The Giants got 2 victories over the Chicago Cubs, World Champions and defeater of the Giants in their last post-season appearance back in 2016. The first, after a sloppy, poorly pitched loss by Matt Moore, was behind Ty Blach on Tuesday night, 3 - 6. The second was this afternoon, behind Madison Bumgarner for his 2nd win of the year, 1 - 3.
The Giants had not beaten the Cubs in a series in awhile. They lost 3 of 4 back in May. Of course they lost 3 of the first 4 in a 5 game series in the 2016 postseason after beating the Mets behind Madison Bumgarner for the wild card. They lost 3 of 4 to the Cubs in Chicago in September, although they actually beat them 2 of 3 in SF in May. They lost 4 straight in Chicago in August, 2015 then won 2 of 3 in SF later in August for a losing season split, 5 -2. The loss puts the Cubs in a tie with Milwaukee, with St. Louis just behind. That's a race, unlike the NL West. It was only Madison Bumgarner's 2nd win against 5 losses. Of course, he missed a good chunk of the season. What's more, it is only the second time that the Giant's aces, who I am defining as Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto, or Johnny Cueto and Ty Blach, or Madison Bumgarner and Ty Blach, have won games back to back. It's August. (The first was Blach/Cueto in Colorado/Pittsburgh at the end of July.
Ty Blach won Tuesday night, 6 - 3, with help from a 1st inning, 3-run blast from Buster Posey. It is only the 5th (I think) 3-run home run of the season, and it seems like they only had 1 just a few days ago. Ty added an rbi himself, and gave us 7 innings, 7 hits, 2 runs and 3 K's. Strickland allowed a run, but it was not earned. Significantly, when the Cubs put 2 on the board in the 6th to make it 4 - 2, the Giants answered in the 7th with a run. Today, Madison also gave us 7 innings, and walked off the mound to a 1 - 1 tie. He struck out 7 and gave up 5 hits. A couple of dinks, though, scored Denard Span to make it 2 - 1 in the
bottom of the 7th and Hunter Pence homered in the 8th with no one on. Madison, in spite of his record, has a 2.71 era and a 1.01 WHIP. Madison Bumgarner has 27 runs of support in just over 66 innings of work, 9 games, but if you take out the 5 innings he pitched vs Pittsburgh in which he got 10 runs of support en route to an 11 - 3 rout, he has 17 runs of support in 8 games.
The Giants, though, beat the Cubs 2 of 3 after winning 2 of 3 from Arizona, all at home. They are now 6 - 4 in their last 10. In that time, they have not had a reliever that has lost the game. Also, they are 1 win away from that illusive mark that separates incompetence from horrible-ness, .400. It will be tough, against Washington in DC, but they are playing better than they have all year right now.
3 comments:
That's the best baseball we've seen from the Giants all season. I was particularly impressed by their ability to keep the pressure on last night and keep scoring. Today as well, getting the go-ahead run late and another run later. Who are these guys? And the bullpen work was outstanding in both games, complementing the great starts. This is the team I thought we'd be watching from the get-go. Maybe they can get a winning month out of all this. I know, I'm getting ahead of myself, but 6-3 for August is pretty damn exciting. And only 17 more wins to get to 63! They've got 46 games left to play and I think they can do it!
Just so long as they compensate for this dreary year by being able to draft high, for Bryce Harper Jr or Buster Posey II, and not lose a first-round pick if they sign a FA with a QO this winter!
What is different? Oops, the Panda is a giant again.
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