THE San Francisco Giants lost the National League division series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, by the slimmest of margins, with a 2-1 defeat in the series' fifth game on Thursday night at Oracle Park. On a botched checked-swing call that will live in ignominy for years to come, Max Scherzer, in his first closer role, was given the final out in the bottom of the ninth with the winning run at the plate. The two best teams in baseball went head to head for a season, and then for a week, and the defending world champions prevailed by one game. With an assist.  

And so the Giants' unexpected, unprecedented, historic, and glorious 2021 season comes to an untimely end.  It's tough to lose, even to an opponent of such obvious stature, and it's especially tough to lose in a circumstance where the outcome is decided, not by the players, but by an umpire who made an honest but catastrophic mistake at the worst possible time, a mistake that was judgmental as well as mechanical. As a steward of the game of baseball, you remember where you are. And you just don't let a call like that decide a game like that. A game that could have been remembered as great will instead be remembered as tainted. 

Logan Webb, the Giants' undisputed ace, delivered another outstanding start, pitching seven innings of one-run ball under tremendous pressure. He was calm and unflappable throughout, and if his effort didn't quite measure up to that of the first game, well, whose did? Buster Posey has compared Webb's confidence and composure to that of Tim Lincecum in 2010, and those of us who remember know that's high praise indeed. The Giants' pitching staff may look completely different next year-- more on that later-- but we can be sure Logan Webb will stand at the center of it.

Then there's Tyler Rogers. After a team-high 80 appearances during the season, Rogers was called on four times in this five-game series, and Thursday night he did what he does-- he fought through a difficult inning without giving up a run, despite two hits including LA series hero Mookie Betts' fourth single of the game. If there's a keeper in the Giants' bullpen, it's the underhand ace.

And another keeper is Camilo Doval, the kid with the unlimited future, asked again to do in the ninth what  he had done in both Giants wins.  This time, well, he just couldn't. It started with a hit batsman-- Justin Turner, who would factor in later-- and was followed by a single from Gavin Lux, another youngster with a bright future. Then Cody Bellinger, who suffered through a thoroughly miserable and injury-plagued season, drilled a clean single into right field and Turner, who too often seems to put his special stamp on a Giants-Dodgers game, scored the run that would hold up and send LA to the NLCS.  Gabe Kapler summoned Kevin Gausman, his other ace, to get the last out, which he did as Doval sat in the dugout fighting his emotions.

And Dave Roberts, whose clever pitching-staff maneuvering should have been the story of this game from a Dodger perspective, sent Scherzer out in the ninth to protect that fragile lead. The three-time Cy Young Award winner was all over the place, not near his best, but still plenty good. Leading off, Brandon Crawford drilled an 0-2 pitch right on the nose--  and right at Chris Taylor in left. Kris Bryant, the Giants' most reliable hitter in this series, bounced one to third, but Turner, perhaps hurrying due to Bryant's speed, muffed it. With the tying run on base, "Late Night LaMonte" Wade stood in, with one more chance to live up to that name, but Scherzer got him on a 3-2 pitch that may have nicked the outside of the plate. So it was Flores, along with Darin Ruf-- more on him later-- the closest to a pure power hitter the Giants have. He was thinking walk-off homer with a big swing on the first pitch, then took a called strike two, and down to the team's last strike, he flinched but held up as it dropped low and outside. That's when Gabe Morales, standing at first, gave the game away with his egregious and, we believe, unconsciously grandstanding call. 

Yes, it should have been a great game. As we mentioned, Roberts played hide-and-seek with his starting pitcher, Julio Urias. He opened the game instead with right-handed power relievers Corey Knebel and Brustar Graterol, hoping Gabe Kapler would stack his lineup with left-handed batters. But Kapler didn't fall for the gambit: he added only one lefty, leadoff man Tommy LaStella, to the starting lineup. The Giants got three hits off the pair of openers but left the runners stranded, and Urias came on in the third. Kapler went all in against Urias, quickly inserting Austin Slater and Donovan Solano in place of Mike Yastrzemski and LaStella. But by keeping them out of the starting lineup, he held back Wade and Alex Dickerson for late-inning ABs, and each would get his chance. 

Webb, meanwhile, was setting 'em down with regularity, except for the redoubtable Betts. And Mookie scored the game's first run in the sixth when he singled, stole second, and scored on Corey Seager's hit, the only time Webb allowed two hits in one inning. Urias, meanwhile, was matching Webb nicely over his first three innings, and he struck out the side in the fifth. But after LA had taken the lead, Darin Ruf led off the bottom of the inning and clobbered a 3-2 fastball 452 feet to the back of the bullpen in center field, the longest home run hit in the postseason so far. Bryant followed with a single, but was left high and dry as Urias got Slater to ground out. And Urias was done, as Blake Treinen, Kenley Jansen (who got the win) and Scherzer finished it.  

