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!