Giants Cain't Solve Cards

StL 5  SF 2
Matt Cain was tonight's emergency starter as Madison Bumgarner was a late scratch due to illness ("flu-like symptoms"). He gave an adequate performance, lasting five innings with only two runs allowed on seven hits. Each time he takes the ball I think "this could be the last." At some point--the end of the season I suppose--the team will cut ties with their longest-tenured player. Alas, the Giants had a hard time scoring runs. Imagine that! They did get a rally going in the bottom of the 9th, but it was too little, too late, not to mention farcical. Some douche interfered with a Brandon Crawford homer after a Buster Posey double and turned it into another double, thus turning a 5-3 game into a 5-2 game. Duane Kuiper, rightly I think, complained on the broadcast about the delay on the video ruling. It really should take less time, but that's just one of those things to file for later. Meanwhile the Giants got some clutch hitting from Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford, that's nice, let's get some more of that.

Giants match their May record by going 13-16 in August. It's not much, a .448 win percentage, but it beats the sub-.400 months of April (.346), June (.333), and July (.360). Twenty-six games left--can they win ten of them?

Johnny Cueto is slated for tomorrow night. Parsons, you're up!

--M.C.

.167 Road Trip

1 win in 6 games.  The Giants went to Arizona and San Diego, two NL West division rivals and they had to throw a complete game shutout to get a win.  The final loss, in San Diego, assured them of a losing record for the season.  It was their 83rd loss of the year.  They could sweep September and still not crack .500.

Ty Blach threw the rubber match in San Diego yesterday.  He threw 5 2/3 innings, 99 pitches, and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks.  2 of those hits were home runs, including 1 to Travis Wood, San Diego's pitcher.  The Giants lost 5 - 0.  Kyle Crick allowed an inherited runner to score and Josh Osich allowed an unearned run in the 8th.

Although I have argued and will still argue that the Giants biggest pressing need is relief pitching, this road trip highlights their second biggest need, one that is harder to fix, offense.  Buster Posey has been out a couple games, and was clearly injured before that, and Brandon Belt has been out, but:  1 for 10 yesterday with runners in scoring position.  The Giants got 6 hits and 6 walks.  Ty Blach got 2 of those hits.  No one scored.  3 for 21 on the series, and 4 for 33 on the road trip.  4 for 33.  That's not good.  The Giants got shut out 3 times in 6 games.  They scored only 10 runs in 6 games.

Buster Posey and Brandon Belt notwithstanding, the Giants have to do better than that to compete in the major leagues.  Plenty of time to discuss particulars once the blessed offseason finally gets here.    At this point, I don't even know why it upsets me so much to have this kind of performance out of this team.  I should expect it, or at least be numb to it by now.

Shark Shutout

SF 3  SD 0
Giants starter Jeff Samardzija threw his first complete game of the season and his second in a Giants uniform. His sterling three-hitter last night was the fourth shutout of his career. One way to overcome bullpen woes is to not use the relief corps at all, I suppose. The Giants were locked in a tight 1-0 contest but Joe Panik's late homer made it 3-0 and that helped The Shark finish it out. I'm happy to see Brandon Crawford looking more like his old self at the plate. If anyone is a candidate for a bounce-back next season it's the Giants stellar shortstop. But the night belonged to the big righty who put together a good start against the Padres after two stinkers last month.

Samardzija cleared waivers, it should be noted, which means he could be traded. I'm not sure there will be takers, and he has some no-trade rights, but he is now a potential piece for a pitching-depleted playoff team. I'm not sure the Giants could get all that much for him other than salary relief. FanGraphs rates his season so far at 3.6 WAR which is pretty damn good (12th in baseball) and that production would have to come from somewhere next season. fWAR is not the end-all and be-all of stats by any means, and we know Samardzija gives up a lot of hard contact, but he makes himself valuable with his strikeouts, low walk totals, and durability.

--M.C.

