Bleacher Report - Articles by Brian Boden

Bengie Molina Out as San Francisco Giants' Cleanup Man

Brian Boden — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:04:28 -0400

It's about three months into the season, and I think it's time the Giants try someone new in the cleanup hole. Bengie Molina has been holding this position for the whole season, and his numbers have really declined these past two months.

Molina's numbers aren't terrible, as he is batting .260 with 10 home runs and 41 RBI, but they definitely are not good enough to be those of a premier cleanup hitter in the league.

Molina started off the year very hot, as he batted .329 with four home runs and 18 RBI. Eleven of his 25 hits were for extra bases, which is very respectable for a cleanup hitter.

However, since then, his numbers have declined.

The month of May was a major struggle for Molina, as he only batted .200 with six extra base hits and 14 RBI. The month of June hasn't been much better for Molina, as he is batting .275 with only seven extra base hits and nine RBI.

There have been numerous times during this stretch when Molina is constantly stranding base runners in important opportunities in the game. Many times, he has rolled over into a double play or has swung at a bad pitch for a strikeout. Not to mention Molina only has three walks this season, which is abysmal for a cleanup hitter!

Although the Giants are playing great baseball right now, I think Bruce Bochy should move Molina out of this four spot in the order to relieve some pressure on him. Lately, it has been very frustrating watching Molina because he hasn't been the "Mr. Clutch" we are all used to.

Not to mention, with Molina struggling the excitement for Buster Posey is rising, as many people can't wait for him to come up next season and possibly become the everyday catcher.

Pablo Sandoval can be a great fit for this cleanup spot, as he is in the top five in batting average in the league and has been on a tear in the month of June, batting .395. So, Bochy, try something new for a few weeks, and move the young guys that are on a tear lately up in the order and see how the offense reacts.

This would be my batting lineup vs. right-handers:

1. Aaron Rowand

2. Randy Winn

3. Travis Ishikawa

4. Pablo Sandoval

5. Nate Schierholtz

6. Bengie Molina

7. Edgar Renteria

8. Matt Downs

And vs. left-handers:

1. Aaron Rowand

2. Andres Torres

3. Nate Schierholtz

4. Pablo Sandoval

5. Bengie Molina

6. Edgar Renteria

7. Rich Aurilia

8. Matt Downs

Yes, I realize I have Nate Schierholtz in the power slots of this order, but he has been one of the most consistent hitters in the month of June. I think if he is given the chance in these slots in the order, he can continue this success and his RBI numbers will increase as well.

Something you may not know is that Schierholtz is hitting an impressive .529 against left-handers.

San Francisco Giants-Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: A Series Preview

Brian Boden — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:47:48 -0400

The (32-29) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim come into town to start a three-game series against the (34-28) San Francisco Giants today.

These two teams are quite different from each other as the Giants depend on their pitching and the Angels depend on their hitting. Giants' pitching has only given up 233 runs where the Angels hitting have scored 296 runs.

However, both teams are coming into the series with success as they both swept their counterparts in the previous series. The Giants have won seven out of their last 10 games and the Angels have won six out their last 10. With both of these teams on a good roll lately, this should be a great and exciting series.

Now that the introduction is out of the way, let's break down each individual game.

June 15

Pitching Matchup: Barry Zito vs. John Lackey

Barry Zito has a lot of experience against the Angels, facing them 28 times with a 12-9 record against them. Zito is coming into this game with a 3-6 record and a 4.09 ERA. In his previous two starts, he has fared very well with two wins in 10 innings of work with five earned runs given up.

John Lackey is making only his seventh start of the year after dealing with injuries for the first month and a half of season. He has a 1-2 record and a 6.61 ERA so far this season. In his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays, he did not fair well as he got rocked in five innings, giving up eight earned runs.

Most Intriguing Matchup: Barry Zito vs. Chone Figgins

Chone Figgins has the most career at bats against Barry Zito with 42. In these at bats, Zito has faired quite well against him as he is only batting .190 with eight hits. If Zito can continue this success and keep the Angels speedster off the bases for the power hitters of this line up, then he has the potential to have a great game.

