Tag Archives: Giants

Marco Scutaro injury: Giants second basemen leaves game after being hit by pitch

Update: Baggarly and Henry Schulman tweeted that Scutaro cannot straighten his pinky finger, leading them to believe there may be tendon damage. He will see a specialist tomorrow.

Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro left Tuesday’s game against the Pirates after being hit by a pitch. On an 0-2 count in the seventh inning, Pittsburgh lefty Tony Watson came inside with a fastball that clipped Scutaro in his left hand. He was awarded first base, but Juan Perez was brought in as a pinch runner. A post-game MRI revealed that there was no fracture, according to Andrew Baggarly.

The Giants are quickly running out of quality position players, with Pablo Sandoval joining Angel Pagan on the disabled list with a foot injury. If Scutaro is forced to miss time, Nick Noonan and Tony Abreu would likely share the available playing time. Noonan, Abreu and Joaquin Arias can play all of the infield positions, but will struggle to replace the production at the plate of the Giants’ 1-2-3 hitters. Sorry, Buster Posey’s RBI total.

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SF Giants lineup: Arias in for injured Sandoval against Pirates

With Pablo Sandoval headed to the disabled list with a foot strain, utility man Joaquin Arias gets the start at third base in Tuesday’s game at Pittsburgh. Arias will bat eighth, just in front of starting pitcher Tim Lincecum.

Lincecum will be squaring off against right-hander Gerrit Cole, who is making his major league debut. Cole was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 draft and has been excellent in the minor leagues, with a 2.84 ERA in 200 innings.

Timmy is looking to build on his previous start, when he allowed just four baserunners and one earned run in seven innings against Toronto.

The three-game game set that wraps up Thursday is San Francisco’s only trip to Pittsburgh this season. The Giants will host August 22-25 and the battle of baseball’s beautiful ballparks will be decided.

Here’s the lineup against RHP Gerrit Cole (0-0, 0.00 ERA):

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Pablo Sandoval injury: Giants third basemen place on disabled list with foot strain

Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval’s foot injury has landed him on the disabled list, according to Alex Pavlovic of the Mercury News. The foot has been bothering the Panda since before San Francisco’s trip to St. Louis on June 1st. Sandoval has played in four games since missing the entire Cardinals’ series but was clearly uncomfortable, leaving Saturday’s game against Arizona after playing just three innings. Nick Noonan has been recalled from Triple-A Fresno to replace Sandoval on the roster.

CEO Larry Baer went on 95.7 The Game yesterday and described Sandoval’s injury as a “stress fracture”, but as Henry Schulman of the Chronicle points out the Giants official diagnosis is “strain”. Baer also dismissed Sandoval’s weight as the reason for the injury, but the Twitterverse has taken to it’s usual business of Panda Bashing.

My official position on this issue is utter disgust. Sandoval spoke to Yahoo’s Jeff Passan before the season, giving himself a two-year reprieve before he feels he needs to slim down. That’s childish and irresponsible. Fortunately, the Giants (and Panda I suppose) have an out as Sandoval becomes a free agent after next season. His weight and potential weight loss will play a big (no pun) factor in the value of his first big free-agent contract.

With the vitriol out of the way, I do not blame the foot strain/stress fracture/sore toesies on Pablo’s weight. There is no way of knowing if a slimmer Sandoval would have been able to avoid the injury. Baseball’s disabled list is riddled with players of all sizes. A quick scan of Prince Fielder’s Baseball Reference page would show you that he played in all but one game from 2009-2012. They have a similar build, play similar positions and Fielder is almost three years older than Pablo. Panda’s weight is an issue, but it’s not something to be blamed for every nick and bruise suffered during a 162-game season.

With Sandoval out, Bruce Bochy will most likely play the platoon game at third base with Noonan and Joaquin Arias. Noonan bats lefty and Arias from the right side, so keep an eye on match ups to see what the old ball coach does. I think Arias — as the more seasoned player — will be able to cross platoon lines and get some starts against right-handed pitchers. Though considering Noonan was recently demoted for the purpose of getting more regular playing time, this could be the 24-year-old’s time to shine.