Looking over the series as a whole, the raw stats appear to show a LA walkover. The Dodgers scored 18 runs to the Giants' ten, with 41 hits against 29, although the Giants outhomered 'em 5 to 3. Team ERA are likewise skewed: 2.05 for the Dodgers, 3.48 for the Giants. The biggest difference in the series is in the bullpens. Roberts' group was uniformly excellent; the Giants got only three runs off  the LA relievers, and two of those were in garbage time with the Dodgers well ahead. Giants relievers, by contrast, gave up 11 of LA's 18 runs. 'Nuff said!

Mookie Betts had 9 hits, Bryant 8, Buster Posey and LA's secret weapon, Will Smith, each had 6. LaStella and Slater hit well in limited duty.  Evan Longoria, who deserves maximum respect for his game-winning homer off Scherzer in the third game, nonetheless made 15 outs. The Dodgers' "Turner Brothers," NL batting champion Trea and long-time Giant-killer Justin, were a combined 4-for-42 with 9 strikeouts and one RBI. On the pitching side, nobody matched Webb's numbers, but LA's Graterol matched Rogers very well out of the 'pen-- four appearances, no runs allowed.

And so time and baseball march on. The Dodgers open the NLCS at Atlanta tonight. Houston came back to defeat Boston in Game One of the ALCS last night. But the thrill is gone, baby. The thrill is gone away. 

So are we. We'll be back probably around the end of the World Series to take a last look at the wonderful and historic 2021 San Francisco Giants team. 

THE San Francisco Giants face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the winner-take-all fifth game of the National League division series tonight at Oracle Park. Game time is slated for 6 PM local time (9 PM EDT).

It has to come down to this, right? The Giants and the Dodgers, as in 1951, as in 1962, playing one game for all the marbles and all the bragging rights associated with sports' greatest rivalry. It had to come down to this. And it has.

Logan Webb will start for the Giants against LA's Julio Urias, and little else needs to be said about these two aces. Both have won a game in this series already, both are among the game's finest young pitchers, and both are capable of shutting down the opposition and giving their team every chance to win. The Giants will have Kevin Gausman, fully rested, in reserve, in case a "Madison Bumgarner Game Seven" effort is needed. And while he hasn't said anything about it, Dave Roberts is unlikely to balk at using Max Scherzer if he needs him, even on two days' rest. 

Speaking of rest, we're here, at least in part, because Walker Buehler did not falter in his short-rest start on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. He was not at his best, but he was good enough to make it into the fifth with only one run allowed, and his teammates took care of business behind him with bat and glove. The Dodgers' 7-2 win in game four was highlighted by Mookie Betts (2-for-4, home run, 3 RBI), Corey Seager (2 hits, 2 runs scored), Will Smith (2 hits, 2 RBI), and Gavin Lux, Trea Turner, and a resurgent Cody Bellinger, all with two hits each. Unlike Saturday's game, this was not a close one that burst open late. No, LA scored in four of the first five innings as the Giants hustled pitcher after pitcher in and out of the action like salesmen through a revolving door. Starting with Anthony DeSclafani, who just can't seem to figure out the Dodgers, it took six pitchers just to cover those five innings, and of the eight Gabe Kapler finally used, only Jose Alvarez (one batter) and Zack Littell (two fine innings, bless his heart) escaped unscathed. LA put so many men on base it seemed like they were up by twice the margin most of the night; overall the tally was twelve hits, five walks, and one error. They left 11 men on base and were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Heaven knows how many runs they'd have scored had they hit the ball a little more effectively!

Well, none of that matters now. Short memories in this game, for the players, and decades of history, for us fans, have led us to this point. Never in 27 years of it has there been a division series game like this, with this much on the line, all things considered. The great rivalry. Two 100-win teams in the same division playing each other in a postseason series. A razor-thin margin between them: Giants have won 12, LA has won 11. The defending world champions, a genuine dynasty in their ninth consecutive postseason, against the archetypal Team From Nowhere. For once, the hype is real. We can't say any more. Not a blessed thing.

Except this:  GO GIANTS !    

 THE San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 1-0, at Dodger Stadium last night, and thereby took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five National League division series.

"Overcoming obstacles" is what the Giants do, all right, and there's no more formidable obstacle than the defending world champions, the highest-scoring team in baseball-- whom the Giants have somehow managed to shut out twice in three games. On a rare chilly and windy night at Chavez Ravine, it was a tense, terrific mix of long-ball and small-ball, with the focus on pitching and defense.  

There was pitching aplenty. Max Scherzer, generally regarded as the best in the game, pitched like it, holding the Giants to three hits over seven innings and 110 pitches. The Giants made him work hard, but he made only one mistake-- a high fastball to Evan Longoria in the top of the fifth. The veteran, battling a slump so fierce many fans thought he should have been riding the pine, crushed a high drive to deep left-center, and on a night when several home-run balls were blown back into play, this one prevailed against the wind and hit the seats. And it would have to hold up, because Scherzer, Blake Treinen, and Kenley Jansen didn't allow another baserunner over the final four innings.