June 16

Pitching Matchup: Jonathan Sanchez vs. Ervin Santana

Jonathan Sanchez is coming into this start struggling this season with a 2-6 record and a 4.84 ERA. In Sanchez's past two starts, he has not fared well as he has lost both games pitching 10 1/3 innings and giving up six earned runs. However, Sanchez has pitched better at home, meaning this will be a tough game for him against this potent lineup.

Ervin Santana is making only his seventh start of the year with record of 1-3 and a 7.47 ERA. Although he did not fair well in his last start, he pitched tremendous in his previous start against the Detroit Tigers. He went eight and two thirds innings, giving up only one earned run. So if Santana pitches the way he did against the Tigers, this could be a very tough game for the Giants' offense.

Most Intriguing Matchup: Ervin Santana vs. Pablo Sandoval

Although Pablo Sandoval has no career at bats against Ervin Santana, this will be a great matchup because Sandoval has the ability to turn around the high 90's fastball Santana can throw. Sandoval is on a tear in his last seven games where he is batting .480 with two home runs.

June 17

Pitching Matchup: Tim Lincecum vs. Matt Palmer

Tim Lincecum is having another great season with a 6-1 record and a 2.66 ERA. He has pitched exceptionally well in his last five starts, lasting into the seventh inning in each start. In his last start against the A's, he pitched a complete game shutout with eight strike outs.

Matt Palmer is a familiar face to San Francisco as he started three games for the club last year. This season, he has been one of the better pitchers for the Angels this season as he is 6-0 in his eight starts. In his last start against the San Diego Padres, he pitched six innings and gave up three earned runs in the victory.

Most Intriguing Matchup: Tim Lincecum vs. Torii Hunter

Although these two have never faced each other, this will be a great matchup because Torii Hunter has been the Angels best hitter this season. He is batting .319 with 16 home runs and 51 RBI. In his last seven games, he has been on a tear batting .368 and four home runs.

Tim Lincecum will definitely have to pay extra attention to Hunter in this game and make sure he keeps his pitches down in the zone. Hunter has the ability to take advantage of a mistake and send it into the bleachers.

Randy Johnson Gets 300th Win: A Great Day for Baseball

Brian Boden — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:12:49 -0400

After a postponed game yesterday and a 36-minute rain delay today, history was made as the 45-year-old left-handed Randy Johnson got his 300th career win.

After some clutch defense and stingy hitting, the day was complete after Brian Wilson struck out the side in the ninth inning to ensure the 5-1 victory for the Big Unit.

Johnson became the 24th pitcher and sixth left-hander in Major League history to accomplish this great feat.

It was a very well pitched game as Johnson didn't blow fastballs by the Nationals' hitters, but instead kept them off balance, giving up only two hits.

This wasn't the Randy Johnson that everyone remembers from his early days when he was able to throw fastballs in the high 90s and jaw dropping sliders. He has become older and has turned into more of a Tom Glavine.

Today was a perfect example of this because through his six innings of work he struck out two batters and only gave up one unearned run. This new Randy Johnson also induced 11 ground ball outs, including a double play ball that got him out of a stressful inning.

All and all, this was a great day for Major League Baseball as one of the greatest pitchers of all time just added another great accomplishment to his already impressive resume.

This feat has brightened up this season after it started off sour with the findings that sluggers Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez used performance enhancing drugs.

Randy Johnson has been a great face for baseball for 24 years, and it is great to see such a great pitcher accomplish such a tremendous feat.

So thank you, Randy Johnson, for being one of the greatest to play this game the right way, and for being a great inspiration for all players of Major League Baseball.

Giants One Slip Away Against Nats

Brian Boden — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:19:39 -0400

The (25-24) San Francisco Giants started their ten-game road trip tonight against the (13-36) Washington Nationals. The Giants are coming into this series after a very impressive 5-1 homestand, after they swept the Atlanta Braves and took two of three from Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Unfortunately, the way the Giants play on the road is quite different from how they play at home. With Tim Lincecum on the mound, it looked like the Giants were going to hold off the last-place Nationals, but instead, they walked out of the new Nationals Park with a 10-6 loss.

