OAK 6 SF 5 (10)
It's a truism among baseball fans that if you praise a player one minute he'll break your heart the next. And the opposite is true as well: if you dis on a cat for poor play he'll kick ass the next time just to smack you down. Naturally I had to rave about BCraw's brilliance last night--he was deserving of the plaudits--and of course the gods would see to it that he'd boot the game-winner for the A's this afternoon. It was an impossible play, one of those perfect bouncers that could not be fielded, but number 35 gets the spotlight for "failure" nonetheless. But this is not to moan about Brandon Crawford, one of the bright spots on this confounding team.
It's been 101 games and that ought to be enough to assess the club's character, and after back-to-back losses to Oakland in extras when starting their two best pitchers, I find it wanting. Not that the fellas don't try hard. When I say "character" I don't mean their virtue, manliness, courage or whatever sports-writing jibber-jabber bandied about by the professional media. I mean it in a purely descriptive sense, not a moral one. The team's character is what emerges and at this point they are a .505 outfit. The 51-50 record is a fair assessment--they are strictly middle-of-the-pack.
There were plenty of reasons to believe the Giants would be really bad this season, instead they've shown us, at times, some terrific play. They just can't seem to string wins together which is what they'll need if they expect to chase a playoff spot in their final 61 contests. Neither Johnny Cueto today nor Madison Bumgarner yesterday could pitch as well as the rookie did on Friday night. At this point in the season it's Dereck Rodriguez I want to see, along with Andrew Suarez, Ray Black, Reyes Moronta, Steven Duggar, Austin Slater and I think you catch my drift. The expensive veteran-heavy lineup is not good enough, and the expensive veteran-heavy starting rotation can't get it done, either. The youngsters are taking up more of the roster spots and they deserve to.
There are eight more games before the July 31st trade deadline. Do you expect any significant moves? I don't, the only pieces they might have to move are pieces they ought to keep like the aforementioned newbies. Any big-time vet (like Brandon Belt, another bright spot) would only go if a playoff-bound team had a catastrophic injury to a first baseman and had the payroll to add a guy still owed $51+M. But I've no claim to insight or insider knowledge, I've really no fookin' clue what the Giants are thinking. I expect it is something to the effect of "hold on the rest of the way" and hope to finish over .500 and thus stay, at least mathematically, in the fight for the second Wild Card until the middle of September. That's the boring, conservative move, but good for institutional morale, in the sense that it means you are showing confidence in your guys to keep improving.
So that's it, I suppose. Be a good fan and hope to see some improved play. Have faith that the talent that's there will ultimately show itself and wins will start to come in bunches. All right, then. I'm ready! They're off tomorrow and then play two in Seattle before coming home on Thursday. It's a Suarez start, something to savor.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
7 comments:
giants are still in it although some of the key veterans were flat on offense today, including Posey, Belt, and Crawford. Is Crawford heading toward his normal 250 batting average season, despite a phenomenal 2 month stretch? Can Posey ever get a well balanced swing at the plate? I hate to see that last run go down as an earned run Vs. Blach. Although Crawford may be the best fielding shortstop on the planet, he did not make a good play on that last hit, and even if he could not get anybody out, the run should not have scored. Was one of the games that the younger guys did better than the vets, except of course Pablo Sandoval. Tell me, why did we get Longoria again? Darnaud vs. lefties, and Sandoval vs righties seems to get some decent results. Somehow, this year, despite a nice infield to play on Longoria seems to have forgotten that he is a Gold Glover. Of interest, the Ray's approach to Barraclough today, was one I wish the giants had taken against him. They took pitches that were balls. Did not swing at those low pitches in the dirt, fouled off those close pitches that were too good to take, and drove the pitches that were over the plate. Results: Barraclough looked over-matched. One good run for this giants team, and they are right in the thick of it. It is certainly within the realm of probability.
Yes, that's the maddening part. It certainly is within the realm of probability, it is just getting later and later in the season and that "run" we all are hoping for has fewer and fewer opportunities to occur.
I did forget to mention one nice development, the Giants flagship radio station, KNBR, is now streaming the games live. No more MLB-audio necessary. MLB-audio is pretty damn cheap ($20/yr) and you get all the post-season games and all other the other broadcasts as well, but the stream itself is sometimes flaky and of poor quality. The KNBR stream sounds better and is more robust--at least so far. This is only since June 1st:
http://www.knbr.com/2018/06/01/giants-and-knbr-680-become-first-in-mlb-to-offer-free-in-market-live-streaming-of-radio-broadcasts/
It's only in-market, i.e. NorCal, but since that's where I live it's a plus for me. I really miss being in the radio-zone for Giants baseball and this is the nearest equivalent. We used to have local radio stations that were Giants affiliates but they've dropped away over the years, I expect it was too expensive and they couldn't sell enough ad space. But like I said this is the next best thing.
