zimmerman, Danny Espinosa, Roger Bernadina, Steve Lombardozzi, and Kurt Suzuki all had at least three hits in the game. Suzuki cleared the bases in the third with a game opening three-run double.

The Nationals then went on two have two back to back three run innings in fourth and fifth. Brad Penny was taxed for six runs and seven hits in two innings.

Brandon Crawford broke up the shutout with a two-run homer in the seventh. Otherwise, the Giants' offense was relatively quite.

With the loss, the Giants are now tied with the Dodgers for first place in the N.L West.

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Giants Waste Lincecum's 3rd Straight Quality Start, Lose 3-0 to Rox

After averaging nearly nine runs on the road trip, the Giants returned home, and got shut out by Tyler Chatwood, losing to the Rockies, 3-0. 

Tim Lincecum recorded his third straight quality start, allowing only three runs over seven innings. He struck out just three batters for his second consecutive start. The Rockies also coaxed three walks off "The Freak." Despite crafting his way out jams in his last start on Sunday against these very same Rockies, Lincecum didn't get much help from his road-explosive offense. 

The Giants' 1-5 hitters produced a big fat zero, posting an 0-18 line. 

Buster Posey came on as a pinch-hitter in the seventh, but flew out to shallow right field. The Giants went hitless with RISP, and left six on base. 

Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt recorded the only Giants' hits. Crawford scattered two bleak singles, while Belt singled to leadoff the fifth inning. 

Lincecum lowered his season ERA to 5.35 after tossing seven quality innings. Tyler Colvin and Dexter Fowler both smacked RBI singles off Linceucm. And Chris Nelson hit a deep sacrifice fly to plate the Rockies third run of the game. 

With the loss, the Giants are now tied with the Dodgers in the N.L West. After celebrating his perfect game on Friday night, Matt Cain will look to get the Giants back on track. 

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Giants Lose the Finale 3-1, Spilt Series to the Cards

After scoring at least one run in the first inning in each of the first three games of the series, the Giants failed to push that streak to four, falling to the Cardinals 3-1.

Instead, the Cardinals decided to take a page out of the Giants’ book. With a runner on first, Carlos Beltran crushed a cutter on the inner half of the plate into the seats. After putting a massive 15 spot on St.Louis last night, the Giants were held to just one run by Adam Wainwright.

The steaming hot Buster Posey extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a leadoff single in the sixth inning. Though Wainwright got Joaquin Arias to swing through a loopy curveball to end the threat.

Madison Bumgarner allowed just three hits on three runs over six innings. Despite recording his sixth straight quality start, his offense wasn’t able to bail him out of his seventh loss of the season.

The Giants put together a one out rally in the top of the fifth. Arias and Bumgarner hit back to back singles. Angel Pagan followed with a four pitch walk to load the bases for Marco Scutaro, who made history last night by driving in a career-high seven runs. He didn’t hit a grand slam for the second consecutive day, but he lined a sacrifice fly into right centerfield to score Arias. Though that’s all the damage the Giants would do against Wainwright on Thursday.

Aside from a mini comeback in the fifth, the other two of the Giants’ five hits were scattered. Scutaro singled in the fourth and Brandon Crawford singled in the sixth.

The Giants had their fair share of opportunities to craft a comeback. But San Francisco went 0-5 with runners in scoring position, and left eight runners on base.

The tying run came to the plate in the ninth, but pinch-hitter Hector Sanchez struck out on a fastball from Jason Motte to end the game.

Overall, the Giants wrapped up a very successful road trip, finishing 5-2. With the loss today, though, they loss a half game on the Dodgers, and could possibly loss ground on the Diamondbacks as well depending on the outcome of their game.

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Posey's 3-Run Home Run Lifts Giants Over Cardinals 4-2

Three home runs were hit, two were solo shots by Allen Craig, but one was a three-run homer from the surging Buster Posey in the first inning that put the Giants in front early, and they wouldn’t look back, prevailing, 4-2.

Posey, whose hitting .458 with seven home runs and 27 RBIs since the All-Star break, continued his surge on Tuesday night.  On a 1-1 count, he took a curveball from Lance Lynn to right center field that carried into the first row of the seats for his fourth home run in his past five games.

Barry Zito was out to prove the critics wrong again. After being scrutinized for giving up seven runs to the Mets last week, the trust level between him and the world decreased mightily, again. But, as he’s done often this season, he fired back with another gutsy performance against the best offensive team in the National League.  Zito, who has issued 54 walks this season, yielded the Cardinals to no walks on eight hits and four strikeouts.

The Giants’ left-hander zoomed through the first two batters of the game with two punch outs. Though Matt Holiday and Carlos Beltran teamed up for back to back hits off him to create a two out rally in the first inning. Zito, however, induced a chopper to Brandon Crawford at short to end the threat.

Allen Craig would have none of it, though. Craig, who had one home run off Zito in seven at-bats coming into the game, hit two more which ended up being the only two runs St.Louis would get off Zito. The first one came off of a fastball left out over the plate which Craig smashed into the centerfield bleachers. His second homer in the fifth, though, wasn’t a location mistake from Zito. Yet, Craig blasted the pitch into the right field bullpen.

Aside from a pair of solo shots from Craig, who now has three home runs off of Zito is his career, the southpaw was never in much trouble due to his stinginess. However, the Cardinals were slowly beginning to inch their way back into the game, down one heading into the later innings.