Lincecum pitched well, as he battled for six and one-third innings, giving up four runs (two earned) and gave up eight hits, but his performance was wasted after the bullpen got blasted in the eighth inning as they gave up the lead.

The game started off well when Aaron Rowand hit his second leadoff home run of the year, but by the third inning, the Nationals had a 2-1 lead.

In the top of the fifth inning, however, the Giants got the lead back after Fred Lewis scored on a wild pitch and then Juan Uribe scored on the same play after catcher Josh Bard threw it wildly home.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, with the score 5-4 Giants, Juan Uribe made the game-saving play, as he barehanded a slow roller hit by Austin Kearns with a runner at third base, and threw him out.

Unfortunately, this play would end up being wasted, because in the bottom of the eighth inning in a 5-4 game, the Nationals would steal the lead for good as they cranked out six runs against the Giants bullpen.

So despite this disappointing loss, the Giants have something to look forward to tomorrow, as Randy Johnson will try to go for his 300th career win.

After this first game on the road, I picked out some positives and some negatives of this game.

Positives:

Aaron Rowand extended his hit streak to 12 games, as he had three hits, including a home run and two RBI.

Randy Winn and Juan Uribe combined for five hits and two RBI.

Tim Lincecum got his 500th career strikeout as he finished the game striking out a decent seven batters in six and a third innings.

Negatives:

Bengie Molina continued his slump, as he went 0-5 today with two strikeouts and left six men on base. Molina's batting average is down to a mere .247, as he only has five hits in last 51 at bats.

Pablo Sandoval and Edgar Renteria also had a rough games, as they hit a combined 1-9.

Bob Howry and Merkin Valdez combined, only pitched two-thirds of an inning and gave up six runs.

Zito Gets No Help...Again

Brian Boden — Wed, 20 May 2009 02:07:28 -0400

If a starting pitcher goes eight innings and gives up two runs and only five hits, wouldn't you expect him to end up with a win? Well, unfortunately, this wasn't the case for Barry Zito tonight, because the San Francisco Giants once again wasted another great outing from their starter.

This low-powered offense for the Giants was only able to put up a stingy six hits and a single run against the San Diego Padres tonight. Giants fans have seen this offense struggle quite often, for all of the Giants pitchers this season, after they pitched a great game, but it seems like Zito gets the worst of this.

In Zito's last six outings, he has only given up nine runs, but has recorded only one win in these games. In his eight outings this season, the Giants have only scored a minuscule 19 runs from him.

Tonight, the struggles of the offense were put on great display when the Giants went 0-12 with runners in scoring position. Numbers like this will in no way give any pitcher a great chance to win.

Within the first 38 games of the season, with a .500 record, the pitching has been the main catalyst for this club, keeping them in almost every game, but the hitting just hasn't been there. So whether it's the young guys in the lineup that have to step up or the veterans carrying a larger load, they have to figure something out quickly, because losing these 2-1 ball games isn't going to make this team go anywhere.

Giant Struggles Continue for San Francisco

Brian Boden — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:28:51 -0400

On Wednesday evening, the San Francisco Giants were back in action after a day off against their arch rival Los Angeles Dodgers. Coming into this game, I had a good feeling that the Giants were going to break out of their skid and get back in the win column with their best pitcher thus far on the mound, Matt Cain.

However, this once again didn't happen so before I rant about how pathetic the Giants played today let me give you a little summary of how the season has gone so far for this 2009 club.

The Giants left San Francisco after their first series with a solid 2-1 record and an offensive explosion for 19 runs. Unfortunately, after this everything went up into flames because since leaving the bay they are winless and have only scored 12 runs.

Going into their series against the San Diego Padres, no one thought the Giants would walk out of there being swept. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened because the Giants got embarrassed by the Padres only scoring seven runs in the three games.

