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. 

The Crucible

This is it, right here; or maybe we can say, this is the beginning of it, right here: the beginning of a stretch of games likely to determine where the San Francisco Giants finish this season, and also to determine how the Giants stack up against the teams they're likely to face in the postseason. 

Yeah, the postseason. We'll say it: with 131 games in the bag and 31 left to play, the Giants, winner of 84 of those 131 games, are going to be in the postseason. They lead the Cincinnati Reds, the nearest wild-card rival, by 14 games. A .500 record the rest of the way would still put the Giants at 100 wins, and only one other team in the National League is going to win that many. 

Those would be the Los Angeles Dodgers, of course, the humming, buzzing, relentless machine of a team that has been pacing the Giants day after day and week after week, never falling too far behind and periodically surging close, very close, close like they are now-- one and a half games back.

With a three-game series at Oracle Park coming up this weekend.

Yeah. In the meantime, the Giants are dealing with another excellent team playing its best baseball of the season, the Milwaukee Brewers, runaway leaders of the NL Central. They have three more games against them before LA hits town. And the Giants just finished dealing with yet another excellent team playing its best baseball of the season, the Atlanta Braves, leaders of the NL East (though that one is not over by any means). The Braves took two of three in Atlanta over the weekend just concluded, and they'll be coming to the Big O in two weeks. These are playoff teams, folks, and the Giants have to play them nine more times. Yes, the Giants also have 12 games remaining against losing teams-- but then they have 7 against the San Diego Padres, everybody's preseason darlings, who have fallen so far so fast that even a .500 finish now looks like a gamble. It's even possible that two weeks from now the Pads will be completely out of it-- which would mean those seven games, including the last 3 in October, will serve as the one thing they have left to play for. Yeah. 

Johnny Cueto and Alex Wood are ill, Wood with a positive COVID-19 test. Anthony DeScalafani limped off the field the last two times he pitched. Kevin Gausman has reverted to ordinary status after his All-Star first half. Only Logan Webb, bless his heart, has pitched like a frontline starter these past six weeks. Things are so dicey in the Giants' starting rotation that five scoreless innings from rookie lefthander Sammy Long against the fading New York Mets were hailed as a triumph a week ago, and yesterday the Giants signed Jose Quintana, who couldn't even stay in the rotation of the pitching-starved Los Angeles Angels, off waivers-- and who knows, he may start tonight against Milwaukee.  

Perhaps even more ominous is the Giants' sudden outbreak of feebleness at the plate. Six straight opposing pitchers have posted quality starts against the Giants, including Brewers ace Corbin Burnes last night. The Giants won three of those games anyway, two with late-inning rallies and the third because Webb outpitched the Braves' Huascar Ynoa, but not since the Giants jumped on the Mets' Tyler Megill with four homers one week ago today have they taken over a game early. And while late-inning rallies are great and exciting and all, the truth is that pennant-winning teams, dominant teams, .641 teams-- they get the opponent down early and keep him down.

And that's part of what gives us the awful feeling that if the Giants surrender this division lead to LA even once, they'll never get it back. Not because the Giants would crumble at that point-- they won't-- but because the Dodgers won't give an inch. 

Be honest. If back in late March you'd been asked if you'd like to see the Giants seriously contending for the NL wild-card spot in September, you'd have gushed out an enthusiastic, if secretly dubious, "Sure!"

Well, how about now?

Our pennant-race daily update/countdown is only a few days away. Let's get through this Milwaukee series and see where we stand when the Dodgers come to town. For after all, good old "TBD" might just pitch him a fine game tonight and get plenty of run support. It's what the Giants having been doing all year, every time they hit a low point like this one, and why should they stop now? Go Giants! 

Deja Vu?

There was something awfully familiar about the Giants' two late-inning rallies last night against the Arizona bullpen after starter Merrill Kelly had held them nearly helpless through eight shutout innings.  And then we remembered: this is what the Bruce Bochy Giants championship teams did. Repeatedly.

How many times did those Giants teams sweat and grumble through six, seven, eight discouraging innings, making an opponent pitcher look like Cy Young, only to break through and take merciless advantage once that nemesis was out of the game? After a time, it almost became a game plan. You could look in the dugout and see the expectation: "yeah, yeah, we know, we know... but just wait until they take this guy out... we're gonna pounce." And they did, again and again.

There was Jordan Zimmermann in the 2014 division series against Washington, with a near no-hitter through eight and two-thirds innings, one out to go... and then Joe Panik draws a walk and former Giant Matt Williams pulls the trigger. Zimmermann out, Drew Storey in, and two batters later it's a tie game for nine more innings. But you knew, didn't you? We all knew. The Giants were going to win that game eventually, and were going to win that series, too, and we knew it from the moment Matty blinked.

Two years later Terry Collins lifted Noah Syndergaard for Jeurys Familia after "Thor" had pitched a shutout through eight. And it too was over. Quickly this time.  There are other examples we remember, without scouring for the details. It was a thing, you know?  

Whatever else happens when Anthony DeSclafani returns to the active roster, we can't afford to lose LaMonte Wade. That two-out two-run base hit in the ninth, tying the game, was huge. This young man has shown he belongs on a first-place team. It won't be an easy decision, no matter what. Alex Dickerson, whom we were marking down for a demotion a week ago, has hit two big homers in four days and helped push that ninth-inning rally along last night. 

And while we're no fans of a thirteen-man pitching staff, let's also not forget that after Alex Wood was kicked around for seven hits and four runs in four innings last night, no less than six relievers no-hit the Diamondbacks over the final six frames. No hit. Has this once-shaky bullpen turned a corner? Because a strong, lights-out bullpen was another hallmark of those Bruce Bochy Giants.... 

The crypto-mysto fog is rolling in again, folks, and we're not even in San Francisco. As Kris Bryant said, "We had no business winning that game. He shut us down." Indeed. But the Giants did win (with a lot of help from Mr Bryant) and now lead the Dodgers by four games.

Bryant the Giant

We're trying to remember the last time the Giants' front office pulled off a mid-season beauty like this recent trade. A former MVP, still only 29, playing extremely well, for two middling draft picks? Hunter Pence in 2012 cost the Giants a big-leaguer, Nate Schierholtz. It was a great trade, though Nate stayed in the league for years afterward. Marco Scutaro, another great trade that same year, cost Charlie Culberson, who's still around and contributing. Carlos Beltran, a true rental in 2011, cost Zack Wheeler, who is definitely still around. And sure, Canario (whom we remember from spring training) and Kilian might soon become regulars, or even stars. We certainly remember Bryan Reynolds-for-Andrew McCutchen, too. 

Of course, the obvious comp is Evan Longoria three years ago. Though not a former MVP, Longo was a three-time All-Star, played the same position Bryant has for most of his career, and was a similar type of hitter. But Longoria was 32 at the time, his numbers had been in slow decline, and he carried a huge contract. It wasn't a midseason deal, it was an open attempt to acquire a "foundational" player, a cornerstone. Now, this could be, too-- if the Giants sign Bryant in the offseason. Right now we hope they can. In his six games as a Giant, he's played third base four times, left field once, and he played center field last night. Folks, we just don't see a downside here.

Except the inevitable. Who gets sent down when Longoria returns?