Do you remember the third seasonal inning? Good, you shouldn't. It was a bleak time, the month of May. There was a goddamn seven-game losing streak, for example. Here's a review of the season so far:
1st inning: 8-10
2nd inning: 8-10
3rd inning: 5-13
4th inning: 10-8
5th inning: 11-7
Here's what I said after the 5th inning:
That brings the team to 42-48, still in last place, but certainly in a better place than before.And they are in an even better place now. How about 19-6 (.760) in July?
6th inning: 13-5
I remember thinking after that 5-13 stinker that it would be OK if they Giants could pull off a 13-5 inning. And I thought the odds of that were vanishingly small, so small they were no different than zero.
Shows you what I know. They are now 55-53, with 54 left to play.
Tonight in Philadelphia the mostly still-together Giants kicked ass. Jeff Samardzija had another strong outing (6 IP, 3 H, zero runs, 5 K) and the lineup exploded for five runs in the 6th and that was enough. Here's how it went: Yaz walk, Buster homer, pitching change, Panda homer, BCraw single, Pillar homer. That's a Giants half inning for you!
Tony Watson gave up a run in the 7th. Reyes Moronta became the new Sam Dyson and pitched a scoreless 8th. Will Smith handled the 9th despite the four-run lead.
The Giants see Jake Arrieta tomorrow at 10:05 a.m. PDT. The website says TBA for the Giants starter but they just recalled both Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez, so I'm guessing it will be D-Rod. RHP Jendel Gustave also got called up, I was mistaken about Melvin Adon, he was promoted to AA.
As far as all the trades and other moves, I feel like the Giants threaded the needle. They got some new talent without compromising the core of the team. They even got some salary relief. If this team is truly a "contender" then they are still a contender and yet they improved the roster for the future. And they managed a "rental" second baseman, Scooter Gennett, who was a 4-WAR player last year! If he is healthy he could be a really nice pickup for the stretch run.
I just want the Giants to play winning ball. If they do that, opportunities may emerge. For now, just keep grinding out the wins. And avoid the losing streaks. One series at a time.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
p.s. I note that the already-formidable Astros got Zack Greinke. That cost them four players! I wonder if the price for MadBum was that high. It doesn't matter, I'm happy the team held on to him.
3 comments:
We won many close games during our last stretch with many an extra inning game. Without a very deep bullpen, there is no way we could have put that stretch together, even though there was a partial streak in there, when the team was scoring a lot of runs. We could put in 3 top notch relievers in game one of a series, and could use 3 different top notch relievers in game two. And if Will Smith somehow pitched in both games of the series, we could use someone else in game 3 to close out the game if we need him. Not sure how I feel about getting rid of R. Black. Hopefully the team can still put together series wins, and maybe have some chips for the future while unloading some salary, which should help the team in the next off season. Did any one see the AB during the second strike out of Belt. Pitch on called strike pitch not close, pitch 2, swinging strike (foul), pitch 3 called strike even worse than pitch one. I read an article recently that said umps get on average 92 percent of the calls on balls and strikes correct. Although that number seems impressive, I would have expected something from major league umpires being closer to 99 percent. I guess my standards are not achievable.
Giants are the first team in MLB history to be ten-under .500 at the start of July and have a winning record at the end of July.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/SFGiants?src=hash
That's a whole lotta improbability there!
So Alex Dickerson is hurt and now goes to the 10-day IL with an oblique strain.
Sam Selman, lefty reliever with big K numbers, gets promoted.
One of the pitchers in the Melancon deal (Winkler) gets DFA'd. Apparently he was truly a "throw-in" and was included to give the Braves 40-man roster space. That's still an amazing deal what with Atlanta taking on Melancon's contract. I think this signals payroll room for a Bumgarner extension.
Scooter Gennett joins the team in Colorado tomorrow.
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