Sunday's 6-4 win over the Athletics in Oakland was the Giants 108th game. Thus completes the sixth seasonal inning. It's not a pretty picture:
After Sunday the Giants were 53-55 and I had visions of .500 grandeur. And the Giants pulled off a stirring 1-0 win on Monday against the Padres in San Diego to whet my appetite. Alas, they lost 7-4 on Tuesday night on a walk-off, wasting a 9th-inning comeback. They lost again this afternoon, getting clobbered 13-7 despite an early lead and a second-chance 6th-inning comeback.
The Giants aren't very exciting, that's for sure. A good way to drop out of a pennant race is to play .333 baseball and that's just what they've done, winning just 7 of their last 21 games. They went 11-17 in July and are 3-6 in August (6-13 since the All-Star Break). After 111 games the team is 54-57 (.486). I'm still dreaming of a .500 finish but they'll obviously have to play better baseball.
We've had some excitement around here with the McKinney Fire. You never know what the weather gods will do but the containment looks solid. Regardless, we keep our bags packed!
I'm back at my keyboard but it is going slowly. I have an ugly wound with two dozen stitches (those come out next week) and I'm a long way from a normal range of motion but I feel good overall. I needed to get the work done on my hand and now I just have to be patient and let it heal. I have to wear a brace at night for the next six weeks.
There's an off-day tomorrow and the Giants open a weekend series with the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night at 7:15 Pacific. They have not listed a starter but Carlos Rodón pitched Saturday and it should be his turn.
Go Giants!
--M.C.
6 comments:
The Giants starters' ERA has gained a 1.2 points from the first half (pre-ASB) to the games played in the second half. The relievers' ERA has bloomed by 1.8 points. Meanwhile, the number of RBI in the second half, would, if normalized to the number of games, be over 130 less than the RBI in the first half. I don't think anyone is surprised by these numbers.
FanGraphs projects an 81-81 finish for the Giants. That's based on a projected +27 run difference and a projected 4.50 RS per game (14th best) vs. 4.33 RA (16th best) per game.
At this point I'd be very happy with a .500 finish!
turns out that poor infield defense and the inability to get outs on slowly hit ground balls has cost them way too many games. Really, in all the years I have been following MLB and that is since the early 1950's I have never seen a team muff so many key and relatively easy plays. Not talking about the perfect bunt down the third base line, or the occasional impossible play, but many plays that should be made that just are not. Also in the last two weeks how many rallies have been started against the giants with 2 outs. Not only that but how many key hits keep coming against the giants with 2 strikes? Either our pitchers cannot put guys away, or there is something telling that our pitcher or catcher is doing with two strikes that other teams seem to know exactly what is coming. Can teams now hack into the device that allows catchers to electronically tell the pitcher what pitch he is calling? It has been weird how many two out two strike hits the opposition has been getting. Also in a few comeback games the umpire has literally taken the bat out of some giant hitters hands. Last week when the giants had men on and were rallying with 2 out down two and runners on second and third the game ended on a called strike to Slater that was at least 4 inches inside perhaps more. On Tuesday the giants had a rally and in the middle of their 3 run rally Davis was called out and two of the pitches in that AB were not called strikes all night. The first pitch was 2-3 inches inside and on this particular night it had not been a strike until then, what made it even worse was he was then called out on a pitch 4-6 inches outside. No pitch in that game more than an inch outside had been called a strike all game. If the giants had gone ahead on Tuesday, it would have been Doval on the mound in the ninth instead of Rogers. Professional hitters like Machado do not seem to be fooled by gimmicky pitchers like Rogers. Sorry for the rant and the vent, but as bad as the giants are playing the opposition does not need any help. On the other side of the coin, I thought the runner for the Pads in Monday night's game was safe. I am still shocked that the giants received the benefit of the overturned call. Perhaps N.Y. thought they owed the giants one.
No worries, it is a rant-worthy club.
The Giants figured that if their pitchers made the other team hit the ball poorly that good things would happen. Didn't quite work out that way! I have been amazed by the fielding lapses, mostly because there have been so many. To be fair, the regulars have been not been together on the field much and there have been a lot of inexperienced replacements. Still, it's the major leagues and you have to make the plays. Extra outs, as we've seen, really wear down pitchers.
I agree about the two-strike execution, esp. from relievers. Seems like they groove too many of their two-strike pitches. Last year's bullpen was crazy good. This year, not so much!
A pretty good analysis of Tyler Rogers, by Grant Bisbee: https://theathletic.com/3495846/2022/08/11/giants-tyler-rogers-struggles-solutions/?source=freedailyemail&campaign=601983
I saw that. He's pretty much doing what he did last year, except for the walks. The outcomes are a whole lot different, though.
I really like Rogers. He's unique. He led MLB in appearances last year and the year before. He's a 10th-round pick (Giants, 2013). I want to see more guys like Rogers succeed. Not necessarily submariners, just guys who don't do the blazing 4-seamers or wicked death-sliders. There has to be room in the game for pitchers who use other tools and tactics to get hitters out.
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