SF 7 SD 5
The Giants win their fourth in a row and take the three-game set from the Padres with another strong offensive effort. A three-run burst in the 3rd that featured two homers and a four-run festival in the 6th that featured three doubles got the job done. The Padres were a little unlucky in that 6th inning with a goofy, accidental hit-by-pitch and a ball lost in the lights. But it's about time the Giants are on the receiving end of some fluke plays, don't you think? Shaun Anderson was battered a bit (4 IP, 8 H, 4 R) but the bullpen was epic, with Trevor Gott and Reyes Moronta making a bridge to the three-headed monster of Sam Dyson, Tony Watson, and Will Smith. Watson gave up a solo shot to Hunter Renfroe, but that guy is a beast. Smith made it look easy again, he's 22-for-22.
The Giants have played baseball on The Fourth of July every non-strike season since 1941. But they are off tomorrow. Drew Pomeranz faces the Cardinals on Friday night in San Francisco.
Enjoy the holiday, everyone.
--M.C.
10 comments:
Evan Longoria had four homers in the three-game series.
I watch Quick Pitch on the MLB network almost every night. For most of this season, the segments on the Giants games have highlighted the other team, even when we won. I guess when you are vying for the worst team in the game, you can't expect respect. But the past few games there has been a noticeable change. People are noticing that we are improving. Nothing like a few games with double digit runs scored to catch the attention of the sports media types. It's probably a long ways to earn back respect, but it feels like we have taken a step in the right direction.
If you get a few guys who can hit, it can make up for a few mistakes. I still think batting Posey third or fourth, until he gets his hitting prowess back, is costing us runs. You just cannot have the not ready for prime time Posey hitting in one of the key RBI slots. He would be better off batting second, or eighth at the moment. When he gets his stroke back he can go right back into the third, fourth, or fifth slot. Pillar can hit if he gets pitches over the plate. But just like with Bengie Molina, if you throw him pitches off the plate he will get himself out. When the dodgers received 5 straight walks with two outs in the bottom of the last inning to beat the Dbacks 5-4, I thought the giants could never win that way this year as they have a tendency to swing at too many bad pitches and get themselves out, or in some games when they do hold and do not swing at bad pitches down a run or two late in the game, those pitches become called strikes. The Giants are only 6 games behind in the wild card. They certainly are not out of contention yet.
Giants are 8 games below .500 with a -70 run difference. I think a more realistic goal is to get to a .500 record. At 39-47 they have 76 games left. They have to go 42-34 (.552) the rest of the way just to finish with 81 wins. They have not played .552 ball in a long time--that's an 89-win pace for a whole season.
The trade deadline is going to hurt the club because they are going to lose Bum, Smith, Watson, Dyson and perhaps more. That's OK with me because the returns will eventually be worth it. I think the Giants have to be sellers this month and that means--realistically--not aiming for the wild card.
Another way to look at it is if the Giants do indeed go on a tear and are poised at the end of the month to make a run for the playoffs, does that change the rebuilding strategy? Maybe, but I think they have to plan for a tear-down anyway in order to rebuild the upper minors and be ready next year with a new manager.
You can already see the positional flexibility and increased depth at the ML-level. But they are not done horse-trading, that's for sure.
Why does no one think that they'll trade Crawford, Belt, or Longoria? The only position Player ever mentioned is Sandoval, but, if they are really 'sellers', why wouldn't they be thinking about those other guys? I'm not advocating it & would hate to lose any of them, but, if you look at their Contracts, it seems like they would be generating some chatter.
Doesn't Crawford have a no trade clause? All of them are big money contracts, and they have underperformed their dollar value, with the possible exception of Belt if you like OBP. But first basemen are not in great need most places. The Giants got into the mess they are in by way over-paying for the value they are getting out of contracts. The "modern" GM tries to avoid that - they like cheap young guys who over-perform (see: Atlanta). So the combination of their cost and the trend works against trading those guys. The exception is Sandoval, because Boston is paying him. But for that reason alone he is immensely valuable to the Giants. Our valuable assets lie in our pitchers.
Yeah, even if they wave the no-trade BCraw is owed $30+M, Belt $34+M, and Longoria $50+M. BCraw and Belt are signed for both '20 and '21 and Longoria '20, '21, and '22.
So they COULD be traded, but the Giants would likely have to eat some of that guaranteed money. And most teams don't want to be saddled with the expensive contracts or the multi-year commitments.
This website breaks down all the teams' contractual obligations. Must reading.
Giants have been flashing some good fielding lately. Here's Yaz and Vogt preserving the tie with a nice throw-and-tag.
The odd point is, that the giants could be fixed with one or two good hitters, and another good starter. I hate to break up one of the best bullpens assembled in years. Folks think that it is easy to reassemble such a good bullpen, but it is not. The difficult part is finding the hitting and another good starter. Too bad Cueto is hurt, because the team may have looked a lot different with a healthy Cueto. They showed they can win if they can score runs. Problem is we do not know if they have the hitting to sustain a stretch with decent run scoring. But just a few weeks ago, Washington had a terrible record and folks were talking about dismantling the Nationals, and Cincy is almost back to 500. It could be that the second wildcard spot could be obtained with a record below 530. (that is unless a couple of teams get really hot). I was around in 1951, and although there was no wildcard, the giants were 13.5 games out, much later in the season than this. Baseball is a funny game. We can rebuild and become great again, or we can rebuild, and continue in mediocrity. With the financial prowess of a team like the giants, they should always be contenders.
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