Postgame Wrap: Joaquin’ on Air-ias

Today was a fun game to watch. Madison Bumgarner pitched beautifully, the Giants got their trademark 4 runs, and the bullpen didn’t do anything to mess things up. It’s always fun to beat the Padres, especially because I watched today with TGaGaaCB Padres correspondent Levon, who was not exactly thrilled with his team’s performance.

These lefty-righty platoon splits are pretty interesting. In the blue corner, we have Belt/Nate/Crawford/Burriss, and in the red corner we have Hector/Pill/Arias/Theriot. It’s hard to know what to make of it, especially while Pill and Arias are hitting as well as they are, and Pill’s defense in left field is not too atrocious. I’d love to see more of Brandon Belt, especially because he has actually hit lefties really well in his short career. Actually way better than against righties, but if he’s got a hole in his swing, he should probably just watch more of Jamie Moyer. Or something.

From a pure numbers perspective, I’d like to see Buster Posey behind the plate as much as possible, but I understand that Bochy is managing Posey’s fatigue, etc., and a day game against a lefty after a night game is as good a time as any to pull the platoon switch. But still, more Brandon Belt would be nice. I’m not sure if I mentioned that.

As far as the ninth inning is concerned, I’m totally on board with Casilla over Romo as closer. Sergio Romo is a fantastic pitcher, but has durability issues. The ninth inning today took Casilla 21 pitches, and that was one that didn’t get too far out of control. Romo pitched more than 20 pitches just 7 times last year, out of 65 appearances, and I got really nervous when he tripped a couple days ago. It’s also not like Casilla is much of a downgrade, and with all things considered, he’s my guy.

Brandon Watch 2012:

Crawford: Pulled a Belt today, didn’t play. Arias looked pretty good at shortstop most of the time, and makes a nice platoon to Craw Daddy. See yesterday’s post.

Belt: Will Brandon Belt ever have a regular job, barring an injury? Seems unlikely, especially with the platoon splits actually working to some extent. The Giants have an off-day tomorrow and then are facing a righty, so it’s a decent bet we’ll see him. Maybe.

Stats of the Day:

15: Games this season in which the Giants have scored at least 4 runs

13: The number of “I miss Andres Torres” tweets I saw after Pagan broke the wrong way on Denorfia’s RBI double.

2: Pitches thrown by Sergio Romo

1: Consecutive games with a hit by Pablo Sandoval

1: Consecutive games with a homer by Pablo Sandoval

Bonus Stat of the Day:

4: Times I wrote and re-wrote today’s headline to try to figure out optimal spelling