Monday, September 28, 2020

End of the (Ir)Regular Season

                  W-L  GB
Milwaukee 29-31 Backed in to postseason.
GIANTS         29-31 Friday night made the difference.
Philadelphia 28-32 1 Maybe it wasn't about Kapler.

Yesterday
Giants lost to San Diego, 5-4.
Milwaukee lost at St Louis, 5-2, but qualified for the last wild-card playoff berth with the Giants' loss.
Philadelphia lost at Tampa Bay.

Today
Everyone has the day off. The eight wild-card playoff series begin tomorrow. 

Yesterday's Game
The story of the season: the Giants had their chances, took advantage of many of them, got into the opponent's bullpen and made it close, but gave away as many runs as they gained. And so they finish two runs to the good but two losses to the bad, while Milwaukee, with the same record, goes on to the playoffs 17 runs to the bad. Them's the breaks.  

Drew Smyly pitched well over five, striking out ten while allowing two runs on three hits and a walk.  Mauricio Dubon's homer in the second got the Giants on the board, and it was a 2-1 pitchers' duel after six, Tyler Rogers having picked up Smyly. Then in the seventh Jarlin Garcia was tagged for two hits and two runs after Evan Longoria fumbled a leadoff ground ball. Logan Webb came in with two out, walked Alex Nola, and gave up a RBI double to Wil Myers. It was 5-1 and the Giants had done nothing against a parade of Padre relievers since "opener" Adrian Morejon gave up Dubon's shot. But Longoria singled to open the bottom of the seventh and Brandon Crawford belted a two-run homer. Joey Bart and Mike Yastrzemski drew walks, and Donovan Solano batted for Alex Dickerson against lefty Tim Hill. For the second time this weekend, Hill struck him out in a climactic at-bat and the rally yielded no more. Wilmer Flores led off the eighth with a homer to make it a one-run game, but that was all. Three Giants struck out against Trevor Rosenthal to end it in the ninth. 



The Playoff Picture
Minnesota won the AL Central yesterday and Cleveland beat out the Chicago White Sox for second place. St Louis nosed out Cincinnati for second place in the NL Central on the tiebreaker. The Cardinals are the only team in the majors that did not complete 60 games; they played 58. 

The AL series kick off on Tuesday at the top seeds' home fields. Tampa Bay (1) hosts Toronto (8), Oakland (2) hosts Chicago (7), Minnesota (3) hosts Houston (6), and Cleveland (4) hosts New York (5).

The NL on Wednesday has LA (1) hosting Milwaukee (8), Atlanta (2) hosting Cincinnati (7), Chicago (3) hosting Miami (6), and San Diego (4) hosting St Louis (5).  

For the first time since 2008, and only the second time in 114 years, war-torn Chicago has a shot at reprising the World Series of 1906. If it comes to pass, it will be played in Texas.

For what it's worth, the hottest teams going in are Cleveland, the Dodgers, and the Rays; the coldest is the White Sox, who lost 8 of their last ten. 

LA has the best ERA of any team in the game, but the next 5 on the list are all AL teams. The top three in runs scored are the Dodgers, Braves, and Padres, with the Yankees leading the AL. (Parenthetical note: the Giants have scored more runs than 10 of the 16 teams in the playoffs.)



Sunday, September 27, 2020

Sunday, September 27, 2020

                  W-L  GB
Milwaukee 29-30 Won the game they had to win 
GIANTS         29-30 Need a win here and a loss there
Philadelphia 28-31 1 Need a 3-way tie

Yesterday
Giants lost to San Diego, 6-2.
Milwaukee defeated St Louis, 3-0.
Philadelphia lost at Tampa Bay, 4-3. 
 
Today
Giants' last stand is at home against San Diego, with Drew Smyly against-- somebody.
Milwaukee is at St Louis; they clinch the last NL postseason berth if they win.
Philadelphia is at Tampa Bay and in dire straits.
All these games begin at the same time: noon for the Giants, 2 PM in St Louis, 3 PM in Tampa.

Last Night's Game
Yes, San Diego is a better team than the Giants, but must they prove it so emphatically? The Padres broke out for three against Johnny Cueto in the fourth, while Zach Davies, Craig Stammen, and Garrett Richards held the Giants scoreless on five hits through seven. Then in the eighth San Diego brought in lefthander Tim Hill, ostensibly to face Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Belt, and at first Hill couldn't find the strike zone or get a lefty out. Austin Slater walked, Yaz singled, and Darin Ruf walked to load the bases with nobody out. With visions of a big inning dancing in our heads, Hill recovered to strike out Donovan Solano on a 3-2 pitch in the at-bat of the game. He then got Belt to hit a comebacker that forced Ruf at second with Slater scoring. Wilmer "Mr Clutch" Flores followed with a RBI single, but the Giants needed a homer at that point, and Evan Longoria fanned to end it. And the homers the Giants needed came in the ninth-- the top of the ninth. Tommy Pham and Mitch Moreland both went deep off Tony Watson, making his second straight disastrous relief  appearance, to break it open again. Cueto, about whom we were so worried, put up his best start in three weeks; he was dominant except for that one bad inning, which went: Fernando Tatis homer, Manny Machado,  Eric Hosmer, and Moreland singles, Austin Nola sac fly.  3-0 isn't that bad, but the Giants ended up 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position, and Shaun Anderson's fine relief appearance in the ninth came three batters too late. 

This Is It
Giants win, Brewers lose, or we all go home.  

Saturday, September 26, 2020

Saturday, September 26, 2020

                  W-L     GB
Cincinnati 30-28     Reds clinch lead WC spot
GIANTS         29-29     Two outs away…
Philadelphia 28-30 1     Marlins clinch second place
Milwaukee 28-30 1     Two more at St Louis
New York 26-31 2 1/2    Next loss will do it

Yesterday
Giants split a doubleheader with San Diego, and they should have swept it. 
Cincinnati defeated Minnesota and clinched (at least) the seventh seed.
Philadelphia lost at Tampa. Milwaukee split a doubleheader at St Louis.
New York was rained out at Washington; they have a doubleheader today.
Colorado lost at Arizona and were eliminated from postseason contention.

Today
Giants face San Diego at Oracle Park; 6:15 PM PDT. The Giants have not yet announced a starter, but it almost has to be Johnny Cueto. Zach Davies starts for the Padres.
Philadelphia is at Tampa. Milwaukee is at St Louis. New York plays two at Washington.

Last Night's Games
Things were lookin' mighty good as Sam Coonrod took the mound in the bottom of the seventh of the second game. Despite playing as the "road" team in their own park, the Giants had a 5-3 lead courtesy of Wilmer Flores' three-run blast in the sixth. They'd already won the first truncated game, taking an early lead and then agonizing as Tony Watson held on to survive a three-run seventh for a 5-4 win. Now, Tommy Pham led off by beating out a slow roller to short. Coonrod fanned Jason Castro for the first out, but with a game-ending double play in order, Greg Garcia worked a walk on a full count after some very questionable "ball" calls from our old friend Edwin Moscoso. More strike-zone maneuvering ensued as Trent Grisham also worked it full, then Grisham sailed one to deep right that cleared the brick wall, ended the game, and cost the Giants a truly golden opportunity to take a two-game lead in the wild-card race. 