Strat gets Cained

AZ 11  SF 0
Chris Stratton had another excellent start but the Giants were both shut out and swept by the Diamondbacks. It was a close game until the 8th when Matt Cain (2/3 IP, 8 R) had perhaps his worst appearance ever. If not the worst, then close, and that's saying a lot considering he's been in the bigs since 2005 and has logged over 2000 innings. But that's not really important. For all his career accomplishments in orange-and-black Matt Cain is not a part of the future. It makes me sad to say that but it happens to all players, and he leaves behind an outstanding body of work. The only thing we can be interested in at this point in this wretched season is next season and the season after that, etc. The present is intolerable; the future has a chance to be better. Chris Stratton is showing some major-league moxie and I'm excited by that. Even if his ceiling is only as a fifth-starter (and it may not be), the Giants still need choices for that role, and he's serving notice that he should be in the mix. Good for him. Let's see more guys bang on the door and say "put me in coach, I'm ready to play."

Next stop is San Diego tomorrow night. Jeff Samardzija gets the ball.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. The uniforms the Giants sported this weekend were the most clownish I've ever seen them in and it is fitting that they played poorly while looking like a beer-league slo-pitch team. Some promotions really are cringe-worthy--this was one of them.

Ty Tired, Bum Bummed

Ty and Madison on the mound to start our season-concluding push against the western division.  That is where titles, and playoff spots are often won and lost.  Neither will be the case this year for the Giants, but there is something on the line.  That is: pride.  If they are going to compete next year, they are going to have to win against the Western Division.  There is no way around that inevitable truth.  And, if the Giants are going to compete next year, they are going to do it with much the same cast that they have today.  Not entirely, that can't happen, but probably most of them.   And among those guys, 2 of the ones you want on the list to actually be here next year are Ty Blach and Madison Bumgarner.

Ty Blach threw his third game in a row where he was not effective.  You could say that he was better than his previous 2 starts - 6 earned runs against both Miami and Philadelphia is 6 and 5 1/3 innings, respectively.   And in fact, he pitched pretty well, with one exception.  That was to Paul Goldschmidt in the 3rd inning with 1 run in and 2 runners on base.  That made the score 4 - 1 in favor of the dbacks.  After that, the Giants chipped away.  Chip, chip, chip.  But the best they could come up with was 3 for their 78th loss of the year and a final score of 4 - 3.  The thing is, in Arizona, you have to be able to put runs on the board.  Like in Colorado.  Dink-ball doesn't do it when one mistake to Goldschmidt can ruin your shit.  Brandon Crawford, was good though, getting 3 hits and scoring twice.  It is time to ask whether Ty is pooping out on the season.  That would be understandable, he has given us 144 1/3 innings, is not quite 27 and this is his first season in the major leagues (except for his most auspicious debut last year).  Still, as much as I am sure Bochy & Co. would like to see him get a full season in, but with Matt Cain available and Johnny Cueto rehabbing, his starts may be numbered.

Saturday: Put your ace on the mound and chalk up your 79th loss of the season.  I wouldn't put any money on the Giants NOT losing 100 games this season.   The 3 runs the Giants scored yesterday would have been plenty, but today they couldn't muster that.  In Arizona.  They lost, 2 -1.  To some guy named Tai-Wheezy.  Christ.  The player nickname promotion stinks of a MLB marketing guy who hasn't done anything but bullshit around the water cooler since he was hired 3 years ago until his manager finally caught on and was told to come up with something or lose his job.  Half the players don't even have nicknames, so they have to make them up for this shit.  It's terrible, as was the Giants offense.  Madbum went 7, struck out 7, gave up 5 hits and walked 1.  2 of those hits were home runs, with no baserunners.  That happens in Arizona.  It used to happen more when the Giants batted.  Jarrett Parker hit one, too, with no one on, and that, of course, was the extent of the Giants' offense.  Buster Posey is 0 for Arizona, and frankly, has looked bad doing it.  In fact, the top 4 hitters in the Giants line-up have 3 hits.  For 2 games.  Parker had 2 of them today and the other one came last night.  Crawford had a hit, now that he finally seems to have figured out his swing, Posey can't see the ball.

Taijuan Walker is new on the dbacks this year, so of course he befuddled the Giants.  If I were another team in the western division, I would just call up some minor leaguers the Giants have never seen before for September to face us.  It probably doesn't even matter if they are really pitchers or not.  I am so sick of getting beat by new/minor league/mediocre pitchers.  We do better against Greinke than against Tai-fucking-Wheezy.  The Giants washed out creamsickle-colored orange jerseys look.  Like.  Shit.  I'll give Joe Panik some credit, the nickname he put on his jersey is Panik.  Why would you want to mess with a name like that?  Ty actually is already a nickname.  So is Buster.   As much as I want to see someone, anyone, knock the cubs out of the NL Central lead, let's just can the season now, shall we?

