Bye-bye BoMel

In keeping with the old baseball adage "ya gotta blame somebody!" Giants PoBO Buster Posey fired manager Bob Melvin. Earlier in the year it was reported that the Giants had picked up Melvin's option for 2026. I thought that meant they were giving him one more go-round. Apparently not! Matt Williams (third base) and Ryan Christenson (bench coach) are gone as well. Could be more coaching shake-ups to come.

Buster doesn't like to mess around. He's not very patient. I suppose if you are Rookie of the Year and win the World Series in your first season in the majors you develop a NOW mentality. Buster wants to win NOW.

This team should have done better. I suppose changing the skipper is one way to address that. Posey has made his impact on the team with the big free agent signing of Willy Adames and the blockbuster mid-season trade for Rafael Devers. Now he gets to hand-pick his manager. I'm insanely curious! Who does he think will do a better job?

The Twins fired their manager (Rocco Baldelli), too.

--M.C.

#81, #30, and #15

SF 4  COL 0

The Giants get their 81st win and thus avoid a losing season. It's not a winning season, of course. But it's not a losing season, either! That's something at least.

Willy Adames gave the home crowd a thrill with a leadoff homer. Nice move by BoMel to put him in the first slot. The home run was his 30th and that breaks the infamous team-wide 30-homer drought. Barry Bonds hit 45 in 2004 and that's the last time a Giants player has cracked the 30 mark. Brandon Belt had 29 in 97 games in 2021. Matt Chapman had 27 last year.

Logan Webb started but was pulled after 5-1/3 innings. The team hung on to complete the shutout and Webb got his 15th win for the season. That matches his career high from 2022. Webb finishes with 207 IP, the most in MLB (Garret Crochet had 205-1/3). He also has the most starts (34) and is tied with Crochet and Christopher Sánchez for the most Quality Starts (22). He struck out a career-high 224 which trails only Crochet (255) and Tarik Skubal (241) for the MLB lead (it's the most in the NL).

Spencer Bivens earned the save with two hitless innings. He gave up a walk in the 8th but struck out the side in the 9th. He entered with a 2-0 lead and the Giants got two more in the 9th. That's two saves this weekend for Bivens and 53 appearances (79 IP) overall. He's got some gnarly-looking stuff and it looks like he'll be in the mix for a high-leverage role in 2026. 

Here are the Giants W-L records for the last four seasons (since they won 107 and the West in 2021): 81-81 in 2022, 79-83 in 2023, 80-82 last year, and 81-81 this year. I think that is the very definition of "mediocrity." At least they aren't the Rockies! Anyway, it would be nice to see this group win some games next season. There's enough talent to compete with teams like the Reds, the Mets, the Cardinals, and the Diamondbacks. The five-way scrum for the final Wild Card ended up with the Giants on the bottom! They were a better team than that and should have finished strong with a real shot at the post-season.

There will be plenty to talk about in the off-season, of course. We'll get around to it, I'm sure. In the meantime I will root for Milwaukee to go all the way. How can you not root for a club called the BREWERS? If not them then someone like Cleveland or Seattle.

Thanks for reading along,

 --M.C.

#80

SF 4  COL 3

The Giants tried hard to lose today but they couldn't quite get that done and wound up winning their 80th game. They only had four hits so they had to make them count. Casey Schmitt hit a three-run homer in the 2nd (his 12th) and Rafael Devers added an RBI double in the 8th. That was the difference. Ryan Walker came in to save the 4-2 lead and gave up a solo homer and then got into a mess. Spencer Bivens bailed him out. Matt Chapman made a great play to end the game--the Rockies had loaded the bases and were poised to spoil the afternoon.

Justin Verlander bounced back from his lousy start last time out and delivered a quality six frames with seven whiffs. Both runs he allowed were on solo homers. Joel Peguero and Tristan Beck followed with a scoreless inning apiece.