The Giants managed only one hit off starter Dinelson Lamet, but still scored two runs, one an outright gift in the fourth thanks to two San Diego throwing errors and a walk to Brandon Belt, who had scored their first run in the second on a leadoff double, sac fly, and infield grounder.  This drew the Giants within one after Jeff Samardzija, making his first start since August 7, gave up three runs in the first three innings. In the sixth, two were out when Donovan Solano singled just past Manny Machado's reach. Austin Slater batted for Belt against our old friend Drew Pomeranz and drew a walk, setting the stage for Flores, who launched one over the fence in left and should have been the hero of the game. 

Bullpen blowups in the last at-bat have been a recurring nightmare for the Giants all season. Just glancing at the game log, we count six such collapses going into this weekend, though only one in the last month. Last night's opener, which the Giants had to win, was almost another. Mike Yastrzemski returned to the lineup with a double and a two-run homer, while Flores and Brandon Crawford added solo shots off Chris Paddack, who was gone by the fourth. Meanwhile, Tyler Anderson did all that was asked of him and more: he was sharp through six, allowing only one run. Leading 5-1, he gave up a leadoff double to start the final inning, and Tony Watson came in to finish it up. It was almost his undoing. A walk and a RBI single made it 5-2 with runners at the corners with nobody out, then Watson committed a horrendous throwing error on a Machado grounder and another run scored. Watson composed himself, perhaps taking a look at the spacious outfield behind him, and forced three successive fly balls. The first brought in another run, but the next two ended a game that never should have been close.     

What's Happening 
The only postseason spots left up for grabs anywhere are second place in the NL Central, and the Giants' goal-- the eighth and last NL seed. A sweep last night would have clinched a theoretical tie for that spot, though remaining subject to tie-breakers. They're still a game ahead of the Phillies and Brewers, thankfully, and will remain so if those teams keep losing. Both St Louis and Cincinnati are ahead to stay, and while the Cardinals are not "in" yet, they will be if they win another game. There is also opportunity for a six-way tie at .500, with three teams in and three teams out. New York's minuscule chances rest on a three-game sweep at Washington while the Giants, Phillies, and Brewers all lose two. That would leave the Mets and Giants at 29-31 and New York would have the tiebreaker in such case. Any Mets loss or any win by any of the teams ahead of them eliminates them. 

The six-way tie? Giants split with San Diego, Philadelphia takes two from Tampa, Milwaukee takes two from St Louis, Cincinnati loses two at Minnesota, and Miami loses two to the Yankees. The Giants, Phillies, Reds, Brewers, and Marlins would be 30-30; the Cardinals 29-29. Miami would still be the #2 team in the East. The Cardinals and Reds would both be in with identical division records-- the tiebreaker for the #2 team in the Central is beyond our capability to figure. And Philadelphia would be the #8 seed with a divisional record one game better than the Brewers and two better than the Giants.   

Okay. Despite all this, despite last night, the Giants can clinch the final wild-card spot with a win today and another loss for both Philly and Milwaukee.   Let's stay positive.

Notes
If the Giants do get in, they will play the Dodgers at LA for three games, and it will be a first. San Francisco has never faced a division opponent in the postseason since it became possible in 1995... Minnesota backed in to the AL Central pennant yesterday as the White Sox lost their sixth straight game, a 10-0 whitewash by the crosstown Cubs... Congratulations to former Giants player and scouting director David Bell, who has managed the Cincinnati Reds to their first postseason since 2013... And speaking of former Giants, the legendary (can we call him that now?)  Dusty Baker has set an all-time postseason record for managers. His Houston Astros clinched the last AL postseason spot yesterday (they're at 29-29, same as the Giants) and Dusty thus becomes the first manager in major-league baseball history to lead five different teams to the postseason! He did it with the Giants in 1997, 2000, and 2002; with the Cubs in 2003; with the Reds in 2010, 2012, and 2013; and with the Nationals in 2016 and 2017. Congratulations to the man who will one day join Bruce Bochy among the greatest managers of the game, in the Hall of Fame. 

Friday, September 25, 2020

Friday, September 25, 2020

                W-L     GB
Cincinnati 29-28     Can they handle Twins?
GIANTS         28-28     Must split with Padres
Philadelphia 28-29 1/2     Marlins at Yankee Stadium
Milwaukee 27-29 1     Cardinals smell 2nd place
New York 26-31 2 1/2    Won first of four in DC
Colorado        25-31 3     Mathematically alive

Yesterday
Giants lost to Colorado, 5-4, in 11 innings.
Milwaukee lost at St Louis, New York defeated the Nationals in Washington.
Cincinnati and Philadelphia were idle.

Today
Giants welcome the second-place San Diego Padres for a twi-night "switch" doubleheader beginning at 4:10 PM PDT. No starters have been announced yet by Gabe Kapler; San Diego will counter with two righthanders, Dinelson Lamet and Chris Paddack. Both have pitched well against the Giants this year. 
Cincinnati opens at Minnesota, and Philadelphia at Tampa Bay. Both the Rays and Twins are first-place teams. Tampa has clinched the AL East, Minnesota's in a dogfight in the Central.
Milwaukee has a doubleheader at St Louis, though the Brewers get to be the "home" team in the nightcap. 
New York is at Washington and Colorado at Arizona.

Last Night's Game
The Giants sure had their chances. They scored two in the first and lost another when Wilmer Flores was thrown out at the plate trying to score from third on Evan Longoria's grounder with one out. They loaded the bases with nobody out in the second and scored only one run-- on a wild pitch. Then there was a  five-inning snooze as the Rockies, who should have been down 5-0 or so, came back to make it a one-run game in the fourth on a two-out single after successfully challenging an "out" call at first base three batters earlier. In the seventh, Sam Coonrod gave up two more, blowing the save. Down 4-3 and needing some heroics, the Giants got 'em from Brandon Belt, who tied it with an opposite-field home run in the eighth, and from Jarlin Garcia, Tyler Rogers, and Caleb Baragar, who kept it scoreless through ten. Then in the bottom of the tenth, Alex Dickerson took his perch on second, and alertly took third on Flores' fly ball to left. Colorado walked the bases loaded to set up the force with one out. Longoria forced Dickerson at home, Mauricio Dubon popped up, and a sense of impending doom settled in. A grounder to the right side advanced the Rockies' "funny runner" to third, a sacrifice fly brought him in, and in the bottom of the 11th, with our own "funny runner" on third, our favorite young Giant, Austin Slater, grounded into a game-ending double play after Colorado had walked Darin Ruf to set it up.  

This was the game that had to be won, the last game of the season against an inferior (by record) opponent. A win here would have made a 1-3 weekend against San Diego at least discussable. Now the Giants must take at least two of these final four. Absent that, they will need two of their immediate competitors-- Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Milwaukee-- to collapse. Yes, all three are on the road against better teams, but all three are just as motivated as the Giants and their opponents to win their games and make the postseason. In effect, for all these teams, the playoffs start now.  

Who will start for the Giants tonight? Tyler Anderson is the only member of the rotation with four days' rest; he's likely to start the first game, but who starts the nightcap? Johnny Cueto needs all the rest he can get right now. Trevor Cahill pitched in each of the last two games. There's always the possibility of an "opener," but the bullpen as a whole has been worked hard this week. So, looking at the 25-man roster, Shaun Anderson appears a real possibility from this perspective. That would leave Cueto and Smyly for the weekend games.  The Padres have already clinched the postseason and the fourth seed, which is as high as they can go, but there's no indication at all that they will "coast" through this series. The Giants are going to have to win it. 

