San Francisco opened their 2010 season against the Astros and right-hander Roy Oswalt hisownself, plating three runs off of Oswalt in the third inning and going on to win 5-2. The day after that they faced Houston lefty Wandy Rodriguez and won that game 3-0 behind six shutout innings from Barry Zito.
Here were the lineups they used in the first two games of the season — one against the righty Oswalt and the other against the lefty Rodriguez:
| Game one vs RHP Roy Oswalt | Game two vs LHP Wandy Rodriguez | ||
| 1 | Rowand (CF/R) | 1 | Rowand (CF/R) |
| 2 | Renteria (SS/R) | 2 | Renteria (SS/R) |
| 3 | Sandoval (3B/S) | 3 | Sandoval (3B/S) |
| 4 | Huff (1B/L) | 4 | Huff (1B/L) |
| 5 | DeRosa (LF/R) | 5 | DeRosa (LF/R) |
| 6 | B Molina (C/R) | 6 | B Molina (C/R) |
| 7 | Bowker (RF/L) | 7 | Uribe (2B/R) |
| 8 | Uribe (2B/R) | 8 | Torres (RF/S) |
Things have changed since then for San Francisco. Here are the lineups they used in their most recent game, game four of the NLDS in which Atlanta started righty Derek Lowe, and their 10/2 game in which the Padres started lefty Clayton Richard:
| Game four NLDS vs RHP Lowe | 10/2 vs SD LHP C Richard | ||
| 1 | A Torres (CF/S) | 1 | A Torres (CF/S) |
| 2 | F Sanchez (2B/R) | 2 | F Sanchez (2B/R) |
| 3 | A Huff (1B/L) | 3 | A Huff (1B/L) |
| 4 | B Posey (C/R) | 4 | B Posey (C/R) |
| 5 | P Burrell (LF/R) | 5 | P Burrell (LF/R) |
| 6 | J Uribe (SS/R) | 6 | J Guillen (RF/R) |
| 7 | M Fontenot (3B/L) | 7 | J Uribe (3B/R) |
| 8 | C Ross (RF/R) | 8 | E Renteria (SS/R) |
It’s barely the same team. Six of the eight position players that started against a righty on opening day weren’t in the starting lineup when the Giants faced a righty in game four of the NLDS.
So what happened? Taking it from the top:
Aaron Rowand. Rowand was the opening day center fielder for the Giants, but hit just 230/281/378 for the season and lost his gig to switch-hitter Andres Torres. Rowand wound up starting 85 games in center with Torres starting 84, but Torres also started 38 games in right and 13 in left for the season.
Rowand hit well in the early going, but was drilled in the head by Vicente Padilla on April 16 and hit the DL with a 304/333/457 line through ten games of the season. He returned in early May and played regularly, but didn’t hit, posting a 194/228/370 line over his next 114 plate appearances. Torres was playing regularly for the Giants by mid-April and getting starts at all three positions.
Rowand did fare a bit better in the playing time he did see, hitting 273/344/436 over 61 plate appearances in June. Torres, meanwhile, was establishing himself as an everyday guy. In his 257 plate appearances between the time Rowand was hit by Padilla and the end of June, Torres saw regular playing time in all three outfield positions and put up a 282/375/459 line. Rowand tailed off offensively after June as Torres continued to roll. Rowand hit 213/278/328 over just 134 plate appearances and started just 26 of the last 85 games for San Francisco.
If it was ineffective play that lost Rowand time this year, for Renteria it was a ton of injuries. Renteria was the guy at short on opening day, but wound up starting just 62 games for the year. Juan Uribe led San Francisco in starts at short with 96.
Things went well for the 35-year-old Renteria in the early going. He missed a couple of games at the end of April with a problem with his left shoulder, but was hitting 320/366/400 in 83 plate appearances for the year after going 2-for-5 with two RBI against the Phils on April 28. He left the game on April 30 against the Rockies with tightness in his right groin. He missed several games and then started again on May 6, but aggravated the groin injury running to first in the third inning and was pulled from the game.