In the Los Angeles Dodgers' home opener, the Giants had yet another very poor game, where Randy Johnson got shelled in a 11-1 loss. The next day, Tuesday, there was a fortunate day off for both teams so now on Wednesday they were back in action with Matt Cain and Clayton Kershaw on the mound.

Ok, now that the table is set and everyone is caught up with how the Giants season has gone so far lets talk about how painful today's game was.

After the first inning things weren't looking good for the Giants. Clayton Kershaw retired the side in order striking out two batters to where on the other side Matt Cain struggled with his command walking three, giving up two hits, and a run.

In the second, Bengie Molina was able to take Kershaw deep to tie the game but this was pretty much the only positive the offense was able to put together against the young lefty.

Kershaw finished with a no decision where he went seven innings, gave up one hit, one run, and struck out 13 batters. Although these numbers are great, this performance was so frustrating for me to watch because it seemed like Kershaw was only throwing the Giants a mid-90s fastball and an occasional curveball that he rarely through for a strike.

I mean, the Giants hitters looked pathetic against him tonight. Three hitter, Fred Lewis, struck out three times against Kershaw and Bengie Molina struck out three more times after hitting a home run against him in the second inning.

Juan Uribe also looked bad because he was constantly getting blown away by fastballs all night where his was front foot was closer to the the third base dugout than the pitchers mound on every swing he had.

After all of this the Giants actually had a lead in this game. In the eighth inning, the Giants were able to put a rally together and took a 4-2 lead with a three run homer by Aaron Rowand.

Unfortunately, this lead would not last for long because Bob Howry would struggle on the mound in the bottom of the eighth giving up two runs so the game was tied going into the ninth.

Howry would continue his struggles in th ninth inning where he gave up two two strike hits to the Dodger hitters which eventually helped the Dodgers win the game.

This inning was probably the hardest for me to watch because Howry left an 0-2 meatball slider to Orlando Hudson who lead off with a single. To the next batter, Howry did the same thing to Manny Ramirez who took another weak slider up the middle for another single giving the Dodgers first and third and no outs.

Howry eventually got pulled for Brian Wilson who had trouble finding the strike zone where he walked in the winning run after he got a force out at home from the previous batter.

I thought watching Howry was painful, but when Wilson had three balls on James Loney I put my head down because I knew hew was going to walk in the winning run.

I understand that it is easy to critique every little thing these players do on the field from my couch at home but there is no reason why Wilson walked in the winning run. His one job as the Giants All-Star closer in tonight's game was to throw strikes and make the Dodger hitters come up with a clutch hit. Wilson didn't even give Loney a chance to do this because his last two pitches were way out of the zone.

I just hope that the Giants can get back on track fast because if they continue to play this poorly this will be a long 2009 season. So tomorrow, Barry Zito, please throw one heck of a game and prove to Giants fans that you are worth $126 million!

San Francisco Giants vs. San Diego Padres Series Preview

Brian Boden — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:22:34 -0400

The first game of this series between the 2-1 San Francisco Giants and the 2-2 San Diego Padres begins today in San Diego.

The Giants are coming into this series with hot bats where they scored nineteen runs and racked up 30 hits in the three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers. The hottest player so far is Aaron Rowand who is batting .545 with a home run and four RBI.

The Padres are coming into this series after splitting four games with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Padres so far have been riding high on their pitching because in their four games they only gave up fourteen runs. Against this hot offense for the Giants their pitching will have to continue their success since the Padres offense has only scored eleven runs.

Pitching Matchup 4/10:

Barry Zito vs. Shawn Hill

Barry Zito is coming off a 10-17 season in 2008. Zito, who had a 5.15 ERA in '08, is hoping to start off this season much better than he did last year where he lost his first eight decisions.

If Zito can come right out of the gate and pitch the way in did last September where he compiled a 2-1 record and a 3.15 ERA, he has the ability to put the numbers he did in Oakland.

Hill is in his first year with the Pads where and started his career with the Montreal Expos. In his four-year career in Montreal/Washington he had made 37 starts and has a career record of 7-15.