Alex Wood is not a three-time Cy Young Award winner, but he is 13-1 as a starter following a Giants loss, and that's the kind of stat champions carry. Wood pitched two-hit shutout ball into the fifth (both hits were by the great Albert Pujols, 41, starting at first base), and yielded to Tyler Rogers for the final out-- and then for two more shutout innings, the submarining righty's longest stint of the season. Jake McGee, back in the spotlight, finished the tag-team setup role with two on and one out in the seventh thanks to a defensive play for the ages.  Finally it was Camilo Doval, asked to pitch a two-inning save. He only had to face Trea Turner, Corey Seager, and Justin Turner in the eighth-- and he set them down quietly in order. Then he went out and set the side down in order again in the ninth, a dominant performance that was punctuated by sudden drama.

We  mentioned the wind. Half a dozen players crushed the ball deep enough for home runs or extra bases, including Mike Yastrzemski, Brandon Crawford, and LA center fielder Chris Taylor. But it was the last out of the game that everyone will remember. Young Doval had blown through the Dodger lineup, neutralizing some of the best hitters in the game. With two out, up stepped diminutive Gavin Lux, whose one distinguishing skill is his ability to hit the ball hard. He sure did, a towering drive to deepest left-center, as Steven Duggar retreated toward the wall and the fans who'd received Longoria's shot prepared to leap for the ball that would make it a tie game. Then Duggar suddenly reversed course, stepped forward, and caught the windblown ball ten feet short of the fence to end the game. Shades of Candlestick!  

We mentioned defense. There were a number of fine plays on both sides; Trea Turner, Donovan Solano, Duggar, and Mookie Betts come to mind. But there was one play that no one-- especially Mr Betts-- will ever forget, the defensive play that saved the ballgame. Two on and one out and Jake McGee on in relief of Rogers. He got Austin Barnes on a perfect freeze-frame called third strike, but that brought up Betts. These are the moments the Dodgers have seized again and again to break games open, and Betts did his part. He ripped a scorching line drive to left, a sure RBI single-- except Crawford got in the way with a vertical leap and an outstretched glove. He snagged it to end the inning, and the TV cameras caught a perfectly astonished Mookie Betts frozen in mid-stride. The highlight video's already got about twenty million views; go see it if you haven't already.  It's moments like these that have made this Giants' season.

And so the San Francisco Giants can wrap up this "preliminary"--hah!-- series tonight, and if not, they've got home-field advantage and Logan Webb for Thursday. Tonight at 6 PM PDT (9 PM EDT) it's Anthony DeSclafani, and we don't mean to slight him in any way. But the bullpen behind him, thanks especially to Rogers and Doval, is deep and rested. As for Dave Roberts, he has options, many options, as he faces a win-or-else game. Might he bring back Walker Buehler, who pitched well enough in the first game and rarely loses two in a row? He knows it would be short rest for the ace righthander, and history is replete with examples of fine pitchers who came up short in those situations. Roberts' fourth starter is Tony Gonsolin, hardly a household name but a good pitcher. The Giants roughed him up in his only start against San Francisco, back in July at Dodger Stadium. It was his only loss in 13 starts, though, and he posted a 3.23 over the regular season.

It doesn't matter who it is, does it? These are the Giants. Does anyone really think they can't beat whoever stands against them?   

Shout Out

We'd like to take this opportunity to praise Maria Guardado, the beat writer on the Giants' website. Morning after morning she turns out well-written, impeccably proofread, and highly readable stories about the previous night's game, and periodically about upcoming games or series, roster moves, perspectives on the season, and responses to readers' questions. She mixes hard facts with her own observations and with quotes from players and coaches, keeping a balance between narrative and description. While a professional, her  viewpoint is clearly a fan's, yet she avoids cliches and cutesy attempted witticisms. All you have to do is read a few articles from sports "writers" on other sites-- replete with grammatical errors, badly constructed sentences, atrocious wording, political bias, numbing repetition, and other embarrassing examples of the copy editor's desk being permanently vacant-- to appreciate Miss Guardado's work. We don't know how these assignments are handed out, nor do we know how long she'll be covering our Giants, but let's enjoy what we have for now and send her a note of appreciation now and then. Her twitter handle is posted on the byline of her articles.  

THE San Francisco Giants face the Los Angeles Dodgers in game three of the National League division series tonight at Dodger Stadium. Game time is slated for 6:37 PM local time, 9:37 PM PDT.  The Giants will try to retake the lead in this series after LA won game two decisively, 9-2, Saturday night at Oracle Park.  Tonight the Dodgers will send their best, Max Scherzer, out to start while the Giants will start Alex Wood, the former Dodger.        

About Saturday's game, little enough need be said. Kevin Gausman struggled early, walking Mookie Betts to start the game and then giving up two runs in the second, establishing a lead LA never lost. Julio Urias, the 20-game-winning lefty, made that second inning especially ugly with a two-run single after the Giants had intentionally walked A.J. Pollock to get to him. But the Giants cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the frame and Gausman settled down, retiring ten in a row, and it stayed a close game until the sixth. Trea Turner led that inning off with a double, and when Will Smith walked with one out, Gabe Kapler went to his bullpen. Sadly, Dominic Leone just didn't have it, and after a walk-double-double sequence, it was 6-1. To cap the climax, the Giants tried to answer back in the bottom of the sixth with a walk, a single, and a RBI single by Brandon Crawford, but Wilmer Flores ignored that old rule which says you never make the third out at third base. Betts' perfect throw from right nailed him trying to advance from first, and that ended the rally, the inning and, effectively, the game. 

