W     L GB

Philadelphia     76 61 Handled Padres while Giants couldn't

Chicago             74 64 Run differential best in division 

Arizona             71 67   Get Rockies at home; gimme a break

Cincinnati     72 68   Hosting first-place Seattle

Miami     70 67 0.5  Dodgers arriving in town

GIANTS             70 68 1 You can't win if you don't score

Yesterday  

Giants lost at Chicago, 5-0; that's two straight shutouts.

Philadelphia won at San Diego, Arizona defeated Colorado, Cincinnati beat AL West-leading Seattle, and Miami was idle.

Today 

Giants at Chicago; 6:40 local time, 7:40 EDT. Veteran Kyle Hendricks starts for the Cubs. For the Giants, it's Ryan Walker in the "opener" role. 

Philadelphia's at San Diego, Arizona hosts Colorado, Cincinnati hosts Seattle, and Miami has LA at home. 

Yesterday's Game 

If  this business doesn't straighten up right quick, we'll be taking the rest of the month off before you can say, "Jack Robinson!"  Two singles was all the Giants could muster against the Cubs' fine young lefty Justin Steele, who is compiling a Cy Young Award-worthy season (16-3, 2.55, 153 K). The REAL issue is, the Giants right now are making everybody look like Cy Young. They've lost four in a  row and five of six since Alex Cobb's near-no-hitter a week ago. Except for a six-run third-inning outburst last Thursday, the Giants have scored 1, 1, 3, 1, 0, and 0 runs since then. The starting pitching, except for Tristan Beck on Friday, has been decent, and Logan Webb was better than decent yesterday. But even when the Giants don't get shut out, they tend to score their few runs late in games when they're well behind. This just can't continue. A point of irony is that the Giants' run differential (-10) is better than that of all three teams directly ahead of them. But trends don't win games-- just ask the Padres-- and there are only 24 games left. 

A Fine Mess

    Well, we may have arrived at the starting gate of our pennant-- er, wild-card-- race a few days too late. The Giants, who entered August at 61-49 and leading the wild-card race, have gone 9-18 since then and are now mired in a four-way tie for the last wild-card spot, well behind the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs, who both heated up just as the Giants got cold. There are 25 games left to play; 19 of those are division games, including all of the final 16. There’s a stretch of ten games starting this coming Friday, against the Colorado Rockies and the Cleveland Guardians, who are a combined .425 this year. The Giants are 5-1 so far against the Rockies, and 3-0 at Coors Field, if that helps. They have two remaining at Arizona against the Diamondbacks, one of the teams with whom they’re currently tied. They have seven against the division-leading Dodgers, four of those in LA, and three at home against San Diego to kick off the season’s final week.

First it’s the Cubs at Wrigley Field, starting tonight. Chicago still has a chance to pass Philadelphia and lock up the home-field wild-card advantage, and they’re also only three and a half games out of first place in the NL Central. The Cubs spent the first half of the season mired deep in their division despite a strongly positive run differential, and we kept waiting for them to play up to it. They’re doing that now, even having shed some talent at the trade deadline. Kudos to manager David Ross, who was behind the plate when the Cubs broke their 108-year old jinx and won the World Series seven years ago.

Kudos for Gabe Kapler, upon whom they were lavished from this quarter a month ago, will have to wait a while. We believe “Kap” has generally done a fine job with his patchwork pitching staff; the Giants are 12^th in MLB in ERA despite a cascade of injuries to such as Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, John Brebbia, and Ross Stripling, all of whom the team was counting on as the season began. The constant use of “openers” and reliance on “bullpen games” has been wearying to many fans, but Kapler really has had no choice in the matter. At the moment the starting rotation looks like Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, rookie Kyle Harrison, and either Jakob Junis or Tristan Beck, with the fifth spot reserved for the beloved and benighted “opener.” While Webb and Cobb have made many outstanding starts this year, they’ve also lately put up some clunkers, and at the moment we don’t know what we’ll get. Cobb, asked to help nail down a critical series split at San Diego yesterday, instead lasted only three innings.  What’s kept this staff stable is a fine bullpen, with the Rogers twins, Taylor and Tyler, taking lead roles in advance of closer Camilo Doval.

