Tuesday, September 8, 2020

	W-L	GB
GIANTS	21-21		Whoa, Nellie-- look at THIS!
Miami	18-18		Held on to beat Braves in 10
Colorado	20-21	1/2	Pomeranz shuts 'em out
Milwaukee	18-21	1 1/2	Off to Detroit after day off
New York	19-23	2	Took a tough loss in 10
Cincinnati	18-23	2 1/2	Rare to be idle on Labor Day

Yesterday

Giants defeated Arizona, 4-2, taking 3 of 4 to complete a 13-5 climb from dead last into the lead at-large wild-card position. 

Miami defeated Atlanta in ten innings to reclaim a playoff spot for now. Colorado was shut out by our old friend, Drew Pomeranz, dropping back half a game. New York lost a tough one to Philadelphia in 10. Milwaukee and Cincinnati were idle.

Today

Giants host the AL Seattle Mariners, a 6:45 PM PDT start. Logan Webb faces the entertainingly-named Ljay Newsome, like Webb a 23-year-old right-hander. 

Miami, Colorado, Milwaukee, and Cincinnati are all on the road, at Atlanta, San Diego, Detroit, and Chicago respectively, while New York's at home against the Baltimore Orioles, who amazingly are just barely in contention for a AL wild-card spot.   

Last Night's Game

The Giants finally figured out Zac Gallen in the bottom of the sixth, after the young righty had baffled them for two games and five innings of a third. Six straight Giants reached base on four singles and two walks, one with the bases loaded to Brandon Belt, which capped the four-run outburst. Kevin Gausman's start (6 innings, 2 hits, 9 K, Game Score 70) may have been the best effort by a Giants starter all year, considering the context. Sam Coonrod, who has closer "stuff", gave up a solo homer in the ninth but earned his second save.

And so the Giants, who on August 17 were 8-16 after three catastrophic late-inning collapses in four days, have won 13 of 18 to reach .500, and they head into the final three weeks as the hottest team in the league. Marginal characters like Pablo Sandoval, who started yesterday's rally with a most uncharacteristic walk, are starting to make contributions at critical times. The big wheels on offense-- Yaz, Solano, Belt, Dickerson, Longoria, Slater when healthy-- have not fizzled out; they've stayed strong and kept a barely-adequate pitching staff afloat. And though little has been said about it, the return of Belt and Longoria from the early-season injured list has stabilized the defense. Remember all those errors in July? It's been a non-story of late; the Giants are still second in the league in errors, but the numbers are starting to normalize. We haven't been on social media much lately, but we trust the "Fire Kapler!" contingent have moved on to healthier pursuits, such as losing all their money on FanDuel.  

Seattle (19-22 as they hit town) are not exactly bottom-feeders, but the AL race is a little tighter than the NL. The Mariners are two games behind Houston for second place in their division, and also two games behind Houston and the Yankees for the last at-large wild-card spot. Out of 11 teams with a reasonable shot at the postseason, they rank tenth. 

By the time this two-game set concludes, the Giants will have played 25 of their 44 games against teams with losing records. And that will then change. There will be two more up in Seattle next week, but between now and season's end they have seven against San Diego, a huge four-game set at home against Colorado, and three over in Oakland. That's ten games against two strong teams, and four against a team they have to beat. Their 6-13 mark against clubs with winning records will have to improve if "GIANTS" is to remain at the top of our little leaderboard three weeks from now.