Will Mike Yastrzemski be available? Can Cueto pitch like Cueto? Can Kapler once again get the most out of this dynamic, multi-faceted lineup that's been such a wonderful surprise all season? Can this Giants team-- disrespected since last November, quietly and carefully assembled specifically to take advantage of a short season-- bring the payoff? Who remembers 1997, when another Giants team came out of nowhere to win the franchise's unlikeliest pennant? Just reaching the postseason was all they could manage that year, but somehow it was enough. That's what this year feels like. But for it to be like that, the Giants must win.

Starting today!

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Thursday, September 24, 2020

                  W-L     GB
GIANTS         28-27     Today's game is H-U-G-E
Cincinnati 29-28     Took 2 of 3 from Brewers
Milwaukee 27-28     One game behind Cardinals
Philadelphia 28-29     Half game behind Miami
New York 25-31 3 1/2    Losing record guaranteed
Colorado        24-31 4          Elimination day today?

Yesterday
Giants defeated Colorado, 7-2.
Cincinnati defeated Milwaukee to win the three-game series. Philadelphia crushed Washington to earn a split of their four-game set. New York lost to Tampa; as it stands now they're done. 

Today
Giants host Colorado in the conclusion of this four-game series. Afternoon start; 12:45 PDT. Kevin Gausman starts the biggest game of the year, with Chi Chi Gonzalez opposing. The Giants hit Gonzalez hard in their previous meeting six weeks ago. 
Cincinnati has they day off. They will finish the season at Minnesota against the Twins, who just took over the AL Central lead from Chicago.
Philadelphia is also idle; they're on their way to Tampa, where the Rays just clinched the AL East division.
Milwaukee begins a five-game set tonight at St Louis. 

Last Night's Game
Gabe Kapler has caught some deserved criticism for his handling of the pitching staff this year, so it's only right to congratulate him for an especially intelligent use of the "opener" maneuver last night. Like a lot of teams, Colorado has taken to stocking the top of the order with their best hitters, and in the Rockies' case, two of those are Rafael Tapia and Charlie Blackmon, who swing left. Rather then have young Logan Webb face those guys to start the game, Kapler tapped lefty Caleb Baragar, who retired the side in the first without incident. After Blackmon doubled leading off the second, in came Webb-- and the rookie pitched into the seventh, allowing two runs on seven hits. By then his teammates had given him a 5-2 lead, enough for his third win. Mauricio Dubon's three-run homer in the fifth capped a four-run rally, and Tyler Rogers, Tony Watson, and Sam Selman kept the lid on over the final two-plus. Evan Longoria broke a 1-for-21 slump with a homer in the fourth, Alex Dickerson was 3-for-5 with two runs scored, and it was Brandon Belt's turn to be on base five times with three hits and two walks.  

The Latest
Atlanta clinched the NL East yesterday, aided by the Marlins' and Phillies' continuing stumbles... Miami has lost four in a row and now they get the Braves over a four-game weekend... If everything goes as scheduled, the Cardinals will finish with 58 games played while everyone else will get in the full 60, but it's unlikely to hurt them if they stay above .500... The AL postseason is getting set. Oakland and Tampa are division winners, Toronto will be an at-large wild-card, the Yankees will be the AL East runner-up, and in the Central Minnesota, Chicago, and Cleveland are all in, but nobody knows in which order. In the West, the Angels have a microscopic chance to catch Houston for second place...The Giants actually have the fifth-best record in the NL, essentially tied with St Louis, but the playoff scheme ensures either Philly or Miami will get in, with no such assurance for Our Boys... Yes, we know, the way to counter that is to "just win, baby." 

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

                  W-L   GB
Cincinnati 28-28     Still 8 runs to the bad
Milwaukee 27-27     Hold the tiebreaker edge
GIANTS         27-27 ...     Win when the others lose
Philadelphia 27-29 1     Nats put a hurtin' on 'em
New York 25-30 2 1/2    Can't afford one more loss
Colorado        24-30 3     You can do the math
                
Yesterday
Giants defeated Colorado, 5-2.
Cincinnati lost to Milwaukee and Philadelphia was swept in a doubleheader at Washington.
New York defeated Tampa to stay alive.

Today
Giants host Colorado, third game of the series. 6:45 PDT at the O. Righthander Ryan Castellani starts for the Rockies; the Giants have not announced a starter. It's Logan Webb's turn in the rotation, but don't be surprised to see Trevor Cahill, who threw 19 pitches in two-thirds of an inning last night, take the mound.
Milwaukee and Cincinnati finish up their three-game set at the GABP, while Philadelphia concludes the series at Washington. New York is home against Tampa Bay, who will clinch the division with a win if the Yankees also lose. 

Last Night's Game
The Giants' truly uncanny pinch-hitting heroics came through again. With the score tied 2-2 in the seventh, Alex Dickerson batted for Daniel Robertson against righthander Jairo Diaz and belted his tenth homer to lead it off. Joey Bart followed with his second double of the game, and with one out Austin Slater, who was on base five times (two hits including a leadoff home run, three walks, two runs scored, and a stolen base), singled, Bart taking third. Brandon Belt pinch-hit for Wilmer Flores and ripped a 2-0 pitch past former Giant Kevin Pillar in center for a double to bring both runners around, and that was the ballgame. Tyler Rogers, who had blown starter Drew Smyly's fragile 2-1 lead in the top of the frame, got the win. Tony Watson and Sam Coonrod finished up, Coonrod earning his third save.

Weekday Update 
LA clinched the NL West (and the top seed) last night, and the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians clinched playoff spots... Philadelphia has lost four straight, but Miami has lost three in a row so that second-place NL East race is still hotly contested... St Louis continues to hold a one-game lead over the Reds and Brewers in the Central... Is Austin Slater a terrific ballplayer or what? .324/.442/1.033, albeit in 26 games, 13 walks in 71 AB, 8-for-9 stealing. Looking at Belt, Dickerson, and Flores too, there is no doubt the DH has been a huge boost to the Giants' offense. We expect there will be a strong push to adopt the universal DH after this season, and we think it will succeed, and we're not upset about it, as we would have been a decade ago. (Then again, Madison Bumgarner no longer plays for the Giants!)

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

                W-L     GB
Cincinnati 28-27     Hottest team in the race
Philadelphia 27-27     Miami still within reach
GIANTS         26-27 1/2     Can't afford another one
Milwaukee 26-27 1/2     In same boat as Giants
Colorado        24-29 2 1/2    Still in it if they can win
New York 24-30 3     May drop out if lose again

Yesterday
Giants lost to Colorado, 7-2.
Cincinnati defeated Milwaukee; they've won 8 of 10 and gained four games on the Giants and Phillies.
Philadelphia lost at Washington and New York lost at home to Tampa.

Today
Giants host the Rockies again at 6:45 PDT. Drew Smyly and Kyle Freeland in a battle of lefthanders. The Giants did well against Freeland in his two previous starts, though they lost both games late.
Milwaukee is at Cincinnati, Philadelphia has a doubleheader at Washington, and New York hosts Tampa Bay.

Last Night's Game
Johnny Cueto picked the worst possible time for his worst start of the year. He was roughed up for seven runs, all earned, in four-plus innings: 8 hits and 3 walks against 13 outs. Former Giant Kevin Pillar earned some payback by scoring the game's first run and launching a homer off Cueto in the third; he finished 2-for 5. The top three of the Giants' lineup was 6-for-12 with both RBIs but that was it; a particularly unhappy moment came when Gabe Kapler pinch-hit for Joey Bart in the eighth. Alex Dickerson, whose wife just had their first child, returned to the lineup with a 3-for-4 night including a double and a homer.  

