1st inning: 7-11
2nd inning: 12-6
3rd inning: 6-12
Overall 25-29 (.463), four games back in fourth place.The Giants undid all that good work earlier in the month by losing five of their last six. Last night they had a 5-4 lead in the 6th only to blow it and lose 6-5 in extras. The Dodgers had lost six straight earlier in the month but have won nine of eleven to surge past the Giants into third place. The formerly first-place Diamondbacks, riding an 18-7 April, followed that with a 7-18 May and have allowed the Rockies to slip past them for the top spot. Colorado's record is the reverse of San Francisco's: 29-25. The Padres 22-33 looks bad, but it is better than the Rangers, Marlins, Reds, Royals, White Sox, and Orioles.
What do we know after one-third of the season? That the Giants still can't score runs consistently although the team average has finally cracked four per game (219/54 = 4.06). Only six teams are worse and those include the Padres (3.67) and the Diamondbacks (3.77). The others are the Marlins, Orioles, Royals, and White Sox. Such august company! With Johnny Cueto and Madison Bumgarner still sidelined (although the news is good on Bumgarner) the starting pitching is a mess and that puts the relievers to work too soon and too frequently and the result is 4.89 runs allowed per game. That's half a run over the league average of 4.39 and rates at eighth-worst. Yes, the Royals, White Sox, Orioles, Rangers, Reds, and Marlins are in that list with the Blue Jays thrown in as well.
The bright spots? Obviously it is great to see the Brandons both performing at a high level. Gorkys Hernandez has been a nice surprise and I'd sure like to see him keep it up. FNGs Longoria and McCutchen should be merged into one player that has Longo's SLG (.458) and Cutch's OBP (.371). That guy would almost be as good as Brandon Belt (.970 OPS, 9th in baseball). The bullpen core (Strickland, Watson, Dyson, Moronta, Smith) has been strong overall and would be very effective if the starters could get it going and last past the 5th inning. The Giants have been absolutely clobbered on the road, losing 19 of 30 games and allowing 145 runs while scoring only 90. After a .500 April at 13-13 they've slipped to a .400 May at 10-15.
Jeff Samardzija tonight at 5:40 Pacific. Go Giants!
--M.C.
3 comments:
6 - 12 is.......last yearish.
Without looking for supporting stats, I'd have to say that, last night notwithstanding, the relief pitching is much, much better than last year, and that is why we are not out of it by 20 games or so. Of course, another reason is that no one in the West has really put on the gas since Arizona's early start, which they have neatly reversed. Our hitting is not up to par, although sometimes it is, even that sometimes makes it better than last year. Our starters are being asked to do a lot considering that they are 4 guys (and Smardjy) who should not have to carry the load all by themselves. The sooner Madbum, the better.
The teams batting average is up to par, but their obp is not high enough, as they do not take their share of walks. They also strike out too often. Their hitting with runners in scoring position is not adequate. Their peripheral numbers suggest that they should have scored more runs. When the team was good, they took the walks, and did not give up so many. This team is the opposite of that. I am glad last night that Bochy took Posey out of an RBI position. The fielding is really starting to be an issue.
They do walk too little and K too much, but as to OBP they’re in the middle of the pack—and to the point here, the pack is pretty tight, so that the Giants at .320 are only .010 below 6th in MLB and .010 above 25th. I note that they’re 4th in the National League in wRC+, so the offense is more than holding its own. If they didn’t have to struggle with a jerrybuilt rotation and its reverberations through the pitching staff, they’d be doing pretty damn well.
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