Without a lot games on the docket I decided to watch the Giants-Dodgers game at my Mom’s house. What made the experience different is I didn’t have my notebook so I wasn’t able to look at the game closely. I found this experience extremely refreshing because it gave me an opportunity to watch a game for enjoyment purposes; that’s not to say I when I watch games “analytically” isn’t enjoyable, but it’s different when you’re watching a game trying to pick up trends and why things are happening. Also, it was funny to hear comments such as, “come on Brandon (Crawford) hit a homer” or “strike him out (to every Dodger batter)” throughout the whole game. Anyway, below are my observations.

Hyun-Jin Ryu is a solid pitcher. He’s not going to end the year with a 2.85 ERA, but his ERA won’t increase dramatically as I thought 4-5 weeks ago. His stuff isn’t over powering, but he has good command of all four of his pitches (fastball, slider, curve and change up) that will allow him to keep hitters off balanced and if he makes a mistake the home ballpark will help nullify those mistakes. If he can limit his walks I could see him with a sub-3.10 ERA for the entire year, but as of now he’s a 3.20-3.40 ERA pitcher.

Don Mattingly is a really bad strategic manager. In the eighth inning, with the game tied, there was a runner on first base and zero outs. Madison Bumgarner was pitching and Jerry Hairston was at-bat and Andrew Ethier and Juan Uribe to follow. Mattingly asked Hairston, whose hitting .263 against lefties since 2008 to bunt to get the runner to second. The only problem is Ethier can’t hit lefties (.221 batting average since 2008). So, Hairston fails to lay the bunt down and Ethier strikes out. Uribe singles then A.J. Ellis strikes out. The obvious call is to swing the bat. Hairston was put in the game to hit against Bumgarner. Anyway, I was shouting at the TV in disgust. Rant over.