4

 

GIANTS   104-54                    Starting pitching rounding into form?

LA             102-56    2 GB       Overcame a rare Scherzer meltdown.

Yesterday 

Giants defeated Arizona, 1-0, setting the all-time San Francisco record for wins in a season.

LA blew an early lead but rallied to beat San Diego, 11-9.

Today

Giants finish up with Arizona, and fittingly it will be Madison Bumgarner starting for the "Snakes." Scott Kazmir gets the nod for the home team. 6:45 at the O, 9:45 here.

LA concludes the San Diego series tonight and it'd sure be nice if they lost this one.

Last Night's Game

Pitching and small-ball enabled the Giants to pull out a tense, 1-0 win over the Diamondbacks. Arizona may have lost 108 games already but there was no quit and a lot of grit on their part all night. Merrill Kelly walked four men, hit a batter, and allowed two hits over five innings, but he stranded all seven baserunners as the Giants reverted to that unhappy tendency to leave men in scoring position. Meanwhile Alex Wood, aided by three double plays, kept the slate clean on the Giants' side through six. It was his best start since the All-Star break and, like Kevin Gausman's effort on Sunday, it came at a most opportune time. But Wood, like Gauaman, didn't get the win because the Giants didn't break the ice until the seventh. After Dominic Leone had preserved Wood's shutout in the top of the frame, the Giants' pinch-hitting prowess struck again as Tommy LaStella, batting for Leone, led off with a single. Gabe Kapler sent Steven Duggar in to run, and the fleet outfielder stole his 7th base a moment later. "Late Night LaMonte" Wade, battling through a slump, then laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, Duggar taking third. Kris Bryant, who's also been quiet lately, fouled off two pitches, then lofted a fly ball to right, just deep enough to bring home Duggar with the only run of the night. Jarlin Garcia and Camilo Doval pitched two perfect innings for the hold and the save.  And after that it was scoreboard-watching time as San Diego, down 4-0 in the first, roared back with six runs off Max Scherzer. Had the Padres finished it, the Giants' "magic number" would be down to one this morning. But LA poured across five in the eighth and held on to take it back and maintain the status quo.    

5

 

GIANTS   103-54                    Tie SF record for wins in a season.

LA             101-56    2 GB       They're not going away.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Arizona, 6-4.

LA defeated San Diego, 2-1.

Today

Giants host Arizona, second of three games. It's a 6:45 PDT start at the O, with Alex Wood going for the locals against Merrill Kelly.

LA is home with Max Scherzer starting against San Diego.

Last Night's Game

He worked hard-- 98 pitches in five innings-- and he didn't get the win, but Logan Webb put up an encouragingly good start, allowing one unearned run over five innings in a 1-1 game. It wasn't until the sixth that the Giants took the lead for good. It started with Evan Longoria reaching on an error, and included a hit batsman, a bases-loaded walk, a run-scoring wild pitch, a runner (Wilmer Flores) thrown out at the plate-- and, yes, two RBI singles, by Flores and Brandon Crawford. The "Snakes" slithered back into it on a seventh-inning homer by Jake McCarthy off Tony Watson, and scored two more against the overly adventurous Tyler Rogers in the eighth. Gabe Kapler then called on young Camilo Doval to close it out with his 100-MPH heat, and the kid shrugged off a one-out double and took care of business: 15 pitches, 12 strikes, and his first career save.

Fillin' the Hole

Brandon Belt is out for the rest of the season and the postseason with a broken thumb. There will be no 30-homer man for the Giants, for the 16th straight year, and the game's winningest team will have to soldier on without the hottest hitter in the game. Thairo Estrada is back on the active roster to beef up the left side of the infield, and Flores will move over to first base as part of a revolving platoon with LaMonte Wade and probably Darin Ruf when he returns from the IL. There's nothing else to say. The Giants will just have to be their "resilient" selves a little longer, on a road that's now a little steeper. 

6

GIANTS   102-54                    Gausman delivers when needed. 

LA             100-56    2 GB       Cy Young candidate Urias now 19-3.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Colorado, 6-2, to sweep the series.

LA defeated Arizona, 3-0, to keep pace as usual.

Today

Both teams are idle and return home to finish out the regular season.

Yesterday's Game

Kevin Gausman was the story for six strong innings in his best start since June 23. And his three-hit 11-K effort came at a most opportune time, following a week where the San Francisco bullpen again and again had to hold the opposition over five-plus innings. Yet it all might have gone to waste but for two Giants staples: effective pinch hitting and MVP candidate Brandon Crawford. Gausman had left the game with a 2-1 lead, but an error by Wilmer Flores and a balk by Jose Alvarez helped Colorado tie it in the seventh. Leading off the top of the ninth, Steven Duggar, batting for Curt Casali, drew a walk. Flores walked with one out, and Tommy LaStella, pinch-hitting for reliever Camilo Doval, drove in Duggar with a RBI single. Crawford followed with a three-run homer, his 23rd, and that made it a little easier for young Kervin Castro to retire the side in the bottom of the frame.

Today's day off will be focused on the condition of Brandon Belt, who took a fastball off his left hand in the seventh inning as he tried to lay down a bunt against a tough left-hander to beat the overshift. Belt, as anyone who's been following this team knows, is hot as a two-dollar pistol right now, and while the Giants have been overcoming injuries all year, losing him for more than a couple of games would be a serious blow.  

7

GIANTS   101-54                SF team record is 103 wins.

LA               99-56    2 GB   Every loss is huge now.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Colorado, 7-2, for the second straight night.

LA lost at Arizona by the same 7-2 score.

Friday

Giants defeated Colorado, 7-2.

LA defeated Arizona, 4-2.

Today

Giants finish up at Colorado, their last road game for a while, maybe a long while. Kevin Gausman goes for number 15, and this would be a good time for him to regain his early-season form. Righthander Antonio Senzatela opposes.  It's a daytime start: 12:15 PDT, 1:15 local.  

LA is at Arizona, with Julio Urias out to secure their 100th win.

The Weekend So Far

Giants used four innings from their starters, Alex Wood and Anthony DeSclafani, lots and lots of home run power, and some stout relief pitching to beat the Rockies by identical 7-2 scores.  Friday night Tommy LaStella again opened the game with a homer, and Brandon Crawford, 3-for-3 with a walk on the night, belted his career-high 22nd an inning later. Wood, back from the COVID list, had a rough first inning but pitched better afterward and was lifted after 61 pitches. Holding a tenuous 3-2 lead in the seventh, the Giants saw Mike Yastrzemski step up big-time with a mighty three-run blast, his 25th, and that made all the difference. "This might be the best game I've ever been to!" exulted a beloved family member who was in the stands with his friends on a timely visit to Denver. Meanwhile, Kervin Castro, Tony Watson, and Camilo Doval held the Rockies to two hits over three innings, escape artist Tyler Rogers got out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, and the final tally showed the Giants' five pitchers allowed not a single walk.

It was the Brandon Belt Show yesterday. The Giants' self-proclaimed captain is finally, finally having that big breakthrough season everyone's been waiting for. With two mighty home runs he drove in the first four runs; added to his solo shot from Friday those two give him 29 for the year, and he may yet become the first Giant to clear 30 homers in a season since Barry Bonds in 2004. Shoot, the way things are going it could very well happen today. Fine pitching from Jose Alvarez, Zack Littell, and Jarlin Garcia, plus Watson and Rogers, obscured another substandard start from Anthony DeSclafani, who gave up five hits, two runs, and the Giants' only walk in four innings. Lately it's been all about the San Francisco bullpen; while Kapler is understandably wary of Coors Field, he also seems wary of all his starters except perhaps Brandon Webb. No Giant starter has gone deep into a game this past week. Coors Field or not, today would be a good day to reverse that trend. 

9

 

GIANTS       99-54                      Last road series of season begins.

LA                 98-55   1   GB         Second extra-inning win in 3 days.

Yesterday

Giants lost at San Diego, 7-6, in ten innings.