With the win, LA took the home-field advantage; they can now win out at Dodger Stadium. But the Giants have overcome every single one of these types of obstacles during this season, and no one with any sense will say they can't do it now. 

Notes

Two fine pitchers, Milwaukee's Corbin Burnes and Atlanta's Max Fried, have set the tone for the other NL division series, which also stands tied at 1-1 and resumes this evening in Atlanta... The 100-game-winning Tampa Bay Rays are in danger of blowing their AL division series with Boston after winning the first game. The Red Sox' power has told the story the last two nights, and their bullpen has yet to collapse... Houston had a chance to close out the White Sox in Chicago last night, but Tony LaRussa's bunch put up 12 runs last night and can force a game five with a win tomorrow. 

  

THE San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers, 4-0, in game one of the 2021 NL division series at Oracle Park last night. 

Logan Webb, in his first postseason start, pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing five hits and no walks while striking out ten. Webb, 24, was positively transcendent in this game, evoking memories of Tim Lincecum in the first game of the 2010 division series against Atlanta. He shut out the best lineup in baseball, the top run-scoring team, and he was never in serious trouble. Tyler Rogers and the wunderkind Camilo Doval finished LA off for the final five outs, and they were great, but this game belonged to the Giants' sudden young ace.

Webb's opponent, Walker Buehler, pitched well enough, but once again the Giants deviled him by going deep in the count and hitting the ball where it was pitched. This was illustrated in the first inning when Tommy LaStella started it off by working Buehler for a five-pitch walk. Two batters later, Buehler went 3-0 on Buster Posey, pitching him away. Pitch four was almost perfect, a high fastball on the outside, close enough for strike one, and Buster went with it all the way, the other way. This was no high-and-deep fade down the right-field line-- this was a cannonball that soared over the brick wall, hit a stanchion on the promenade, and caromed onto the Bay. It was explosive, it was Buster's first postseason homer since 2012, and the way Webb was pitching, it carried the night.

As is their wont, the Giants added two more on solo homers. Kris Bryant opened the seventh with a mighty blast to deep-left center on a 3-2 pitch, and that one really seemed to deflate Buehler, who visibly sagged on the mound. Brandon Crawford, who'd belted one to the warning track in the first, just ahead of Buster's blast, took lefthander Alex Vesia way, way deep in the eighth, clearing the fence in deepest center. Crawford, serenaded by chants of "M-V-P!" whenever he did anything, had made a sloppy error in the first that eventually allowed a runner to reach third. But in the fourth, with one on and one out, Giant-killer Justin Turner hit a sharp grounder up the middle destined for center field. Crawford, shifted far to the left, couldn't get it, but he raced toward second anyway. In what looked like perfect choreography, LaStella backhanded the ball, glove-flipped it into the air to Crawford, who snatched it out of the air, tagged second, and made a perfect relay to first. Inning over! Yet another highlight-film double play from the Giants snuffed out one of the Dodgers' few chances to get two men on. They never had another.

Kevin Gausman takes the baton tonight with the NL's only 20-game winner, Julio Urias, opposing. Gabe Kapler was modest with his substitutions last night, using only two. Tonight we'll see Darin Ruf, Donovan Solano, and probably Austin Slater filling out a lineup of seven right-handed batters to face LA's fine young lefthander.

On the Threshold of a Game

Final National League West Standings

GIANTS        107-55                        Best OPS, 2nd-best ERA in NL.

LA                  106-65      1  GB        Won wild-card game on walk-off. 

San Diego       79-83     28  GB       As expected, Tingler gets the axe.

Colorado         74-87    32.5   GB    Last in NL in intentional walks. 

Arizona          52-110     55   GB     Will Lovullo get another chance?

As noted above, it's no mystery why the Giants won so many games. They hit better than any team in the league and pitched better than any team in the league but one.  That they did it with a lineup and pitching staff built on depth and breadth is what throws many people off. Nobody on the 28-man roster that finished the season had a "bad" year, and a few-- not just Brandon Crawford, but say, Darin Ruf, who was playing in Japan two years ago, or Kevin Gausman, who toiled in obscurity in Baltimore for several seasons-- had career years. 

And all that means exactly nothing as the Giants prepare to make history again. For the first time in this legendary, hundred-year-plus rivalry, a rivalry that's seen just about anything that can happen on the baseball field, the Giants and Dodgers will meet in a postseason series. LA made sure of it last night thanks to stout pitching by Max Scherzer and Kenley Jansen, and a walk-off homer by Chris Taylor that followed a two-out nobody-on walk to Cody Bellinger.

It will be Logan Webb for the Giants and Walker Buehler for the Dodgers, and it gets underway tomorrow night at 6:37 PDT (9:37 EDT), about 90 minutes too late for good common sense. But with television dictating the starting times--- all four division series are in action that day-- that's no surprise. Buehler faced the Giants six times this year, and five of those starts were excellent. We remember the last one, though! He did not face Webb in any of them. Webb himself started three games against LA and pitched well every time. For those of you looking ahead, it'll be Kevin Gausman and Julio Urias Saturday night, same time. 

