Shockwave

Well, we didn't see that coming. The "Fire Kapler!"chorus that swelled on social media over the last month evidently reached a crescendo among those whom Farhan Zaidi and the Giants' ownership actually listen to, and so the move was made yesterday.  Susan Slusser of the Chronicle opines that the peculiar timing-- three games left to play on the road in a lost season-- may be intended to spare Gabe Kapler from endless speculation and combative press conferences over this weekend. Whatever. It's done.

Kapler can claim he kept a team in contention until the final two weeks while undergoing a rebuild, and there's some truth to that, and it's impressive in its own way. But his overall managerial track record in September, we must say, is not strong, and was the chief point of contention when he was hired. "They booed him out of Philly!" was the complaint. "They boo everybody in and out of Philly," seemed a fair response at the time.  But consider: in his two seasons at the helm of the Phillies, both teams blew potential playoff position down the stretch in a manner eerily similar to the Giants' big fade this year. In 2018 the Phils were 74-66 early in the month; they went 6-16 the rest of the way, losing 9 in a row in the final two weeks. The 2019 cave-in wasn't as dramatic, as the team was only three or four games above the waterline most of the year, but again they lost six in a row and 11 of 16 as the season closed out.

What makes this pill hard to swallow is, of course, 2021. It wasn't just that the Giants won a franchise-record 107 games and beat out what may have been the most powerful of the LA Dodgers' teams this decade. It was also the uncanny way Kapler won matchup after matchup in tight games-- his amazing success with pinch-hitters, the best in baseball, his ability to get the most out of journeyman relievers and to find the hot hand out of the bullpen. Of course he got MVP-quality seasons out of Brandon Crawford, Buster Posey, Brandon Belt (in 97 games), and Kevin Gausman, and fine seasons out of Evan Longoria, Kris Bryant (in a short stretch) and his remaining four starting pitchers. His trademark shuttling of players between multiple positions was evident that year, but limited to only a few spots (mostly in the outfield) because his starters were playing so well.

He had none of that this year. No solid rotation. No MVP-quality season by anyone. And a plethora of injuries. Just about everyone was asked to play multiple positions, especially in the infield, and many, especially the young players, were overmatched by that demand, with way too many errors in the field as a result. And day after day Kapler kept doing it, because it's what he does. When it works, he looks like a genius. When it doesn't...  well, he gets fired.

If there's a positive takeaway at the end, it's all the rookies and youngsters who got real action for the first time this year; we expect a few will become solid starters for whoever takes over in 2024.  

And that leads us to the next question. Not only who will Kapler's successor be, but, do the Giants already have a bead on him? There's talk that Bob Melvin and the San Diego GM don't see eye to eye, and despite their late surge the Padres rank among the most disappointing teams in baseball this year. 

Speculation for another day. We wish nothing but the best for Gabe Kapler going forward.  

 Random blasts from social media as the season winds down in disappointing fashion...

One indication of team fielding is the percentage of runs allowed that are unearned runs. I am sure it will surprise few of you to know that 11% of the Giants' runs allowed this year were unearned. Only the Angels were worse. Perhaps it will surprise even fewer of you to know that Bruce Bochy's Texas Rangers had the lowest-- 4%. How much all of this affects the standings may be debated. The Cubs, Phillies, and Astros, all playoff-bound, have high numbers, right behind the Giants, while the 105-loss Royals and the Nationals are commendably low, just above Texas.

There's nothing wrong with criticizing the team, the offseason signings, the trade deadline inaction, "analytics" (though all teams including the Braves, Astros, Rays, and Dodgers use them), Zaidi, Kapler, or calling for them to be fired. That's all understandable and a fan's prerogative when the team is losing, and blowing what looked like a sure shot at the postseason.

What's sickening and inexcusable is: calling the players "quitters" and claiming that ownership wants to lose. "Spoiled babies" is far too mild a term for those who post that bullshit.

Responding to Tom Verducci's comment about the Giants on SI.com: "If this is the future of baseball, I want no part of it"

Hyperbole. Teams that finish out of the running rarely become examples of the "future of baseball." The continuing tension in baseball is between the strategies and tactics that managers and coaches and players believe will give their team the best chance of winning, and the style(s) of baseball that fans find entertaining.

Responding to the familiar complaint that the Giants haven't had a player with a 30-homer season since Barry Bonds, and that Oracle Park is to blame...