The Giants put him on the DL and activated him on May 22. On May 25 he injured his right hamstring and had to leave the game. He went on the DL again and returned in mid-June, but his bat went quiet after that. Renteria started the day on June 19 with a 326/372/395 line for the season, but hit just 244/321/341 over 137 plate appearances before he strained his left bicep on August 10.
He returned to start a game on September 4 and started seven games at short for the Giants between September 4 and September 17, hitting .290 without a walk but slugging .484. An elbow problem kept him out of the game on September 19 and he made just one more appearance in the regular season, starting on October 3 and going 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
Pablo Sandoval was the regular third baseman for the Giants, starting 136 games there for San Francisco. He started games one and two of the NLDS against the Braves with Mike Fontenot taking over for games three and four.
Sandoval has splits from beyond thunderdome for the season. He hit 330/382/520 at home and 208/266/299 away from home. That means he was a superstar when he was in San Francisco and unusable when he wasn’t.
He also didn’t hit left-handed pitching at all. He put up a 227/284/305 line against lefties and a 282/336/443 line against righties.
I’m not quite sure what part of the mind it is that requires me to immediate look up what he hit against lefties on the road when presented with that information, but I’m pretty sure it’s not the same part that’s tasked with charitable giving. Sandoval hit 147/221/206 against lefties on the road this year.
He started the season on fire and had a 368/433/575 line at the end of April. Since the end of April he has hit 250/303/378 and grounded into 20 double-plays. That’s a problem if you’re going to be a weak-fielding third baseman.
By September, the Giants were playing critical games down the stretch and Sandoval was often out of the lineup with Fontenot or Uribe taking over for him at third. He did have some hip issues early in the month, but they were just one factor that led to him being on the bench to start enormous games as San Francisco made their playoff push. He went 1-for-6 with a walk in an an error in the NLDS.
Mark DeRosa was in left field for the Giants when the season started. He didn’t stay for long. He played all of April and into early May and was simply terrible, hitting .194 with one home run and a .258 slugging percentage over 104 plate appearances.
He had undergone surgery on his left wrist in the off-season and was saying he felt like there was something wrong by early May. He was examined by a specialist and put on the DL. He underwent season-ending surgery at the end of June.
Pat Burrell was released by the Rays in May and picked up by the Giants. With Huff playing left field at the time and Buster Posey at first, it didn’t look like there would be much for Burrell to do but DH in interleague games. Burrell made 19 starts for the Giants in June, hitting 368/405/615 with five home runs, and San Francisco found a place for him in left field.
Bengie Molina started the year as the San Francisco catcher, but was traded to the Rangers for pitchers Chris Ray and Michael Main on July 1 after hitting 257/312/332 in 221 plate appearances for the Giants. Buster Posey was called up on May 29 and barely caught at all before July, mostly playing first base. He’s handled the catching duties since and has taken off offensively as well. Posey was hitting 289/314/381 at the end of the day on June 30, but posted a 311/370/544 line from the start of July to the end of the regular season.
John Bowker had a strong spring for the Giants and started in right field on opening day, but had hit just 207/256/354 in 90 plate appearances before the Giants sent him down to Triple-A in early June. He was traded to the Pirates at the end of July. Cody Ross was claimed off of waivers from the Marlins at the end of August and started all four games in right field for San Francisco in the NLDS — he hit 288/354/466 in 82 plate appearances for the Giants this season. Ross was the hero for the Giants in game four, going 2-for-3 with a solo home run and a pair of RBI. Jose Guillen, who was acquired in mid-August and hit 266/317/375 for the Giants in 139 plate appearances, was off the roster for the NLDS with a stiff neck. Lefty Nate Schierholtz seems like another option for the Giants in right in the series, but San Francisco seemed pretty comfortable with Ross in there against righties against the Braves and game four surely didn’t hurt his chances for playing time.
Charlie Manuel isn’t ready to say who is going to start game one of the NLCS for the Phillies yet. I am: Roy Halladay is going to start game one of the NLCS for the Phillies. Fingers crossed that Nelson Figueroa doesn’t feel slighted. Not being with the organization may help cushion the blow.
