W    L    GB                                                     

Philadelphia        80 67 Now over .500 in road games

Chicago                78 70         Lost third straight to West teams

Arizona                77 72   Took early lead and held on 

Cincinnati         77 72    Their closer got the save

Miami                 76 72 0.5  Eight wins above projected

GIANTS                75 72  1 Everything right is wrong again

Yesterday

Giants lost at Colorado, 3-2, as Camilo Doval blew his eighth save.

Arizona defeated Chicago, Cincinnati defeated New York, and Miami defeated Atlanta, all of them gaining a full game on the Giants. Philadelphia extended their lead over Chicago by defeating the Cardinals in St Louis.

Today

Giants try to pick up the pieces at Colorado, and the good news (good news?) is they have two games to do it.  A daytime start (noon local, 3 EDT) for the makeup game from Thursday, with rookie Keaton Winn starting. Sean Manaea is slated to start the evening game (5 PM local, 8 PM EDT).  

Arizona hosts the Cubs, Cincinnati is at New York, and Miami has the Braves at home. Philadelphia is at St Louis. 

Last Night's Game

You know that Violent Femmes song, "Nightmares?" That was the bottom of the ninth at Coors Field, all right.  Not that the rest of the game was some kind of "sunshine daydream." It was just plain weird, with the Giants being no-hit through eight innings by Chase Anderson, the same guy they wasted just a week ago at Oracle, yet leading 1-0 by virtue of five walks and a couple of those old-fashioned "productive outs."  Logan Webb was masterful through seven, working with no margin for error, allowing just two hits while striking out six. But in the eighth he surrendered a leadoff double and, one out later, the tying run on Ezequiel Tovar's RBI single.

With "No-Hit Anderson" finally out of there, the Giants pounced on Nick Mears in the top of the ninth. J.D. Davis hit his own leadoff double to break up the no-hit business, LaMonte Wade walked with one out, Patrick Bailey singled  through second to load the bases, and Wilmer Flores came in to pinch-hit. "Old Reliable" worked a bases-loaded walk to bring in Davis, untie it, and chase Mears from the game.  That set it all up for Doval and his 38th save... attempt, that is.  It fell apart with shocking suddenness. Charlie Blackmon, this decade's answer to Steve Finley, opened with the game's third straight leadoff double. Doval got Kris Bryant on a grounder that held Blackmon at second, but then walked Nolen Jones to put the winning run on base. It also set up a potential game-ending double play, but Elehuris Montero wasn't playing. He singled to left and Mike Yastrzemski's throw, intended to cut down Blackmon at the plate, went wild and ricocheted away as Jones, who never stopped running, came all the way around to score. The Giants appealed Blackmon's slide at the plate, hoping to uncover a rules violation, but no dice. 

Doval has blown eight saves. Recall that when Santiago Casilla blew his sixth save back in 2016, fans were ready to burn him in effigy and Bruce Bochy himself lost confidence in his closer, to which anyone who remembers that gruesome Game Four of the NLDS will attest.  Will Gabe Kapler similarly flinch the next time a critical (and they're all critical now) save situation looms? We think not, for better or for worse.