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.