A number of people are waxing wroth about the two best teams in the league meeting in the preliminary series, while presumably Atlanta and Milwaukee will fight it out in the Mediocrity Bowl. This is due to MLB having scrapped the notion that intradivisional postseason matchups should be saved for the League Championship Series, as was the case from 1995-2011. We're unclear why that rule was changed, since the wild-card elimination game ensures that three teams from the same division can never get to any of the series. Without getting too worked up about it, we'd favor a reinstatement of that rule. Had it been in place, the Giants would be playing Atlanta tomorrow, with LA going to Milwaukee. 

But that's not what's happening, so let's get over it and watch history in the making. Will there be any bench-clearing brawls, any "brushback" pitches and warnings? Will the five-game series end with a dramatic rally for the ages? Is there any chance at all the whole thing can avoid controversy, which seems to be drawn to this rivalry like a moth to a flame? As somebody once said, "Well, folks, that's why we watch the games."  To which we add: GO GIANTS!

Almost unnoticed, around these parts, anyway, was the Tampa Bay Rays joining the 100-win club with another fabulously unusual season. They are the anti-Giants in many ways, and what a terrific matchup that would be, should it happen. The Rays will now face Boston, who defeated New York in the AL wild-card game, a rather perfunctory win given that rivalry's rich history. Still, you gotta see that play in the top of the sixth, where Aaron Judge was thrown out at the plate after a line dive off the Wall by Giancarlo Stanton; the Yankees had a chance to make it a one-run game and failed, and Boston put it away in the seventh.  In the other AL division series, the game's most venerable managers, Dusty Baker and Tony LaRussa, face off in the postseason for the first time since 2002 as Houston hosts the Chicago White Sox. Nineteen years ago, Dusty's Giants defeated LaRussa's Cardinals in a NLCS we remember well. 

The Rays, the Astros, and the Toronto Blue Jays, who missed the postseason by a game, were 1-2-3 in runs scored across MLB; the Giants were sixth, behind LA and Boston. Toronto finished eight games worse than their projected record; they outscored the opposition by 183 runs, way more than Boston, the Yankees, or the White Sox. The Seattle Mariners, who won 90 games, their best season in over a decade, were 51 runs to the bad (expected record 76-86), a 14-game swing, largest in MLB. And as we all know, the Dodgers' expected record was 109-53 and the Giants' 103-59, which helps explain why LA is favored in the upcoming series. Atlanta, meanwhile, underperformed their expectation by six games (according to ol' Pythtagoras, the NL East should have been a walk in the park for the Braves by 14 games), while the just-excused Cardinals rode their magnificent 17-game September winning streak to finish five games better than their projection. All the American League teams had best watch out for those perennial Astros; they projected to 101 wins. 

Much has been made of the Giants' ten players with ten or more homers, and so, whaddaya say, we'll make a little more: Brandon Belt (29), Mike Yastrzemski (25), Brandon Crawford (24), Wilmer Flores (18), Buster Posey (18), LaMonte Wade (18), Darin Ruf (16), Alex Dickerson (13), Evan Longoria (13), and Auston Slater (12). Kris Bryant had 25, seven with the Giants. Belt, Ruf, Flores, Dickerson, and Longoria all missed significant time with injuries.  Nothing personifies the "next man up" attitude better than that-- or is it "one man gathers what another man spills?" (It's about time we included a Grateful Dead reference, hah?)  

Quality starts: Gausman 25, DeSclafani 22, Webb 18, Wood 18, Cueto 5, Sanchez 5, Kazmir 2. Cheap wins are almost extinct today; no starter lasts long enough to earn 'em. Webb had the only one for the Giants, and it wasn't that bad: a 45 Game Score in a 5-3 win at Wrigley Field on September 12. There were nine Tough Losses: Wood 3, DeSclafani 3, Gausman 2, Kazmir. The toughest loss was Gausman's on July 5 at home against the Cardinals: Game Score 69. 

The two best starts of the year were both by Anthony DeSclafani. One June 11 at Washington he pitched a two-hit complete-game shutout in a 1-0 win, Game Score 90. On April 26 against Colorado at home it was another complete game in a 12-0 blowout, Game Score 89. And "Des" also had the worst start of the season, that memorably awful afternoon at Oracle Park when the Dodgers shelled him in the first inning to the tune of a big fat zero Game Score. 

Opponents? Masterpiece Theatre was on June 27 at home as Oakland's Cole Irwin pitched to a 82 with eight shutout innings. None of the opponent starters got a zero, but Colorado's Austin Gomber (0-3 against the Giants this year) was saddled with a 4 in the same 12-0 blowout that DeSclafani pitched.

We already noted Walker Buehler faced the Giants six times this year (3-1, two ND). So did Arizona's Merrill Kelly, a good one (1-2, 3 ND). The Giants saw Urias five times (2-1, 2 ND), San Diego's Joe Musgrove five times (also 1-2, 2 ND), and Zac Gallen of Arizona (0-3) and Jon Gray (0-2) and German Marquez (0-4) of Colorado four times each.     