The wives of Chad Durbin and JC Romero have ties to Louisiana and Alabama and have organized a charity auction to raise funds and awareness for the National Audubon Society in the aftermath of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Autographed bats are being auctioned by MAB Celebrity Services and sold on eBay under the seller name NationalAudubonSociety.
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October 13th, 2010 on 9:30 am
This article is what worries me. Everybody says that the Giants can’t hit this year, but they are a completely different team than they were at the beginning and some of those guys CAN hit now. I don’t think it is as cut and dried as it once was. Obviously, the Phils starters can handle these guys (they can handle anybody). The real question in my mind is will the Phillies hit? All of this time off will hopefully get Jimmy’s leg to feel a bit better, although it seemed like he was one of the few swinging the bat well even if he wasn’t getting a lot of hits. I guess we’ll see in a month when the next round starts.
October 13th, 2010 on 9:37 am
I have exactly the same worries. The guys that couldn’t hit all year aren’t the guys that are hitting now. It sure seems like their offense has gotten better. The numbers for the Giants offensively still aren’t good. They scored about 3.72 runs per game between the start of September and the end of the regular season. In September they were 12th in the NL in runs scored. So maybe the names are changed but they still aren’t real good offensively.
I don’t know if there’s anyone who knows if the Phillies will hit. They’ve clearly shown they can and they’ve also clearly demonstrated that they can go for long stretches of games while looking miserable offensively. Now’s not the best time for that.
October 13th, 2010 on 9:55 am
The Giants scare me to death. The offensive stats this year for the Giants against H2O are not comforting. Our team batting average against them this year is awful, according to yesterday’s Daily News.
Werth? Howard? Rollins? Is anyone there? It scares me to death.
October 13th, 2010 on 10:20 am
Yeah, the offensive numbers against the Giants this year are pretty bad for the Phils. They got 228 plate appearances in which they hit 226/308/362.
Here are their splits against the Giants:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/split_stats_team.cgi?full=1¶ms=oppon|SFG|PHI|2010|bat|AB|
Polanco, Utley, Werth and Ruiz all hit .231 or worse against San Francisco. Polanco .231, Utley .227, Werth .227 with nine strikeouts and Ruiz .188.
Ibanez .250.
Victorino, Rollins and Howard all had nice numbers. Victorino .320, Rollins .357, Howard .364.
The Phils hit three home runs against the Giants this year.
On April 28, Howard homered off of Tim Lincecum.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN201004280.shtml
On August 18, Domonic Brown homered off of Guillermo Mota and Rollins homered off of Matt Cain.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI201008180.shtml
October 13th, 2010 on 11:57 am
XM (Mad Dog Radio) told me last night that in 3 career starts against the Giants, Halladay is 0-2 with a 7+ ERA. I hope he figures out what he did wrong this time..
As for our own stats against the Giants pitchers.. it’s hard to take anything from this year seriously. Which guys played? When did they play? What was the phase of the moon? The Phils have destroy good pitching and been buried by bad pitching this year. Tells me that the Phils, more than the pitching, are dictating the results.
Charlie for Manager of the Year, anyway. Getting best record in the majors with 3/4ths of your starting 8 spending long stints on the DL is pretty good.
More on topic.. how will Burrell and Rowand be received on Saturday? Will they get the Rolen treatment, or the Thome treatment?
October 13th, 2010 on 12:34 pm
Burrell and Rowand will get the Thome treatment to start. If they kill us, it will get chilly fast. Should be interesting.
Halladay 0-2 and 7+? Crud. This does not help my stomach or nerves.
October 13th, 2010 on 12:35 pm
Halladay is going to pitch great in game one. No worries. He does have some miserable numbers against the Giants, 0-2 with a 7.23 ERA and a 1.61 ratio in three starts. I don’t think we should worry about those numbers too much — I’m going to be stunned if he’s no pitching well Saturday night.
As has been mentioned, who the Giants are changes a lot. The numbers of the current Giants aren’t so great for San Francisco. Hugg .258 with no HR in 66 AB. Burrell 6-for-18 with six singles. Torres 1-for-7 with a single. Uribe 4-for-18 (.222) with a double.