Tomorrow Logan Webb takes the hill (12:05 PT). He's looking for win number 15. We are all looking for Willy Adames to hit his 30th homer.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

#79

SF 6  COL 3

Trevor McDonald pitched well in his last start (against the Dodgers in LA) and followed that up with another strong effort last night. He powered through seven frames on 89 pitches, whiffing ten and walking none against five hits. One of the hits was a three-run homer, but other than that he did great. The Giants will need to beef up the rotation for 2026--maybe McDonald will be part of that.

Willy Adames was the Willie Mac Award winner and he chipped in homer number 29 in the 1st inning. Everyone is rooting for him to get number 30 this weekend.

Ryan Walker pitched the 9th and got his 17th save. He's another guy the Giants really need! Heliot Ramos hit homer number 21 and Jung Hoo Lee nabbed his 12th triple. Matt Chapman got his 1000th career hit.

Today's game is at 1:05. Go Giants!

--M.C.

Giants hang on for a win

 SF 4  STL 3

The Giants were eliminated after their loss on Tuesday. That loss also meant they could only win 81 games. Last night's win was number 78, they'll avoid a losing season only by sweeping the upcoming weekend set with the Rockies.

Robbie Ray was shut down for the season and did not make his final start. Coming back from surgery and throwing 182 innings (32 starts) was a good season's effort, it's reasonable to err on the side of caution. Ideally he'll be healthy next year and be able to work at the top of the rotation. FanGraphs rates his 2025 at 2.2 WAR, Baseball-Reference says 2.8 WAR.

The Giants have been rumored to have interest in Cardinals starter Sonny Gray who threw six innings last night and managed his 14th Quality Start. Ray finishes with 16, Logan Webb is tied with the Phillies Christopher Sanchez and the Red Sox Garret Crochet for the MLB lead with 22. I thought Tuesday would be Webb's last start but he's listed for Sunday. That would be the fifth day for him (four days rest) so he'll get another shot at 15 wins to tie his career high.

Friday's game is 7:15, Saturday 1:05, and Sunday at 12:05 (PT). Go Giants!

--M.C.

Giants win, finally

SF 3  LA 1

The Giants eked out the slimmest of victories today in the finale at Dodger Stadium. A three-run rally in the 8th against Blake Treinen erased a 1-0 deficit and the bullpen held on for the much-needed win. A terrific effort (6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 W, 3K) from Trevor McDonald gave the Giants a fighting chance. McDonald was a 2019 high school draft pick (11th round) from Mississippi. He pitched a few innings in 2023 and 2024 but this was his first start. Maybe the 24-year old will be in the rotation mix next season. Earlier this year Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs rated him the Giants #5 prospect (Bryce Eldridge was #1 and Carson Whisenhunt #2).

The 77-79 Giants return home for their final six games. They have an outside shot at 82 wins. The first three are against the Cardinals, Monday through Wednesday evenings at 6:45 PT. It looks like Justin Verlander tomorrow followed by Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. Those will be the final starts of the year for Webb and Ray. The Rockies come to town for the weekend (Thursday is an off-day). Friday we'll probably see Kai-Wei Teng and on Saturday we'll get another look at McDonald (I hope). Sunday could be another chance for JV to burnish his off-season credentials. Buster Posey has already said he'd like to re-sign the veteran righty for 2026.

--M.C.

Beat LA

Logan Webb didn't fare very well against the Dodgers the last time out. Neither did Robbie Ray. The Giants two best pitchers got clobbered in the last series. That's got to change this time out. You figure to win at least one of the games that your top-of-the-rotation guys start, right? Right now Justin Verlander is the best pitcher on the staff! He's thrown 31 innings over his last five starts and has allowed just three runs. In fact he's only allowed three hits. He's walked twelve guys (vs. 28 strikeouts), but I think that's because he'd rather put them on in a 3-ball count than groove one. He doesn't have the big heat anymore so he can't just blow people away. He has to pitch. The win at home against the Dodgers was a Verlander start. Dave Roberts, who I normally think well of, seemed rather snide to me in his post-game comments about how much Verlander was throwing his curveball. As if it matters how you get people out!

Just get 'em out, baby!

It's Webb and Yamamoto tonight in LA at 7:10 PT.

--M.C.