Giants are Champs; Playoff Droughts

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants on winning their second title in three years. Did you know that half the teams in MLB have been to the playoffs in the last two years? A quick list I worked up:

Years
Since Team
  27   KC
  20   PIT
  19   TOR
  11   SEA
   9   MIA
   7   HOU
   6   SD, NYM
   5   CLE
   4   CHC, CWS
   3   LAD, COL, LAA, BOS
   2   MIN
   1   MIL, ARI, TB, PHI
   0   WAS, BAL, CIN, TEX, OAK, ATL, DET, NYY, STL, SF

Not only that, but 20 out of 30 teams have been in the LCS in the last ten years.

Ex-Pirates In The LCS: Results

Congrats to the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants for winning their leagues and for making my (revised) predictions come true. As such, I’ll stick with my World Series prediction from last round: Tigers over Giants.

Pennant Winners

Giants
Ryan Vogelsong 2 G, 14.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 13 K.
Javier Lopez 3 G, 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K.
Xavier Nady DNP

Tigers
Octavio Dotel 2 G, 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
Don Kelly 1 G, 0 for 0, 1 R.

Eliminated Teams

Cardinals
None

Yankees
None

Ex-Pirates in the Playoffs

Greetings. I’m back and will resume posting. The Pirates’ season went down in flames but there’s still a month of exciting baseball left to watch. For those of you who are interested, here’s a list of ex-Pirates who’s teams are playing in the postseason. I’ll update the stats after each round.

Braves (Lost the Wild Card game)
Eric Hinske DNP
Paul Maholm (not active for wild card game)
Lyle Overbay DNP
David Ross 3 for 4, 2 RBI, 1 R, 1 HR

Cardinals
None

Orioles
Nate McLouth 1 for 4, 2 RBI, 1 R, 1 SB, SF

Rangers (Lost the Wild Card game)
None

Division Winners

Nationals
Adam LaRoche
Sean Burnett
Mike Gonzalez
Tom Gorzelanny

Reds
Ryan Ludwick
Bronson Arroyo
Xavier Paul

Giants
Ryan Vogelsong
Javier Lopez
Xavier Nady

Yankees
None

Athletics
Brandon Moss

Tigers
Octavio Dotel
Don Kelly

My picks for this postseason:
Nats over Cards, Reds over Giants, Orioles over Yankees, A’s over Tigers
Reds over Nats, A’s over O’s
A’s over Reds

Giants Wrap Up

Scores:
Friday: 6-5 Loss vs San Francisco. Bedard struggles again. Box score.
Saturday: 3-1 Win vs San Francisco. JMac dominates. Box score.
Sunday: 13-2 Win vs San Francisco. Pirates batter Lincecum. Box score.

Season Record: 48-37, 1st place in NL Central, 1.0 game ahead

Notes: The Pirates enter the All Star break in first place for the first time since 1997. The Bucs are 11 games over .500 and sport the fourth best record in the majors. What a series for Neil Walker: 8 for 12 with 4 doubles and a homer. Andrew McCutchen was nearly as good with 2 homers among his 7 hits in 14 at bats. Cutch was named to participate in the Home Run Derby as a late replacement for Giancarlo Stanton. James McDonald continued his All Star-worthy campaign with 10 K’s in 7 innings. The bullpen was stellar once again, allowing only one run (by Juan Cruz) in 10 innings.

Combined Box

Pittsburgh	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG	OBP
McCutchen, A, CF	14	5	7	6	0	2	4	0.500	0.500
Sutton, LF-RF	13	0	2	1	0	3	5	0.154	0.143
Walker, 2B	12	4	8	4	1	1	3	0.667	0.692
McGehee, 1B	12	2	4	3	0	2	5	0.333	0.333
Alvarez, 3B	11	2	2	2	1	3	6	0.182	0.250
Jones, G, RF-1B	10	1	1	0	0	3	6	0.100	0.100
Barmes, SS	7	1	2	1	0	1	4	0.286	0.286
Barajas, C	6	1	1	0	2	0	3	0.167	0.444
Hernandez, Go, PR-LF	6	1	0	0	0	2	1	0.000	0.000
Mercer, PH-SS	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.000	0.000
McKenry, C	3	1	2	1	0	0	1	0.667	0.667
Burnett, AJ, P	3	0	1	1	0	1	3	0.333	0.333
Harrison, SS	2	2	2	0	1	0	0	1.000	1.000
McDonald, J, P	1	1	1	0	1	0	0	1.000	1.000
Lincoln, P	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000
Bedard, P	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000	0.000
Fryer, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000	0.000
Totals	107	21	34	19	6	18	43	0.318	0.357

Batting
Doubles (9): Walker 4 (21), McKenry (7), Alvarez (15), Sutton (10), Barajas (8), McGehee (12)
Triples (1): McCutchen (5)
Home Runs (6): McGehee (6), Alvarez (16), McKenry (7), McCutchen 2 (18), Walker (6)

Baserunning
SB: Hernandez (2)

Fielding
Errors: Walker (4), Harrison (3), McKenry (1), Sutton (1)
Double Plays: (Bedard-Harrison-McGehee), (Mercer-Walker-McGehee), (Barmes-Walker- McGehee)

Pitching

Pittsburgh	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	WHIP
McDonald, J(W, 9-3)	7.0	4	1	1	0	10	0	1.29	0.57
Burnett, AJ(W, 10-2)	6.3	4	2	2	2	5	1	2.84	0.95
Bedard(L, 4-10)	3.7	4	5	4	3	1	1	9.82	1.91
Lincoln	2.7	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.00	0.00
Resop	2.3	0	0	0	0	3	0	0.00	0.00
Hughes, J	2.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1.00
Grilli(H, 21)	1.0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0.00	0.00
Hanrahan(S, 23)	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	1.00
Cruz, J	1.0	2	1	1	0	0	0	9.00	2.00
Totals	27.0	17	9	8	5	24	2	2.67	0.81

Transactions: Outrighted Chris Leroux and Doug Slaten to AAA. Optioned C Eric Fryer to AAA. Recalled 1B Matt Hague from AAA.