In 2021, Brandon Belt hit 29 in 97 games. He might've hit 40 over a full season. (Of course, "full season" and "Brandon Belt" don't really go together.) In 2021 he hit 13 (in 189 PA's) at home, 16 on the road.

It's not the park, it's the players. Judge or Ohtani, if healthy over a full year, would hit 30+ or 40+ playing at Oracle.

In response to an unhinged and uninformed rant about fans who resell tickets:

Here's a true story about reselling tickets. Saturday, July 1, 2000, Giants playing the LA Dodgers, our first visit to the brand-new Pacific Bell Park. Season tickets were sold out, so my 8-year-old son and I went down and got in line for the small amount of day-of-game tickets available. I was looking at the number of people ahead of us, and I began to realize the tickets would almost certainly be gone by the time we got to the window. I was wondering how I was going to tell my son that I'd screwed the pooch and would have to go back on my promise. Right about that time a taxicab pulled up to the curb and a guy got out. Remember, there were a couple of hundred people, at least, in line. Without looking either left or right, this man walked straight up to us and said, "I've got two good tickets here, first base line, but I have to go to a wedding. I'll sell you these for face value if you have cash." I did, and we made the deal as everyone around us stared in disbelief. "I wanted to find a father and son who are Giants fans," he continued, indicating our SF hats and shirts, "and I'm damned if I'll let these go to some @#$%&*! Dodger fan!" We went in, and the Giants beat the Dodgers 4-1. A day I will never forget, and neither will my son.

To this day we call it "The Miracle of the Tickets." So you all have your opinions about resellers, I'm sure. And I have mine.

Responses to "We knew after last year that the Giants were one of the worst fielding teams and also one of the slower teams, " and "On the broadcast tonight they said the Giants are one of the better teams in zone range (or something). So while they've made a lot of errors, they've gotten to more balls to make errors on (or something). I don't really know how that stat works"

Range (or zone) is just a fancy word for total chances. And the Giants do lead the MLB in total chances, so their fielders have excellent range. They cover a lot of ground and get to balls that others would miss. It's a fair question to ask how many of those 107 errors would be base hits for most teams. No one has yet come up with a stat to accurately determine it. Errors are supposed to be called only on plays that would normally be made, which ought to filter out such uncertainties, but errors depend on the official scorers and their biases.

Baseball-Reference has a stat, "Fielding Runs Above Average," and the Giants are at minus-30, down there near the bottom with some bad teams. I don't know whether or not this stat incorporates range as a compensating factor. Milwaukee ranks #1 in this stat, and the teams at the top are all good teams.

So it may be that the Giants are getting to the tough ones and fumbling too many of the easier ones. We've all certainly seen that this year.

Regarding speed. The Giants have more total fielding chances than any team in MLB. They get to more batted balls than anyone. Slow teams do not do that. Stolen base totals can be deceptive since strategy and tactics affect those numbers as much as player speed, and maybe more. I agree, the Giants generally tend to shy away from the "disruptive" approach to baserunning that works for more aggressive teams. And I do think stolen base totals can be more indicative of run potential now than in the past, because most teams have figured out that if you're not successful stealing at least 80% of the time, you're better off staying put. The MLB average is 81% success and no teams are below 74%. The Giants are at 79%. Not that long ago I used to see teams at like 55%, they were costing themselves games and runs even when they stole a lot of bases.

\

Both Kapler and the system need to go! (The terms "philosophy" and "style" were also thrown around)

I do not know what you mean by "system" or "process." I think you're conjuring up mythology. It's baseball. Our players have not been playing well over the last six weeks. That has nothing to do with strategy or tactics, but with execution.

The Giants aren't the only team doing this, or emphasizing this. It is a direct result of 12- and 13- and 14-man pitching staffs. You cannot have a strong bench with that many pitchers on the team. So the situation demands flexible multi-position players. It's a situational response, not a designed "system." And by no means is it unique to the Giants.

It's common. The Giants don't have the players that teams such as the Orioles, Rays, and Brewers do. Those teams also routinely juggle the lineup based on matchups. Once again, if you are carrying 13 or more pitchers, you more or less have to play this way because you have no bench.

Keep in mind, "Platooning" does not mean having players play multiple positions. "Platooning" means having two guys alternate at one position.