Notes
Colorado is now 5-2 against the Giants on the season. If that isn't evened up by Thursday night, this may have been all in vain... Cueto has made three starts since his fine effort against Arizona on August 30, and the last two have been especially bad. Eight days of rest this time didn't appear to do him any good... Cincinnati trails St Louis by one percentage point for second place in the Central... Philly has been one game behind second-place Miami in the East for what seems like forever; both have lost their last two. Playing the last-place Nationals while the Marlins have the division-leading Braves should be a golden opportunity for the Phillies, but the Giants can tell them all about that kind of opportunity... Oakland became the first team to clinch a division title last night, and they did it by beating the Dodgers in LA. 


 

Monday, September 21, 2020

Monday, September 21, 2020

                  W-L     GB
Philadelphia 27-26     Trail Miami by one game
Cincinnati 27-27     Hold WC tiebreaker for now
GIANTS         26-26     8 division games left
Milwaukee 26-26     Open series with Reds
New York 24-29 2 1/2    On the edge of irrelevance
Colorado        23-29 3     Not irrelevant to Giants

Yesterday
Giants bombarded Oakland, 14-2.
Philadelphia lost to Toronto, 6-3.
Cincinnati defeated the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee defeated Kansas City.
New York was shut out by Atlanta and Colorado got a win against LA.

Today
Giants at home against Colorado, 6:45 PM PDT, the first of four big games. Johnny Cueto, on eight days' rest, faces German Marquez.  The Rockies are pretty much out of it, but they can do big damage to the Giants here. 
Philadelphia is at Washington, the first of four with a doubleheader tomorrow.
Cincinnati and Milwaukee play each other at the Great American Ballpark. It would help if the Brewers do well here, as we will discuss later. 
New York is at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, who are in the playoffs and trying to head off the charging Yankees for the AL East division. Tampa also has the best record in the AL and currently hold the top seed. 

Yesterday's Game
22 scoreless innings ended with a bang when Chadwick Tromp blasted a two-run homer off Mike Minor in the third, and the Giants then uncrated the big lumber in a hurry. Darin Ruf added a two-run shot one inning later, and in the sixth Brandon Crawford (.283, .835, have you noticed?) launched a grand slam off J.B. Wendelken. The Giants, letting loose some pent-up frustration, kept pilin' on with runs in each of the last three. Meanwhile, Tyler Anderson showed no sign of umpire fatigue as he pitched into the sixth, allowing four hits and getting his third win. Brandon Belt was on base four times (three walks) and scored twice, while Austin Slater had two hits and a walk and also scored twice. Ruf, who is a destroyer of left-handed pitching, had 4 RBI, was on base four times, and he also scored twice. How sweet it is to run down a Giants lineup that doesn't include Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson and still see a bunch of 900+ OPS.

The Rundown
The Giants' chances for a wild-card spot may come down, as they stand today, to tiebreakers with teams in other divisions. With no head-to-head competition, that tiebreaker is intradivisional record-- that is, how the Giants do against their own division versus how the Phillies, Reds, and Brewers do in theirs. 
As we noted above, the Giants' final eight games are all intradivisional. The Brewers also finish with eight division games-- the upcoming three against Cincinnati, and five, yes five, at St Louis to conclude the season. Philadelphia, though, plays only the upcoming four at Washington, and Cincinnati only has these three with Milwaukee. Both the Reds and Phillies finish with weekend road series against top AL teams (Minnesota and Tampa). As it stands today, the Giants' division record is 15-17. Philadelphia is 20-16; the worst they can do is .500.  The Reds are 19-18 and Milwaukee 16-16, with St Louis 19-16. The Cards are in Kansas City for three this week.  

San Diego became the second NL team to clinch a playoff spot this weekend. They still trail LA by four, though...  The Braves and Cubs have identical 31-22 records and three-game leads...  In the AL, the East and Central division top spots are decided (Tampa, New York, Chicago, Minnesota) but the orders have not been decided... Had Oakland beaten the Giants yesterday, they'd have clinched a tie for the AL West division... Cleveland is sure to be one AL wild-card; Houston will battle it out with Toronto for the other... The Indians' Shane Bieber (8-1, 1.74, 0.86) is the top pitcher in MLB statistically. Also near the top is San Diego's Zach Davies (7-3, 2.69, 1.01) who beat the Giants back on July 28 and will get another chance this coming weekend... Luke Voit of the Yankees has 21 homers in 49 games. Do the math... 21-year-old Juan Soto leads the majors in OPS, Mike Trout is 8th and Mike Yastrzemski 20th. The eternal, 40-year old Nelson Cruz is sixth, and on his way to another postseason, with Cooperstown visible in the distance.

Sunday, September 20, 2020

Sunday, September 20, 2020

                  W-L     GB
Philadelphia 27-25     Making their move
Cincinnati 26-27     Trail Cards by 1
GIANTS         25-26     6-18 against winning teams
Milwaukee 25-26     Trail Reds by .001
New York 24-28 1 1/2    Need a 6-2 finish
Colorado        22-29 3     Still can be spoilers

Yesterday
Giants lost again at Oakland by the same score, 6-0, though it was a much closer game. Yes, we know-- that doesn't count.
Philadelphia defeated Toronto, 3-1; the Phillies have hit their stride.
Cincinnati lost at home to the Chicago White Sox, snapping their six-game winning streak and dropping them into third, behind the St Louis Cardinals, who once again beat the Pirates.
Milwaukee shut out Kansas City, 5-0, for their third straight win.
New York defeated Atlanta and Colorado lost again to LA and Clayton Kershaw.

Today
Giants finish up at Oakland; 1:10 PDT at the Coliseum. Tyler Anderson is back after pitching two innings two days ago. He faces lefty Mike Minor, whom the Giants tore up when he was with Texas back on July 31.
They're all at home today: Philadelphia finishes up with Toronto, the Reds get the red-hot White Sox, Milwaukee has the Royals, and the Mets host Atlanta. Colorado finishes up with LA before coming to San Francisco.

Last Night's Game
Kevin Gausman sure did his part. Six one-hit one-run innings later, he was out of the game trailing 1-0, and ultimately was saddled with the loss.  While the Sams-- Selman and Coonrod-- gave up extra runs late in the game, that wasn't the story. The story is once again the Giants' suddenly-anemic lineup: six singles, no walks, one GIDP, and no runs, a scoreless streak that has now reached 20 innings. Unlike Giants playoff teams of recent past, they didn't "pounce" on the A's bullpem once starter Jesus Luzardo was out of the game. The reason behind all this may be simplicity itself: the "good" teams, such as San Diego and Oakland, tend to have good pitching, and the "bad" teams, such as Arizona and Seattle, don't. The Giants are 19-8 against those "bad" teams, and as we see above, 6-18 against the "good" ones. If form follows, we are looking at a 29-31 finish, and who knows whether that will be "good" enough? 


Saturday, September 19, 2020

Saturday, September 19, 2020

                W-L    GB
Philadelphia 26-25     The Big Sweep
St Louis         24-24     Pirates playoff tonic?
GIANTS         25-25     Tiebreakers leave us out
Milwaukee 24-26 1     3-team Central logjam
New York 23-28 2 1/2    Blown out by Braves
Colorado        22-28 3     Like Mets, gave up 15 runs

Yesterday
Giants lost at Oakland, 6-0, and lost the wild-card lead.
Philadelphia swept a doubleheader from Toronto and moved past the Giants by half a game.
St Louis swept a doubleheader from Pittsburgh and moved past the Giants on tiebreakers.
Milwaukee defeated Kansas City. 
New York and Colorado were blown out by division leaders Atlanta and LA.