7th inning: 9-9

I'm a little late, I know. Got home yesterday after a week on the road. We camped in the mountains for five of the seven nights. We had a great time and got an excellent view of the eclipse (which was amazing). I missed a lot of baseball so you folks will have to fill in the details.

1st inning: 6-12
2nd inning: 6-12
3rd inning: 10-8
4th inning: 4-14
5th inning: 8-10
6th inning: 7-11
7th inning: 9-9

On Sunday the Giants were 50-76 for a .397 win percentage. They've since taken two of three from the Brewers and bumped up to 52-77 for that elusive .400 mark (actually .403). In a world where the Dodgers are playing .712 ball and streaking toward perhaps the single-season win record it doesn't seem like much. But any improvement is a good thing.

It will only take eleven more wins to reach 63 and avoid 100 losses. There are 33 games left to play, I think the Giants will pull it off. I know, it's a jinx to say it, let alone post it, but I think we'll be saved the ignominy of recapitulating 1985. They have twelve wins in the month of August, the only month that they've scored more runs (so far) than they've allowed. That needs to continue. I'm encouraged that Matt Moore is looking better. And Johnny Cueto should be back soon, that will be nice to see.

Looks like our super southpaws are up next, I'll let the Mystic One do his thing for those games and I'll be back on Sunday for Chris Stratton's start.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. I'll be working up some posts over the next few days on my other blog about the eclipse and our adventure if any of you are interested.

Really? The Best the Giants Could Manage Was a Split Against the Phillies?

Wait, let me guess.  Relief pitching?  Of course.   So with two wins in the books and our two best pitchers (Ty Blach and Madison Bumgarner) on the mound we lose both games?  Against the team with the worst record in the major leagues?  And lack of offense to boot (today, anyway)?  How positively 2017.

Ty Blach on the mound Saturday against the Phillies.  Ty was not his sharp self.  He gave up 1 in the 2nd, allowing Philly to tie the game at 1 each, and 3 in the 3rd, allowing Philly to take a 4 - 3 lead after Span's rbi single scored Jones and Tomlinson for a 3 - 1 lead.  The Giants tied the game at 4 all in the 5th, then gave it up in the 6th.  Blach got the first out, allowed a double and a single for a run and was replaced by Osich.  Gearrin relieved Osich later that inning and by the time it was the bottom of the 6th, the Giants were behind 11 - 4.  They staged a rally in the 9th, but fell by a final score of 12 - 9.  That wasted a Denard Span first inning lead off inside-the-park home run, the first by the Giants since 1945.  That was exciting.  The final score, not so much.  Suarez threw the final 3, allowing 1 and looking pretty good.

Madison Bumgarner on the hill Sunday.  Madison threw 6, struck out 7, gave up 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk.  A Buster Posey single scored Tomlinson in the 4th, and Madison Bumgarner scorched a single in the 5th to score Ryder Jones and stake the Giants to a 2 - 1 lead.  Mark Melancon took the 7th, gave up 2 hits and struck out 2 but allowed no runs.  Hunter Strickland was a different story.  He made it through the 8th, but gave up 6 hits and 3 runs.  Kyle Crick gave up 1 more in the 9th.  The final score was 5 - 2.    We are 3 - 4 against the Philadelphia Phillies this year.  We have games left against St. Louis and Milwaukee, both of whom are fighting for a playoff berth, the White Sox, and the NL West.  We're back under .400, where, apparently, we belong.

