Jakob Junis opened the game and breezed through four scoreless frames, retiring 12 of 13 batters. The Giants then had one of those comical innings where every hit fell in while the fielders couldn't hang on to the ball. It was 6-0 after three and that seemed to take the fight out of the home club. Yaz added a solo shot later. The Padres have really under-performed this season. There is a LOT of talent on that squad! Sean Manaea relieved and walked five guys in his 3-1/3 but allowed only one run. Ryan Walker finished the 8th and Scott Alexander gave up a run in the 9th.
Giants finish August with a 12-15 record. They are 70-64 with 28 games left to play. They are a game ahead of the Diamondbacks and currently have the third Wild Card spot. If they play .500 (14-14) the rest of the way they'll finish with a respectable 84 wins but may miss out on the post-season. It might take a better effort than that. We'll see if they can pick up a few games in the final month.
Tristan Beck is listed as tonight's starter (6:40 PT).
Go Giants!
--M.C.
3 comments:
The main reason the giants are in the playoff hunt, is that other teams are also flawed. The giants as far as I am concerned have a better record than how they have played. The giants and Texas (under Bochy) are each in the third wild card spot. Bochy had 5 all star starters on his team. The giants had 2 pitchers selected but none by the fans. I find it amazing that this giants team is in the race. One key stat, so far, that has helped the giants is that they just have not walked that many batters, and last night when Manaea went on a base on ball spree the giants had a big lead. Unlike in 2021, this year the giants hitters are not walking that much, and are striking out in record numbers. As good as Estrada is, for a non power hitter, he strikes out way too much and does not walk. A bit of plate discipline and the guy could be a 300 hitter. He gets himself out way too often. He still may be our best overall hitter. Wade has been fading a bit the second half. Very good, but not great relief pitching has kept the giants in the race. For those that think relief pitching is not that important, the giants record says it is.
Most of the season it has been the bullpen that's kept the team together. When you only have two starters, you better hope you have good relievers! (Maybe we have three guys now, eh?)
even though Junis, Manaea, and Wood have not been starters. I look at them somewhat as starters but following an opener they do not have to go 5 innings to get the win. Some of these guys seem much better for 3 or 4 innings than 5. Strippling, to me looks so hittable this year. Last year he looked much better when I watched him pitch for Toronto. He seemed to get more strike calls on that pitch perhaps an inch below the strike zone. This year that pitch for him has consistently been called a ball.
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