Most Intriguing Matchup:

Barry Zito vs. Adrian Gonzalez

Adrian Gonzalez has six career hits in 22 at bats with only one RBI against Zito in his career. If Zito can continue his success against the big left-handed batter he should do fine against this weaker offense for the Padres.

Pitching Matchup 4/11:

Jonathan Sanchez vs. Jake Peavy

Jonathan Sanchez in his second season in the starting rotation where he finished the 2008 season with a 9-12 record. This season he is looking to make even greater strides than he did after his 2007 campaign with the club where he mostly came out of the bullpen.

With Sanchez's great strikeout ability and great movement he brings great depth to the back end of the Giants' potent rotation.

Jake Peavy will be making his second start of the year. In his opening day start he had a quality outing pitching seven innings and giving up three earned runs in a loss to the Dodgers.

Peavy is coming off a 10-11 and a 2.85 ERA season with the Padres last season. He is one of the best pitchers in the MLB so if he can get some run support this season he can be a dominating pitcher in the division.

Most Intriguing Matchup:

Jake Peavy vs. Bengie Molina

Peavy has dominated Bengie Molina in their career appearances where Molina only has one hit in 12 at bats.

Pitching Matchup 4/12:

Tim Lincecum vs. Chris Young

Tim Lincecum will be making his second start of the season where he would love to improve upon his first start. In that outing he only pitched three innings and gave up three runs against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Lincecum is hoping for the same type of success this year against the Padres as he did last season where he went 3-0 with a .62 ERA.

Chris Young will also be making his second start of the season. In his first outing he beat the Dodgers pitching six innings and only giving up two runs. His 2008 season was shortened by injuries where he only made 18 starts but finished with a winning record of 9-8.

If he can stay healthy this season, he and Peavy can be a great 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation.

Most Intriguing Matchup:

Tim Lincecum vs. Kevin Kouzmanoff

Not many of these Padres batters have had great success against this tough right hander. But Kevin Kouzmanoff has faired well against him with eight career hits in 23 at bats. If the top of the order for the Padres can get some base runners againts Lincecum, Kouzmanoff definitely has the ability to knock them in.

The Worst of the Worst Can Happen On a Baseball Field

Brian Boden — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:33:45 -0400

At any given moment at a baseball game, a stadium can go from ecstatic cheering to absolute silence. One of these instances occurred in the final game of the San Francisco Giants and Milwaukee Brewers series.

With 30,000 fans on their feet and two outs in the ninth inning with a 7-1 Giants lead an unfortunate event occurred. Mike Cameron hit a screaming line drive off the forehead of Giants rookie pitcher Joe Martinez.

As Cameron hit the ball and saw it hit Martinez in the head, his face turned to a grimace of shock. After it struck him in the head, the ball ricocheted so far that it ended up out of play, so Cameron was awarded second base.

Trainers and coaches rushed to the mound as Martinez fell to the ground. After about a five-minute delay, Martinez walked off the field to a standing ovation holding a towel on the right side of his forehead.

Martinez would eventually go to St. Francis Hospital where he would get further evaluated and get a CT scan done.

Witnessing this event people don't realize how easily these things can happen at any one moment. Thankfully this does not happen very often because when the ball comes off the bat it is at such a great speed that a pitcher has less than a second to react.

However, when something like this does occur you really see how the game of baseball is put on hold and the safety of the player becomes the main importance. Most players got to a knee or put their hands on their head in disbelief because they were scared about what injury he sustained and if he was okay.

Something like this is a definite wake up call because this can happen at any time to any player. Unfortunately, I don't really think Martinez will ever fully recover from this because in the back of his mind, he realizes that this could happen again and the result can be a lot worse.

No Offensive Fireworks In Johnson's Pitching Debut

Brian Boden — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:41:27 -0400

Coming into this Opening Night, the San Francisco Giants fans brought a lot of energy to the ball park.

On this night, Tim Lincecum received his Cy Young Award from last season and Randy Johnson was making his first appearance in a Giants uniform.