LA defeated Colorado, 7-5, in ten innings.

Wednesday

Giants defeated San Diego, 8-6.

LA lost at Colorado, 10-5.

Today

Giants at Colorado; 6:10 mountain time; 5:10 PDT.  Alex Wood against rookie right-hander Peter Lambert. Giants are going for their 100th win, a feat accomplished only three times by San Francisco Giants teams (1962, 1993, 2003). 

LA is at Arizona, who have already lost 104 games.

Recent Events

As we traveled from Virginia to San Francisco, where we're holding forth today in Hunter Thompson's old suite at the Seal Rock Inn, the Giants gained and lost a game in less than 24 hours.  Wednesday night they raced out to a 8-1 lead over the Padres thanks to some timely hitting by Kris Bryant, Buster (4-for-5, 3 runs) Posey, and LaMonte Wade, and four good innings from their latest reclamation-project starter, Scott Kazmir. Bryant's bases-loaded double in the first set the tone, and things went swimmingly until the Padres drilled five hits, including Fernando Tatis' 40th homer, against Jarlin Garcia and Dominic Leone in the seventh. And for the second straight game, Tyler Rogers struggled to close it in the ninth. Once again it was a leadoff walk that started it all, and Adam Frazier proved he can hurt the Giants in many different ways with a RBI groundout. But with the tying run on base, Rogers got Tatis to fly out to left, and all's well that ends well.

Giants fans could be forgiven for perhaps thinking that a three-game sweep was virtually certain, given that Logan Webb was starting Thursday afternoon. But Webb's never pitched this deep into a season before, and even with an extra day of rest he was off from the start. It took him 45 pitches just to get through the first inning. As you might expect, it was Frazier who started it all with a leadoff double, and the Padres put four runs across with walks, hit batsmen, singles, and a mound visit. That made it comeback baseball the rest of the way, and it was almost enough. Austin Slater, batting for LaMonte Wade in the sixth in one of those lefty-righty switches, continued the Giants' uncanny pinch-hitting success story with a three-run homer for a brief 5-4 lead. It went right back the other way in the bottom of the inning as Jose Quintana surrendered back-to-back homers to Trent Grisham and Ha-Seong Kim. The Giants immediately answered back with back-to-back doubles from Wilmer Flores-- another pinch-hitter, of course-- and Tommy LaStella, and it was on into extra innings. San Diego intentionally/unintentionally walked La Stella to set up the force, but it wasn't needed as Bryant, Brandon Belt, and Steven Duggar popped up in succession. Leone, in the bottom of the tenth, likewise opened with an intentional pass, but never got his ground ball, only a clean RBI single by Victor Caratini to end it.  And meanwhile LA took advantage of their tenth-inning runner to beat Colorado and take that game they lost Wednesday right back.

Notes

Kazmir may be the fifth starter, if one is needed, over the final nine games. We get the feeling Johnny Cueto is being saved for the postseason... Some stat site, quoted on ESPN early Thursday, upgraded the Giants' chances of winning the division from 52% to 79% after they took a two-game lead with ten to play Wednesday night. Wonder what they're prognosticatin' now?... Our daddy caught us prognosticatin' once-- told us we'd go blind... We (and probably everyone else) are calling the NL wild-card. It's going to be the amazing St Louis Cardinals, who have won twelve straight games (!) and now hold a four-and-a half-game advantage...  Philadelphia still has a good shot at the NL East division. They have three games coming up at Atlanta next week, as long as they don't get sandbagged by the Pirates over the weekend. 

11

 

GIANTS       98-53                      More ninth-inning hijinks.

LA                 97-54   1   GB         Pujols delivers the game-winning RBI.

Yesterday

Giants defeated San Diego, 6-5.

LA defeated Colorado, 5-4, in ten innings.

Today

Giants continue at San Diego; 7:10 PDT, 10:10 EDT. Scott Kazmir, the Giants' latest fifth starter, will get another chance. Righthander Vince Velasquez opposes. The Giants have not faced him this year.     

LA is at Colorado, with Walker Buehler going against German Marquez. 

Last Night's Game

It's become clear that Kevin Gausman is not the Giants' ace any more; at this point in the season he's just another pitcher, and you don't know what you're going to get from day to day. The simplest explanation is fatigue; he's fifth in the league in innings pitched and seventh in total pitches, following a short season. The devastating splitter that set him apart in the first half of the season has, by his own admission, not been working nearly as well of late. That's reflected in Game Scores: he averaged 67 before the All-Star break, and has averaged 47 since. Last night's start was his shortest of the season: four innings, in which he allowed nine hits and four earned runs.  But once again the Giants picked him up, and while it's thrilling to see this team rise to the occasion again and again, we can't help but wonder how long it can continue.

Tommy LaStella led off the game with a home run, but Manny Machado answered back moments later. Machado belted a second homer off Gausman in the third, as did Tommy Pham, and it was 4-1 Padres after four. The Giants' uncanny success with pinch-hitters continued as Wilmer Flores, batting for Gausman in the fifth, began the comeback against Joe Musgrove with a pinch-hit RBI single. Buster Posey, who had two hits on the night, brought in a second run with a sacrifice fly. And the Giants chased Musgrave in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Kris Bryant and  Brandon Crawford and Mike Yastrzemski's sac fly. That 5-4 lead lasted about a minute as Austin Nola soon tied it up with a homer off Zack Littell.    

And thanks to stout relief from Jose Alvarez, Dominic Leone, and Tony Watson, all the drama was saved for the ninth. Three straight singles by Brandon Belt, Posey, and "Late Night LaMonte" Wade, who's made the ultimate inning his personal fiefdom (he's 12-for-19 with a 1.597 OPS and 11 RBIs in the ninth this year), regained the lead. Out came Tyler Rogers to close it out and immediately trouble struck as Crawford mishandled a ground ball. With one out, Jake Cronenworth singled to put the winning run aboard for mighty Machado, he of the two home runs. The big guy promptly hit into the coolest 4-6-1 double play you'll ever see. Taking the flip from LaStella, Crawford, of course, executed a flawless turn-and-throw, but it was Rogers, racing full speed to the bag and taking the throw just in time, who made it a highlight-reel bang-bang game-ender. Were any Giants fans yelling "Dee-fense! Dee-fense!" at the end? Well, they shoulda been.     

12

GIANTS       97-53                      "Walkin' on a thin line..." 

LA                 96-54   1   GB        Kershaw got way more help than he needed.

Yesterday

Giants lost to Atlanta, 3-0.

LA defeated Cincinnati, 8-5. 

Today

Both teams are idle.

Giants head off to San Diego to begin the season's final road trip, which ends in Colorado next weekend.  LA is on their way to Colorado now, and thence to Arizona. The Giants and Dodgers will each be playing their final six games at home. LA gets Milwaukee on the final weekend, which may not be that much of a help since the Brewers have salted away their division and have no real chance at the top seed. 

Yesterday's Game

Max Fried put up the best opponents' starting pitching performance the Giants have seen since Frankie Montas of the Oakland A's a month ago. The young lefty allowed only three singles and one walk, and the Giants never really threatened. For six innings Fried and Anthony DeSclafani worked a scoreless pitcher's duel, until it all came undone in the seventh. Austin Riley opened with a double and Adam Duvall, the former Giant, followed with his 36th homer. That was all for "Des," but Edwin Rosario then hit Zack Littell's first pitch for an utterly superfluous but nonetheless discouraging home run. The Giants' offense was so quiet they only left two men in scoring position, grounded into two double plays, and totaled 28 at-bats, one more than the minimum. 

Road Trip

Today's win gives the Giants, in theory, the chance to use a four-man rotation this week. Kevin Gausman is already scheduled for tomorrow's start, and it logically follows that Logan Webb would start Wednesday. By Thursday Alex Wood will have had four days' full rest after going just three innings Saturday, and we'd think Gabe Kapler would prefer to start him in San Diego, and not in the high altitude of Denver the following night. Friday would give Anthony DeSclafani four days' rest as well, though a procession of (ideally) fresh arms in a bullpen game at 5200 feet might be an option, and would give "Des" and the rest of the group an extra day's rest. There's also Johnny Cueto, who's been playing long-toss and could be ready by the weekend, possibly to "front" a bullpen game.  