Kapler's style, if you will, hasn't changed since 2021.What's changed is, he had better players in 2021, and his better players played full time. He had 5 good starting pitchers in 2021, and he used them all in a normal rotation with no "openers." (Dave Roberts, whose Dodgers beat the Giants in the division series, used "openers" that year-- including Game 5 of that series!)

He had multi-position players in 2021. Look at LF, 2B, CF, RF. But he had Crawford, Posey, Longoria, Belt, and (briefly) Bryant starting every day because they were good enough to start every day and he knew it. Nobody this year was that good, except perhaps for Flores when healthy.

All this idiotic talk about Kapler's "system" and "philosophy" reminds me of an old NFL story. Back in 1978, the Pittsburgh Steelers were the Super Bowl champions, and the 49ers were the worst team in the league. A popular fad of the day was "biorhythms," with some suggesting that teams played better when their "biorhythm" charts were trending positive. One of my favorite people, Tony Dungy, summed it up like this: "I think your biorhythms are going to be better against San Francisco than they are against Pittsburgh."

                                  W    L    GB                                                     

Philadelphia        82 69 Coasting toward home field series

Arizona                80 72   Just knocked out Giants

Chicago                 79 72         Stopped freefall just in time?

Miami                 79 73 0.5  Cubs are a better team, but... 

Cincinnati         79 74    0.5 No head-to-head left with Cubs

GIANTS                76 75  3 Turn out the lights; the party's over

Yesterday

Giants lost at Arizona, 8-4. 

Chicago waited out a rain delay and crushed Pittsburgh, 14-1, to snap their five-game losing streak.

Miami defeated New York, 4-3, after losing Monday, and Cincinnati was shut out by Minnesota, 7-0, after winning Monday.

Philadelphia lost at Atlanta, 9-3.

Today

Giants finish up at Arizona; 12:35 local time. 

Miami and Cincinnati complete their home series against New York and Minnesota, respectively; both daytime starts. Chicago hosts Pittsburgh tonight and tomorrow.

Last Night's Game

"Ask not for whom the bell tolls..."  That bell tolled, for the first time, in the bottom of the second inning. The Giants had jumped out early, LaMonte Wade leading off the game with a triple and Joc Pederson following with a two-run homer. But it all fell apart in the bottom of the second as Alex Cobb, determined but clearly hobbled, couldn't get enough on his pitches and the Giants, as has been their wont too often this year, added to the pain with some uncertain fielding. Four runs came across, a lead Zac Gallen wouldn't lose, though he was hardly at his best.  And that implacable bell tolled for the last time in the top of the fifth. Trailing 7-2, the Giants had rallied, pushing across two runs as a struggling Gallen issued back-to-back walks, the second with the bases loaded to Wilmer Flores and forcing in a run. Now it was 7-4. Pederson stepped in as the go-ahead run, bases full, one hit away from a brand-new ballgame-- and Joc took three straight called strikes. Inning, game, season-- over.   

What now? Cobb has likely pitched his last game of the season, and at 35 with a bad hip, his career may be in jeopardy. There's no reason any longer to hold back the rookies-- Kyle Harrison, Casey Schmitt, Luis Matos, Marco Luciano, Wade Meckler, and the rest all deserve their chance to lead this ballclub to s strong finish. The Padres have won six straight and are only two and a half games behind the Giants. It will take six wins over the final eleven games to secure a winning season and, probably, third place in the division. 

We'll be taking a few days off from this blog, and will return with our usual missive at the end of the regular season.   

                                  W    L    GB                                                     

Philadelphia        81 68 Some breathing room at top spot

Arizona                79 72   Swept Cubs to move up

Miami                 78 72    Swept Braves to move up 

Chicago                 78 72         5 straight losses; season in jeopardy

Cincinnati         78 73    0.5 Gotta win to keep up

GIANTS                76 74  2 On the outside looking in

Yesterday

Giants defeated Colorado, 11-10, to save one game out of what should have been a "gimme" series.  

Arizona finished up a three game sweep of the Cubs, and Miami did the same with Atlanta. Cincinnati lost at New York. Philadelphia lost at St Louis.

The Weekend

Giants were swept in horrific fashion on Saturday, looking about as bad as a team can look, especially against an opponent with 92 losses.

Diamondbacks and Marlins were the big winners, both sweeping good teams at home and moving up. The Reds split with New York. The Cubs, like the Giants, are in big trouble; they've lost five straight and their wild-card position. Philadelphia, more or less unfazed by all this, split with St Louis.  