Unfortunately, this energy died down at the end of the game because as everyone was hoping to see fireworks on the playing field, they only saw the fireworks in the sky as they left the AT&T Park watching the Giants strand eight base runners in a 4-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Although Johnson was at the bitter end of defeat, he showed a dominating presence on the mound when he retired the first three batters in order with two strikeouts.

As the 45-year-old left-hander walked off the field, Giants fans were excited to see what the offense could do tonight after a 10 run outing the night before.

Things started looking very good once Randy Winn opened the game with a walk, and the Giants eventually had first and third with one out for their clutch hitting specialist Bengie Molina.

Hoping for at least a sacrifice fly, Molina instead hit into a twin-killing 6-4-3 double play to end the early threat.

In the second inning, Johnson looked like he was going to breeze on through once again after he retired the first two batters, but Mike Cameron thought otherwise when he hit his first home run of the season over the left field wall.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Giants were able squeeze out the tying run when Emmanuel Burris hit a ground ball to second base knocking in Travis Ishikawa who reached on a one out single.

In the fourth inning, the Giants put a scare into the Brewers when Molina and Pablo Sandoval reached to start off the inning, but unfortunately the lack of Giants "small ball" in tonight's game they were stranded on the base paths.

The top of the fifth inning was an unfortunate one for Johnson because he did what every other pitcher would do in his position. With two outs in the inning and a runner on second, he intentionally walked, eighth hitter Jason Kendall to get to pitcher, Yovani Gallardo.

Instead, Gallardo made the Giants pay for this decision, because he took a two strike fastball over the left field fence for a three run home run.

After Johnson completed the fifth, this would unfortunately be the last Giants fans would see of the Big Unit in his debut outing.

Apart from the two home runs, Johnson had an impressive performance pitching five innings and striking out seven.

With the hope to bail out Johnson so he wouldn't get the loss, the Giants had the perfect opportunity in the seventh inning to do so.

Winn already had a two out knock in the inning to make the score a 4-2 game, where Edgar Renteria and Lewis followed with walks to load the bases for Molina once again.

With a new pitcher on the mound, Todd Coffey, Molina hoped to come up with the clutch hit he was unable to produce in the first inning.

Instead, Molina grounded out to Hardy once again to end another great threat.

Tomorrow the Giants will hope to win the rubber match of the series as Matt Cain takes the mound in his season debut against Manny Parra.

San Francisco Giants Show Great Potential in Home Opener

Brian Boden — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:00:21 -0400

I know there are still 161 regular season games left in the regular season, but I definitely liked what I saw in the San Francisco Giants' home opener.

Coming into the game, no one would even think that Cy Young Award Winner Tim Lincecum would only last three innings and the offense would put up a ten spot, but that is exactly what happened.

From the get go, Lincecum struggled with his command by walking three and was constantly in the stretch, but he found ways to get out of jams when he needed to by only giving up three runs.

Luckily enough, the Giants came out with something to prove, where they put up a three spot in the first inning with a bases-clearing triple by Travis Ishikawa. The offense only got started there because clutch hitting and situational baseball helped them crank out seven more runs, giving the Giants an impressive 10-6 victory.

Other good signs for the Giants in this game were the four through seven hitters. Each player had two hits and combined for knocking in seven runs and two long balls.

The most impressive of these hitters was second-year player Aaron Rowand, who had two hits and three RBI, including the game-winning two run home run in the fourth inning.

If Rowand can stay healthy, I definitely see the potential of him putting up the kind of numbers he did in Philadelphia.

Along with the great hitting, the pitching looked quite impressive as well. Aside from the struggles of Lincecum, the rest of the pitching staff showed some signs of great success. Although Joe Martinez gave up two runs in two innings, he showed the ability to throw the sinker and induce the double play when needed.

Also, the new members of the Giants staff, Brandon Medders, Jeremy Affeldt, and Bob Howry, shut down the potent lineup of the Brewers by throwing a combined three innings and only giving up two hits.

So, in lieu of the game's positives, I am definitely excited to see what this 2009 club can do this year.