 

13

 

GIANTS       97-52                      Wood sharp in much-awaited return.

LA                 95-54   2   GB        Scherzer sharp because-- well, because he is.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Atlanta, 2-0.

LA defeated Cincinnati, 5-1.

Today

Giants finish up with Atlanta; 1:05 local (4:05 EDT) at Oracle Park. Anthony DeSclafani against lefty Max Fried, who pitched well against the Giants a month ago.

LA, with Clayton Kershaw, goes for the series win at Cincinnati, with Wade Miley (12-6), in a battle of lefthanders.  

Last Night's Game

It was just what we needed after all the late drama. Alex Wood, kept on a tight pitch-count leash by Gabe Kapler, made the most of his return from the COVID IL. He pitched three scoreless and hitless, with a hit batsman his only mistake. He certainly could have gone farther, but Kapler is looking way farther than one game; he's looking all the way into October, where Wood is sure to play a major part. So six relievers finished up the final six innings, and the last four-- Jarlin Garcia, Jose Alvarez, Tyler Rogers, and Dominic Leone, who got the save-  were perfect. Taking over for Wood, Zack Littell pitched out of a jam in the top of the fourth, and got the win when the Giants scored two off Charlie Morton in the bottom of the inning. LaMonte Wade walked, Brandon Crawford singled, Mike Yastrzemski bunted them into scoring position, and Curt Casali drove 'em both in with a single to right. Just the way they planned it. Atlanta's three relievers were as good as the Giants' the rest of the way, but the deed was done, and the lead holds at two for another day.  

14

 

GIANTS       96-52                      Backatcha with a last-ditch win.

LA                 94-54   2   GB        Castillo costs 'em a game in the standings.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Atlanta, 6-5, a walk-off win in 11 innings.

LA lost at Cincinnati, 3-1.

Today

Giants host Atlanta; 6:05 PDT, 9:05 EDT at the O. Alex Wood returns from the IL and faces Charlie Morton, 13-5 on the year.

LA is at Cincinnati, an afternoon game with mighty Max Scherzer going against Sonny Gray.

Last Night's Game

The Giants were down to their last man off the bench in the bottom of the ninth as Donovan Solano, fresh off the IL, stood in at the plate and Curt Casali waited in the on-deck circle. The shock waves from the top of the ninth-- when Tyler Rogers gave up a three-run homer to Travis d'Arnaud that put the Braves ahead, 5-4-- had yet to subside, and Solano looked overmatched at the plate against former Giant Will Smith. Dave Fleming on KNBR tried to whip up a little hope: "He's got some power... he could run into one."  Seeing nothing but breaking balls, down to the Giants' last strike, Solano turned on a 2-2 pitch and yanked it down the left-field line-- and just over fence and into the seats. Tie game. The crowd went wild as Solano circled the bases with the Giants' 16th pinch-hit home run in this season like no other.

It shouldn't have come to that. Logan Webb set down another masterful start over 7 innings, allowing six hits and striking out nine. He gave up two runs in the first on RBI leader Adam Duvall's double, and after that it was crickets the rest of the way. Then Dominic Leone set 'em down in order in the eighth. It was 4-2 Giants, courtesy of home runs by LaMonte Wade (into the Bay) and the Brandons, Belt and Crawford, as Rogers came out to close. As you may have gathered by now, Rogers didn't have it. Every ball was hit hard: two line-drive singles and two line-drive outs before d'Arnaud turned the game around with his blast.

And so it went to the tenth after Casali struck out following Solano's homer. Tony Watson, unfazed by Thursday's meltdown, got 'em 1-2-3 in the top, though the "3" required Steve Duggar to make a full-speed wall-slamming catch of Freddie Freeman's long drive. Advantage Giants, with the designated runner on second and the heart of the order up. But they managed to waste it, as reliever Tyler Matzek followed two intentional walks with two ground-ball outs. And that "last man off the bench" situation came to the forefront in the eleventh after Camilo Doval had stifled the Braves in the top of the frame.

Crawford started the inning on second, and immediately took third as pitcher Brandon Webb threw an attempted pickoff into center field. Atlanta's third intentional walk of the game put Evan Longoria at first. Steven Duggar flied out to left, not enough for Crawford but enough for Longo to take second. Sure enough, here came the fourth intentional walk, to Solano, bringing up the pitcher's spot with the Giants out of pinch-hitters. Not only that, but the one pitcher on the team we all know can hit had already been pulled-- Logan Webb. So here came Kevin Gausman. Why not? He bats left and Brandon Webb throws right. And he can take a pitch. He took five, working the count full. Knowing Webb had to come in or lose the game, Gausman made solid contact, sailing a fly ball to medium right. Joc Pederson gloved it, Crawford took off for the plate, and he just did beat Pederson's strong throw with a headfirst slide. Game over.

"That's the coolest thing I've ever done in my career," said Gausman afterward. 

"I'm jealous," said Webb to Gausman.

"Resilient," said Mike Krukow in the broadcast booth. 

Notes

Rogers was tabbed to close because Jake McGee just went on the IL with an oblique strain. It don't get any easier, do it?... Belt's homer was his 26th of the year and he has a shot at becoming the first Giant to hit 30 since Barry Bonds in 2004... Castillo, loser of fifteen games this year, really pitched well against LA: ten strikeouts over six-plus shutout innings, five hits and two walks. The Reds are right behind St Louis and just ahead of San Diego in the wild-card scramble... The loss cut Atlanta's lead to two over Philadelphia, who won their third straight. Both the Phillies and the New York Mets are closer to the division lead than to the wild-card... The AL wild-card tug-o-war between Boston, the Yankees, and Toronto has all three of 'em within one game. Oakland and Seattle look like spectators at this point... Duvall's first-inning double off Webb gives him a league-leading 103.  

 

15

 

GIANTS       95-52                      Padres have no plans to fade away.

LA                 94-53   1   GB        Can playoff-hungry Reds spoil?

Yesterday

Giants lost again to San Diego, 7-4, and split the series.

LA was idle.

Today

Giants host Atlanta; 6:45 PDT, 9:45 EDT. Logan Webb starts against Ian Anderson (without Jethro Tull, we're told).  Anderson won his only start against the Giants a month ago, and he didn't even bring a flute.

LA is at Cincinnati. Walker Buehler against Luis Castillo, who has lost fifteen games.

Yesterday's Game

They say you gotta have a short memory in this game, and that works both ways. That spectacular nine-game winning streak already seems a distant memory. The last two days have shown that the San Diego Padres, far from being dispirited, are genuinely pissed off about how their once-promising season has gone and intend to do something about it. The Giants face these guys six more times before we're through, and they'd best strap it on for each one, otherwise there's a real good chance they'll see them in one more game-- the wild-card elimination game. 

The Giants couldn't make a bullpen game work Wednesday, but the Pads did just fine with theirs yesterday. The real hero of the game was one Nabil Crismatt, who took over for "opener" Pierce Johnson in the second and pitched four shutout innings, all but ensuring that the Giants' inevitable late rally would be too little and too late, which it was. On offense, the Padres mostly nickeled-and-dimed Kevin Gausman for four runs through five frustrating innings (except for Fernando Tatis jnr, who crushed a solo homer, his 39th, in the third).  For the second straight game, a Giants' belated comeback was ineffectual because the bullpen gave up three late runs. This time Tony Watson, so effective of late, blew up in grand fashion, yielding four hits and a walk in the top of the eighth to turn a 4-2 game into a 7-2 game. Thus Evan Longoria's two-run homer in the bottom of the frame was little more than an angry gesture of futility.