Today
Giants and A's at the Coliseum; 1:10 PM PDT afternoon start. Kevin Gausman, who pitched well against Oakland a month ago, takes the baton. Lefty Jesus Luzardo starts for the A's; the Giants roughed him up pretty good last month, in one of those games they blew in the ninth. 
Philadelphia has Toronto again at home.  St Louis is at PNC Park against the Doormats-- er, Pirates.
Milwaukee hosts the Royals again, the Mets have the Braves at home, and Colorado has LA at home. 

Last Night's Game
Where have you gone, Mike Yastrzemski? Well, not to the IL, thank goodness, but to a day-to-day status. Perhaps like the similarly gimpy Austin Slater, he can return soon as DH-- but probably not today against the southpaw. In any case, the Giants sure missed Yaz in this one, as they were held to three hits by Chris Battin, whose seven strong innings clinched a playoff berth for the A's. Logan Webb again put up a lousy start; we credit the Giants for valuing his (and the team's) future and sticking with him even in the pressure cooker of a playoff race. Looking for positives, we see five shutout innings from the recently-recalled Andrew Suarez and Shaun Anderson, as well as Caleb "No Walks Tonight" Baragar.

Tightening Up
As we can see above, it's right crowded around the .500 mark in this race now.  Cincinnati, winners of six straight, have finally reached .500 and have a tenuous hold on second place in the Central, ahead of the Cardinals, with the Brewers right behind.  The Mets and Rockies, for now, appear to be fading back in the race... LA so far is the only NL team to clinch the postseason, but in the AL division leaders Oakland, Tampa Bay, and Chicago are all in. The A's have a 7-game lead over Houston and could clinch the division as soon as tomorrow, though we sure hope not. But thanks in part to the Giants beating up on Seattle, the Astros are likely to make the postseason as the AL West "2" team...  The rotation has been jumbled up this past week. Webb has pitched twice since Cueto's last start while Gausman today is making his first start in 12 days. Cueto had a poor outing in San Diego last Sunday, you'll remember, and evidently there's concern about Gausman being overworked. If we had to predict down the stretch, we'd say: Cueto tomorrow, Smyly Monday, Anderson Tuesday, Webb Wednesday, Gausman Thursday, Cueto and Cahill in Friday's doubleheader, and the lefthanders Smyly and Anderson to close it out next weekend. 

Friday, September 18, 2020

Friday, September 18, 2020

                  W-L     GB
GIANTS         25-24     Now comes a sterner test
Philadelphia 24-25     Mets make excellent spoilers
St Louis         22-24 1/2     Bucs held 'em to 2 hits
Milwaukee 23-26 1     Still very much alive
New York 23-27 1 1/2    Trail Miami by 3
Colorado         22-27 2     Dodgers clinch playoffs

Yesterday
Giants defeated Seattle, 6-4, sweeping the 4-game season series.
Philadelphia lost again to New York at home.
St Louis lost at Pittsburgh.
Colorado lost at home to LA.
Milwaukee was idle.

Today
Giants across the Bay at Oakland; 6:40 PDT start at the Coliseum. Logan Webb gets his first start in ten days, against righthander Chris Bassitt and his 2.92 ERA.
Philadelphia and St Louis both have "home/road swap" doubleheaders; Philly at home against Toronto and St Louis at PNC Park against the Pirates. It's catch-up time for those teams whose early schedules were spoiled by COVID-19 concerns.
Milwaukee's at home against Kansas City, Colorado has the Dodgers all weekend, and New York hosts the division-leading Braves.

Yesterday's Game
Well, it sure started out bad. Tyler Anderson had a personal war with umpire Edwin Moscoso's strike zone, while opposite number Nick Margevicius seemed to have no issue. Usually a pitcher will get extra mad when he believes he's being "squeezed" and the other guy ain't. Anderson only walked one, but fell behind all the time and was knocked around for four runs and four hits in the second, which wiped out Darin Ruf's homer in the top of the frame. When more of the same continued in the third, Anderson started barking, and soon was ejected by Moscoso, which set off a string of language worthy of the movie "Major League." Meanwhile, Mike Yastrzemski had limped off with a calf strain and was replaced by the newest Giant, rookie Luis Alexander Basabe. It was 4-1 and it didn't look good at all.  But this team is relentless, and the comeback started in the sixth when Basabe and Wilmer Flores led off with singles. Out went Margevicius, and in came Joey Gerber to walk Alex Dickerson and give up an RBI single to Evan Longoria and a sacrifice fly to Brandon Crawford. That made it close, and in the seventh, Mauricio Dubon led off with a walk. With two out, our new friend Basabe also walked, and Flores belted a triple to the deepest part of center field, giving the Giants the lead. Dickerson added an insurance run with a single, and it was up to the bullpen-- Tony Watson, Tyler Rogers, and Sam Selman, who opened the ninth by hitting the leadoff man but still earned his first save. And let's not overlook lefty Wandy Peralta, who came in cold to replace Anderson and pitched three scoreless. A pity he didn't get the win, but that's the way it goes.

The Brutal Stretch
The Giants now have 11 games over the next 10 days with no more time off.  Five wins would leave them at 30-30. That ought to do it. It won't be easy... We continue to think the midweek series with Colorado will be the most critical, regardless of whether the Rockies are still contenders by then... It was a a month ago that the Giants hit rock bottom, swept at home in three games by Oakland, dropping their record to 8-15. Let's not forget, though, that in the first two games of that series the Giants solidly outplayed the A's, taking leads of 7-2 and 6-3 into the ninth only to blow each game. So let's not run to Panic Beach just yet...  Mike Yastrzemski gets a MRI today, and let's hope it is just a strain... His replacement, Basabe, is 24, a native of Venezuela, has a twin brother with an almost-identical name playing for Arizona, and has been on base three time in his five plate appearances with three runs scored.   





September 18, 1970 was fifty years ago today, the day Jimi Hendrix died in London at age 27. We were not well acquainted with sudden death at age 14, and the news came as a real shock, a slap in the face; our initial reaction was disbelief: "Not Hendrix. He can't die."  We were still pretty well insulated from the harshness of the adult world, and completely unaware of the dangerous, treacherous "rock star" lifestyle; our naive belief was that these demigods walked on air, immune from mortal risk. But we'd also been studying music for six years and we already knew Jimi Hendrix was touched by musical genius. You couldn't help but hear it; his searing, emotional, and, yes, intensely patriotic deconstruction of the "Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock remains a masterpiece today and was no less so then.  We'd rather listen to the man make music than fix where he stands among the greats, but many call him the greatest of electric guitarists, and we've no reason to dispute it. What makes this moment today especially sad is considering how far, how immeasurably far, he might have taken his genius beyond such considerations if he had had fifty more years to do so. 




 

Thursday, September 17, 2020

Thursday, September 17, 2020

                W-L        GB
GIANTS         24-24     This is starting to look real
Philadelphia 24-24     Blew a 4-0 lead to Mets
St Louis         22-23 1/2     Fancy meeting y'all here
Milwaukee 23-26 1 1/2    DH split not what they needed
Colorado        22-26 2     Let's have a few more of these
New York 22-27 2 1/2    DeGrom's injury big concern

Yesterday
Giants defeated Seattle, 9-3.
Philadelphia lost to the Mets, Colorado lost to Oakland, and St Louis split a doubleheader with Milwaukee. That mainly benefited the Cincinnati Reds, who finished a four-game sweep of Pittsburgh and moved into second place in the Central despite their losing record. 