The Giants Are Not A .400 Baseball Team

Mark is off in the desert, staring at the sky.  In Miami, the Giants proved themselves incapable of beating the Marlins today, losing 2 of 3 behind Matt Cain.  They are 1 - 5 against Miami this year.  Today's score was 8 - 1.  If you only had a little time today, you heard all you need to about this game.  It was over in the 1st inning.  Miami scored 4 and that was 2 more than they needed.  The Giants pushed 1 across in the 3rd, assisted by a throwing error, no rbi was awarded.  Cain lasted 4 innings, gave up 5 runs, only 2 of which were earned due to sloppy defense.  The first inning saw a catcher's interference (Hundley, not Buster) and an error by Crawford.  After Matt exited, Alberto Suarez gave up 3 more runs in 3 innings, then Josh Osich gave up 1 hit but no runs in the 8th.   Osich cannot complain about not getting chances.  25 year old Jose Urena pitched for the Marlins, he picked up his 11th win in 5 innings of work.  Giancarlo Stanton did not hit a home run.

I thought it was important to win this game.   After their miserable showing in Los Angeles in late July, they split with the A's, then beat Arizona and the Cubs each 2 of 3.  Then they went to Washington.  Well, Washington is a very good club, but Miami is not (much better than the Giants, but that's not saying much).  If they were to play anything like what they were supposed to be capable of this year, it would have been good to get back to winning a series.  And they would have breached that .400 barrier.  They didn't do that.  So now, 4 games against Philadelphia in our own stadium.  Anyone know what the over-under is on a split?

Did you know?  Matt Cain struck out 7 today.  He is now within 17 strikeouts of Tim Lincecum's Giant totals.  Tim is 4th on the all time leaders list for strikeouts, behind Christy Mathewson, Juan Marichal and Amos Rusie.   Considering that he has been left for dead by the press, I'd like to see him pick up those K's.  It would at least be something in this stinkpot of a year.

One and One

Just when you thought the Giants were playing well, they turn around and make you wonder if they are about to embark on another losing streak.  But after dropping the final game of their make-up double header in extra innings Sunday to Washington, and dropping Ty Blach's start against the Miami Marlins on Monday, they won today behind Madison Bumgarner.  Ty gave up 6 runs on 9 hits and 3 walks Monday, including 2 home runs (1 to Giancarlo Stanton, natch).  The Giants could only muster 3 runs.  The final score was 8 - 3.

Today, the Giants turned the tables.  They won, 9 - 4.  Madison gave up all 4, he threw 6 innings and gave up 9 hits and 2 home runs (see above).   He struck out 4 and walked 1.  The 7th, 8th, and 9th belonged to Melancon, Strickland and Gearrin, respectively.   Melancon pitched particularly well, he gave up an infield hit, then got the heart of Miami's order without a ball leaving the infield.  Strickland gave up 2 hits, but no runs, and Gearrin walked 1 for the victory.  Denard Span was 3 for 5 with a home run, Andrew Jones hit a home run and had 2 hits and Kelby Tomlinson and Buster Posey each had 2 hits.

The Giants are, again, 1 win from being a .400 ball club.  Matt Cain is slated for tomorrow afternoon before the Giants head home to play Philadelphia, the only National League club with a worse record.  Yahoo headlines state that Pablo Sandoval says he played poorly in Boston because he left his heart in San Francisco.  Pablo Sandoval is full of shit.

Stratton Subdues Nats

SF 4  WSN 2
Chris Stratton struck out ten today in DC and allowed no runs over 6-2/3 innings. That's a great team and a tough lineup even without Bryce Harper. The rookie almost made it through seven but he surrendered a walk (his only one) on his 109th pitch and 26th batter. Nonetheless it was an outstanding effort and secured the team's first win against the Nationals this season. I said in a previous post that it was time to see what this guy can do and I hope he makes all his starts the rest of the way. The bullpen had a shaky moment with Hunter Strickland allowing a two-run homer in the bottom of the 8th. You know the crowd loved that. He did get his three outs and both Josh Osich (one batter, one out) and Sam Dyson (three-up, three-down save) did their jobs and the 'pen held on for the win. The Giants were up 3-0 early and tacked on a late run, something they seem to be doing a better job with lately. Mr. Doubles Nick Hundley had one, his 19th, as did both Ryder Jones and Gorkys Hernandez. Joe Panik had three hits and two runs batted in and Kelby Tomlinson drove in that late run with a sac fly pinch-hitting in the top of the 8th. Good stuff!

Matt Moore gets the late game tonight. Giants go to Miami on Monday.

--M.C.

Beating the Cubs. So Nice!