Notes

It's possible Alex Wood could rejoin the rotation Saturday. Considering how long he's been out, we hope he's built up his stamina to the point that Gabe Kapler doesn't feel compelled to yank him after three innings if he's pitching well. There's still no fifth starter on this team, since Johnny Cueto has been given no timetable for return. Sammy Long was recalled from Sacramento yesterday and could fill in there.

16

GIANTS       95-51                      Win 9, lose one, and lose ground.

LA                 94-53   1.5   GB     Now on their way to Cincinnati.

Yesterday

Giants lost to San Diego, 9-6.

LA defeated Arizona, 5-3, their sixth straight win.

Today

Giants finish up with San Diego. Daytime start at Oracle Park, 12:45 PDT, 3:45 EDT. Kevin Gausman goes for his 15th win against Pierce Johnson, who has a 2.98 ERA in 56 games, all but one of those in relief.

LA is idle. They open a weekend series at Cincinnati on Friday night. The Reds have fallen behind the Cardinals and the Padres in the second wild-card race.

Last Night's Game

Well, all good things must come to an end, and it's the same with the nine-game streak. What really bites is that those nine straight wins bought the Giants only two and a half games, because LA has won six straight and 8 of 10 at the same time. After two successful starts, the Dominic Leone "opener" gambit blew up big-time last night. Leone retired but one batter while giving up two hits. Out he went,  in came Jarlin Garcia, and good old Adam Frazier, who's been doing this to the Giants all year with Pittsburgh, did it again with his new club, driving in both runners with a double. Garcia and Zack Littell combined to allow three more in the second, though to be fair the trouble started with a most uncharacteristic error by Brandon Crawford. It was 5-0 before the Giants got their first hit, but to their credit they battled back as they always do, starting with Even Longoria's answer-back RBI double in the second. The pitching settled down, rather uneasily, with Kervin Castro, Jay Jackson, and Jose Quintana scoreless through six. It was 5-3 and reachable by then thanks to homers from Thairo Estrada and Kris Bryant. But Quintana stayed in an inning too long, surrendering two in the top of the seventh, and after Steven Duggar and Brandon Belt homered in the bottom, the Padres made sure with two more off Jose Alvarez in the ninth. Ultimately, four solo homers were no match for 16 hits, including 7 for extra bases.    

 

17

 

GIANTS       95-50                      DeSclafani wins 12th, team 9th straight.

LA                 93-53   2.5   GB     Urias might win 20 games this year.

Yesterday

Giants defeated San Diego, 6-1.

LA defeated Arizona, 8-4. 

    

Today

Giants host San Diego again; 6:45 local, 9:45 EDT. Dominic Leone, the Designated Opener, will open for the second time in three days. Joe Musgrove (10-9, 2.93) starts for the Padres. If they're ever gonna play spoiler, he's the guy they want on the mound-- although the Giants did beat him twice in one week back in May. But he's a good one.

LA hosts Arizona, with Julio (17-3) Urias going against Merrill Kelly. 

Last Night's Game

Anthony DeSclafani went deep into the game at a time the team needed it most, and the persevering right-hander earned his 12th win, allowing three hits, one walk, one run, and striking out three over six and two-thirds. It was 3-1 with one on and two out when Gabe Kapler pulled "Des" for Tony Watson against the hard-hitting Jurickson Profar. Watson, who has been lights-out lately, got the third out, and the Giants made it easier on Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval by scoring three more in the late innings. Buster Posey had opened the scoring with his 18th homer in the first inning, and two throwing errors by the Padres led to two Giants runs.  

Notes

We see former Giant Adam Duvall, with the Atlanta Braves, is leading the league with 101 RBI. He's second in the NL with 35 homers, and despite a .285 OBP, Duvall has resurrected a career that appeared all but over in 2018. Atlanta has been a definite tonic for the slugger. The Giants, you may recall, gave him up six years ago to get Mike Leake for two months... Speaking of former Giants, Joe Panik has started 22 games as a utility man for Miami this year. He may wish he were still in Toronto, where he was a year ago, the way the Blue Jays are playing of late... The Giants treated "old buddy" Mark Melancon, he of the Break-That-Bank contract back in 2017, rather rudely last night, scoring two runs off him in the eighth on only one hit... Back in Atlanta, Pablo Sandoval has 86 AB in 69 games. Don't know if he'll be on the postseason roster... Christian Arroyo, whom we once hailed as the Giants' Next Star in the Making, has gotten into 53 games with Boston, though he's currently on the IL, which is the real story of his career so far... Derek Holland, who pitched so well for the Giants in 2018, is carrying a 5.61 ERA for Detroit... And lefthander Ty Blach, now 30, is trying to work his way back into the major leagues while toiling in the Baltimore system.

18

 

GIANTS       94-50                      First to clinch a postseason spot! 

LA                 92-53     2.5   GB    Kershaw's back. Ay, caramba!

San Diego    74-69   19.5  GB     Loss drops them behind Reds.

Yesterday

Giants pounded San Diego, 9-1, and clinched the postseason berth in grand style.

LA defeated Arizona, 5-1, as Clayton Kershaw returned to action.

  

Today

Giants host San Diego again; 6:45 at Oracle Park. Anthony DeSclafani tries again to recapture his earlier-season mojo. Our old friend Jake Arrieta, whom the Giants faced the last time they made the postseason, starts for the Padres. He's 5-12 with a 7.04 ERA and 0-1 since coming over from the Cubs.

LA has Arizona again at Chavez Ravine, with Tony Gonsolin facing Luke Weaver.

Last Night's Game

The Giants drained the suspense early. Tommy LaStella led off with a home run, Darin Ruf walked with one out, LaMonte Wade tripled to right, scoring Ruf, Brandon Crawford walked, and Evan Longoria belted a three-run homer. That's five runs right there, and it was enough. The team that used to leave men on base and in scoring position was a model of efficiency, converting eight hits and four walks into nine runs. And only six pitchers were needed for this bullpen game. Dominic Leone, who seems to be Gabe Kapler's favorite opener, went two, Jarlin Garcia, Zack Littell, and Jose Alvarez worked rhe middle, and the youngsters-- Camilo Doval and Kervin Castro-- finished up. We don't want to say the Padres looked dispirited out there, but this one was never really contested. It had the look and feel of what it became-- a mere buildup to the on-field celebration that erupted once the final out was recorded. The Giants insist to a man that this isn't and hasn't been the goal; winning the division is the goal, and remains a daunting prospect. But this sure enough is a most satisfying in-your-face "block party" for a team that no one outside their own clubhouse believed in back in March. For one night, the Giants and fans have reason to celebrate. Now it's back to work.

And So...

Much has already been made about September 13 being the earliest day any Giants team, in San Francisco or in New York, has secured a spot in the postseason.  Historically, it's especially unusual for the San Francisco Giants. The pennants of 1962 and 1971 were won on the last day, by one thin game, and 1997's little miracle on the final weekend. 1987 and 1989 were a bit more inevitable than that, decided in the final week. It wasn't until 2000 that the Giants "ran away with it," going wire-to-wire and winning the West by 11, and 2003 holds the biggest margin, 15 games. (Fat lot of good those first-place walkovers did the team in the playoffs!) 2010 was just two games and while 2012 was eight, the last two wild-card finishes were  both nail-biters. 

And with 18 games to go there is no indication at all that this division race will be anything but another stress-fest to the very end. Clayton Kershaw went four innings yesterday after two months recovering from injury, slowly returning to form just in time for the stretch run and the playoffs-- and nobody's fool enough to think the Dodgers will be intimidated if they end up having to play a win-and-you're-in extra game. Not with Walker Buehler, Max Scherzer, and Julio Urias joining Kershaw in a rotation that seems almost comically unfair to the rest of baseball. But that's the challenge the San Francisco Giants face as they take their well-earned playoff berth, set it on a shelf, and go about the business of holding this lead with eighteen games yet to play. 

19

 

GIANTS       93-50                       Can clinch postseason tonight. 

LA                 91-53     2.5   GB    Arizona comes to town.

San Diego    74-68   18.5  GB     Will they toughen up against Jints?