Today

Giants have the day off; they open the big two-game series at Arizona tomorrow night. They'll have their two best starters, Logan Webb and Alex Cobb, ready to go. The question is, will they be able to hit Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, two good righthanders with winning records and ERA below 3.5?

Miami hosts the Mets; Marlins are 43-32 at home this year. Cincinnati gets Minnesota at home.  Chicago is idle; they'll get the Pirates at Wrigley starting tomorrow.

Philadelphia is at Atlanta in a matchup of two (OK, we'll call it) playoff teams. 

The Weekend Series

How quickly the Giants have fallen, from the favored position Friday night to two games behind everyone else this morning. That disastrous ninth inning from the Colorado series opener seemed to haunt the Giants all day Saturday as they lost both games, grounding into five double plays and stranding 15 runners. The early game saw the Giants seemingly shake off the previous night's loss by jumping out to a 3-0 lead after two innings. But it all fell apart for rookie Keaton Winn in the bottom of the third: two walks sandwiched around a single, followed by a bases-clearing triple from Ezequiel Tovar, who had the game-winning RBI Friday night. Winn, to his credit, recovered and pitched a scoreless fourth, and probably should have been left in for the fifth. Instead, Ryan Walker got into immediate trouble, walking three, the last with the bases loaded. Ross Stripling then came in to issue another bases-loaded walk, and stuck around to give up three more runs in the sixth and seventh.   

The Giants never led in the second game. Paul DeJong, in there for defense, booted a ground ball in the first inning, and two unearned runs followed. The inevitable Charlie Blackmon, who sat out the first game, led off the third with a triple and led off the seventh with a double, scoring both times, while two Giants rallies were killed by double-play balls.  

Yesterday, with this once-promising series in ashes and a humiliating sweep at the hands of a last-place team they've owned all year staring them down, the Giants finally got off the mat and dealt out the kind of beating we've all been expecting. Taking an early 1-0 lead, the Giants exploded for eight runs in the top of the sixth: six straight hits, a three-run homer from Brandon Crawford, then two more hits to make it 9-0.  

It wasn't enough. Sean Manaea pitched five strong shutout innings,  but after he gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth, Gabe Kapler pulled him for John Brebbia-- who immediately committed a bonehead error and then gave up a three-run blast to Brenton Doyle. That made it 9-5, and amazon.com reported a sudden spike in worry-bead sales.  

Not to worry? The Giants answered smartly back in the seventh as Austin Slater and J.D. Davis quickly got on and Patrick Bailey drove them both in with a double. Colorado answered back with a run in the seventh off Tyler Rogers on a bizarre play at second base, but Luke Jackson pitched a scoreless eighth and with a five-run lead, Kapler evidently figured it was time for a nice low-risk show-of-confidence outing for the beleaguered Camilo Doval. 

Here's how that went: double, single, sacrifice fly, hit batsman, wild pitch to load the bases with one run already in. Then a gruesome error as Doval failed to field a ground ball toward first, a run scoring. Then a two-run single and a 11-10 game, and Taylor Rogers coming in to face who else? Charlie Blackmon, the series MVP, representing the winning run.  With a sense of dread hanging over every pitch, the lefthander got him on a line drive hit right to Thairo Estrada in short right field, and it was finally over, after three hours and seventeen minutes, a marathon under the new game-timing standards. 

The Road Ahead

Just a week ago, we figured this Arizona series would pit two teams with more-or-less the same record fighting for the same spot. But now Arizona has leaped ahead of everyone into the second wild-card position (albeit by half a game), while Chicago is down in the pit brawling with the rest of us. This doesn't change the Giants' perspective at all: they have to win both games because Miami doesn't seem to be able to lose to anyone, let alone a bad team like the Mets, at home, and the Cubs are also at home facing 70-80 Pittsburgh. What's changed about all this is that the Giants could sweep Arizona and still not improve their standing much. They'd still trail the cursed Snakes by half a game, and while they might pass the Reds (who host first-place and ready-to-clinch Minnesota), there's no certainty they'd gain any ground at all on Miami or Chicago.  

But it doesn't matter. there's no choice. "Just win, baby."  After this it's four games at Dodger Stadium before the final homestand against San Diego and LA. We recently posited that a good Colorado series would keep the Giants in good shape even with a .500 finish in those last ten games. Now a sweep in Arizona and 7-5 finish leaves them at 83-79, and that will not do it. The only thing that can be decided in this desert series is whether the Giants will still even be in the race when it's over.

