The San Francisco Giants 2020 pitching staff gives up, on average, five runs per game. Tonight they walked eight guys and hit two for ten free baserunners. That's a lot of free baserunners! The Seattle Mariners were kind enough to score only three runs despite the ten free runners (and their six hits). Other teams might take more advantage of the Giants generosity. Teams that are over .500, for example. It has been a lot of fun watching the ballclub this season but not because of the pitching. In fact, my Mom and I were watching the last part of the game tonight and she kept asking "who's that guy?" Oh, I'd say, that's Sam Selman, or Sam Coonrod, or Rico Garcia, or Jarlin Garcia, or what-have-you. When she asked me "who started?" I said "Drew Smyly" and of course she said "who?" She's a good fan but you really do need a damn scorecard this year.
But I'm not here to bemoan the state of Giants pitching. After all, they did get the job done tonight and it was a big win. After losing three in a row, getting back to .500 (24-24) is a big deal. They did that by scoring eight runs in the first four frames. You do that and more often than not you will win even if your pitchers throw 182 pitches!
The Giants lineup cracked 15 hits tonight. Fifteen! You do that you can win some ballgames. After the goofiness of the weekend with the COVID cancellation and the goofy re-locating of the Seattle series to San Francisco the hitters responded with an inspired collective effort to snap a three-game skid. By the way the M's were the home team and batted last but the G-men wore their home unis. Goofy!
Tomorrow the game is at 1:10 PDT and Tyler Anderson gets the start.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
2 comments:
Andrew Baggarly has a good take on the state of the team:
Even if Smyly continues to mow down batters and Kevin Gausman returns to their rotation this weekend at Oakland, this is a team that has done the bulk of its winning by outslugging opponents. And it won’t be easy for a questionable pitching staff to manage 13 games over the final 12 days of the season, either. It’s hard to imagine the Giants prevailing over a tightly packed field of .500 and .500-adjacent teams to reach the postseason if their offense isn’t capable of stepping up to win its share of games.
(from The Athletic game story)
My goal for this team is .500 and if that makes the post-season that's a bonus. People don't seem to like the expanded playoffs but it's a good way to end this bizarro season. I'm looking forward to some crazy baseball in October. It would be fun if the Giants get to dip their toes in that water.
None of our starting pitchers seem to be completely healthy. If they were healthy this team would have a better chance. I hope Yaz's injury is very minor.
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