If Burrell doesn’t get a standing ovation I’m throwing it all away to follow the Philadelphia Union in the MLS. I think it will go well for Rowand, too, what with the memories of face-breaking and whatnot.
October 13th, 2010 on 1:45 pm
Giants out homered the phillies head-to-head 8-3!!!!
October 13th, 2010 on 3:08 pm
Undeniably true. Two for Burrell and Sandoval, Whiteside, Guillen, Torres, Huff and Matt Downs each had one. Downs is with the Astros now, though, so I feel good about the chances the Philly hurlers can contain him in the NLCS.
October 13th, 2010 on 4:16 pm
I have to keep remembering that this is the team with teh best record in baseball, and that it was no fluke. I have to keep remembering that until they show me differently, these guys can raise their game when they need to (read: when their pride is on the line!). I have to keep remembering that these are the guys Rich Hoffman called, with considerable justification, “natural born killers”. And I have to remember that they REALLY want to kick the crap out of the Yankees; they will not let the Giants get in the way of that.
October 13th, 2010 on 4:19 pm
Anything less than a World Series appearance this year (and to a lesser extent, next year really) will be a massive disappointment for this team the way it is constructed. I *think* (hope?) they all realize that and will play as is necessary. Game 1 will be important as always. Whichever team’s ace loses will be seen to be at a significant disadvantage the rest of the way.
On the homerun issue this season, I’m not too worried about Burrell. He only hits big homeruns against the Mets.
October 13th, 2010 on 4:39 pm
I think the Phils are going to come on on Saturday with the appropriate amound of intensity. I think it’s going to help Halladay pitch well, but I’m less sure it’s going to make anybody hit well.
Most worrisome Phillies quotation in recent history for me is Ryan Howard after the ’09 World Series saying that the better team won. Whether it’s true that the Yankees or anyone else is better than the Phils right now, let’s hope that isn’t what he’s thinking at this point.
October 13th, 2010 on 5:09 pm
To be perfectly, succinctly honest, the Giants terrify me. It has nothing to do with how many more homers they hit than the Phillies head-to-head, even if they averaged 1.33 a game to the Phils’ less exciting .5.
Actually, perhaps that’s only a half-truth. It’s the .5 hr/game and the 226/308/362 line against that pitching.
I am astonished every time I realize the Phillies had the best record in baseball this year with some of the alarmingly down (relatively) years from the hitters. Only one Phil hit .300 or better and he resides in the 8-spot? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
October 13th, 2010 on 5:18 pm
Think of it this way.. many of the faces are the same, but these are not the 2008 Phillies. The goal in ’08 was just to outscore the opponent. The goal in ’10 is just put a couple runs on the board and let the superb pitching do the rest.
October 13th, 2010 on 5:23 pm
Why can’t the goal be to outpitch them AND put a bunch of runs up? That sounds like more fun to me.
October 13th, 2010 on 6:48 pm
I think Halladay makes a big difference. If you think you go into game one and will have the best pitcher in the game plus the best offense, it’s not too hard to like your chances. After game one I think the Phils still have a big offensive advantage, but the pitching gets a lot tighter. I will start to worry if we lose game one, but feel okay for now.
I think outpitching them and scoring a lot of runs sounds good, too.
October 13th, 2010 on 7:08 pm
Some of us are starting to sound like Yankee fans
For teams without bottomless pocketbooks, you generally pick what you’re going to be and build around it. You’ve got formulas that tell you what kind of run differential you need to win post-season berths, to win playoff series, and such, and you have projections on the run differentials on all your players. The goal is to take the projected run differential to the actual, and keep a cohesive team in the process.
I think if the big boppers were bopping like it was 2008, Amaro wouldn’t have bothered trading for Oswalt. But the run differential wasn’t lining up to expected, and the difference had to be made up somewhere.
(Or, that’s my theory anyway. For all I know the Phils build their team based on MLB 2K10 simulations.)
October 13th, 2010 on 9:00 pm
If the boppers bop, this series will not be close. If they do not, then H2O better be beyond good.
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