Today
Giants finish up with Seattle at Oracle Park, though it's officially a "road" game; as they did last night, the Giants will bat first in their own park. It's a daytime start at 1:10 PDT. Tyler Anderson faces Nick Margevicius in a battle of lefthanders, their second in a week. Anderson and the Giants got all the better of that first matchup.
Philadelphia has the Mets again at home. St Louis begins a series at Pittsburgh.
Colorado and Milwaukee are idle, as is Cincinnati.

Last Night's Game
After punching across single runs in the first and second innings, the Giants broke it open in the third on a monster two-run homer by Brandon Belt, followed by a solo shot down the left-field line from Evan Longoria. Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson drove in two more in the fourth; the Giants then loaded the bases and got one more on a passed ball. Staked to a 8-0 lead, Drew Smyly was unable to get the win, though he struck out 8 in less than 4 innings. With a run in, two on, and two out in the bottom of the fourth, Gabe Kapler pulled Smyly for Caleb Baragar-- who walked all three batters he faced, forcing in two runs. Thankfully, that was all, as Trevor Cahill came in for the third out and went on to pitch two scoreless innings, giving hope that he's recovered from his hip injury. Sam Coonrod and the Garcia "brothers" then finished the final three without incident. Brandon Crawford added a late homer. Giants pitchers walked eight men on the evening, but gave up only six hits. We're a tad concerned that Smyly wasn't left in to work his way out of it after only 78 pitches; Kapler's in-game pitching moves still produce their share of head-scratchers, at least from here.

Notes
Yes, it was weird playing as a "road" team in the home park, and the PA engineers attempted to embellish the Bizarro World ambience by piping in "crowd noise" when Seattle did something praiseworthy, while dead silence greeted Belt's 425-foot moonshot... LA defeated San Diego again to boost their lead back to three and a half. That probably does it...  The Giants website game summary notes, "After scoring only two runs... this past weekend, the Giants’ potent offense returned to form." This has to be a testimony to the Padres' pitching, which ranks second in the league in ERA... Donovan Solano is second in the NL in batting at .351, one point behind Atlanta's Freddie Freeman... The Oakland A's and Chicago Cubs' "magic number" is 5... With the wild-card competition all around them taking one step forward and one back, the Colorado series next week is looking more and more like the Giants' make-or-break opportunity. 

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

Wednesday, September 16, 2020

W-L GB
Philadelphia 24-23   Gained a game on Miami
GIANTS 23-24   Smoked out in Seattle
Cincinnati 24-26 1/2 Half-game out of second
Colorado 22-25 1 Will A's also lose to Giants?
Milwaukee 22-25 1 Helped Reds with win
New York 21-27 2 1/2 Phils are knockin' 'em out

Yesterday
Giants did not play; air quality conditions in Seattle, due to wildfires, forced postponement of the game and the two-game series, which resumes at Oracle Park tonight.
Philadelphia defeated New York. Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh again, their fourth straight win. Colorado defeated the A's, and Milwaukee defeated St Louis.  The race has tightened up considerably, as you can see. (We reverted to the "legacy" Blogger format and will stick with it 'til it expires.)

Today
Giants against Seattle at the O; 6:45 PDT. Drew Smyly, not Tyler Anderson, will start against Ljay Newsome. 
Colorado hosts Oakland, Philadelphia the Mets. Milwaukee is at home for a doubleheader against the reeling Cardinals, who are this close to dropping out of second place and into our leaderboard. Cincinnati finishes up the Pittsburgh series with a chance for a four-game sweep. 

The Division Races
Remember those? Well, the Padres are making a major push for first place. They've won 8 of 10 and trail LA by two and a half. They've split the first two of their home series with the Dodgers and a win tonight would leave them only 1 1/2 behind with nine to play.  
The NL West is now the closest race in the game; the other leaders-- Atlanta, the Cubs, Tampa Bay, the surprising White Sox, and Oakland-- all are up by three or more. Of the runners-up, only San Diego has a firm grip on second place; the other divisions have several contenders jockeying for that position.  The AL at-large wild-card situation is much more settled than in the NL; Toronto and Cleveland will be the seventh and eighth teams unless one of them collapses. Toronto also has a chance to overtake the Yankees for second in the AL East; New York would then be a "wild" wild-card.

Be Careful What You Ask For, You May Get It-- Sort Of
Regular readers of this space-- yes, both of you!-- may remember some years back when, disgusted with the seemingly-endless 43-game postseason marathon, we proposed a tournament-style playoff for each league to determine the World Series teams, with games being played in one stadium. Well, Major League Baseball just unveiled the 2020 postseason schedule. While the eight-team wild-card round for each league will be played in the top seed's home ballparks, the Division Series and LCS will be played at neutral sites-- Houston and Arlington (Texas) for the NLDS, Arlington for the NLCS, and LA and San Diego for the ALDS, San Diego for the ALCS. Neutral indeed! The World Series will also be played at Arlington, in the brand-spankin'-new (and seriously awesome) Globe Life Field. 

The irony of the poor, benighted San Diego Padres, who haven't made the postseason in 14 years, playing in the NLDS and possibly the NLCS and the World Series, in Texas, while all the while playoff games are being played in their own home stadium without them-- well, keep in mind, the covid-19 restrictions remain in place and presumably, the cardboard cutouts in Petco Park won't object too loudly.  Expect LG and Visio sales in Southern California will spike appreciably in early October, if the stores haven't all been looted.  

Tuesday, September 15, 2020

Tuesday, September 15, 2020


Yesterday
Giants were idle.
Philadelphia lost again at Miami, 6-2. 
Cincinnati swept a doubleheader from Pittsburgh.
Milwaukee split a doubleheader with St Louis. 
Colorado and New York were idle.  

Today
Giants at Seattle; 6:40 PDT. Tyler Anderson, who mastered the Mariners a week ago, opposes Ljay Newsome, who didn't get much of chance to face the Giants in his last aborted start.
Philadelphia are back home against the Mets, who can't afford to lose too many more.
Cincinnati has another opportunity to fatten up on the Pirates.
Milwaukee hosts St Louis; they trail the Cards by two games in the race for second place.  
Colorado gets the A's at home; Oakland has a big lead in the AL West and a chance for top seed.  

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
This may be our last year on this platform. We will be actively searching for a new host for this blog once the World Series concludes.  In case you were wondering about the appearance of the leaderboard, our friends at Google keep making "improvements" to Blogger that make it harder and harder for simple text-intensive operations such as ours to operate. We keep the daily leaderboard on an Excel spreadsheet, and until today a simple copy-and-paste worked as expected. Now it loads the cells as a picture, box- and grid-lines intact, which looks unspeakably hokey. So we take the grid-lines off before the copy operation, and the result is what you see above. The text, as you've undoubtedly noticed, is not as sharp as the text here in the paragraphs. And pasting the cells as "text" scatters the rows and columns haphazardly all over the page. This is just one of many irritating "improvements" that have been foisted on us. For instance, it now takes two commands to get into create mode, for no apparent reason. And going back in to edit mode on a previous post, to correct an error for example, now dumps us into HTML mode, and switching to "Compose" mode triggers a warning about data loss. As IT professionals, we find this Mickey Mouse process increasingly frustrating, so, to paraphrase Smokey Robinson, we're gonna shop around. 











