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George Kontos is up. Adam Duvall is down. It's not exactly shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, but it's kinda like shuffling deck chairs on a cruise that started in the Gulf of Mexico, but kept going south until you ended up eating salmonella cakes on Mosquito Island. The deck chairs really did need to be shuffled, though.
Juan Gutierrez has appeared in 10 games this August, and he's allowed runs in five of them. He's thrown a total of 7⅔ innings, giving up 10 earned runs and allowing as many home runs as strikeouts (4). As such, the Giants thought that another reliever just might -- might -- be a good idea. Kontos got the call for the fourth time this year.
If it were May, it probably would have made sense to designate Gutierrez for assignment, but with just six days left before rosters expand, the Giants likely figured that 13 pitchers wouldn't kill them for a week, so they'll go without Duvall and with a short bench. This gives them the added benefit of ... keeping Gutierrez? I haven't figured that part out yet.
With Duvall down, it's time to party like it's 2009, because Travis Ishikawa is probably going to get a bulk of the at-bats at first. Since Angel Pagan returned, the Giants have used a combination of Buster Posey, Duvall, and Ishikawa at first, keeping Michael Morse in the outfield. It's probably going to be a de facto platoon at this point, with Posey playing at first against left-handers and giving his hip a rest, and Ishikawa getting the other starts.
That makes sense, considering the difference between Duvall and Andrew Susac in the lineup isn't a big one. Rest Posey whenever you can, I suppose. It's just so weird to type "Travis Ishikawa is starting at first for the 2014 Giants." Try it a few times. It's fun and horrifying.