The Giants got 2 victories over the Chicago Cubs, World Champions and defeater of the Giants in their last post-season appearance back in 2016.  The first, after a sloppy, poorly pitched loss by Matt Moore, was behind Ty Blach on Tuesday night, 3 - 6.   The second was this afternoon, behind Madison Bumgarner for his 2nd win of the year, 1 - 3.

The Giants had not beaten the Cubs in a series in awhile.  They lost 3 of 4 back in May.  Of course they lost 3 of the first 4 in a 5 game series in the 2016 postseason after beating the Mets behind Madison Bumgarner for the wild card.  They lost 3 of 4 to the Cubs in Chicago in September, although they actually beat them 2 of 3 in SF in May.  They lost 4 straight in Chicago in August, 2015 then won 2 of 3 in SF later in August for a losing season split, 5 -2.  The loss puts the Cubs in a tie with Milwaukee, with St. Louis just behind.  That's a race, unlike the NL West.  It was only Madison Bumgarner's 2nd win against 5 losses.  Of course, he missed a good chunk of the season.  What's more, it is only the second time that the Giant's aces, who I am defining as Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto, or Johnny Cueto and Ty Blach, or Madison Bumgarner and Ty Blach, have won games back to back.  It's August.  (The first was Blach/Cueto in Colorado/Pittsburgh at the end of July.

Ty Blach won Tuesday night, 6 - 3, with help from a 1st inning, 3-run blast from Buster Posey.  It is only the 5th (I think) 3-run home run of the season, and it seems like they only had 1 just a few days ago.  Ty added an rbi himself, and gave us 7 innings, 7 hits, 2 runs and 3 K's.  Strickland allowed a run, but it was not earned.  Significantly, when the Cubs put 2 on the board in the 6th to make it 4 - 2, the Giants answered in the 7th with a run.  Today, Madison also gave us 7 innings, and walked off the mound to a 1 - 1 tie.  He struck out 7 and gave up 5 hits.  A couple of dinks, though, scored Denard Span to make it 2 - 1 in the bottom of the 7th and Hunter Pence homered in the 8th with no one on.  Madison, in spite of his record, has a 2.71 era and a 1.01 WHIP.   Madison Bumgarner has 27 runs of support in just over 66 innings of work, 9 games, but if you take out the 5 innings he pitched vs Pittsburgh in which he got 10 runs of support en route to an 11 - 3 rout, he has 17 runs of support in 8 games.

The Giants, though, beat the Cubs 2 of 3 after winning 2 of 3 from Arizona, all at home.  They are now 6 - 4 in their last 10.  In that time, they have not had a reliever that has lost the game.  Also, they are 1 win away from that illusive mark that separates incompetence from horrible-ness, .400.  It will be tough, against Washington in DC, but they are playing better than they have all year right now.

Back-to-Back!

The Giants teamed up to support Jeff Samardzija today and got their second win in two days against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Jarrett Parker hit a monster two-run homer and threw out J.D. Martinez at the plate as well. It will be nice to see what this guy can do over a whole season. Stay healthy, man. Hunter Pence and Nick Hundley both had clutch, run-scoring hits. Arizona avoided pitching to Buster Posey but he still scored a run, with Brandon Belt on the DL someone has to pick up the slack. Pence would be the obvious candidate. Albert Suarez was particularly impressive in relief, getting the final seven outs, and looks poised to be a big contributor next season. The Shark walked three but kept the ball in the yard, that paid off for the big righty. 6-3 final at home, Cubs come in for three tomorrow.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Comeback!

The Giants beat the Diamondbacks in 10 innings last night 5-4 after falling behind 4-0 in the 6th. There have not been a lot of wins this season and there have been even fewer of the come-from-behind variety. So, let's take a moment to enjoy it. Chris Stratton took Matt Cain's spot in the rotation and George Kontos' spot on the roster and he delivered a rookie-level start with 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 4 W, and 4 K. He threw 95 pitches to 24 batters. Stratton was the team's first-round pick in 2012 (#20), a draft notable for the "new generation" of spectacular shortstops (Carlos Correa #1, Addison Russell #11, and Corey Seager #18). He's thrown almost 700 innings in the minors and has yet to show the dominance he flashed at Mississippi State when he was a consensus All-American. Nonetheless he's produced solid results over his 119 starts and at 26-going-on-27 it is time to see what he can do in the bigs. Pitchers from that 2012 first-round bunch that have delivered over 5.0 bWAR are Kevin Gausman (#4), Michael Wacha (#19), Marcus Stroman (#22), and Lance McCullers (#41, a supplemental pick).