It was generally hard to beat the Giants this year under any circumstances, and it was especially hard for any pitcher to win two or more games against San Frajcisco in 2021. Buehler won three, Urias two, the suspended Trevor Bauer won both his starts early in the year, and St Louis' Kwang-Hyun Kim won both of his. That's it. 

In addition to the multiple losing pitchers mentioned above, the Giants beat Jake Arrieta twice, once with the Cubs and later with the Padres.  Against former Giants, they had a loss and a no-decision to Madison Bumgarner and a no-decision against Zack Wheeler. 

Gausman's four wins over Arizona were the most against one team by any Giants starter. Interestingly, the Giants' only two losses to the Diamondbacks were both Cueto's. Then again, the Giants won all seven games against Cincinnati and former Red Cueto won two of those. And although the Giants beat LA ten times this year, seven of those were bullpen wins. 

Roll the Statistical Parade

Brandon Crawford, MVP candidate, is sixth in the NL among position players with 6.1 WAR. Juan Soto leads the league at 7.0...  Soto is a truly amazing player, and not just because he's still only 22. Alone among qualifiers, he walked more than he struck out in 2021: 145 walks to 93 K's, a BB/SO ration of 1.559. Even certified walk machines like Joey Votto are below 1.0; the Giants' best is Crawford, 20th at .533, just ahead of Nolen Arenado... Arenado, by the way, drove in 105 runs at hit 34 homers for the Cardinals... Had they enough PAs to qualify, Brandon Belt would be third in the NL in OPS, tied with Fernando Tatis junior at .975, while Darin Ruf would be 10th and Buster Posey 15th, right behind Crawford... Mike Yastrzemski was the only other Giant with enough PAs to qualify... Not a big year for triples; our former prospect Bryan Reynolds tied for the league lead with 8... Bryce Harper has to be in the MVP talk with a 1.044 OPS and .615 SLG, both tops in NL, and would certainly get it had the Phillies caught the Braves... One thing young Soto can't do is steal bases: 9 out of 16 is terrible... Tatis fared much better, with 25 steals against 4 caught. The top three are all high-percentage: Trea Turner (also a MVP candidate, we think) and Tommy Edman of the Cardinals, as well as Tatis. All are 6-1 or better... Trea Turner scored 107 runs, but Freddie Freeman scored 120 and Soto 111... Paul Goldschmidt, again, does everything well: average, walks, power, OBP, OPS, a fine first baseman and his team made the playoffs. He's finished second in the voting twice and third once, and if we had a vote this year, we don't know that we wouldn't vote for him... Zack Wheeler leads all pitchers with 7.6 WAR, ahead of Walker Buehler and Max Scherzer and two full wins ahead of Corbin Burnes. He's fifth in ERA, in a much closer concentration, and tops with 247 strikeouts. His 14-10 record just doesn't tell the story. He ought to win the Cy Young Award, and of course he's a former Giant prospect traded away... To be fair, that was ten years ago and it took seven years for him to become a top starter... Luis Castillo of the Reds is your ground-ball pitcher deluxe: almost 2-1, and he induced 20 GIDP. Max Scherzer is the fly-ball king, at 0.59 ground balls per fly balls.... One the batting side, Milwaukee's Eduardo Escobar, Arenado, former Giant Adam Duvall of the Braves, and teammate Ozzie Albies have mastered the launch angle: along with Justin Turner they have the lowest ground-ball ratios in the NL. Colorado's Raimel Tapia is the throwback. He hits 'em on the ground half again as much as anyone in the league, a 2.96 GO/AO ratio... Shohei Ohtani, the likely AL MVP, leads everyone in isolated power (.335)-- along with 46 homers, 103 runs, 100 RBI, and .965 OPS, plus 156 strikeouts in 130 innings and a 9-2, 3.18 when he's pitching. Can he keep this up? Regardless, it's a monumental season and we've never seen a more deserving MVP candidate... There are no large or hilarious outliers  this year, no 25-wild-pitch or 12-balk dubious-achievers, nobody grounded into 40 double plays, no one was caught stealing 20 times. Joey Gallo personified the Yankees with a MLB-leading 213 strikeouts; our friend Ohtani was fourth with 189... The colorful, entertaining, and playoff-bound Tim Anderson, who absolutely won't take a walk (22 BB in 572 AB), hit .309 overall and .372 on balls in play. He would score a lot more than 94 runs if he tripled his walk count, but that's just not his game. Only 5 GIDP, fine defense-- sure, we'll take him... Eugenio Suarez of the Reds, meanwhile, was at .224 on balls in play... Pirates shortstop Kevin Newman, whom we saw back in May, struck out only 7% of the time. The Yankees' Gallo whiffed at a  34% rate, just ahead of former Cubs world champion Javier Baez, now poster boy for the star-crossed New York Mets.  

GIANTS WIN IT

 

GIANTS   107-55                   Won more games than any Giants team.

LA             106-56    1 GB       Scherzer set for Wednesday's WC game.

