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 1      One game behind Cardinals

Philadelphia 28-29 1      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."