Kapler’s fine touch has not been evident in the lineup, and it may be, simply, that he doesn’t yet have the people he needs to score enough runs to make this team anything more than a pretender. The offseason acquisitions, Michael Conforto and Mitch Haniger, have largely disappointed. Conforto started out strong but has been invisible, and injured, lately; Haniger’s just been mostly injured. Brandon Crawford is an empty shell of 2021’s MVP candidate as he plays out the final year of his contract. LaMonte Wade (who has discovered the power of the base on balls as well as the home run), Thairo Estrada (who at one point led the league in batting average), Wilmer Flores (20 homers), Austin Slater, Mike Yastrzemski (lots of time on the IL), J.D. Davis (who’s also tailed off after a fine start), and the disappointing Joc Pederson make up the core of this offense, such as it is. There isn’t a “stud” hitter in the bunch-- and the rest are mostly rookies.

Yes, rookies. Lots of rookies. And standing tall above all the rookies is perhaps the team’s best player this year, rookie catcher Patrick Bailey. Called up to take over for slumping Joey Bart in May, Bailey started like a house afire, and the team responded with a ten-game winning streak and a 18-8 June. While his offensive numbers since have settled into normality, his defensive skill and his aptitude behind the plate have been a revelation. He’s the standard by which the other young players--  his catching mate Blake Sabol, Luis Matos, Casey Schmitt, Marco Luciano, Wade Meckler—have been measured. Sabol, Schmitt and Meckler remain on the current roster; Matos and Luciano both had their first taste of major-league ball over the late spring and summer and are currently in Sacramento while the Giants try to squeeze something from veterans such as Paul DeJong.  Expect the young guys to return this week.  

So… perspective. It appears at this point that what’s really happening here is the Giants are trying to field a contender while simultaneously rebuilding the team. To paraphrase an old saying, it’s not that it’s done especially well, it’s that it’s done at all.  They’re 70-67 as we write, and tied for a post-season berth with 25 games to play, with a team composed largely of part-timers and rookies.  Whether they make the postseason or not, has this team the mettle to stay in the race until the last out is made?

That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? So open the gate and let the nags run!

     

                               W     L GB

Philadelphia     75 61 16 games behind first-place Braves

Chicago             73 64 Saw this coming 2 months ago

GIANTS             70 67 Hold tiebreaker over Arizona

Arizona             70 67 Still think they're a year away

Cincinnati     71 68   Six and a half out of first place

Miami     70 67 6 games above expected record

Yesterday

Giants lost at San Diego, 4-0, losing three our of four in a critical series. 

Philadelphia, Chicago, and Miami won; Arizona and Cincinnati lost. Four teams are now tied for the third wild-card spot. . 

Today

Giants at Chicago to face the surging Cubs at Wrigley Field. Logan Webb tries to turn the tide against lefthander Justin Steele, who is having an outstanding year (15-3, 2.69). Surprisingly or not, the Giants are 24-15 against opposing southpaws this season.  

Yesterday's Game

No way does this team survive September scoring four runs over three games, or even 11 runs over 4 games, as the Giants did against San Diego this weekend. They were shut out on four hits yesterday by veteran Seth Lugo, who is having a good year but is hardly a Cy Young candidate like his teammate Blake Snell.  San Diego's season, which began with such promise, is in ruins, and they did a fine job playing spoiler. The Giants will see them again September 25-27 at Oracle Park, and the question here is whether there'll be anything left for the Padres to spoil by then.   

Bye-bye, Humm-Baby, Goodbye

 

If you weren't around at the time, it's probably hard to understand just how suddenly surprising and exciting the San Francisco Giants were in 1986. This was a team that had lost 100 games the previous season, the only time in franchise history that has happened. Over 14 years the Giants had managed only three winning seasons, none of them consecutive. They'd nearly been sold and moved to Toronto, and the owner who'd kept that from happening was famous for complaining about Candlestick Park, not for building a good team. "We're the worst in organized baseball," lamented their best player in 1980, and the increasingly few fans tended to agree. The Giants weren't just bad, they were boring bad.   