Notes

Was Crawford's home run yesterday the last of his storied career? It could be... Logan Webb leads all of MLB in innings pitched. Zac Gallen, whom the Giants face tomorrow night, is second... Webb is also fifth in WHIP and 9th in ERA... Doval is still third in saves with 37 despite having blown 8. The leader, Cleveland's Emmanuel Clase, has blown 11-- and the Guardians have a 72-78 record... The only Giant anywhere near the league lead in batting categories is LaMonte Wade, 12th in OBP and 18th in walks... Wilmer Flores would be tied for 10th in OPS if he had enough PAs to qualify; he's about 100 short... Carlos Correa, whom the Giants attempted to sign over the off-season, leads the world with 30 GIDP. 

                                 W    L    GB                                                     

Philadelphia        80 67 Now over .500 in road games

Chicago                78 70         Lost third straight to West teams

Arizona                77 72   Took early lead and held on 

Cincinnati         77 72    Their closer got the save

Miami                 76 72 0.5  Eight wins above projected

GIANTS                75 72  1 Everything right is wrong again

Yesterday

Giants lost at Colorado, 3-2, as Camilo Doval blew his eighth save.

Arizona defeated Chicago, Cincinnati defeated New York, and Miami defeated Atlanta, all of them gaining a full game on the Giants. Philadelphia extended their lead over Chicago by defeating the Cardinals in St Louis.

Today

Giants try to pick up the pieces at Colorado, and the good news (good news?) is they have two games to do it.  A daytime start (noon local, 3 EDT) for the makeup game from Thursday, with rookie Keaton Winn starting. Sean Manaea is slated to start the evening game (5 PM local, 8 PM EDT).  

Arizona hosts the Cubs, Cincinnati is at New York, and Miami has the Braves at home. Philadelphia is at St Louis. 

Last Night's Game

You know that Violent Femmes song, "Nightmares?" That was the bottom of the ninth at Coors Field, all right.  Not that the rest of the game was some kind of "sunshine daydream." It was just plain weird, with the Giants being no-hit through eight innings by Chase Anderson, the same guy they wasted just a week ago at Oracle, yet leading 1-0 by virtue of five walks and a couple of those old-fashioned "productive outs."  Logan Webb was masterful through seven, working with no margin for error, allowing just two hits while striking out six. But in the eighth he surrendered a leadoff double and, one out later, the tying run on Ezequiel Tovar's RBI single.

With "No-Hit Anderson" finally out of there, the Giants pounced on Nick Mears in the top of the ninth. J.D. Davis hit his own leadoff double to break up the no-hit business, LaMonte Wade walked with one out, Patrick Bailey singled  through second to load the bases, and Wilmer Flores came in to pinch-hit. "Old Reliable" worked a bases-loaded walk to bring in Davis, untie it, and chase Mears from the game.  That set it all up for Doval and his 38th save... attempt, that is.  It fell apart with shocking suddenness. Charlie Blackmon, this decade's answer to Steve Finley, opened with the game's third straight leadoff double. Doval got Kris Bryant on a grounder that held Blackmon at second, but then walked Nolen Jones to put the winning run on base. It also set up a potential game-ending double play, but Elehuris Montero wasn't playing. He singled to left and Mike Yastrzemski's throw, intended to cut down Blackmon at the plate, went wild and ricocheted away as Jones, who never stopped running, came all the way around to score. The Giants appealed Blackmon's slide at the plate, hoping to uncover a rules violation, but no dice. 

Doval has blown eight saves. Recall that when Santiago Casilla blew his sixth save back in 2016, fans were ready to burn him in effigy and Bruce Bochy himself lost confidence in his closer, to which anyone who remembers that gruesome Game Four of the NLDS will attest.  Will Gabe Kapler similarly flinch the next time a critical (and they're all critical now) save situation looms? We think not, for better or for worse.  

                                  W    L    GB                                                     

Philadelphia        79 67 Lead Cubs by a game and a half

Chicago                78 69         Lead Giants by two and a half

GIANTS                75 71   Providential rain delay?

Arizona                76 72   Have lost three straight

Cincinnati         76 72    Failed to sweep Tigers

Miami                 75 72 0.5  Braves arriving in town

Yesterday

Giants were rained out in Colorado; doubleheader Saturday.

Arizona, Cincinnati, and Miami all lost and fell behind the Giants.