Yesterday

Giants bombarded San Diego, 11-4, to win the division, as you knew they would.

LA kept pace to the very end, sweeping Milwaukee with a 10-3 win.

Today

Giants have four days off to rest and refurbish. The division series opens at Oracle Park on Friday.

Yesterday's Game

Logan Webb made sure of it. The fine young righthander, who's emerged as a star in the making this season, rolled through seven innings of three-hit one-run ball, striking out 8 and earning his 11th win. He also belted a two-run homer in the fifth that put the game into rout status. The Giants' recently-dormant offense smoldered uneasily for three innings, then burst out like a brushfire in the fourth. They sent nine men to the plate: Kris Bryant and Mike Yastrzemski opened with walks, Webb walked to load the bases, and the RBI's then poured in as Tommy LaStella, Wilmer Flores, Buster Posey, and LaMonte Wade brought five across. It was 7-1, an inning later Webb made it 9-1, and Yaz drove in two more in the seventh. Webb gave up three singles to start the eighth, tarnishing his numbers a bit, and Kervin Castro was wild, letting two more score until Jarlin Garcia retired the Ultimate Nemesis, Adam Frazier, to end the frame. Kapler chose Dominic Leone, one of so many unsung Giants heroes this year, to drive the Golden Spike, and he did so in style, striking out Eric Hosmer as his teammates swarmed the field in celebration. 

What else is there to say? Is this the greatest Giants team of all time? This team has won more games than any other in the franchise's 129-year history.  This team has defeated a truly great Dodger team, the defending world champions and eight-time division champions, under almost unbelievable unrelenting pennant-race pressure. This team overcame a slew of injuries to key players and still finished with the best record in baseball, winning more games than any NL team since 1986. What will happen in the postseason is unknown, of course. But today we can say with confidence that in 58 years of baseball fandom, we have never seen a team like the 2021 San Francisco Giants.    

We'll take a couple of days off and return with the regular-season wrapup and postseason preview.

-70

 How easy it is to forget, 70 years ago today:

“There's a long drive ... it's gonna be, I believe ... The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! Bobby Thomson hits into the lower deck of the left-field stands! The Giants win the pennant and they're going crazy! They're going crazy!

I don't believe it! I don't believe it! I do not believe it! Bobby Thomson hit a line drive into the lower deck of the left-field stands and this blame place is going crazy! The Giants! Horace Stoneham has got a winner! The Giants won it by a score of 5 to 4, and they're picking Bobby Thomson up, and carrying him off the field!”

Now go out and do it again today. GIANTS!

1

 

GIANTS   106-55                    Just win, baby.

LA             105-56    1 GB       Will there be a 163rd game?

Yesterday

Giants lost to San Diego, 3-2, in ten innings, ending their seven-game winning streak.

LA defeated Milwaukee, 8-3.

Today

Giants face San Diego at Oracle Park, a 12:05 "synchronized start" with all other games. Logan Webb will try to nail down the division title. Righthander Reiss Knehr opposes; it's his fifth major-league start.

LA has Walker Buehler going against Milwaukee at Chavez Ravine; same time.

Yesterday's Game

Kevin Gausman sure did his part. Claiming he'd rediscovered the touch on his splitter during his last start in Colorado, he had it working yesterday over seven six-hit one-run innings. But the Giants mustered only five hits in support and didn't draw a single walk. Most painfully, they managed only one hit after Gausman left the game, and were set down in order in the ninth and in the tenth, stranding their designated runner to end the game.They took the lead in the second on Brandon Crawford's double and Kris Bryant's RBI single, and after the Padres tied it in the top of the sixth (Adam Frazier, naturally, started it off, and Manny Machado got the RBI) the Giants answered back in the grand manner. Austin Slater, pinch-hitting for LaMonte Wade due to a pitching change, belted the first pitch he saw for a home run, the Giants' record 18th pinch-hit homer this year. That gave Gausman the lead back, but in the eighth Zack Littell surrendered the tying run-- single, double, Machado's sacrifice fly. And it was crickets the rest of the way for the San Francisco offense, which made the Padres' run in the tenth as inevitable as it was depressing. The usually-reliable Jarlin Garcia, in the game to get the third out, lost it on Jake Cronenworth's double. 

And so it all comes down to one game. Today's game.  It will take an all-time franchise record 107th win to secure the 2021 National League West division title. And who says the San Francisco Giants can't do it?  

2

 

GIANTS   106-54                    One more win will do it.

LA             104-56    2 GB       Best they can do now is tie.

Yesterday

Giants defeated San Diego, 3-0, their seventh straight win.

LA rallied to defeat Milwaukee, 8-6, their fifth straight win.

Today

Giants host San Diego, a 1:05 PDT (4:05 EDT) start. Kevin Gausman has the opportunity to drive the Golden Spike. Joe Musgrove opposes; it's his fifth start against the Giants this year. He is 1-2 in those starts.

LA hosts Milwaukee tonight, Julio Urias against Corbin Burnes. A fine pitching matchup that we devoutly hope will be meaningless. 