Roger Craig, who passed away yesterday at the age of 93, changed all that. His team was-- seemingly all of a sudden-- young, quick, eager, daring, and resourceful. He swapped out the worst infield in baseball for the youngest, transformed veteran pitchers and encouraged rookie pitchers, forbid any complaints about the ballpark-- and then he let go and let his players play. Fans were startled: are you sure these are the same guys? Quickly the verdict came in-- no, they're not; there's something about them. Something that began filling the stands. And our hearts. And now our memories.

We called it, and still call it, "The Giants Renaissance." And Roger Craig, bless his generous heart, was its leader, the wise and genial face of the franchise at its pivot point.

Those 1986 Giants surged to the division lead at midseason, and brother, were they fun to watch. Roger became known for his small-ball tactics-- the suicide squeeze, the hit and run, the extra base-- but his real gift was using the entire roster and focusing on what his players could do, rather than what they couldn't. The Giants didn't win that year-- injuries to key players down the stretch saw to that-- but they were a blast. They were fun. And, unlike earlier seasons, they didn't fall back in 1987. Instead, they won the division for the first time in 16 years.  And two years later they went to their first World Series in 27 years. And ultimately they posted five straight winning seasons, which we fans hadn't seen since the 1960s.

Yes, it was the renaissance. Those five years permanently changed San Francisco Giants baseball. Had Roger Craig, and GM Al Rosen, not come aboard and transformed the Giants in 1986, we wonder whether the league would have had the moxie to stall the threatened move to Florida in 1993, and whether there'd have been enough local motivation to step up and save the Giants for San Francisco, and to keep them in the City, in the ballpark many said couldn't be built.

Our only up-close encounter with Roger Craig was in his last season, 1992. We were fairly serious about running in those days, competing in the Bay to Breakers  race every year and several 10K events. That June the Giants sponsored a pre-game 5K "Run to Home Plate", where we ran around Candlestick Point, into the parking lot, through the tunnel, down the left-field line, and touched home plate to complete the course. As we turned left past the first-base dugout, there was Roger, on the steps, watching all the fitness freaks with an amused look on his face. What to say?

"Who you got starting today, Roger?" we called.

"Left-hander," he replied with  a wink, tapping his left arm. "Good stuff today."

Bud Black won that game with seven solid innings. The Giants were flirting with .500 at the time but already seven and a half games out of first. It didn't get any better, and Roger was fired that December after the ownership transfer. It was inevitable, and it was sad. His last game, in October, was a win over Cincinnati that kept the Giants nine games ahead of the last-place Dodgers, which may cheer some of you.  

Roger Craig pitched, and pitched well, for three World Series champions. He coached another World Series champion. He was a teammate of Bob Uecker on the 1964 Cardinals. (We imagine they got along well.) His tenure with the 1962 New York Mets is still the stuff of legend-- did he really get caught in a stalled elevator on the way to start the first game in Mets history? Did he really balk home the first run?-- and Casey Stengel himself said Roger had to be a damned good pitcher to go 10-24 for that team in '62.  

But Roger Craig has a home in the heart of every Giants fan who remembers what he did, and how he did it, for the only team that matters. Godspeed to a baseball original, a fine manager, and a good man. 

                                            

The San Francisco Giants Open the 2023 Season!

 Pitchers

Logan Webb, R, 26

Will this be his first All-Star season?
 
Sean Manaea, L, 31
Had rough 2022 in San Diego after solid A’s tenure
 
Alex Wood, L, 32
Contract year; needs a season more like ’21 than ‘22
 
Ross Stripling, R, 33
Arrives after a sparkling 10-4, 3.01 season in Toronto  
 
Anthony DeSclafani, R, 33 
Make-or-break contract season after IL last year
 
Alex Cobb, R, 35
With six starters, somebody’ll be looking for more work
 
Camilo Doval, R, 25
80 strikeouts in 68 innings, but also 30 walks
 
Jakob Junis, R, 30
Did well in swingman role a year ago
 
Tyler Rogers, R, 32
We were ready to give up on him last year   
 
Taylor Rogers, L, 32
Tyler’s identical twin is mirror-image lefty
 
John Brebbia, R, 33
Had fourth-best ERA on the team in 2022
 
Scott Alexander, L, 33
Gotta keep two lefties in the ‘pen… don’t we?
 

