MLB Gameday

[Primetime]

Peavy vs. Cain > Sharks game.

[chazmaniandevil]

Peavy vs. Cain > Sharks game.

when your a giants fan you get tired of pitching matchups and need to take a break to some asskick hockey every once in a while, i just watched 3 straight 2-0 games lol

[chazmaniandevil]

yea it can be boring but sandoval should be good to watch

the guy with the .215 average?

dude swings at everything, still wondering why anybody throws him anything hittable

[chazmaniandevil]

Sandoval’s degree of hacking was unmatched: he offered at an absurd 53.8% of pitches thrown out of the strike zone (!) Among batters with at least 150 plate appearances, Pablo led the competition by a wide margin. Even notorious bad-ball hitter Vladimir Guerrero couldn’t keep pace, with a 45.5 O-Swing%. Overall, Sandoval swung at 64.6% of the total pitches he saw, giving him a comfortable cushion in front of Miguel Olivo, Humberto Quintero, Vlad and Alexei Ramirez.

In 2009, Sandoval has improved his level of selectivity, swinging at just…52 percent of pitches outside of the strike zone (hey, you gotta start somewhere). Unlike last year, the line-drives and doubles aren’t manifest in the box scores: Sandoval has a .279 wOBA in 48 plate appearances, with a walk rate (2.2 BB%) and OBP (.292) that even teammate Juan Uribe could poke fun at.

It seems as though opposing pitchers have just plain stopped throwing Sandoval strikes. They were already reluctant to fill the zone in 2008, given his see-ball, hit-ball edict (46.6% of the pitches that Sandoval saw were in the strike zone, compared to the 51.1% average).

But in ‘09, just 33.6% of pitches seen have crossed the plate: that’s the lowest rate among all hitters to this point in the season. Sandoval has almost whiffed as many times in 2009 (11) as he did in over three times the amount of PA’s in ‘08 (14). And really, why risk tossing a cookie to Sandoval if there’s a better than 50/50 shot that he’ll swing at something off the dish or in the dirt?

Sandoval is undoubtedly a talented hitter, making the sort of hard contact that leads one to believe that he possesses a .300 skill-set in the majors. However, batting average fluctuates more than most offensive stats; it’s not out of the realm of possibility for someone like Sandoval to hit .244 in a short stretch of at-bats. When that happens, he doesn’t have the proverbial flotation device that walks provide, so his offensive value goes down the drain.

lol, 52 percent

[BuccaneerFan]

Capps got the double play and Pirates win again. What a juggernaut.

[.RoCkEtS1]

Mets are playing a good game so far against a good St. Louis team.

[Rylo]

Way to fail Marlins.

[Brotha2ThaNight]

Mets are playing a good game so far against a good St. Louis team.

u spoke to soon

[chazmaniandevil]

renteria has 5 rbis, including a grand slam

giants up on padres 6-2

[BuccaneerFan]

Rays lose again. Good thing I moved to a city with a good baseball team, the Pirates!

[kyhadley]

Sox up 6-0 in the 4th. Three 2 run homers by Youkilis, Nick Greene and Lowell

[BuccaneerFan]

WTF, the Pirates are playing now? Stupid day games on work days.

[BuccaneerFan]

Nice. Thanks for the updates.

[BuccaneerFan]

Pirates = last years Rays.

[BuccaneerFan]

I think that record for losing seasons might get snapped!!!

Just like Doumit's wrist!