Yesterday

Giants defeated Chicago, 6-5, to sweep the series, sweep the road trip, and win their seventh straight game.

LA swept San Diego with a 8-0 pasting.

Today

Giants host San Diego; 6:45 at the O, 9:45 here. Gabe Kapler will pick someone, or several someones, to oppose Yu Darvish, who's been excellent in both his starts against the Giants this year.

LA hosts the cellar-dwelling Diamondbacks. Clayton Kershaw returns to action after a two-month layoff.  Zac Gallen starts for 'Zona. 

Yesterday's Game

Well, you knew there was going to be one tough game in this series, and the Cubs, despite all the agony-inducing trades, are still a tough ballclub. The Giants got off first, as has been their practice, taking a 3-0 lead for Logan Webb into the fourth. Wilmer Flores and Austin Slater, both fresh off the IL, helped lead the way. But Webb yielded a triple to Rafael Ortega and a homer to Ian Happ, and it was a one-run game. Flores got both runs back right away with a two-run homer in the fifth, and Webb took a 6-3 lead into the seventh having thrown only 73 pitches. But he's never pitched this late into a season before, and after a six-pitch leadoff walk and two first-pitch base hits, it was a one-run game again and Webb yielded to Tyler Rogers. He gave up two more hits, loading the bases, but got out of it with the lead. Tony Watson, perfect of late, was so in the eighth, and Jake McGee survived a one-out double in the ninth for his 31st save.

The Giants' next win, whether it comes tonight or not, will clinch Our Boys' first postseason berth since 2016, and will also ensure the wild-card playoff, if it comes to that, will be played at Oracle Park. Not bad at all for a bunch that was widely expected to finish fourth.

20

 

GIANTS       92-50                       5-0 road trip so far. 

LA                 90-53     2.5   GB    Buehler wins 14th. 

San Diego    74-67    17.5  GB     You gonna play ball, or you gonna... ?

Yesterday

Giants routed Chicago, 15-4, their sixth straight win.

LA defeated San Diego again, 5-4.

Today

Giants finish up with Chicago, another daytime start. 1:20 at Wrigley, 2:20 here. Logan Webb against lefthander Justin Steele.

LA tries to sweep San Diego at home. Blake Snell goes for the Padres. He's good. Max Scherzer starts for the Dodgers. He's, uh, really good.

Yesterday's Game

"Get a good pitch to hit." Ted Williams' sage advice works really, really well when it's done right, and the Giants have a lot of guys who follow it. Tommy LaStella and Brandon Belt are two such disciples. They batted 1-2 in the lineup yesterday and were a combined 5-for-10 with five runs scored, eight RBI, and a three-run homer apiece. Belt continued his tear with a second-inning blast, his 23rd, and LaStella, who'd singled in two runs ahead of him, launched a cannon shot off the Wrigley Field scoreboard in the fifth that officially put the game into rout status. Evan Longoria added three RBI and Mike Yastrzemski two. As further testament to the wait-it-out, foul-it-off school of hitting, the team drew 11 walks to go with 12 hits and managed to strand eight while scoring 15. Kevin Gausman was beneficiary of all this largesse as he won his 14th with a middlin' effort. He located well and kept the pitch count modest, but the Cubs tagged him for eight hits and three runs over six. Well, it is Wrigley Field. At the Friendly Confines and at Coors Field before that, the Giants have scored a total of 50 runs in these five road games. 

21

 

GIANTS       91-50                       Crawford makes a play for the ages. 

LA                 89-53     2.5   GB    Urias with the shutout.

San Diego    74-66    16.5  GB     Couldn't they win just one?

Yesterday

Giants defeated Chicago, 6-1. 

LA defeated San Diego, 3-0.

Today

Giants at Chicago; 1:20 local time, 2:20 EDT. Kevin Gausman against Zach Davies, whom the Giants beat up pretty good back in June.

LA hosts San Diego again; 6:10 PDT at Dodger Stadium. Walker Buehler looks to get back on track. 

Yesterday's Game

The Giants finally got a bullpen game right. Eight pitchers combined to allow two hits, four walks and only one run, on a solo homer off Jarlin Garcia in the fourth. And for a time, it looked as though that might be enough for Kyle Hendricks. He shut out the Giants on two hits through five, but in the sixth, Brandon Belt, who'd already walked twice, led off with a double. One batter later LaMonte Wade dropped a little blooper into left, enough to score Belt and tie it, though Wade was thrown by a mile trying to advance to second. And, as has happened so many times this year, once Hendricks was out of the game the Giants pounced. Facing reliever Trevor Megill, Brandon Crawford led off the seventh with a single. Evan Longoria then absolutely crushed a mighty drive all the way up to the top rail of the bleachers, just short of Waveland Avenue. Mike Yastrzremski singled, Steven Duggar walked, and that was it for Megill. Michael Rucker came in and got the double-play ball he needed from Tommy LaStella, but with two out and Yaz on third, Belt then took Rucker the other way for another two-run shot and that made it 5-1.

The play for the ages came just moments later, in the bottom of the seventh. Tyler Rogers gave up a leadoff walk. Patrick Wisdom then hit a shot up the middle. Crawford stretched out, barely gloved it, then immediately issued a perfect blind backhand flip to LaStella at second, who made the pivot and the throw to first for a double play. Voluble Jon Miller, describing the action, was struck momentarily speechless-- if you haven't seen the replay, drop what you're doing and check it out now. This ranks with Derek Jeter's blind toss to the plate in the 2001 AL division series. Sure, Crawford makes great plays all the time-- recall Hosmer's grounder in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series-- but this one is truly exceptional, a supreme exhibition of athleticism as well as "baseball intelligence", from a player having an MVP-worthy season.   

Well, the game didn't end there, though it might as well have. Rogers got out of the seventh, Tony Watson pitched a perfect eighth, and Jay Jackson got the final outs on a much more routine double-play ball, the Giants' third of the game. Thanks to Thursday's day of rest, Kevin Gausman will start today on his regular schedule, and Gabe Kapler doesn't need to roll the dice on a second bullpen game.  But for a change, this one was a real winner. 

Notes

Matt Duffy's now with the Cubs. He pinch-hit for Hendricks leading off the sixth and took a called third strike from Camilo Doval. Duffman is 30 now; he's appeared in 78 games for the Cubs. He took last year off-- missing a World Series appearance-- and played only 46 games for Tampa in 2019 after his fine 2018 season. We always wish him well... Megill, whom the Giants cuffed around severely in the seventh, is the brother of Tylor Megill, a starter for the Mets, whom the Giants also lit up a month ago... Belt was on base four times yesterday and scored twice.  

On this 20th anniversary of the September 11 attack on America by the Global Jihad, we honor those lost, and those who gave the "last full measure of devotion," those brave heroes of Flight 93. If you haven't been to the memorial at Shanksville, Pa., we urge you to put that on your short list if at all possible. It's time well spent, and moments you will never forget. 

God bless America.

Wrigley World

 

GIANTS       90-50                       Bryant returns to Wrigley Field. 

LA                 88-53     2.5   GB    Cardinals did their part.

San Diego    74-65    15.5  GB     Weekend series at Dodger Stadium.

Yesterday

Giants were idle.

LA lost at St Louis, 2-1, and dropped a half-game back in the race. 

Today

Giants at Chicago; 1:20 PM local time, 2:20 EDT. A bullpen game for the Giants. Lance Hendricks, who's won 14 games despite a mediocre ERA, starts for the Cubs. He got a win over Johnny Cueto at Oracle Park three months ago.

LA hosts San Diego in the first of a three-game set at Chavez Ravine. A fine time for the Padres to step up. They lead the wild-card race by one game.

Notes

Cincinnati (1 game back), St Louis (3), Philadelphia (3 1/2) and the Mets (5) are in the second wild-card hunt with San Diego. The Mets and Phillies are also very much alive in the NL East race, trailing Atlanta by a similar margin.

