Courtesy of Fangraphs, of course
Well, that was a tough loss. A wrap up my thoughts on it in bullet point style:
- Obviously, this Lincecum kid is one hell of a pitcher. A quick glance at the PITCHf/x data shows that he threw 30 fastballs over 96 mph (topping out at 97.9). I thought they had him rattled in the 6th, though, with the bases loaded and no outs. Kouz’s base running mistake, failing to advance on the misplay in left, was really a killer.
- Mentioned this on DS, but Giles’ sac fly in the 9th actually decreased the Pads win expectancy by ~5%. Of course, that’s assuming it was an “average” situation, which it surely was not. However, Wilson’s probably slightly below average for that situation and Giles is still at least an average bat. Anyway, like I said over there, none of this means Giles was actually playing for a sacrifice — he hit it pretty deep. fwiw, had he advanced Peavy to second, it would have increased the Pads’ win expectancy.
- Heath Bell pitched the high-leverage 9th, and picked up .143 WPA. One thing that may present itself is an opportunity to leave Hoffman in as closer while actually giving Bell more important innings, overall. I’m not sure if it will happen, but it’ll be interesting to track as the year goes on.
- I was impressed with the Padres’ fielding … Gonzalez had that great double play (with help from Kouz). Kouzmanoff also had the nice diving catch and maybe another solid play I can’t recall. Edmonds looked okay in center, although I’m not sure if he was really tested.
- Not sure how Bocock’s in the majors. With his bat, I figured he’d be a real slick defender. One game means little and my scouting ability is nonexistent, but I was not impressed. He did have a few nice plays, including the charging effort –although he appeared to me to take a while to get to the ball.
- Molina just touched home.