  

Position Players
 
Joc Pederson, dh-of, 31
Team MVP in 2022 returns on one-year deal  
 
Thairo Estrada, 2b, 27
Earned himself the starting job with a fine 2022
 
Michael Conforto, rf, 30
Can lefty-swinging former Met slugger thrive here?
 
Brandon Crawford, ss, 36
Does attempted Correa trade mean thin ice for fan fave?  
 
David Villar, 3b, 26
Third on the team in 2022 WAR-- in only 181 PAs
 
LaMonte Wade jr, 1b, 29
Must make it this year after a wasted 2022   
 
Wilmer Flores, 1b-dh, 31
Might Giants be positioning him for trade?
 
Mike Yastrzemski, cf, 32
Awful spring numbers; can he hold platoon role?
                     
Joey Bart, c, 26
Once-touted star of future may be running out of time
 
Roberto Perez, c, 34
Can’t hit a lick but the pitchers love him
 
J.D. Davis, if, 30
Crawford’s performance may affect how much he plays
 
Blake Sabol, lf-c, 25
Kapler’s dream— a versatile youngster with a bat
 
Matt Beaty, of, 30
Played 240 games in three years with the Dodgers 

Brett Wisely, cf, 23
Only active Giant with no MLB experience 
 
 
On the IL
 
Mitch Hanigar, of, 32
Free-agent signee battles the dreaded oblique strain
 
Austin Slater, of-dh, 30
Starts his 7^th year by nursing a tender hamstring
 
Luis Gonzalez, of, 27
Back surgery ensures he’ll be out ‘til summer

End of the Regular Season

 

The Giants finished 12-4 and 20-13, which is generally a positive sign for the upcoming season. In this case, though, it's really hard to tell, because perhaps no more than half this team may return in 2023.   

What happened, anyway? How did a team that won 107 games last year fall 26 off the mark this year, instead of the 13 or so most of us expected? Given that the Giants, admittedly losing one essential player,  basically stood pat, exchanging one ace (Kevin Gausman) for another (Carlos Rodon), how did things go so bad so soon? Can a team built around a core of versatile Gabe Kapler-type players really win, or was 2021 a complete fluke?  

 

It wasn't a fluke at all. It was a team composed of the same kind of guys (mostly the same guys) we had this year, but also with three All-Stars having All-Star seasons-- Buster Posey (20 Win Shares), Brandon Crawford (31), and Brandon Belt (17).  That's a total of 68, or about 23 wins. This year? No Posey, of course, and Crawford dropped to 11 and Belt to 4 in limited duty. That's 15 total, 5 wins. So eighteen wins contributed by the big boys in 2021 disappeared this season.  And then we have a beleaguered bullpen that went from 4 wins above average in 2021 to negative-2 this year. That's 22 wins. (We can also note that Kris Bryant, in 51 games last year, contributed about 7 Win Shares, a rate of 21 over a full season.) The ripple effect of all this saw the Giants below average (WAA) at every position this year except starting pitching.  

We saw it in 2010, 2012, and 2014: a team of "jabronis", as one fan remarked, can win if that team is supported by two or three big bats and a solid pitching staff.  The Giants' failure to contend, to win the 90 or so games we all expected, can be attributed to the belief, or the hope, that Crawford, Belt, and the bullpen would do it again.  

It's human nature to stand pat when surrounded by success. It's a deadly mistake in baseball. One thing the consistently strong teams-- Dodgers, Astros, Braves-- do is use a successful season as motivation to  improve.  

What must the Giants do to improve? First is to prune the roster, perhaps ruthlessly. We can expect Logan Webb, Joey Bart, Thairo Estrada, J.D. Davis, LaMonte Wade, Wilmer Flores, Alex Cobb, Alex Wood, and Camilo Doval to return. Anthony DeSclafani will be back, presuming he's fully recovered, but will he be effective?  Austin Slater and Luis Gonzalez should return, and both Kapler and Farhan Zaidi have indicated Mike Yastrzemski will have one more year.  Brandon Crawford, still the "face of the franchise," will be in his last contract year. September callup David Villar (4 WS, 9 HR in 52 games) definitely deserves a chance to start.

