Vin Scully 1927-2022

We posted our tribute to "The Voice of America" upon his retirement a few years ago, so we've little to add here. But pause a moment to consider the remarkable life of this man, born the year Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs, a man who saw Ruth play and also saw Shohei Ohtani play, a man whose professional career spanned the terms of eleven American presidents, and a man who never once seemed all that impressed with himself, but whose impressions of many of our most memorable moments became part of the national landscape. Prayers for his family, and honor to one who was a true man of the people. 

Trouble In Mind

Two weeks? How about five?  Not that it matters. Things have not improved. They've gotten worse.

The Giants made one move at the deadline, unloading Darin Ruf in exchange for J.D. Davis, and Davis has played well since his arrival. Thing is, few other Giants have. Since our last post the Giants have sunk below the .500 waterline, and after losing two of three at San Diego this week they are 7 1/2 games out of the wild-card race and slouching toward irrelevance well ahead of September. Relief pitching continues to be a serious problem for the Giants; witness yesterday's debacle where, after taking a 7-6 lead in the top of the sixth, Yunior Marte and Jarlin Garcia surrendered seven straight two-out base hits and watched the game go down the drain.. The Padres themselves were struggling mightily when the Giants came to town; they're in better shape now, though still far from where they want to be, or were a month ago.

No, nothing has really changed around here. Starting pitchers-- Rodon and Webb, primarily-- are still the only above-average Giants. Alex Cobb, whom we really like most of the time, continues to pitch in tough luck. And Alex Wood had a gem of a start, his best of the year, to open the San Diego series, seems like ages ago already. John Brebbia has been the best of the relievers, with a 2.40 ERA and 1.17 WHIP.  The above-mentioned Davis has a 1.093 OPS in 7 games; Joc Pederson is the only regular over .800. Austin Slater and Wilmer Flores are playing generally well, Thairo Estrada's been strong defensively (as has Davis) and Joey Bart is now hitting the ball with some authority and plays his position very well (witness that perfect tag on the relay play in Monday's game that saved Wood's shutout). All of this would look a whole lot better-- a lot more like last year, in fact-- if the Giants had one or two guys really tearing it up offensively. They don't. 

The National League has three legitimate boss teams, led by the Dodgers, who are hot again, having won 10 in a row. They are now are at .700, 16 games ahead of San Diego. Call that one. Then there are the Mets and the Braves. New York shook off a shaky month and have now won six in a row to move  seven games ahead of Atlanta, who are still an almost-certain wild-card team. The Phillies, meanwhile, are riding a 9-1 surge, with seven wins in a row, and have moved into second position. Then there's San Diego. Yes, they took two of three from the Giants, but since making those monumental trade-deadline deals they've been floundering--  losing, not gaining, ground. Juan Soto has been great, Josh Bell has been good, but Josh Hader-- well, the Giants chased him right off the mound on Saturday, before blowing the game themselves. If the Padres fade so badly that they miss the playoffs, or are quickly excused in the opening round, there's gonna be a whole tsunami of disappointment come crashing down around that team. Again. 

It's beginning to look as through the NL Central division race will be win-or-go-home. Neither the Brewers nor the Cardinals have really caught fire or looked especially impressive for long this season; currently St Louis is hot and in the lead. Milwaukee is the team immediately ahead of the Giants in the wild-card standings, as they trail San Diego by one game. A wild-card team could come from the Central; it just doesn't look too likely.

If there's any comfort here for Giants fans, it's that the club is underperforming its expectation by three games, while the Padres are two games above their Pythagorean number. Cold comfort indeed. Also, there are no teams closing the gap behind us any more. Six teams will make it, and if you count the Giants, eight remain in it. 

Over in the American League the Yankees have cooled off from their ridiculous early-season pace, but still hold a ten-game lead in the East. Houston has an identical record, and lead, in the West. Seattle, who have not made the postseason since 2001, are currently neck-and-neck with Toronto for the boss wild-card team; they've been red-hot since the break, and it remains to be seen whether they'll do another fade-out as they did last year. The AL Central, like the NL Central, is a back-and-forth battle between teams who face daunting odds in the wild-card race; here it's three teams, with Cleveland, Minnesota, and the White Sox all tangled up just north of .500. But the big American League story is, of course, the oft-ridiculed Baltimore Orioles, who have come out of nowhere and are tied with Tampa for the third wild-card spot at the moment.   

Yes, Baltimore. It's been a long time coming, and we wish them the best. After all, there has to be one orange-and-black team represented in the newly-expanded postseason this year.