Last Night's Game

The Giants scored two quick ones in the first and Anthony DeSclafani went five quiet innings on 71 pitches to win his 13th game. Darin Ruf homered, Mike Yastrzemski and LaMonte Wade had RBIs, and Camilo Doval pitched a perfect ninth for this third save in four days. Jose Alvarez, on in relief of "Des" in the sixth, gave up three hits but no runs thanks to a baserunning blunder by the immensely talented but erratic Fernando Tatis jr, who carelessly overran third base on a ball that hit the bag and was picked up by Evan Longoria, who tagged him out to end the inning. There were no other threats from the visitors, and the Giants tied the all-time franchise record with their 106th win, matching the 1904 New York Giants team led by John McGraw and Christy Mathewson. 

3

 

GIANTS   105-54                    "Late-Night LaMonte" does it again.

LA             103-56    2 GB       It could happen tonight.

Yesterday

Giants defeated Arizona, 5-4, a walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth, and swept the three-game series.

LA defeated San Diego, 8-3, and likewise swept their three-game series. The Giants and Dodgers are an identical 8-2 over the last ten games and each has won their last four. 

Today

Giants open the regular-season finale with San Diego; 6:45 PDT at the O. Anthony DeSclafani starts. The Padres have not named a starter yet. 

LA opens at home against Milwaukee, who have clinched the NL Central. Two fine lefthanders, Clayton Kershaw and Eric Lauer, square off at Chavez Ravine.

Last Night's Game

Only Gabe Kapler and the Giants do this. Austin Slater, 3-for-3 with three runs scored, was lifted for a pinch-hitter with one out in the seventh because Arizona brought in a right-hander. The pinch-hitter, LaMonte Wade, popped up and the game stayed a 4-4 tie, as it had since the fifth and would remain until the bottom of the ninth. The Giants had gotten off the mat after the Diamondbacks put three across in the first with two walks and three singles against Scott Kazmir, who then limped off with a pulled hamstring. Slater and Darin Ruf, fresh off the IL got one back right away with a leadoff single and RBI double in the home first. Slater and Ruf teamed up again in the third with back-to-back singles, and Buster Posey brought Slater home with a sacrifice fly. Brandon Crawford's 24th homer (and 90th RBI, both career bests) tied it in the fourth, and Slater's third run tied it again in the fifth after Arizona had scored again. He came around on a double down the left-field line by Posey off our old friend, Madison Bumgarner, who left after five.  That fifth inning also saw the return of Johnny Cueto from the IL. For now a long man in the bullpen, Cueto, in his first career relief stint, pitched two and a third, helping to settle things down in this unexpected bullpen game, though he did allow that fourth run.

Zack Littell, who replaced Cueto, also pitched two, and so did Tyler Rogers with an uneventful eighth and ninth for a change. And he got the win, deservedly so, thanks to the aforementioned La Monte Wade, whom you knew we'd be getting back to eventually. In the ninth, with one out, Wilmer Flores nearly won it with a line drive that hit the wall in left for a double. As he did the previous night, Kapler sent in Steven Duggar to run, but instead Duggar strolled, over to third, as lefty reliever Joe Mantiply intentionally walked Donovan Solano and then most unintentionally walked Curt Casali, batting for Rogers. Bases loaded and here's Wade, wearing a 0-for-19 collar and an almost legendary inability to hit left-handers. But Kapler was out of bench players, so Wade it was, and Wade it will ever be-- because Wade hit a sharp grounder that glanced off the glove of first baseman Pavin Smith in a drawn-in infield, and that was the ballgame, sports fans. Duggar came in on a light trot, touched the plate, and then charged toward the celebratory melee surrounding Brother Wade as the cheers rained down like sweet thunder.

Notes

Kazmir, sadly, may have pitched his last game as a Giant with the postseason just a week away. And Cueto's bullpen tenure may be short-lived if Kapler chooses a long rotation for the postseason... All that rest Buster Posey has enjoyed during the season may be paying off now. He started for the third straight game last night and looked remarkably fresh, driving in two runs and throwing out a runner at second... As everyone surely knows by now, the Giants' magic number is two, meaning any combination of a Giants win and a Dodgers loss clinches the division... Milwaukee is 4-6 over their last ten games. Whether Craig Counsell chooses to rest any of his fine starting pitchers this weekend is unknown, but taking a starter off his regular feed has been known to backfire in the postseason... Speaking of the postseason, we all know the Cardinals will be the second NL wild-card team. And the Atlanta Braves also put on a strong finishing kick to eliminate Philadelphia and win their fourth straight NL East title... It's time we caught up with the American League races. The divisions are all decided (Tampa, the White Sox, Houston), but good golly, looka here. Seattle, of all teams, has won 9 of 10 and is now tied with Boston for the second wild-card spot, and the Yankees, 8-2 over their last ten, have shot past everyone into the wild-card lead. Toronto is hanging on by a thread, and Oakland is out of it... The AL wild-card game is set for Tuesday and the NL game for Wednesday, with the division series opening on Thursday (AL) and Friday (NL). The World Series opens-- opens, mind you-- on October 26. Let's hope it's the Giants and Tampa. If nothing else, there won't be any games postponed due to ice and snow.