Cobb Salad

Sep 13, 2022 | 2022 Season, Latest Post

by
Greek Giant

Alex Cobb was superb. The Braves played poor defense. The Giants held on. That’s your story for the Giants 3-2 win against the defending World Series Champs. Last night Alex Cobb threw splitter after splitter with a little bit of fastballs and garnished with the occasional slider to create a steady diet of Cobb Salad that had a very strong Braves line up swinging through air and missing pitches up and down.

DEEEFENSE!

The Giants took the lead on a Calhoun RBI double and an RBI single by Luis Gonzalez, both in the bottom of the second inning and both of Braves sensational rookie Spencer Strider. Alex Cobb escaped a bit of trouble in the top of the first and second innings to keep the game scoreless.

Speaking of Calhoun, this is cool:

In the bottom of the fifth Braves second baseman Grissom made a throwing error that plated another run. Grissom probably should have had Gonzalez’s rbi hit as well. That’s two runs saved with good defense and the Braves win the game.

See, bad “D” happens to other teams too!

The Braves answered with two runs in the top of the eighth. They loaded the bases with nobody out. Then Dansby Swanson singled up the middle to score two. The truth is that if Austin Wynns catches Lewis Brinson’s throw at the plate the second run does not score. It got by Wynns and I would argue it should have been an error on the Giant catcher.

But Riley hit into a double play on a pitch by Zack Littell who did a great job of limiting the damage, and Alexander induced a pop up by Matt Olson on a “hit-me” slider that allowed the Giants to maintain the lead. That slider should have ended up in McCovey Cove. Even great hitters miss mistakes from time to time.

Regarding Littell, evidently he was not happy about being pulled in favor of Scott Alexander when Matt Olson came up in the top of the eighth inning. He had a few words with Manager Gabe Kapler during and after the pitching change. The two had a tete-a-tete afterwards and cleared the air. Things appear to be peachy creamy between them as of today:

“It was purely out of frustration in my performance and it came out in a disrespectful way toward him. Obviously that was not my intention at all. So that’s on me. I’ve already gone into his office and that’s that. … I can assure you on my side it won’t happen again.”

-Zack Littel

Alex Cobb’s Very Good 2022

Let’s get back to Cobb. He would go seven innings on the night and allow only six hits, zero runs and zero walks. That’s a super outing, particularly against a team like the Braves that is fighting the Mets for first place in the National League East. Cobb is quietly having a very good year. He now lowered his ERA to 3.48 and even his record at 6-6. With a little better infield and outfield defense Cobb could easily have eight or nine wins this year.

The Giants Extend Wilmer Flores’s Contract

It was announced yesterday that Wilmer Flores agreed to a new contract with the Giants that guarantees him $16.5 million over the next three seasons and could be worth up to $21.5 million. The popular slugger opted to stay in San Francisco rather than test his value on the free-agent market this offseason.

“It was a no-brainer. Since day one, I’ve been just loving the culture here and the way they treat me. just wanted to come back here. I knew I had a chance to go to free agency but I just love everyone here and playing on this team in San Francisco makes me feel good. You can’t buy that. We wanted to get it done and we got it done.”

-Wilmer Flores

Bravo Wilmer! Bravo Giants! It’s a win-win. It says here that Flores wins the Willie Mac Award this year.

Transactions and Injuries

Tommy LaStella was placed on the 10-day IL. The cause is back spasms. San Francisco and LaStella has not been a happy marriage. This looks like a bad signing now, in hindsight.

The Giants optioned OF Austin Dean to Triple-A Sacramento and selected OF Willie Calhoun and RHP Cole Waites from Sacramento. … C Patrick Mazeika was designated for assignment.

Correction

In yesterday’s post I mistakenly mentioned that the Giants had the day off on Monday. My apologies. When looking at the schedules I get local time start dates which means night games on the west coast appear as games on the following day here in Europe.

Tonight’s Game

It will be Kyle Wright vs Jakob Junis in tonight’s game at Willie Mays Field. Game time is 6:45 PM.