Results tagged ‘ Emmannual Burriss ’
Lefting this Ship
While the Giants sit on their day off at 10-10 (a .500 record), they also have one record above .500; wins against left handed starting pitching. While the Giants started the season 1-3 in games started by lefties, they have won their last three making them 4-3 on the season.
It’s not just the fact that the Giants are winning against lefties, it’s the fact they are beating pitchers who they had already seen and been beating by this season. Eric Stultz and Doug Davis handled the Giants in their first match-ups of the year with Davis going 8 innings without giving up a run, and Stultz going 5 innings giving up only 2 runs.
However, in the second match-ups between the Giants and these starting pitchers, the Giants scored 5 runs off of Davis in 6 innings and tallied 5 runs off of Stultz in just 2.2 innings. The biggest difference? Patience. Carney Lansford has been preaching patience to his young hitters, and from the looks of it, they have started to understand how to wait for their pitches.
Pablo Sandoval is the most obvious of the group as he has started to take pitches out of the strike zone and in doing so has worked himself into hitters counts. His batting average over the past seven days is a monstrous .455 and most importantly, he has struck out zero times in those 22 at bats.
The biggest reason for the Giants success against lefties has been the hitting of switch hitter Emmanual Burriss. While his stats at a glance have been awful through the first month of the year, his numbers against lefties are remarkable. Burriss is hitting .421 (.450 OBP) against lefties in 19 at bats from the right side of the plate and .085 from the left side.
The reason Burriss’ batting average against lefties may be so important to the team is that more often then not, pitching is getting a chance to bunt or hit with two outs, therefore leading off innings less and making their at bats productive ones.
Hats off to Carney Lansford as he rights the ship against lefties, therefore lefting this Ship!
It’s The Little Things…..And Manny Burriss Is Doing Them
With no hits through four innings many would say the Giants are having another sub par offensive day. While it would be hard to argue that they are having a good day, there is one thing that is worth highlighting.
When you are facing a pitcher that has had your number like Chris Young, it is important to make him work for outs, and that is exactly what Emmanual Burriss has done today.
In his first at bat of the day, he saw eight pitches, finishing the at bat with a one hopper right at the third baseman. In his second at bat he saw eight more pitches finishing his at bat with a walk and immediately stole second. In his third at bat, he saw five pitches swinging at none of them, and drawing a walk.
While Emmanual Burriss may be lacking offensive skills so far this year, he has started to look like a seasoned leadoff hitter in his recent at bats. If this guy can get his offense going, there is a great chance that he will soon be a leadoff hitter for the young and quick San Francisco Giants.
Welcome to San Francisco E-Rent!!!!!
While Matt Cain delivered another great outing beating the San Diego Padres and Jake Peavy Tuesday night, the player that had fans dancing in the isles was Edgar Renteria. With his three hits in Tuesdays’ night game including a monstrous 4th inning grand slam, E-Rent finally showed the offensive ability that the Giants paid him for last off-season.
With his big night, E-Rent moved his batting average up to .250. Now it’s time to have the youngsters follow suit as the right side off the infield needs to get on track offensively. Ishikawa’s 2 hit night may be a start as he lifted his average over the .200 mark. His hits were not bloopers either as he squared up both balls and sent them into right field with some authority.
The only player that has yet to really show any signs of life offensively has been Manny Burriss at second base, with a batting average of .171. Hitting in the two hole, Manny has continued to struggle leaving a small window of opportunity for Enginio Velez, the backup second baseman. However, Velez has a lot of work to do defensively and could be considered a liability still at second. Velez’s only start of the year came in center field where he didn’t look spectacular.
All in all it’s tough to get down on a team that scored more than six runs since the first series of the season. The Giants are now 5-2 at home with a 0-6 record on the road, a number they will try and approve on this weekend in Arizona.
Understanding The Uribe Signing
At first glance, the Juan Uribe signing is a strange one? With so many young, talented but unproven players that can play the same positions as Uribe, so……. why would the Giants sign him?
The answer lies in one word from the previous paragraph; UNPROVEN.
The Uribe signing will provide the Giants with an insurance policy in case one of the young up and comers cannot make the transition to the big leagues quite yet.
A contract worth a million dollars IF Uribe makes the 25 man roster, will create competition at third and second. He will have to prove to be more valuable than Velez and Burriss during Spring Training if he hopes to make the contract stick.
Burriss seems to be the person who will suffer the most from the Uribe signing. Burriss was slated at very least to stay around as a back-up, playing shortstop on Edgar Renteria’s days off. However, if Uribe does make the opening day roster, Burriss might become expandable, finding himself in triple A affiliate Fresno where he would see many more at bats in 2009.
The Uribe signing will also affect Kevin Frandsen. While it is more than likely that Frandsen will make the major league roster, he will probably receive fewer at bats than previous thought if Uribe makes the roster.
mlblogskmcleod
Recent Comments