Philadelphia and Chicago were idle. 

Today

Giants at Colorado; 6:40 local time, 8:40 EDT. Logan Webb v. Chase Anderson.

Arizona hosts the Cubs in the first of three.  Cincinnati plays the Mets in New York. Miami gets the division-winning Braves at home.

Philadelphia is off to St Louis and the last-place Cardinals. 

Catchin' Up

Over in the American League, Baltimore and Tampa are locked in a death-battle for the AL East with the Orioles leading by one slim game. The Rays are hot again and they beat the O's last night in Baltimore. Three more games follow this weekend, and this series will probably determine the division winner and the first-round bye that goes with it. They won't meet again (unless it's in the playoffs). Meanwhile, both the Yankees and Red Sox have been eliminated, and Toronto is hanging on in the wild-card race. 

Minnesota has the AL Central sewed up, thanks in part to the Giants. No wild-cards there.

Two months ago, Bruce Bochy's Texas Rangers were the talk of baseball as they threatened to run away with the AL West. Two weeks ago, everyone was wondering what happened and how they could fall so far so fast. Well, not so fast. Texas has won six straight and are now within a half-game of the perennial Houston Astros and their own former Giants manager, Dusty Baker. Seattle, who took over the division lead from Texas and then lost it, are the third-wild card at the moment; their only competition is Toronto. Ah, the simplicity!

                                  W    L    GB                                                     

Philadelphia        79 67 Braves clinch at their expense 

Chicago                78 69         Now they start running cold

Arizona                76 71   Cubs will be coming to town

Cincinnati         76 71    Race tighter than ever

GIANTS                75 71 0.5 Big comeback keeps them in it

Miami                 75 71 0.5  One more in Milwaukee

Yesterday

Giants defeated Cleveland, 6-5, in ten innings, to win the three-game series.

Arizona lost at New York and Cincinnati defeated Detroit to pull into a tie for the third wild-card spot.

Miami defeated Milwaukee to keep pace.

Philadelphia lost to Atlanta and Chicago lost at Colorado.  

So all three front-running teams lost, and all the following teams won, and now six teams are within four games of each other, and four teams are separated by half a game. 

 

Today

Giants move on to Colorado to open a four-game set through the weekend. Logan Webb starts tonight against Chase Anderson. 6:40 PM local time; 8:40 EDT.

Arizona has another chance to lose in New York, Cincinnati's at Detroit, and Miami wraps it up at Milwaukee. 

Philadelphia and Chicago are both idle.

Yesterday's Game

The Giants came back, came way back, came back from a 5-1 early hole to pull it out in yet another walk-off tenth inning.  Rookie Kyle Harrison started off about as bad as could be-- a leadoff walk (which always seems to spell doom) and a two-run homer by Cleveland's answer to Superman, Jose Ramirez. Harrison then allowed two singles while getting two outs before Casey Schmitt threw the inning-ending ground ball away and two more runs scored. Shades of last night! It was 4-0 before the Giants came to bat.

They answered back with three singles, leadoff man Austin Slater scoring and rookie Luis Matos with the RBI, and loaded the bases after Patrick Bailey-- welcome back., young man!-- walked with two out. But J.D. Davis grounded out and it stayed 4-1. Harrison allowed a less dramatic fifth run in the second: single, stolen base, single. And there it stayed for five innings. 

Let's give some props to Alex Wood, so horrid his last time out. He pitched four scoreless three-hit innings to keep things under control and give the Giants time to mount a rally. Which started modestly enough in the bottom of the seventh when LaMonte Wade opened with a single and was immediately erased on pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski's double-play ball. But Thairo Estrada doubled down the left-field line and Mr Reliable, Wilmer Flores, singled him in for a 5-2 game.

Back in 2021 a regular Giants theme when trailing late was to pounce on the first sign of vulnerability from an opponent's relief pitcher. And guess what happened in the eighth after Eli Morgan plunked Joc Pederson to lead it off. Yep, it was our man Bailey with a single, and our man Davis with the three-run homer. A tie game, and Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval kept it that way through the top of the tenth, Doval stranding that "ghost runner" without an advance.

The Giants wasted no time in their half. With Bailey opening on second, Davis walked as Xzavion Curry lost control of his pitches on a 0-2 count. Curry then walked pinch-hitter Brandon Crawford on a 3-1 count to load 'em up. And LaMonte Wade became "Late Inning La Monte" for a change, with a fly ball deep enough to score Bailey with the game-winner, though the Guardians challenged the call to no avail.