Monday, September 14, 2020

Monday, September 14, 2020

 

W-L GB
Philadelphia 23-22   Get swept, end up here
GIANTS 23-24   Get swept, end up here
Colorado 21-25 1 1/2 Angels doin' their job
Milwaukee 20-24 1 1/2 Couldn't take advantage
New York 21-26 2 Ryu remembers 'em from LA
Cincinnati 21-26 2 Ah, ah, ah, ah-- stayin' alive!


Yesterday
Giants were swept by San Diego in their false-positive-covid-test-induced doubleheader, 6-0 and 3-1.
Philadelphia was swept by the Marlins in Miami and dropped to third place in the East and first place in the at-large wild-card derby.
Colorado , Milwaukee, and New York all lost and failed to gain any ground. Cincinnati defeated St Louis; they've pulled within two games of second place in both races.

Today
Giants are idle; they're on their way to Seattle, their last road trip of the season.
Colorado and New York likewise are idle. Philadelphia has to deal with the Marlins one more time.
Elsewhere, doubleheaders abound. Cincinnati is home for two against the execrable Pirates. Watch out for the Reds. Milwaukee hosts two against the Cardinals.

Yesterday's Games
A bad day all around for San Francisco sports, as the 49ers inexplicably lost a winnable game to Arizona at Levi Stadium. In San Diego, Johnny Cueto simply didn't have it; he was dinged for six runs (four earned) in five-plus innings, allowing ten baserunners against 16 outs. Perhaps, then, it was just as well that the Giants' bats fell silent against Mike Clevinger, who looks something like a big beefy Tim Lincecum on the mound. He pitched a 7-inning complete game, allowing two hits. But it was the second game that really hurt. Logan Webb pitched pretty well, as did opposite number Garrett Richards. It was decided in the fifth when Sam Selman, so effective of late, faced four batters and lost the game. It went like this: walk, walk, single, sac bunt. In came Tyler Rogers; he forced a fielder's choice at home on a good play by Evan Longoria, but then gave up a RBI single to Manny Machado, the run charged to Selman. On a day when the Giants managed a grand total of five hits in 14 innings across two games, three runs was evidently enough. 

This doubleheader, which was originally announced as a single game and not changed until Sunday morning, had the smell of doom from the start after Friday night's game was postponed just minutes before the first pitch by reports of a positive covid-19 test in the Giants' clubhouse. (The team eventually admitted it was Alex Dickerson's test.) The twitterverse broke into excited chatter immediately, of course, with opinion evenly divided between the "abundance of caution" people and the "overreaction" crowd, which is our camp. We were suspicious of a false positive from the start, and it brings us no satisfaction to know we were right. Did anyone else see the MLB-MLBPA Joint Committee's statement on it, which read in part “the presumptive positive did not represent an actual infection?" "Presumptive positive?" Can't these people talk straight? What are they afraid of? It was a false positive, and playing tiddlywinks with the language serves no one.

We repeatedly hear that 190,000 Americans have died from covid-19, which is complete bovine excrement. What those numbers mean is that 190,000 Americans who had the coronavirus have died, of multiple causes. 91% of those people had serious pre-existing illnesses or conditions unrelated to covid-19. Yes, covid-19 is listed as a contributing factor in those cases, just as every diagnosed ailment is listed as a contributing factor.  We forget that six months ago, the "experts" predicted millions of American deaths from this pandemic, and we have yet to realize that not only have they not been held accountable for their scare tactics, but many of these "experts" are still out there making pronouncements, predictions, and recommendations, and politicians and presidential candidates are still taking them seriously. How much is enough? There is no proof that even one healthy, physically fit American of young or middle age has been struck down dead by covid-19.  Clearly, those at high risk for all communicable diseases, such as the 'flu', are at high risk for this one, too. But it's just as clear that the panicky responses and the ongoing lockdowns have harmed tens of millions, some perhaps permanently. At what point does "abundance of caution" result in "economic depression?" And just how much of this lockdown mentality is operating with one eye on November 3?

Okay. The Giants survived the sweep because Miami and Philadelphia have been beating up on each other, and because the teams right behind them are in even worse shape. After a week of being over .500, the Giants are now one win below it, but retain their playoff position for the moment. They have two more days off this week; why a fourth game at San Diego wasn't scheduled for today escapes us. Thursday they return home for the final ten (or eleven) games: three across the Bay at Oakland over next weekend, then four against Colorado, then the final three (or four) against the Padres, against whom the Giants are now 1-5 on the season. The finale on Sunday, September 27 is scheduled for 12:05 PDT; it's possible the teams may play two if necessary to break or avoid a tie. 

Sunday, September 13, 2020

Sunday, September 13, 2020

 

W-L GB
GIANTS 23-22   Idle hands paid off.
Miami 21-21 1/2 Now 4-11 on "home" field
Colorado 21-24 1 1/2 Lost on 3-run homer in 11th
Milwaukee 20-23 1 1/2 Now trail Cards by 2 games
New York 21-25 2 Jays are smelling playoffs
Cincinnati 20-26 3 On the verge of extinction

Yesterday
Giants were idle. Turns out the covid-19 test was a false positive. No infected Giants. 
Everyone else lost. That gained half-game almost makes up for the postponements.

Today
Giants resume at San Diego with the Cueto-Richards matchup. 1:10 PM PDT. No doubleheader today.
There is a doubleheader in Miami, where the Marlins host the Phillies, who can pretty much nail down a playoff spot today with a sweep.
Colorado's at home against the Angels and Milwaukee hosts the Cubs, who lead St Louis by 3. New York  and Toronto meet at Buffalo's Sahlen Field. Cincinnati's at St Louis, and the Cardinals, like the Phillies, are smelling playoffs in a head-to-head series.


Saturday, September 12, 2020

Saturday, September 12, 2020

W-L GB
Miami 21-20 Pythagoras has 'em at .435
GIANTS 23-22   Sunday DH ahead?
Colorado 21-23 1 1/2 Gained half a game
Milwaukee 20-22 1 1/2 Trail Cards by 1 game
New York 21-24 2 18 runs in Buffalo!
Cincinnati 20-25 3 Still have a shot at 2nd place


Yesterday
Giants and San Diego were postponed moments before the first pitch when a Giants player was reported as testing positive for covid-19.
Miami split a doubleheader with Philadelphia.
Colorado, Milwaukee, New York, and Cincinnati all won.

Today
Giants are idle as today's game is postponed as well (unless the test turns out to be a false positive). Best guess is a doubleheader tomorrow and a game Monday. It's also possible one of these games might be rescheduled for the Oracle Park series at season's end.
Miami hosts Philadelphia, Milwaukee has the Cubs at home, Cincinnati is at St Louis and the Mets are at Buffalo against Toronto. 

Off To The Races
The Cardinals have dropped to 19-19, a worse record than the Giants and Miami, but still good enough for second place in the Central. The Brewers and the Reds thus have, as they say, "options."  Milwaukee is only one game behind. Ironically, the Reds are helping the team ahead of them when they beat the other team ahead of them. 
Meanwhile, Miami has a golden opportunity to move ahead of the Phillies in this weekend home series; they're only half a game back. The Mets are within two and a half.  They got options, too.
San Diego's five and a half-game lead over the Giants is probably too much to overcome, so the Giants and Rockies have only one shot at this postseason. But we could see "Philadelphia" and "St Louis" replace "Miami" and "Milwaukee" on that leaderboard (followerboard?) in the next couple of days. 