The real action is over in the American League, where five teams-- Boston, the Yankees, Toronto, Houston, and Seattle-- are battling it out for two wild-card spots. The Yankees, who were so hot a couple of weeks ago, are now free-falling, losing six in a row and 8 of 10. The Red Sox, who looked so bad a couple of weeks ago, have now moved up into prime position. And Toronto is coming up fast on the outside, winning eight straight and 9 of 10. They're a half-game behind New York and one behind Boston. Oakland and Seattle, in the AL West, are still within sight of division leader Houston, and are two games behind Boston for the wild-card. But watch out for Toronto. Their projected record is seven games better than their actual record, and if any team looks likely to stay hot down the stretch, it's Those Darn Canadians.     

22

GIANTS       90-50                       First to sweep Colorado at home.

LA                 88-52      2    GB     Wainwright's effort just enough.

San Diego    74-65    15.5  GB     Lead the WC race again. 

Yesterday

Giants defeated Colorado, 7-4, scoring four runs in the top of the ninth.

LA lost at St Louis, 5-4, despite scoring two runs in the top of the ninth.

Today

Giants are idle. They're on their way to Chicago.

LA finishes up at St Louis; can Cards earn a helpful split?

Yesterday's Game

For much of the afternoon this game had "disappointing loss" written all over it. Anthony DeSclafani did not pitch well, and Jon Gray did.  The Rockies led 3-0 after five, with Gray set to cruise a while. Then Brandon Belt and LaMonte Wade singled, and Brandon Crawford hit Gray's first pitch for a three-run homer and a tie game. Buddy Black went to his bullpen, and the Giants left two men on base to end the sixth. In the bottom of the frame, Zack Littell gave up a home run to Elias Diaz and just like that, the Giants were back in a hole. And this one looked as though it would stand. The Giants left two more on in the eighth and faced Carlos Estevez, who has saved three games in the past week, to start the ninth. As do so many rallies, this one began with a leadoff walk-- to Buster Posey in a rare pinch-hit role. Then it was like a flash fire: Thairo Estrada singled, Belt singled, bases loaded. Wade ripped a single to right for two runs and the Giants had the lead. Estevez got Crawford, wild-pitched the runners up a base, but struck out Kris Bryant for the second out. Then Evan Longoria, also pinch-hitting, capped it off with the knockout blow, a two-run double to center, and that gave Jake McGee the elbowroom he needed to work an uneventful bottom of the ninth for his 30th save. That's a sweep, folks, and it's four straight wins and six out of seven, and it's 90 wins and a two-game lead with 22 to play. 

23

 

GIANTS        89-50                       15 hits for the second straight game.

LA                  88-51      1    GB      Inadvertently helping San Diego, too.

San Diego     73-65   15.5  GB      Back in a tie with Reds for WC.

Yesterday

Giants bombarded Colorado again, 12-3.

LA defeated St Louis, 7-2.

Today

Giants finish up at Colorado; 1:15 PM local time, 3:15 EDT. Anthony DeSclafani against Jon Gray, who is 1-1 against the Giants this year. His win came at Coors Field back on May 5.

LA continues at St Louis. It's a four-game series with a game on Thursday.

Last Night's Game

Logan Webb, like Kevin Gausman the day before, was sailing along with a terrific start when the altitude of Coors Field evidently got to him. Through six Webb had a two-hitter and a 11-1 lead. He ran out of gas and gave up four hits and two runs in the seventh, which raised his ERA a tiny bit and lowered his Game Score. But it hardly mattered. Swinging the bats with abandon for the third consecutive game, the Giants had made short work of Rockies starter Chi Chi Gonzalez by the second inning with a 5-0 cushion, and it just got more lopsided as it went on. Steven Duggar was a one-man highlight reel, and right now it's impossible to imagine him being sent down again. He makes things happen. His triple on Sunday was the loudest hit in the Giants' victory over LA, and yesterday he had three extra-base hits including two more triples. His second triple, a bases-loaded rocket to the gap in right-center, was the loudest hit of this game, too-- unless it was Mike Yastrzemski's majestic 433-foot homer in the seventh, his team-leading 22nd. Also like Gausman the day before, Webb had some fun at the plate: he drove in Duggar after the latter's first triple in the second, and came in to score on Tommy LaStella's RBI single. On a 15-hit day, Evan Longoria had the most interesting batting line: three runs scored and one RBI without benefit of a hit. Every Giants starter on the day scored at least one run. 

22-year-old rookie fireballer Kervin Castro made his major-league debut in relief of Webb, pitching two scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and got his first career strikeout. 

24

 

GIANTS        88-50                       Power burst carries over into Coors.

LA                  87-51      1   GB        Cards were no trouble for Scherzer.

San Diego     73-64   14.5  GB      Angels come to town.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Colorado, 10-5.

LA defeated St Louis, 5-1.

Today

Giants at Colorado; 6:40 PM local time, 8:40 EDT. Logan Webb goes for his 9th win while Chi Chi Gonzalez opposes. 

LA is at St Louis. J.A. Happ brings his 6.20 ERA up against the Dodgers, who have yet to name a starter.

Yesterday's Game

Lefthander, righthander, day of rest, sleepless night-- none of it seemed to matter. The Giants blew out the Rockies early, taking a 10-1 lead by the sixth inning. Darin Ruf led off the game with a home run, Thairo Estrada, last week's home run hero, belted two out of Coors Field, and Buster Posey hit his 17th. Mauricio Dubon had three hits and two RBI, and everyone in the starting lineup had at least one hit except Brandon Crawford, who did help turn a double play in the field. There were fifteen hits in all and a nice cushion for Kevin Gausman, who won his 13th game. He also had some batting fun, driving in one run and scoring another in the four-run fifth. Gausman pitched as well as he has all season through five, then gave up single runs in the sixth and seventh. Trevor Story homered off Caleb Baragar in the eighth to make the score a little more palatable for the locals.   

25

 

GIANTS        87-50                     Bats break through when needed most.

LA                  86-51      1  GB      Five games behind projected W-L record. 

San Diego      73-64    14  GB     Back in the second wild-card lead.

Yesterday

Giants defeated LA, 6-4, to take the series, and the season series, and to hold first place.  

Today

Giants at Colorado; 2:10 local time, 4:10 EDT. Quick turnaround after a early-evening game. Kevin Gausman starts against Kyle Freeland, another lefthander. He pitched well against the Giants at the O three weeks ago (Game Score 62).

LA is at St Louis; also a daytime start. The Cardinals have cooled off a bit, but they're still only three games behind San Diego in the wild-card race. 

Yesterday's Game

It's about time! The Giants' impotent offense came alive with a roar against the best pitcher in the league, and carried away a resounding victory while supported by no less than nine pitchers. San Francisco put eight men on against Walker Buehler in three innings, and six of them scored. Brandon Belt homered in the first, Steven Duggar, late of Sacramentio, ripped a two-run triple in the second and scored on Darin Ruf's single, and LaMonte Wade, Brandon Crawford, and Curt Casali finished Buehler off with two runs on three hits in the third. The Giants did all this without Buster Posey in the lineup, and Mike Yastrzemski showed signs of leaving Slumpville behind with two hits, including a wall-scraping double to deepest center, and a walk.  

With Buehler (now 13-3) thoroughly done after three, Dave Roberts summoned his bullpen, and they held the fort and eventually allowed the Dodgers to get back in it. Jake McGee was on in the ninth despite no save situation-- that's how seriously Kapler took both game and opponent-- and big Albert Pujols belted a two-run homer, the 678th of his career, to cut the lead to 6-4 with nobody out. The rally had  started when Kris Bryant, who'd made a brilliant defensive stop in the eighth, threw wildly on Austin Barnes' leadoff grounder. 

Max Muncy, hitless thus far in the series, singled with one out to bring the tying run to the plate. McGee then got Mookie Betts on a "borderline" strike three call that made up for several such calls which gave LA a run in the fifth. That brought the terrifying presence of Giant-killer Justin Turner to the plate. Swinging late on a 1-2 pitch, Turner faded a pop fly down the right-field line that Yastrzemski nabbed just before it hit the protective netting. Roberts properly appealed, and for the second time in three days replay affirmed a Giants victory after the fact.