Anyone else has to be on the margin. Likely some of the relievers who came up late in the year will get a chance. Looking down the list of players, our focus, and, we hope, the Giants' focus, is on players 26 years old or younger. Heliot Ramos, Sean Hjelle, Kyle Harrison... it's their time. 

As for signing "big" free agents, well, one top-quality starter will be needed to replace Rodon, who is likely to opt out (not that he himself couldn't be that top guy, for  considerably more money).  And with the infield and outfield up for grabs everywhere, finding one guy who can hit, one guy who can strike fear into the opposition, is a necessity. Each year the Giants have done exceptionally well, they've had that one guy, even if he's come in under the radar (Aubrey Huff in 2010, Crawford last year).  Aaron Judge, coming off his historic season, is that kind of player. Just an example... right?

Logan Webb won 15 games this year, and Rodon 14. The team was 18-14 in Webb's starts, 16-15 with Rodon, 10-18 with Cobb, 12-14 with Wood, and 10-7 with Jakob Junis. They were also 8-4 with "openers," which seems surprising. Quality starts: Rodon 25 (out of 31 starts), Webb 21, Wood 16, Cobb 14, Junis 10. The best start of the year was Rodon on July 9 at San Diego, game score 87. The worst was also Rodon, back on May 15 in St Louis, a game score of 11. 

Cheap wins: Cobb 2, Wood 2, Junis, and Webb. Tough losses: Rodon 4, Wood 4, Cobb 2, Webb, Junis.  The toughest loss was Cobb's on July 29 at home against the Cubs: game score 72 in a 4-2 loss. He pitched a three-hitter over six innings but the Giants, who stranded 13 runners, didn't score until the bottom of the ninth after the bullpen had surrendered three more runs. The Giants' season in microcosm? Cobb also had the cheapest win, just last week over Arizona at home in a 10-4 romp (game score 37).  

The Giants averaged 4.42 runs per game in 2022, seventh in the league, not nearly as bad as we might have guessed. Though Alex Cobb appeared to pitch in tough luck all year, he got team-average run support in his 28 starts. Junis (5 runs per game in 17 starts) and Webb (4.8 in 32 starts) also got good support, Wood, in 26, was just below average, but Carlos Rodon received slightly less than 4, well below league average. Given his 14 wins, 2.88 ERA, 237 strikeouts,, and 1.02 WHIP, he really had a terrific season. If he leaves, it's imperative the Giants sign a successor of similar quality.  

The Giants were 10-9 in Blowouts this year, and 22-27 in one-run games. They were 14-19 in Pitchers' Duels, and 7-1 in their few Slugfests. In eleven extra-inning games they were 6-5. 

The stat sheets show that the Giants were 44-37 at home, and the inverse on the road. In 70 day games they were 37-33 (44-48 at night). They were 21-15 in day games at home, 23-22 in home night games. 

The Giants' best days were Sundays, when they went 17-9. They were 14-12 on Tuesdays and Saturdays, 10-9 on Mondays, but 12-13 on Fridays, and 11-14 on Wednesdays. Thursdays were their kryptonite-- an execrable 3-12 including a doubleheader sweep. Take Thursday off and they're 78-69, .530, a 86-win pace. Yikes!

Roll the Statistical Parade

Joc Pederson is the only Giant among the league's top 20 in OPS (.874, 16th). Of the other five Giants with more than 300 AB, only two (Wilmer Flores and Thairo Estrada) were over .700.  Then we have Austin Slater (.774 in 277 AB) and Evan Longoria (.766 in 266). J.D. Davis was a robust .857 in 137 AB, Jason Vosler  is at .811 in 98, and Villar .786 in 156.  Joc is tied for 24th in the NL with his team-leading 23 homers.  Flores led the Giants with 72 RBI and Yaz was tops in runs scored with 73, despite a .305 OBP. He also struck out 141 times, by far the most on the team, and tied for 17th in the league with some major studs (Paul Goldschmidt, Max Muncy, Bryan Reynolds).  To be fair, Yaz also led the team in walks with 61. The Giants overall were fourth in the NL in walks, but 12th in batting average.   

Estrada, Gonzales, and Yaz together were an excellent 43-for-52 in stolen bases. The whole team was a solid 80% (64 for 80) in steals, better than a lot of teams who stole more and also had more caught.  