Series Preview: The Giants

Current record: 46-36, 1st place in NL Central, 2.0 games ahead

Up Next: San Francisco Giants, 45-38, 2nd place in NL West, 1.5 games back

Season Series: 1-2

Notes: The last time the Pirates faced the Giants they scored eight runs in three games. Two months later the Bucs are playing like a totally different team. These three games will close out the season series with the Giants. The Pirates are lucky to miss All Star Matt Cain, who could start the game on Tuesday. If so, he’ll be joining teammates Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Melky Cabrera.

Familiar Faces: Ryan Vogelsong, Javier Lopez

Probable Pitchers
Friday: LH Barry Zito (6-6, 93.2 IP, 52 K, 3.84 ERA, 1.40 WHIP)
vs. LH Erik Bedard (4-9, 82.2 IP, 77 K, 4.57 ERA, 1.48 WHIP)

A battle of struggling lefties.

Saturday: RH Ryan Vogelsong (7-3, 103.2 IP, 72 K, 2.26 ERA, 1.11 WHIP)
vs. RH James McDonald (8-3, 103.0 IP, 90 K, 2.45 ERA, 1.00 WHIP)

Against all odds, Vogelsong has become a good, consistent pitcher late in his career. He’s held opponents to 2 ER runs or less in 11 of his 15 starts and never more than 4 ER allowed.

Sunday: TBA (3-9, 93.2 IP, 101 K, 6.08 ERA, 1.55 WHIP)
vs. RH A.J. Burnett (9-2, 86.2 IP, 74 K, 3.74 ERA, 1.33 WHIP)

This is Tim Lincecum‘s turn to pitch, but as of last night he hasn’t been announced as the starter. Last time out he allowed 7 ER in only 3.1 IP, so the Giants may be considering resting him. I listed his numbers above.

No lineups yet.

Weekend Wrap Up 4/15/12

Scores:
Friday: 5-0 Loss at San Francisco. Matt Cain dominates. Recap. Box score.
Saturday: 4-3 Loss at San Francisco. Close game falls apart in the ninth. Recap. Box score.
Sunday: 4-1 Win at San Francisco. Finally, a solid game. Recap. Box score.

Season Record: 3-6, 5th place in the NL Central.

Good: Another good start from Kevin Correia breaks the five game losing streak. Charlie Morton looks to be in good health in his season debut. Neil Walker with two two-hit days.
Bad: Two shaky outings from Joel Hanrahan. Chris Resop wasn’t sharp but the defense let him down. Jose Tabata went 0-9 and left 7 men on base.

Combined Box:

Pittsburgh	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB
Presley, LF	13	1	3	1	1	4	2
Walker, 2B	11	1	4	2	0	3	0
McCutchen, A, CF	11	2	2	0	1	1	2
McGehee, 1B	9	2	2	0	0	1	2
Tabata, RF	9	0	0	0	0	3	7
Jones, G, 1B, RF	7	1	2	1	0	4	0
Harrison, 3B, SS	7	0	1	1	0	0	3
Barmes, SS	7	0	1	0	0	1	3
Barajas, C	6	0	0	0	1	0	0
Alvarez, 3B	6	0	0	0	0	5	1
McDonald, J, P	2	0	1	0	0	0	0
Navarro, PH	2	0	0	0	0	1	4
Correia, P	2	0	0	0	0	1	3
Morton, P	2	0	0	0	0	1	0
McKenry, C	1	0	0	0	3	1	0
McLouth, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	2
Hague, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	97	7	16	5	6	26	29

Batting:
Triples: Harrison (1)
Homers: Jones (1)

Baserunning:
SB: Tabata (2), Jones (1)
CS: McCutchen (2)

Fielding:
Errors: Morton (1), Barmes 2 (2)

Pittsburgh	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
Correia(W, 1-0)	6.0	3	1	1	1	2	0
McDonald, J (L, 0-1)	5.7	6	3	3	3	1	0
Morton	5.0	7	3	3	0	2	0
Hanrahan(S, 1)	2.0	2	2	2	2	1	1
Grilli(H, 1)	2.0	1	0	0	1	3	0
Watson	1.3	1	0	0	0	0	0
Hughes, J(H, 1)	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Cruz, J	1.0	0	0	0	2	1	0
Meek	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Resop (L, 0-1)	0.0	2	1	0	1	0	0
Totals	25.0	23	10	9	10	10	1

Transactions: Activated RHP Charlie Morton from the 15-day Disabled List. Optioned 1B Matt Hague to AAA Indianapolis.

Up Next: A three game set in Arizona ends the road trip. Expected matchups: Erik Bedard (0-2) vs. Joe Saunders (0-0), Jeff Karstens (0-1) vs. Ian Kennedy (2-0), and James McDonald (0-1) vs. Daniel Hudson (1-0).