 Not every manager has the cojones, or perhaps the desperation, to plan out back-to-back "bullpen games", but Kapler does. Here's how yesterday's nine fared:

Dominic Leone opened, and got three popups from the Dodgers' fearsome top of the order. 

Jose Alvarez started the second. Single, walk, RBI single, and he's outta there.

Zack Littell came in with first and second, nobody out. He immediately wild-pitched the runners into scoring position. Then: popup, strikeout, strikeout. Neither man scored, and the Giants scored three in the bottom of the inning, and that earned Littell the win.

Jay Jackson for the third. He wasn't quite as bad as he'd been on Saturday: a walk and a hit, but he did get two outs this time. With two on and Corey Seager up, Kapler made the switch to a lefty.

Jose Quintana walked Seager, the man he was expected to get, on some extremely "borderline" pitches. The three-batter rule obliged Kap to leave him in against Will Smith, and Quintana got him on a fly ball. The veteran lefty junkballer then pitched a quiet fourth, and struck out Max Muncy (!) in the fifth. With two out, though, Betts singled and Turner walked. Kapler came out and turned up the heat.

Rookie Camilo Doval, he of the 99-MPH fastball and recent arrival from Sacramento, followed three outside sliders with two flaming unhittable strikes before "strike three" was called "ball four" and Seager walked to load the bases. More strike-zone chicanery followed during Will Smith's at-bat, resulting in a walked-in run and a 6-2 score. With the crowd booing and catcalling umpire Tony Randazzo, Doval held his water and fanned Chris Taylor on a called third strike, leaving 'em loaded.  And Doval then came out for the sixth and retired the side in order.

Tony Watson retired the side in order in the seventh. Tyler Rogers did the same in the eighth, before McGee came on in the ninth and it got dicey. 

Doval, Watson, and Rogers retired ten straight batters against the best lineup in baseball and ensured the Dodgers would need more runs in the ninth than they had outs to spare. With all the welcome attention drawn to the Giants' long-overdue offensive outburst, this stretch of outstanding pitching was key to the win. 

Bottom line: six of the nine did their jobs.  A seventh labored, but got the third out. Two others had days to forget. Oh, it's a different brand of baseball, all right, but at the moment the San Francisco Giants do it better than anyone in the business. And now they have to do it all over again on short rest in the unfriendly confines of Coors Field, and 24 more times before the race is complete. 

26

 

GIANTS        86-50                        "Bullpen game" didn't work so well.

LA                  86-50            GB       Going for first place with Buehler. 

San Diego      72-64    14    GB      Cards, Phillies, Mets also contend.

Yesterday

LA beat the Giants, 6-1.

Today

Giants host LA in the series finale: 4:05 at Oracle Park to accommodate a national-TV audience. Cy Young Award candidate Walker Buehler (13-2) starts for LA, the first right-hander to face the Giants since Tuesday. No word on a Giants starter.  Both Jose Quintana and Sammy Long pitched yesterday, neither of them well.

Last Night's Game

Well, the "opener" strategy didn't work, at least not with Jay Jackson. Trea Turner opened the game with a homer, and one out, two walks, and a stolen base later, Jackson was lifted for Jarlin Garcia, who allowed both runners to score for a 3-0 LA lead. That was pretty much it. The Giants went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position again, though Buster Posey was a ray of sunshine with three hits. We can hope he's broken out of his slump, and with a righthander going today we can hope Mike Yastrzemski will break out of his.  LaMonte Wade had a pinch-hit double, Brandon Crawford sat the game out, and Alex Dickerson is on the IL. Expect Tommy LaStella to join Wade, Crawford, Yaz, and Brandon Belt in the starting lineup this evening alongside Posey, Kris Bryant, and probably Evan Longoria.

27

 

GIANTS        86-49                        How does it feel?

LA                  85-50      1    GB      Used nine pitchers in loss.  

San Diego      71-62     14   GB      Half a game behind Cincinnati.

Yesterday

Giants defeated LA, 3-2, in eleven innings.

Today

Giants host LA; 9:05 at the O. The Giants have not named a starter, though Sammy Long would appear to be a possibility. Julio Urias starts for LA, his fifth start this year against the Giants. He's pitched excellent ball in three previous starts, and was shelled in one. He's the fourth straight lefthander the Giants will face. 

Last Night's Game

We probably should have seen this coming, but who would have believed our report? Buster Posey beat out an infield single in the bottom of the 11th inning with the winning run on third, and he did so because the throw from Trea Turner pulled impromptu first baseman Will Smith off the bag for a split second. And there it was, confirmed after replay, the Giants' latest can-you-believe-this win, in a game they had to win, to get off first against this powerful opponent in this critical series.  

Anyone who thinks Dave Roberts doesn't take the Giants with utmost seriousness may now be excused. The Dodgers burned through their entire lineup and bullpen plus Walker Buehler (who pinch-ran in the tenth and scored a run), trying to win this series opener and take full possession of first place. That will have to wait at least two more days. But their effort was a relentless and frightening one, as they rallied in the ninth to wreck Jake McGee's save and erase San Francisco's oh-so-fragile 1-0 lead. They survived two-- and almost three-- runners thrown or tagged out on the bases. And they got two-- well, almost two-- innings out of a pitcher who joined the team just this week, one Evan Phillips, who if not for that errant throw might still be pitching this morning because they had nobody left.

Let us praise Anthony DeSclafani's outstanding return to the rotation, at the time he was needed the most, as he pitched six shutout innings against the team that's tormented him twice this year.  But let us also acknowledge the Giants went an appalling 3-for 22 with runners in scoring position. Yes, you read that right: two runners per inning for 11 innings reaching second or third, and three runs to show for it. This has to stop, and it has to stop soon. Our opponents will not always oblige us by putting catchers at first base in every critical situation.

If there were hitting stars, they were Austin Slater and Brandon Crawford. "Craw" went 3-for-5 and drove in the tying run in the tenth after LA had finally seized the lead. Slater, who pinch-hit for LaMonte Wade in the third when the Dodgers changed pitchers-- a nervy move by Gabe Kapler-- came through with a RBI single, the second time in two days he's put the Giants on the board first. It held up until the ninth thanks to Tony Watson and Tyler Rogers, and McGee really deserved better in the ninth.

With one out and Justin Turner on first, Corey Seager dropped one into left-center and Darin Ruf took a bad angle to it, then threw late and wide to third, allowing Seager to take second. Smith grounded sharply to second and Thairo Estrada's throw home had Turner dead to rights. He retreated back to third just as Seager reached the bag himself, and Posey tagged both runners. Umpire  Nestor Seja properly called Seager out. And then both runners stepped off the bag thinking they were out! Posey swung his glove and tagged Seager, and Turner quickly jumped back on third. Had Posey tagged Turner instead, the game would have been over and the weirdest of double plays a matter of record. Instead, with two out, Chris Taylor singled Turner home and off we went into extra innings-- after the Giants left two men on in the bottom of the ninth against Kenley Jensen, of course. Turner would be thrown out at the plate again, for real this time, in the eleventh. So it went, and so it goes. 

28

 

GIANTS        85-49                       Thrilling win sets up the big series.

LA                  85-49           GB      Price gets first crack at Giants. 

San Diego      71-63    14   GB      Statcast gives them 50% shot at playoffs.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Milwaukee, 5-1, to save the series.

LA was idle.

Today

Giants host LA in the opener of a three-game series, the last time these clubs will face each other in the regular season. David Price starts for the Dodgers; he's started against the Giants twice this year, with one loss and one no-decision in which he pitched well. For the Giants, it might be newcomer Jose Quintana; anything's on the table when three starters (Wood, DeSclafani, Cueto) are on the IL.  

Yesterday's Game

How to describe it? "Well, it may be a cliche, but there was a playoff-game atmosphere at Oracle Park yesterday..."  Or, "Entire seasons may turn on one individual play, even one umpire's call..." Or even the old standby, "Oh, those bases on balls."