 

Giants pitchers were 13th in the league in ERA, with modest totals in strikeouts and walks. They were fourth in hits allowed. Webb was tied for fifth, and Rodon for ninth, in wins, and they were seventh and sixth in ERA, respectively. Rodon was second, behind Milwaukee's Corbin Burnes, in strikeouts with 237, and ninth with a 1.03 WHIP. Webb's 192.1 innings pitched were seventh. Camilo Doval was sixth in saves with 27 in 30 opportunities to go with his fine 2.53 ERA. 

Will this be the year Paul Goldschmidt finally wins the MVP award? A triple crown candidate all year long, he finished third in average, fifth in homers, second in RBI, and tops in the league with a .982 OPS. Teammate Nolen Arenado, the Braves' Austin Riley and Matt Olson, Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor of the Mets, and the Dodgers' Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman provide stiff competition. "Goldy" has been among the league's best players for a full decade, he's never won it, and we think it's time...  Aaron Judge, with  62 homers, will win the AL award in a breeze... Rodon and Webb will get Cy Young Award votes, but it's likely to be Sandy Alacantara of the Marlins, our nemesis Julio Urias of LA, or the Braves' Max Fried who gets it... What do you make of ex-Giant  lefthander Tyler Anderson and his 15-5, 2.57 campaign with LA?...  There is a host of AL candidates, but Justin Verlander, back to being unhittable after TJS as if nothing happened, and Shohei Ohtani are the big names. We think Ohtani, truly one of a kind, is always a MVP candidate but figure he's unlikely ever to get the CYA... By the way, Ohtani was second in MLB with 14 wild pitches... Three guys who may be important in the playoffs, Houston's Framber Valdez, Atlanta's Kyle Wright, and the Cardinals' Dakota Hudson, induced 25 ground-ball double plays, best in the business... Valdez gets more ground balls than anybody, and our own Logan Webb is second... Rodon's on the other side, the second-most fly-ball-heavy pitcher in MLB behind only Cleveland's Triston McKenzie, who despite his 11-11 record is another Cy Young candidate... The Braves' Riley was second only to Judge in extra-base hits; among those tied for third are Mookie Betts and the inevitable Jose Ramirez. We're glad to see him back in form and we're glad to see his team in the postseason... Young Vladimir Guerrero grounded into 26 double plays and, like his dad, he rarely walks. But 35 doubles and 32 homers will do very nicely. Oddly, he didn't hit a triple this year, and if he would walk a little more he'd score more than 90 runs... Speaking of triples, the Indians' -- whoops, Guardians'-- shortstop, Amed Rosario, led the MLB with only nine... The top two base stealers are both Orioles: Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullens, a combined 69-for 88. Best of the lot is St Louis' Tommy Edman, third in baseball with 32 and caught only 3 times... We finally found a flaw in Ohtani's game! He's 11-for-20 in stolen bases. Just stay put, big fella... Ramirez and Arenado put the ball in the air more frequently than anyone else. Oddly, Judge is not in the top 30 despite all the home runs. He's a complete hitter, not a one-dimensional  guy... Christian "What Happened?" Yelich has the highest ground-ball rate, and he slugged only .383... Anthony Rizzo, now with the Yankees, still leans into pitches at an alarming rate, but the Met's Mark Canha led everyone with 28 hit-by-pitch... Pay attention if Canha bats against the Braves' Charlie Morton later in the postseason. Morton hit 18 batters this year, second to the Reds' Nick Lodolo (19)... No less than six major-leaguers qualified for our favorite stat this year-- more walks than strikeouts. Juan Soto led 'em all with 135 walks against 96 K. The other qualifiers are the Rays' Yandy Diaz, Minnesota's Luis Arraez, Houston's Alex Bregman, Alejandro Kirk of Toronto, and Cleveland's Steve Kwan. All but one of those guys are going to the playoffs.  

Vin Scully 1927-2022

We posted our tribute to "The Voice of America" upon his retirement a few years ago, so we've little to add here. But pause a moment to consider the remarkable life of this man, born the year Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs, a man who saw Ruth play and also saw Shohei Ohtani play, a man whose professional career spanned the terms of eleven American presidents, and a man who never once seemed all that impressed with himself, but whose impressions of many of our most memorable moments became part of the national landscape. Prayers for his family, and honor to one who was a true man of the people. 