These are the kind of games that make a pennant-- that is, wild-card-- race worthwhile. We get the feeling there's bound to be a few more.  In the meantime, there are four games coming up in Colorado, and this is the time for the Giants to seize the moment. Arizona will be facing the Cubs this weekend, Miami gets the Braves, and Cincinnati goes to New York.  That traffic jam at the third wild-card spot might look a lot different come Monday.   

                                  W    L    GB                                                     

Philadelphia        79 66 Braves boss in this division 

Chicago                78 68         Pythagoras has 'em at 82-64

Arizona                76 70   Same record at home and on road

Cincinnati         75 71 1  Took advantage, moved up

GIANTS                74 71 1.5 Couldn't take advantage

Miami                 74 71 1.5  Can Brewers complete sweep?

Yesterday

Giants lost to Cleveland , 3-1, ending their 4-game winning streak.

Cincinnati defeated Detroit and moved up.

Arizona and Miami both lost (and they need to lose again today).

Philadelphia and the Cubs also lost.

Today

Giants finish up with Cleveland; 12:45 PDT getaway day start. Kyle Harrison for the Giants, lefty L.T. Allen for the Tribe. 

Arizona, Miami, and Cincinnati continue at New York, Milwaukee, and Detroit, respectively.  

Cubs face our old friend Ty Blach in Colorado and Philadelphia hosts Atlanta.

Last Night's Game

If anything positive can be taken from such an unnecessary loss, it's that the Giants possibly, just possibly, may have the semblance of a five-mam pitching rotation at long last. Sean Manaea put up five and two-thirds innings of two-hit five-K ball and left with the game tied 1-1. But his last pitch of the night, with two on and two out, saw an inning-ending ground ball bounce right off LaMonte Wade's glove at first, loading the bases. Ryan Walker then came in to face Tyler Freeman-- who ripped a clean single to center, scoring the two unearned runs that decided it.  Meanwhile, the Giants reverted, mostly, to their "Hitless Wonders" persona against Cal Quantrill and three relievers. The one exception was Blake Sabol, who hit a gigantic home run into McCovey Cove in the fifth, and sent center fielder Myles Straw to the center-field wall in the ninth to haul in another blast.

Regardless, perhaps, Manaea may have earned a regular starting turn as the season winds down, and rookie Keaton Winn may have done the same. We'll see  if this continues, or if the "opener" scheme returns. 

We were informed yesterday that after head-to-head record, the second postseason tiebreaker is intradivision record. The Giants are way ahead of Miami in that regard. And so the tiebreakers are all going our way, assuming we need them.

Fair warning!  Our sister site, Niner Boogie  (ninerboogie.blogspot.com) may be showing signs of life after her late dormancy. If you crave useless information about the San Francisco 49ers, then by all means hustle on over, or not. 

                                  W    L    GB                                                       

Philadelphia        79 65 Tough stretch against good teams 

Chicago                78 67         Three games out of first place

Arizona                76 69   Estimated record 71-74 

GIANTS                74 70 1.5 Fourth straight win

Miami                 74 70 1.5  Kryptonite in Milwaukee?

Cincinnati         74 71 2  Have allowed 723 runs

Yesterday

Giants defeated Cleveland, 5-4, in ten innings.

Arizona came from behind to defeat the Mets, 4-3.

Miami was crushed at Milwaukee, 12-0. 

Philadelphia and Atlanta split a doubleheader, Chicago defeated Colorado, and Cincinnati was idle.

Today

Giants host Cleveland again at 6:45 PDT. Sean Manaea gets another chance, with righty Cal Quantrill and his 5.70 ERA opposing.

Arizona is at New York, Miami at Milwaukee and Cincinnati at Detroit. Can we see some home-field advantages here, people? Please?

Philadelphia hosts the Braves, Cubs are at Colorado again.