The Giants had an opportunity to add some insurance to their three run lead in the second inning with back to back hits from Brandon Crawford and Joaquin Arias, but Lance Lynn erased that opportunity rather quickly. Angel Pagan was carefully pitched around and ultimately walked to load the bases up for Marco Scutaro. Scutaro smacked a ground ball a couple feet away from the third baseman David Freese, but Freese snagged the hard grounder to start an inning ending double play.

The Giants would only salvage a single hit to Lynn over the next three innings.

However, Brandon Belt led off the top of the sixth inning with a single, he then swiftly swiped second base with one out. Joaquin Arias followed him with a one out double that ended the dry spell by scoring Belt from second base.

Clay Hensley relieved Zito with two outs in the seventh mainly because Craig was looming in the on-deck circle sniffing three homers. Hensley would walk Craig, but retire Holiday to close the book on Zito’s outing.

Jeremy Affeldt slammed the door shut with four out save, his third save of the season.

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How Marco Scutaro Will Help the Giants Offense

Question Brian Sabean’s acquisition of Marco Scutaro all you want, but he’s a solid addition. But by no means is he the piece that will take the Giants to the next level, nor will he bring them down a level. However, he brings something to the table that the Giants don’t do consistently. The ability to put the ball in play.

Scutaro’s contribution is that simple. He’s not a free swinger, neither does he wait around like Brandon Belt to. Sure, he’s everything but a power hitter, but he does the the little things like moving the runner over or hitting a sacrifice fly to get a run in. There have been numerous events where the Giants have failed to do the things that Scutaro will provide. And it’s starting to become clearer and clearer with each loss.

O-Swing% is technical for the percentage a hitter swings at pitches outside of the strike zone. So you would instantly assume that Pablo Sandoval must have a high O-Swing% right? You would be spot on, as Sandoval swings at pitches outside of the strike zone nearly 50% of the time and Hector Sanchez, Joaquin Arias and Brandon Crawford are the next few victims of the wild swing reputation. Meanwhile, Scutaro’s 24.5 O-Swing% ranks first on the Giants. While It might not seem like a big deal, it is, especially in situations where the Giants need to get a runner over.

The reason why he constantly puts the ball in play is because he doesn’t try to do too much at the plate. His approach is simple and you would hope that Pablo Sandoval and Hector Sanchez would take a page out of his book, as they are practically swinging for the cove in each of their at-bats.

Looking at Scutaro’s home run totals, don’t expect him to provide the much needed pop that the Giants are in search of, as he’s never hit more than 12 home runs in a season. He did, however, crush a home run off Santiago Casilla that broke a tie game earlier in the season.

 Ryan Theriot and Scutaro are essentially identical twins when it comes to hitting. While Scutaro may possess a bit more power, they both are contact hitters (Theriot 89% contact percentage, Scutaro 93%), and both have been career table setters.

So how should Bruce Bochy rearrange his lineup?

 The smart move would be to have both of them hitting before Melky Cabrera and Buster Posey to create more RBI opportunities for the heart of the lineup. Bochy could also spilt them up, having one at the top and one at the bottom to create a more balanced lineup. The latter appears to be the path Bochy will stick with, although, as I write this it appears that Scutaro is leading off tonight with Theriot sticking in the two hole.

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Giants Continue to Struggle With Runners in Scoring Position

It should go without saying, but the Giants are terrible with runners on base, let alone with runners in scoring position. They can get runners on base, they just can’t get them across the plate, which is the goal, right? 

Some teams can rely on the long ball to put runs on the board, simply because those teams have the personnel to think home run. We’re talking about the Yankees, Rangers, and Blue Jays, not the Giants who have only hit 62 home runs this season, ahead of just the Dodgers for the worst mark in the National league. To their credit, playing 81 games at the spacious AT&T Park won’t help their chances, either. But plain and simple, don’t be expecting the San Francisco bombers to be making an appearance anytime soon. 

Without power, though, there’s just a couple alternatives--- consistent hitting with runners in scoring position, and using small ball tactics to manufacture runs. Unfortunately, the Giants do neither, at least consistently. They are hitting just .232/.312/.342 with RISP, and .188/.287/.283 with RISP and two outs this season. Even with an improvement in the speed department (Angel Pagan, Gregor Blanco, and Melky Cabrera), manufacturing runs has been a rarity as well and don’t think for one second that the Skipper, Bruce Bochy hasn’t taken any heat some heat for not using the tactic more often in tight games too.  

Let’s take Saturday’s game against the Dodgers for example. Buster Posey leads of the second inning with a double, and at that point, the game was just 2-0.  Sure, it’s the middle of the order and bunting isn’t particularly logical, but with that said, it’s expected of the middle of the order guys to a least make productive outs. 

So the number five batter, Angel Pagan follows Posey by flying out to shallow left field on the first pitch he sees.  Productive? No, not at all and with Pablo Sandoval out of the lineup, someone like Brandon Belt or Brandon Crawford has to come through with a hit. Granted, both Belt and Crawford have both had their moments of glory (Crawford’s walk off on Wednesday and Belt’s game tying two-run double on Friday), it can’t be expected of them to be clutch. 

However, the most important thing going to waste, is the fact that their pitching staff practically always keeps them in games. It’s a waste of chances, and as the stretch run looms, hitting with RISP is going to be the Giants biggest area to improve upon. 

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