As you learned last night, the Giants have been awful against lefties this season. Coming into Saturday afternoon, the Giants were hitting .205 against lefties with an OPS of .574. Joey Meatballs exploited this to his own benefit (and ours) last night.
But the Giants found a Dr. Pepper machine in the desert today in David Peterson. Lefties against Peterson going into today: .333 avg, .440 OBP, .810 slugging, 1.25 K/BB in 25 plate appearances. (Basically, think Sammy Sosa in 2001.) The two lefties he faced in the first inning? A single to center to put runners on first and third and then, after a walk to Wilmer Flores and a sac fly by David Villar, a three run missile to McCovey Cove by Brandon Crawford (to make it 4-0 Giants.
But to be fair, Peterson hasn’t been that great against righties either (.307 average//816 OPS in 67 plate appearances.) In the second inning, that came to roost. After Daniel Vogelbach got the Mets on the board in the top of the second, Peterson gave up a double to Heloit Ramos, a single to Thairo Estrada, and then and RBI single to right by Darin Ruf who, it should be noted had an OPS of .865 against lefties last year before he came to the Mets, and before he forgot how to play baseball. Very happy to see he remembered what the object of the game was in time to put on the Giants uniform again. Hashtag blessed.
Michael Conforto (hey I remember that guy too) finished off the scoring in the inning with a fielder’s choice to make it 6-1, and in the 5th, Flores smacked a home run against Peterson to make it 7-2. In the meantime, the Mets got a home run from Brandon Nimmo, but also ran into a few outs. Starling Marte was caught stealing for the second out after reaching first on a bunt single right after Nimmo’s home run in the third. Then in the fourth, the runners on first and second tried to advance on a dirt ball read, but Jeff McNeil was out by a mile at third base, also for the second out.
Thairo beats the tag.
Giants lead 6-1 after two innings. pic.twitter.com/XTnoP7lqeF
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 22, 2023
Combine that with every single close play and close replay going against the Mets (correctly, but still frustrating) and an eighth inning rally falling just short with Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso retired with the tying run on deck, and you have a 7-4 loss. Lindor swung at a 3-1 pitch in the 8th with runners on first and second to fly out for the second out. I don’t bring this up to shame him, because he swung at a strike and he just got under it. And I’m far from the “I have to complain about the lineup every day on Twitter” guy. But I bring it up, as silly as it sounds with the offense going well right now, to suggest that at some point, Lindor bats behind Alonso instead of in front of him, and only because it plays to Lindor’s aggressiveness. And perhaps either have Alonso bat behind Nimmo and McNeil, Nimmo and Marte, or maybe just Nimmo if you want to put Alonso in the 2 hole. But like I said, this is just a non-sequitur for some point in the future when the Mets aren’t going so well. It’s just something for your back pocket.
Otherwise, downer. But at least I nowo know who Edwin Uceta is now (probably just in time for him to be optioned to Syracuse.)
Today’s Hate List
We have to stop with these commercials … that FOX showed constantly during the game today … where there’s a Broadway musical number performed about empagliflozin. People dancing in a garden and singing “I GOT MY JARDIANCE … HOORAY FOR JARDIANCE!!!!” And then the bridge of the song is a narrator reading the side effects, which include death. THIS DOES NOT LEND ITSELF TO A MUSICAL NUMBER!!!!!
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