Last Night's Game

Alex Cobb evidently will be pitching the rest of the year with a "hip impingement," which sounds both incomprehensible and painful.  The cortisone shot he took a few days ago didn't seem to help much last night, as he pitched in visible discomfort after a visit by the trainer and manager Gabe Kapler early on. Despite it, he did well, and deserved a shutout for his five strong innings. Cleveland's two runs off him in the third were unearned, after Brandon Crawford booted a two-out nobody-on grounder and Josh Naylor followed with a homer, one of only three hits allowed by the Giants' starter. That 2-1 lead didn't last long.  Mike Yastrzemski, red-hot of late, had led off the Giants' first with a homer, and after Naylor's shot, the Giants quickly took the lead back on a RBI single by Joc Pederson, who's also come alive at the plate recently, and RBI  groundout by J.D. Davis. Then in the seventh, John Brebbia inherited a man on first with one out and gave up a stolen base and a game-tying RBI single, the run charged to Taylor Rogers. Taylor's twin Tyler and Camilo Doval then negotiated their way into extra innings.

Luke Jackson, the Giants' sixth pitcher, looked like the hero when he threw out that gawdawful ghost runner at third to open the tenth, but he swiftly gave it back after another stolen base (the Guardians' third of the game) and a RBI single.  Jackson continued his high-wire act by issuing two walks, but a close call overturned by replay helped him get out of the frame without further damage. And the putative loser became the winner thanks to Blake Sabol, who drove in the Giants' own gawdawful  ghost runner to open the bottom of the tenth and tie the game. Sabol then stole second, advanced to third on a balk, and came in to score the game-winner as LaMonte Wade finally lived up to his "Late Night LaMonte" nickname from 2021 with a line-drive base hit to center field. Whew!

Quite a night for young Mr Sabol, the Giants' catcher-in-training. He came in to pinch-hit in the seventh and took over for Joey Bart behind the plate. In four innings he allowed two stolen bases and had two passed balls, but he turned it all around with his spirited play in the tenth. Blake Sabol may be the archetypal 2023 San Francisco Giant, because this whole season has been about digging holes and then climbing out of them.      

Tiebreaker Tomfoolery

The days of one-game tacked-on-to-the-end-of-the-regular-season "playoff" games, such as the Giants had back in 1998, are over.  MLB now uses "tiebreakers" in a manner similar to that of the NFL. So, there's no chance of a three-way or four-way tie for the last wild-card spot with multiple convoluted playoff and travel scenarios. With that in mind, the Giants hold a 6-5 tiebreaker advantage over Arizona at the moment, which will be tested next week with those two big games in Phoenix.  They also have a settled 4-3 edge over Cincinnati. As for Miami, the season series is tied 3-3, and why these guys allow even-numbered series when playoff tiebreakers are in use is a mystery to us. Less urgent are the Giants' execrable 1-5 record against the Cubs and their 4-2 edge over Philly; there's just too much traffic between here and there unless one or both of those teams does a complete floperoo. 

                               W     L GB                                                       

Philadelphia     78 64 Lost 2 of 3 to Marlins 

Chicago             77 67         Saved series, helped Giants

Arizona             75 69   Still waiting for the collapse

Miami     74 69 0.5  Hottest team in baseball

GIANTS            73 70 1.5 It's too late to stop now 

Cincinnati     74 71 1.5  Race is tighter than ever

Yesterday

Giants defeated Colorado, 6-3, to sweep the three-game series.

Chicago defeated Arizona after losing the first two.

Miami defeated Philadelphia, taking 2 of 3, and Cincinnati defeated St Louis. 

Today

Giants at home against Cleveland, their last AL opponent of the year. Alex Cobb starts the first game of another must-win series against a team with a losing record. Young righthander Gavin Williams opposes. 6:45 PDT.

Arizona is off to New York to play the Mets, who are slowly sinking toward the NL East cellar.  It's been a painful season for New York baseball fans all around.  

Miami get on the road to face division-leading Milwaukee. Go Blue!

Cincinnati has the day off; they're going to Detroit.  

Philly hosts the Braves, and the Cubs are in Colorado. 

Yesterday's Game

"It's only the Rockies."  And yes, it's true this is the one team the Giants beat regularly (16 of 17 at last count). But when you're coming off a six-game losing streak and a month-long 9-21 skid that boasts the game's worst team OPS, this is precisely the tonic the Giants needed. 

Rookie Keaton Winn, a 2018 draft pick, gave up three early runs, but his teammates swiftly answered back with five, and Winn completed six innings without giving up another run, striking out 9, and won his first major-league game. Doctor Longball continued his residency in the Giants' dugout as Thairo Estrada, Mitch Haniger, and Joc Pederson all homered to provide the necessary cushion and Ryan Walker, Tyler Rogers, and Camino Doval were bulletproof over the last three, Doval earning his 37th save. 

 

Remember...  and God bless America.