Friday, September 11, 2020

Friday, September 11, 2020


W-L GB
Miami 20-19 Lead Giants by .002
GIANTS 23-22 Must split this series  
Colorado 20-23 2 Angels in town
Milwaukee 19-22 2 Cubs can fatten their lead
New York 20-24 2 1/2 "Niagara Falls!---"
Cincinnati 19-25 3 1/2 Killer loss at Wrigley Field

Yesterday
Giants lost the opener at San Diego, 6-1.
Miami defeated Philadelphia with a walk-off hit in the ninth, 7-6.
Cincinnati lost at Chicago. The rest of the field was idle. 

Today
Giants at San Diego; 6:10 PM PDT. Johnny Cueto goes up against Garrett Richards, who five years ago looked to be one of the next Great Young Pitchers. Then a series of injuries derailed his career and he hasn't been the same since. Nor have the Angels, for whom he then pitched. He's now 32, and we wish him all the success in the world-- next week.
Miami hosts Philadelphia. The Rockies welcome those same Angels. Milwaukee has the division-leading Cubs at home. New York is in Buffalo to play the homeless Blue Jays, and Cincinnati, fighting for their lives, have a tough row to hoe at division rival St Louis.   

Last Night's Game
It was a rather perfunctory affair compared to the growing excitement that's accompanied the Giants' recent surge. Donovan (3-for-4) Solano and Wilmer Flores (home run, double), accounted for what offense there was, counterbalanced by three ground-ball double plays. Drew Smyly, who relieved the ineffective Trevor Cahill, pitched four innings, striking out eight while allowing one earned run (and one unearned). It seems clear from here that Cahill is not right and probably needs the IL; Smyly would seem a logical choice to replace him. San Diego, meanwhile, divvied up the pitching among seven guys. It was 4-1 after three and just sort of muddled along from there.

They're all big this time of year, but having lost the opener, it's imperative the Ginats answer back tonight and banish all thought of a disastrous sweep. Johnny Cueto's two most recent starts, both against Arizona, have been good. He hasn't had an assignment like this since Game One of the 2016 NLDS; it's time to step up.  




Yesterday the Giants parted ways with Pablo Sandoval, whom they first signed as a 17-year-old kid in 2003, and whose heroics are an indelible part of Giants history.  He has three rings. He had what may have been the biggest hit of the 2010 NLCS after a season of disappointment. He was the MVP of the 2012 World Series, tying one of the all-time Series records with three home runs in Game One. He caught the popup that clinched the 2014 World Series with Madison Bumgarner on the mound and the tying run on third. Less remembered, perhaps, is that Sandoval had 12 hits and a .429 average in that Series, and if not for "Bum" he would have been a Series MVP candidate. (Oddly enough, Hunter Pence also had 12 hits in that Series. Pence, too, was sadly given his release earlier this year.)  

Pable Sandoval was also the Giants' MVP in 2009 when he alone seemed to carry that undernourished offense into contention-- .330, 25 homers, 90 RBI, .943 OPS. He had another big year in 2011, trying to make up for Buster Posey's season-ending injury. After that he settled in to a solid groove for three years, with those magnificent postseason flourishes. Beloved as the "Kung Fu Panda" by Giants fans, he then shocked us all by signing a mega-deal with Boston for 2015; at least one Bay Area DJ reportedly had Steve Miller's "Take the Money and Run" on nonstop play after the news came in. 

Never svelte, but still a fine athlete and agile in the field as a Giant, Sandoval in Boston came to epitomize the nouveau-riche lazy ballplayer. His weight went way up, his stats went way down, injuries followed, and after two years of this the Red Sox cut him loose early in 2017, swallowing the money rather than letting him take up a lineup spot.  Bobby Evans immediately signed him for the minimum, and in the midst of the Giants' worst season in thirty years it seemed like yet another grim joke to be played on the fans. Howls of "Traitor!" came from the stands as well as from social media.  But over the next two years, the Panda quietly rehabilitated himself as a super-utility player, pinch-hitter, and even a pitcher! Last year he put up a 1.5 WAR in 296 at-bats with a .820 OPS. He was all the way back, not just in our hearts but on the field. 

His second San Francisco farewell has been gracious, humble, and classy. He knew it was getting to be time to go, and when the team signed Justin Smoak last week, the message was clear.  The longest-tenured San Francisco Giant will be missed by all  who favor the orange and black, for his irrepressible spirit, his winning attitude, and the historic moments where he rose to the occasion on baseball's biggest stage. Vaya con Dios, Pablo Sandoval.








About a year after we fled California and established in Virginia, we took a drive up near Shanksville, Penmnsylvania, to visit the Flight 93 Memorial Park. If you haven't been there, this is a good time to go. You have to drive, which keeps you away from crowds, and except for days like today, it's rarely crowded. And it is open every day.  There will be a lot of 9-11 memorial activity next year, so between now and then consider a quiet contemplative visit to this place of honor. And consider those "ordinary people" who made a heroic stand worthy of the greatest warriors. Would you-- would I-- summon up such courage in similar circumstance? These are the questions that come to mind on this tragic anniversary.  God bless America.



Thursday, September 10, 2020

Thursday, September 10, 2020

 

W-L GB
GIANTS 23-21   Now comes the real challenge.
Miami 19-19 Braves evidently had enough
Colorado 20-23 1 1/2 SD tightening their grip
Milwaukee 19-22 1 1/2 Explosive end to losing skid
New York 20-24 2 Conforto's catch sparks rally
Cincinnati 19-24 2 1/2 Bauer shuts out Cubs

Yesterday
Giants bombarded Seattle, 10-1, completing a 5-1 homestand.
Miami was overwhelmed by Atlanta, 29-9, the most runs ever given up (or scored) by a NL team.
Colorado lost again at San Diego.
Everyone else won. The Brewers awakened from their coma with a 19-0 walloping of the Tigers in Detroit, New York edged out the Orioles, and the Reds won at Wrigley Field.

Today
Giants begin a four-game series at San Diego. Trevor Cahill may start if he feels up to it; Drew Smyly, fresh off the IL, may go instead. Chris Paddack, who pitched well against the Giants earlier this season, starts for the Padres.
Miami opens a series with Philadelphia at home; Cincinnati finishes up at Chicago. Everyone else is idle.

Last Night's Game
Mike Yastrzemski launched a three-run homer off lefty Nick Margevicius in the third, and the Giants never looked back. Trevor Anderson pitched six three-hit shutout innings, and it was 7-0 by the time he departed. Evan Longoria, who is up to .291, drove in three runs on two singles. He has 24 RBI in 37 games.   Joey Bart was 2-for-4 and is up to .283. Brandon (1.051) Belt drew his daily walk and "drove" in a run with it. 

And Now...
You can say the stretch drive really begins at this moment. The Giants are at San Diego for the first of a four-game set that will do much to determine both teams' fortunes this year. The Padres are just as hot as the Giants: 8-2 over their last ten (and so are the Dodgers; the NL West has the three hottest teams in baseball). They have a four-and-one-half-game lead over the Giants for second place in the division and the automatic playoff berth that comes with it. Should the Giants win three of four, that margin would be two-and-a-half and we'd have a race for second. A split would be just fine as far as San Diego are concerned, and, though they don't want it, the Giants would probably take it as well. Having a lead in the wild-card race at this point is infinitely better than being among the four teams scrambling below to stay ahead of each other and catch those in front. A .500 record the rest of the way would leave the Giants at 31-29; that will probably be enough to get them in. You don't want to say this stuff in the clubhouse, but out here on the internet we're not so constrained.  The going is about to get tougher, so it's a good thing the Giants "got going" three weeks ago.