The other item of note was of course the appearance of Pablo Sandoval at the hot corner. He made a throwing error that led to a run but also had a leadoff double to start the Giants scoring in the 7th. It's hard to believe he is only turning 31 this week. Seems like he's been around a long time, then again he did make his debut at the tender age of 22 in 2008. The stars of that 2008 club were Tim Lincecum, now out of of baseball, and Matt Cain, probably not far behind him. Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo, and Jonathan Sanchez were also on that team. Ten years is a long time in baseball.

Jeff Samardzija today. Giants have 43 wins, they need 20 more.

--M.C.

The Magic Disappearing Offense

Step right up, ladies and gentlemen!  See the eighth wonder of the world!  Or maybe the ninth!  Or, maybe, it's no wonder at all!  A team that scores 11 runs one night, and only 1 the very next!  Hurry!  Hurry!  Hurry!  See your ace get skunked by [fill in blank, doesn't much matter....]; see that winning attitude, that championship spirit, that confidence disappear into thin air!  See it before they're gone like yesterday's breeze.

Madison Bumgarner.  Pitched good.  7, 5, 2 and 7.  Lost.  Of course!  3 hits.  None got out of the infield.  None.  I know it's a "different" day, and a "different" team, except it's really not.  It's the magical 2017 San Francisco Giants.  Watch closely....Poof!  They're gone!  Were they really ever there at all? 

Ty Blach Hit a Home Run!

I thought I might wait until tomorrow, as Ty and Madison are now pitching back to back.  But this deserves mention.  Ty Blach, one of the Giants better-hitting pitchers, if not the best hitting pitcher (that includes Madison) hit his first home run, a 3 run blast in the 5th inning.  A bunch of other people scored, too.  Ty gave us 8 quality innings.  The Giants went on to beat the Athletics, 11 - 2.

The Giants split the "series" with the A's, 2 - 2.  The Giants scored a lot of runs on 2 nights, and looked like the Giants of 2017 on the other 2.  By beating the 5th worst team in the major leagues twice, the Giants have climbed out of the cellar, they are now only the 2nd worst team.  Progress!  Tune in tomorrow to see Madison Bumgarner swing for the fences.

6th inning: 7-11

1st inning: 6-12
2nd inning: 6-12
3rd inning: 10-8
4th inning: 4-14
5th inning: 8-10
6th inning: 7-11

Even more depressing are the monthly win totals: 9 in April, 13 in May, 9 in June, and 9 in July. I was hoping the team would improve enough to avoid 100 losses, but that requires winning 22 more games or 11 in each of the next two months. Can they pull that off? They can't hit: 30th of 30 teams in OPS. They can't pitch: 25th of 30 in both OPS against and runs allowed. Oh, and Johnny Cueto is injured and we aren't talking blisters. The dreaded "flexor strain" has revealed itself. I'm thinking he may be on the shelf for the rest of the season. Tell me I'm wrong.

But enough of that. I'm looking for bright spots. Jeff Samardzija was not pretty tonight, in fact he's usually not, he's got that gnarly jock approach to pitching which works pretty well overall, and he got the job done. The lads clobbered the ball, getting runs early and often and chipping in some big blasts as well. 10-4 final in Oakland. I kind of like that sweaty, fastball-heaving thing that The Shark does. Not everyone can be as cool and clever as Johnny Cueto or as talented and intense as Madison Bumgarner. You figure there have to be a few journeymen-grinder types; in fact you have to figure that most ballplayers are like that. The exceptional ones are just that--exceptional.

Sure is nice to see Brandon Belt hitting better. And Buster Posey continues to swing the bat well. His fielding is freakishly good, it's too bad it's wasted on this wretched club. Kelby Tomlinson got an extra-base hit, his third of the season. Let's shoot for 22 more wins, whaddya say? Twenty-two measly goddamn wins in two goddamn fookin' months of baseball. Is that too much to ask?

--M.C.