Trouble In Mind

Two weeks? How about five?  Not that it matters. Things have not improved. They've gotten worse.

The Giants made one move at the deadline, unloading Darin Ruf in exchange for J.D. Davis, and Davis has played well since his arrival. Thing is, few other Giants have. Since our last post the Giants have sunk below the .500 waterline, and after losing two of three at San Diego this week they are 7 1/2 games out of the wild-card race and slouching toward irrelevance well ahead of September. Relief pitching continues to be a serious problem for the Giants; witness yesterday's debacle where, after taking a 7-6 lead in the top of the sixth, Yunior Marte and Jarlin Garcia surrendered seven straight two-out base hits and watched the game go down the drain.. The Padres themselves were struggling mightily when the Giants came to town; they're in better shape now, though still far from where they want to be, or were a month ago.

No, nothing has really changed around here. Starting pitchers-- Rodon and Webb, primarily-- are still the only above-average Giants. Alex Cobb, whom we really like most of the time, continues to pitch in tough luck. And Alex Wood had a gem of a start, his best of the year, to open the San Diego series, seems like ages ago already. John Brebbia has been the best of the relievers, with a 2.40 ERA and 1.17 WHIP.  The above-mentioned Davis has a 1.093 OPS in 7 games; Joc Pederson is the only regular over .800. Austin Slater and Wilmer Flores are playing generally well, Thairo Estrada's been strong defensively (as has Davis) and Joey Bart is now hitting the ball with some authority and plays his position very well (witness that perfect tag on the relay play in Monday's game that saved Wood's shutout). All of this would look a whole lot better-- a lot more like last year, in fact-- if the Giants had one or two guys really tearing it up offensively. They don't. 

The National League has three legitimate boss teams, led by the Dodgers, who are hot again, having won 10 in a row. They are now are at .700, 16 games ahead of San Diego. Call that one. Then there are the Mets and the Braves. New York shook off a shaky month and have now won six in a row to move  seven games ahead of Atlanta, who are still an almost-certain wild-card team. The Phillies, meanwhile, are riding a 9-1 surge, with seven wins in a row, and have moved into second position. Then there's San Diego. Yes, they took two of three from the Giants, but since making those monumental trade-deadline deals they've been floundering--  losing, not gaining, ground. Juan Soto has been great, Josh Bell has been good, but Josh Hader-- well, the Giants chased him right off the mound on Saturday, before blowing the game themselves. If the Padres fade so badly that they miss the playoffs, or are quickly excused in the opening round, there's gonna be a whole tsunami of disappointment come crashing down around that team. Again. 

It's beginning to look as through the NL Central division race will be win-or-go-home. Neither the Brewers nor the Cardinals have really caught fire or looked especially impressive for long this season; currently St Louis is hot and in the lead. Milwaukee is the team immediately ahead of the Giants in the wild-card standings, as they trail San Diego by one game. A wild-card team could come from the Central; it just doesn't look too likely.

If there's any comfort here for Giants fans, it's that the club is underperforming its expectation by three games, while the Padres are two games above their Pythagorean number. Cold comfort indeed. Also, there are no teams closing the gap behind us any more. Six teams will make it, and if you count the Giants, eight remain in it. 

Over in the American League the Yankees have cooled off from their ridiculous early-season pace, but still hold a ten-game lead in the East. Houston has an identical record, and lead, in the West. Seattle, who have not made the postseason since 2001, are currently neck-and-neck with Toronto for the boss wild-card team; they've been red-hot since the break, and it remains to be seen whether they'll do another fade-out as they did last year. The AL Central, like the NL Central, is a back-and-forth battle between teams who face daunting odds in the wild-card race; here it's three teams, with Cleveland, Minnesota, and the White Sox all tangled up just north of .500. But the big American League story is, of course, the oft-ridiculed Baltimore Orioles, who have come out of nowhere and are tied with Tampa for the third wild-card spot at the moment.   

Yes, Baltimore. It's been a long time coming, and we wish them the best. After all, there has to be one orange-and-black team represented in the newly-expanded postseason this year.