All true, all somehow inadequate. The Giants saved the Milwaukee series, their first-place standing, and maybe the division pennant with a four-run rally in the eighth inning, a rally that almost wasn't. It was classic Giants-- tie game, nobody on, two out, and Kris Bryant, the superstar the Giants traded for at midseason, at the plate against Milwaukee's tough reliever Devin Williams. Bryant walked on four straight pitches, setting up a glimmer of hope, but a situation the Giants have failed at time and again this past week of woe. With Brandon Belt at the plate and a 2-0 count, Bryant took off for second. It was a photo finish and he was called out, ending the inning just like that, another failure. But immediately heads started nodding in the San Francisco dugout, and the replay challenge was on. It took a long time, with Bryant and Wiley Adames kidding around at second base, the restive fans beginning a raucous chant of "Safe! Safe! Safe!", endless replays replaying on screens all over America, and finally the call. Safe! The inning went on. 

Williams appeared perfectly composed, but he walked Belt, which drew a mound visit. Darin Ruf stepped in. On a 1-1 pitch he absolutely clobbered one to deep left. It ricocheted off the wall as Bryant scored to give the Giants the lead, Belt stopping at third. Now Thairo Estrada, fresh up from AAA ball with Wilmer Flores going on the IL. Estrada, 0-for-3 on the day, with a chance to punch one through the infield and bring in two desperately-needed runs. Estrada-- who launched a 2-2 pitch high and deep and up and over the same plane Ruf's hit had described, half a dozen rows up into the seats as the crowd went completely crazy. After five runs in four games the Giants had five runs in this game and victory was at hand.

It wasn't quite over at that point, though. Kolten Wong opened the ninth with a single off Jake McGee. With two out, Adames faded one high and deep down the right field line. It cleared the wall, hit the promenade and caromed into the Bay, a two-run homer-- but almost immediately the umpires waved it off. Foul ball. A huge sigh settled over the park, then the crowd erupted again as Brewers manager Craig Counsell got himself ejected for arguing the second call that had gone against his club in ten minutes. McGee then got Adames to ground out, Estrada to Belt, and it was over. 

A brisk ballgame by today's standards, it lasted 2:31, and was already into the eighth at the two-hour mark. That notation brings us to Logan Webb, and it's absolutely criminal his name should be this far down here. The Giants' ace, for that's what he is, pitched seven innings of one-run four-hit ball, striking out ten. "Reminds me of Matt Cain," texted an astute Giants fan. Webb didn't get the win; that went to Tyler Rogers, who was basically unhittable as he struck out the side in the eighth. And Webb's effort was ably matched by Milwaukee's Eric Lauer, who pitched seven innings of one-run three-hit ball himself. Before the eighth-inning heroics, the Giants' only run was supplied by Austin Slater, who hit Lauer's first pitch for a home run.  Webb, pitching the game of his young career so far, made that run hold up as long as he was in there.  Congratulations all around!

Facing a third lefthander in three days, Gabe Kapler will probably devise a lineup similar to yesterday's, with Crawford and Belt the only left-handed bats and Buster Posey back behind the plate. Interestingly, Posey has yet to start a game at first base this year, not that he will tonight, necessarily, but it is an option if Kap wants to maximize his right-handed platoon advantage. Sammy Long will probably get a start this weekend and it could be tonight. If there's to be a "bullpen game," we'd expect it tomorrow. No indication yet whether Alex Wood, on the COVID list since Monday, can safely come off it and pitch Sunday. A manager's job is a lonely one sometimes. 

29

 

LA                  85-49                        Give 'em credit-- they swept Braves

GIANTS        84-49       .5  GB      1993 all over again?  Noooo... 

San Diego      71-63      14  GB      Phils, Cards also in WC hunt.

Yesterday

Giants lost again to Milwaukee, 5-2, their fourth straight defeat.

LA won again with two in the eighth, 4-3, and swept Atlanta at home.

Today

Giants finish up with Milwaukee; 12:45 PDT. Logan Webb is tasked with stopping the skid, and who'd we rather have out there right now? Lefthander Eric Lauer opposes. 

Last Night's Game

Well, they got Anderson out of the game early, all right-- a line drive off his shoulder saw to that. But despite getting two on with one out in the first and again in the eighth, the Giants couldn't score in those innings and thus lost two chances to take charge of the ballgame. Milwaukee got two off Kevin Gausman in the top of the second-- his only bad inning in an otherwise solid performance; he struck out 7 over 5-- broke a tie with a key run in the seventh, and made it academic with two in the ninth ahead of Josh Hader's 29th save. The Giants had tied it in the fifth on doubles by Alex Dickerson (pinch-hitting for Gausman) and Kris Bryant, and a RBI single from Buster Posey, trying manfully to break out of his recent slump. That just made the seventh all the more excruciating, though. Two out, nobody on, and Dominic Leone walks Lorenzo Cain. Leone and Brandon Belt then had trouble covering first on Jackie Bradley's grounder; all hands safe. Gabe Kapler brought in Joe Alvarez to face lefty-hitting Jace Peterson. Alvarez has thrived in these pressure situations all year, but not this time. Peterson's clean single to left scored Cain with the run that decided the game.  

And so, after 94 consecutive days in first place going back to May 30, the Giants are looking up at LA. The countdown stands at 29.  And while memories of 1993 are all over the place this morning, let's remember that unlike then, the Giants have a clear shot into the postseason regardless, even if it means one extra game at home.  The weather's fine, but there's no reason to pack our bags and head out to Panic Beach.   

Out of the Gate

...  a little early, we'll admit. OK. This Milwaukee series is too critical for us to sit back and wait until Friday, so here we go with thirty games left on the schedule. 

GIANTS        84-48                        Maybe Quintana should have started?

LA                  84-49       .5  GB      Have handled Braves just fine so far. 

San Diego      71-62   13.5  GB      Tied with Reds for second wild-card.

Colorado        60-72     24   GB      Terrible road record. 

Arizona          44-90     41   GB      Even worse road record.

Yesterday

Giants lost to Milwaukee, 6-2; Johnny Cueto's worst start of the season. 

LA defeated Atlanta, 3-2. scoring the winning run in the 8th.

Today

Giants host Milwaukee again, 6:45 PDT. Kevin Gausman saddles up for his most important start of the season so far. Lefty Brett Anderson opposes.

Atlanta's at LA. Two guys named Max--  Fried and Scherzer-- get the start.   

Last Night's Game

Cueto's Game Score of 16 is the second-lowest of any Giant starter this year (Anthony DeSclafani infamously put up a goose-egg against LA last month). He allowed twelve baserunners, ten on hits, and six runs, all earned, though a couple were aided by some uncertain Giants fielding. Quintana, the new guy, went about the same distance in relief (3 1/3) and allowed only one hit.  Maybe he really should have started.  This team could use a jolt from a fresh face right about now. Brandon Belt joined Yaz in the Giants' 20-homer club before the night was over, but the team went 0-for-8 with RISP and, let's face it, this lineup hasn't been right for a week. 

Brandon Woodruff, who got the win, along with Corbin Burnes from Monday and tonight's starter Anderson, are the same three who faced the Giants at Miller Park three weeks ago. Each put up a quality start then, too (69, 63, 56) but none of them got a decision because all three games were decided late, two in extra innings, and two by thrilling Giants comebacks. On August 7, Woodruff exited a 1-1 pitchers' duel in the eighth; the Giants went ahead 2-1 in the ninth but Milwaukee tied it. The Giants scored three in the tenth-- and Milwaukee tied it. Then they scored four in the eleventh and Milwaukee-- well, they scored one run but finally and at last the Giants prevailed, 9-6. Game of the year, so far. 

The point being, Burnes and Woodruff have gone (69, 63) again in this series, and it would behoove the Giants to not let Brother Anderson stick around too long tonight.  Seven-run extra-inning rallies remain rare even in this age of three-true-outcome baseball.