Giants v. Mariners, a comparison:
On Wednesday afternoon in Seattle, Susana & I will get to attend possibly our only Giants' game of the Season. It will be a fun occasion, because, coincidentally, Dan, Akemi, & Jim Streeter will all be there, along w/ 3 of Dan's Cousins (who live in Seattle) & 2 of my Yoga Students (from here in Portland). Kevin & Nicole (my Students) are long-time Giants' Fans. I'm not sure about Dan's Cousins. So, in our group of 10, at least 7 will be Giants' Fans. For Susana & I, driving up to Seattle for the Game is merely the first leg on our Summer road trip, which will also feature rafting w/ Leon in Montana, some time in Missoula, & then Fossil Beds & Painted Hills in Eastern Oregon on the way back. It should be an awesome trip!
As far as the Giants' portion of the trip is concerned, on Saturday morning, Kevin told me that he thought that Suarez was pitching on Wednesday afternoon. That suited me just fine, as I have been impressed by the Kid, & was looking forward to seeing him. Now, I see that he is pitching on Tuesday evening instead (good for Jim plus Kevin's Dad & Son, because they are going to that Game, too). Wednesday will be 'TBD' ... whoopee! I interpret that to mean either Holland or Blach. Normally, that might make me a bit optimistic, but, because both have been coming out of the 'pen lately, I am a bit skeptical of their durability in the starting role. It will be our old buddy, Mike Leake, for the Mariners.
Globally, though, the Giants & Mariners seem to be going in opposite directions. Aside from their W/L records, here is some batting evidence of that. The match-ups shown on MLB.com indicate leaders in the classic categories:
- For us, Crawford .284, Belt 14 HR's, Belt 43 RBI's.
- For them, Segura .321, Cruz 22 HR's, Haniger 67 RBI's.
Here's why these numbers are so diagnostic:
- Both Teams play their Home Games in acknowledged 'Pitchers' Parks'.
- The differences are not nuanced. They are enormous.
I realize that there is a lot more to the story, but these numbers still shocked me.
The beauty of baseball is that, even under the most dire of circumstances, your Team still has about a 40% chance of winning. That's what I'll hold onto. That, & enjoying seeing good Friends.
Go Giants!!!!!
Here's some inspiration from 1987 - I was at this Game, possibly w/ Jon. One of the all-time great Games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcEIEqWujow
The Mariners have scored 423 runs (4.23 pg) while the Giants have scored 412 (4.08 pg). Doesn't seem like a lot of difference, but 60 wins is quite a bit more than 51, especially at this point in the season. Pitching-wise, the M's are at 422 RA and the G-men at 436. It's +1 vs -24, which once again doesn't seem like a lot. Both teams are actually over-performing if you think about it, the M's "should" be a .500 team and the G's "should" be a sub-.500 team. And King Felix is almost an afterthought--he had 8-straight 200+ inning seasons at one point in his career. That's amazing, but it obviously took its toll. They are winning without a superstar pitcher in the rotation, although maybe Paxton is emerging. Their closer is pretty awesome, too. Hard to say what is making the difference. Giants leave an awful lot of men on base, I suppose the lack of power hitting is part of that problem. Mariners at least are league-average in slugging, something the Giants can't say.
You guys have fun at the ballgame and I expect a full report!!
The giants are lacking that one guy who hits around 300 and smacks out over 30 homers and 100 RBI. One guy like that in the lineup makes everyone better. Looks as if the giants will face a lefty in game 1. I wonder of Longoria will be back. With a good pitcher going against the giants, it seems as if they will either be close to no hitted, or as opposed to facing a bad pitcher, the giants will over perform. One think I would like to stop happening is the constant fake or attempted bunts by Hernandez, often wasting the best pitch to hit in the AB. The little guy has 11 home runs. Perhaps that is all he wishes to hit. The giants hitting is backsliding a bit, it is time for them to go on a sustained hitting attack, and perhaps do what no one thought Pittsburgh could do, is win 10 in a row. Unfortunately the Dbacks beat the Cubs tonight, and the Bums managed to pull one out from the Phillies. Yet the giants are only 5.5 games behind the bums, and the Yankees are 6 games behind Boston.
The Giants have done well before with a mediocre offense but only because they had superior pitching. The team's aces are not leading the way this season and that's a key turnaround that needs to happen. That would take some heat off the 'pen and the others and maybe they'd win those close games. Giants are 17-18 in one-run games. The Mariners are 26-12, the A's are 17-8, just for comparison. I can't all just be about a closer, the Giants 'pen has been exceptional this year. I don't know, it's frustrating when the team has some real talent and they aren't able to help. Maybe the key is NOT to play so many close games (Boston is 15-8 in one-run games). Really good teams win by a lot and don't have as many nail-biters. Houston is 14-16, but they win most of their games by 2+ runs so if they are .500 in the close ones they are OK. The Giants don't win enough other games, they have to win the close ones. I wonder if we should expect the M's to regress, that 26-12 is probably a bit lucky.
The lineup strands a lot of runners, as I mentioned, and I blame that on the lack of power. There just aren't enough extra-base hits. But the real key is that they still don't put enough guys on base. Their OBP of .315 is 22nd out of 30 teams. That's not good enough to compete--you have to be at least league-average unless your pitching is overpowering.
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