Boom! Boom!

SF 2  ATH 1

The Giants finally got some good pitching from Tyler Mahle but it looked to be all for naught as the lineup (no surprise) couldn't get anything going. In the 9th however, down 1-0, Rafael Devers tied the game with a solo shot. That gave rookie Victor Bericoto a chance to play the hero. With two outs he hit a booming no-doubter for a walk-off winner. The youngster from Venezuela had already made a nice play to throw out a runner at home earlier in the game. Speaking of nice plays, Jung Hoo Lee made a great grab to end the 8th and preserve the tie. He also had two more hits!

The Giants have not delivered a lot of exciting finishes this season but this game was a nice exception. Day game today—12:45 PT. Landen Roupp gets the start.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Ray shines

SF 3  ATH 1

Robbie Ray walked four guys in the first five innings but they didn't hurt him. He allowed only two hits across eight frames and whiffed eight. The one run he allowed was unearned. It was his best start of 2026.

Jung Hoo Lee made an error on a routine play in RF but also homered and had another hit and a walk. His .331 average is second only to the Marlins Otto Lopez (.337).

Caleb Killian put two on in the 9th but still managed to get the save. The Giants kept the terrific Nick Kurtz from hurting them (he was 0-for-4 with 3 K). I mention him because he was the #4 pick in the 2024 draft (from Wake Forest). The 23-year old lefty slugger spent only 33 games in the minors. He hit 36 HR as a rookie last year in 117 games. It is possible to find an impact player with the #4 pick!!

6:45 tonight and Tyler Mahle returns from the IL to get the start.

Go Giants!

--M.C. 

Draft history, pt. 2

Logan Webb got Cained but we are big boys and girls and we are used to such things. I decided to write about the draft instead of the game.

We looked at 2020 in a previous post so I'll take a look at 2021. If you sort the first round by MLB bWAR the leaders are Jackson Merrill (8.0, #27), Gavin Williams (6.9, #23), Sal Frelick (6.0, #15), Colson Montgomery (5.5, #22) and Colton Cowser (4.1, #5). The #4 pick was Marcelo Mayer who has 0.4 WAR in 111 games. (The Giants have this year's #4 pick).

Padres CF Merrill, White Sox 3B/SS Montgomery, and Red Sox IF Mayer were all high school shortstops. Guardians starter Williams, Brewers RF Frelick, and Orioles OF Cowser were all college picks. 

The Giants drafted P Will Bednar (Mississippi State) with the 14th pick. He's 26 and still in the minors. He has crazy K numbers but also crazy walk numbers. Mason Black was the 85th pick and Landen Roupp the 356th pick.

The Pirates chose college catcher Henry Davis with the #1 overall pick that year. He's in the majors as a C/OF but in 235 games (812 PA) he has a .173 batting average. It's not easy to find a catcher who can hit!

 --M.C.

4th inning: 7-11

1st inning: 6-12

2nd inning: 8-10

3rd inning: 8-10

4th inning: 7-11 

 

Game 72 (Sunday's win in Chicago) flew right past my radar. They've gone 2-2 since. After 4/9 of the season they were 29-43 and they now sit at 31-45, a .408 clip. I note they scored seven runs in both games of the doubleheader in Atlanta and won both. They scored a mere three apiece in the two in Miami and naturally lost both.

--M.C. 

Let's Take Two!

SF 7  ATL 2

SF 7  ATL 5

If you score 14 runs in a day you ought to come away with a win or two and that's just what the Giants pulled off in Atlanta. Thanks to Mother Nature they played two games in one day and thanks to the Baseball Deities (be they evil or good) the Giants won both.

Yesterday the rained interrupted a 3-2 Giants lead in the 2nd. That game resumed today with Robbie Ray on the mound and he was brilliant (6-1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO). Dylan Smith and new closer Caleb Killian finished up. That game featured back-to-back homers by Rafael Devers and Jung Hoo Lee in the 5th.

Later Carson Whisenhunt got the call-up and the start and he was unscored upon for his first five frames. TonyV went to the well one more time and tried to get through the 6th with his recently promoted southpaw and it didn't work out so well. In the end the youngster got charged with a mere two runs.

Three of The Hateful Four (JTB, SH, RW) covered the next nine outs. With a 7-2 lead Matt Gage was tasked with the 9th. It was nearly a disaster but Tristan Beck got the job done and the Giants squeaked by the best team in baseball. Luis Arraez had two hits and four RBI and both Bryce Eldridge and Willy Adames hit homers.

Like I said the 2026 Giants are a bad trip. There's no sense to be made of it. Oh, I'm sure you've seen a story or two about the Giants being "sellers at the deadline." Well, duh.

Tomorrow's game is at 4:15 Pacific. Go Giants!

--M.C. 

Sunday notes

SF 5  CHC 1

Another fine start from a resurgent Logan Webb led the way this afternoon in San Francisco. The righty allowed an unearned run on a throwing error from Casey Schmitt and that was it. He struck out seven in eight full frames and walked none. The twenty-fourth out was an excellent play in right field from Jung Hoo Lee who also had two hits and scored a run. Matt Chapman, in the leadoff spot, got the biggest hit, a two-run homer in the 5th. Bryce Eldridge kept his on-base streak alive (up to 20 games now) with a hit and a walk. He batted in the second spot. Caleb Killian, just announced as the closer, delivered a 1-2-3 9th with two whiffs. Good stuff!

This season has mostly not been good stuff. But I can roll with it. I can put it down to inexperience and rookie mistakes. Both Buster Posey and Tony Vitello are new to their jobs. Buster is finding out that being a great baseball player and a successful businessman were both easier than being a baseball executive! I can accept there will be a learning curve and an "implementation dip" from this new partnership. Poor performance from the club is not unexpected. It's disappointing, certainly. But I think it will improve.

What I don't like and have a harder time forgiving is a lack of leadership. I learned from a story on McCovey Chronicles (by Brady Klopfer) that four Giants pitchers did not like participating in the team's annual Pride Night on Friday. They decided to either put Old Testament verses on their caps or to not wear the pride cap at all. Big, manly Landen Roupp (6-2, 220), JT Brubaker (6-4, 200), Sam Hentges (6-8, 255!), and Ryan Walker (6-2, 215) all decided to hide behind their "Christian faith" and Roupp even had the gall to tell LGBTQ fans (if there are any left) to "read the Bible." Why are jocks so afraid of gays?

Fuck you. Fuck your prejudice and your narrow-mindedness. Not to mention your goddamn insubordination. You work for the Giants. The Giants have Pride Night. Suck it up, chickenshits! All of you are grown men (Roupp 27, Brubaker 32, Hentges 29, Walker 30) and seasoned professionals. You are not naive kids just out of amateur ball. I'm calling you out, losers!

And shame on you, Tony V, for not making them "toe the line." And yes, we all know Buster is a Bible Study kinda guy but that doesn't justify tacitly supporting bigots.

Otherwise, it was nice to see the team play well on National TV.

--M.C. 

Tip o' the cap

Jung Hoo Lee's 18-game hitting streak ended last night after he went 0-for-3. He hit .500 (36-for-72) during that stretch.

That's a lot of hits. You have to go back to Bill Terry (1932) to find a span of 12 games and 29+ hits by a Giants player.

Otto Lopez of the Marlins has a .342 average to lead MLB. Lee is second with a .333 and his .451 slugging is a career high.

Way to go, Jung Hoo!

--M.C.