I'm back. Are the Giants?

OAK 5  SF 2

The Giants didn't do much at the trade deadline. I think Zo summed things up nicely in the comments. They are, at this point, a middling team and made some middling moves. Not very exciting. Not that I was expecting much. I did notice that the first three names in the lineup last night were Fitzgerald, Schmitt, and Ramos, all rookies. The Youth Movement is officially underway. They went 1-for-10 with five whiffs, but hey, anyone can have a bad night.

I will miss Alex Cobb. He pitched really well in orange-and-black. He'll be 37 in October and is recovering from hip surgery so I can understand why the Giants moved on. Jorge Soler had a rough start to the year but is otherwise a solid DH. Though with youngsters in the wings and $32M on the books for '25-'26 it's not surprising they opted for a trade. I suppose getting anything for a pitcher who has yet to throw this year and an aging hitter (Soler's 33 next season) with limited defensive value is a bit of a coup. FZ likes to work the margins. Swinging for the fences (Harper, Judge, Ohtani) hasn't worked out.

This season will come down to the existing ace (Logan Webb) getting back to his ace-like ways. He hasn't looked good lately. Blake Snell and Robbie Ray have to perform like veteran studs. Rookies Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong have to keep it up--both have been impressive. Birdsong has only 169-2/3 innings of minor league ball under his belt. Plus a some college (73 IP). Harrison as we know came straight from HS. His minors IP tally was 279-1/3. Contrast that to Tim Lincecum's 113-2/3! Timmy did spend three full seasons at UW racking up 342 IP.

On the hitting side, you gotta like these kids because we will get a steady diet of them. I'm happy about that, actually. It's time to see if the system can produce quality major-leaguers. This 2024 club has yet to gel and it's not certain it will gel at all. But they will creep around the periphery of the race and keep us tantalized.

Logan Webb tonight (6:45 PT). Go Giants!

--M.C.

 

p.s. In my absence I missed Game 108 or the end of the sixth seasonal inning. They were a desultory 9-9. Last night's loss brings their record to 53-56. They are five back in the Wild Card.

1st inning: 7-11

2nd inning: 8-10

3rd inning: 12-6

4th inning: 8-10

5th inning: 9-9

6th inning: 9-9

Coorsed again

COL 7  SF 3

The Giants bullpen gave up seven runs—two in the 6th, one in the 7th, four in the 8th—and turned a 3-0 lead into a painful loss. Kyle Harrison strung together five scoreless frames which is no mean feat at altitude in Denver. But the overworked, overexposed relief corps cracked in the thin air and got clobbered. The lineup had their chances for more runs early on and didn't convert and then sort of faded away. The Rockies bullpen struck out five in the final three innings.

It was not the second half start we were hoping for. There's two more at Coors (Saturday at 5:10 PT and Sunday at 12:10 PT) and then they go to LA.  Logan Webb takes the hill tomorrow. He had an ugly All-Star game but he pitched well in Chicago on his last turn.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

p.s. Once again I must be away from my desk. I won't be posting for at least a week and perhaps two. But feel free to carry on in the comments!

Yaz saves the day

SF 3  MIN 2

Blake Snell had his best start of the year, seven shut out innings with only one hit allowed. He was perfect through six. That makes twelve consecutive scoreless frames over his last two outings. The single in the 7th was wiped out by a double play and a 1-2-3 8th from Tyler Rogers meant the Giants had faced the minimum going to the 9th. Clinging to a 2-0 lead Camilo Doval walked the first batter and two doubles later had to be pulled with the save blown and the game tied. Ryan Walker finished up. Fortunately Mike Yastrzemski tripled to lead off the bottom half and then promptly scored the winner on a throwing error. It would have been a shame to waste Snell's great effort. I can't decide whether to call pitching well and getting an ND being "Cained" or "Webbed" as both work.

Giants go to the Break with a 47-50 record, good for 4th place, 9 GB in the West and 3 GB in the Wild Card. The All-Star Game is Tuesday and the second half begins Friday in Colorado.

--M.C.

Score early, score often

SF 7  MIN 1

The Giants had nine hits total but five of them were for extra bases: three doubles and two triples. Rookie Brett Wisely had three of the nine hits including a double and a triple. Kyle Harrison threw five scoreless but ran into trouble in the 6th and was pulled with one out and one run in. After back-to-back disaster starts and two losses to the Blue Jays it was nice to get a strong effort and nab a win. The Twins are a good team, sitting second to the Guardians in the AL Central and second in the AL Wild Card hunt.

The Giants scored one in the 1st and two in the 2nd and followed that with one in the 5th, one in the 6th, and two in the 7th. That kept the pressure on and Minnesota, despite ten hits (eight singles), never got anything going. Giants flashed some leather—Heliot Ramos made a nice diving catch in the 4th, Brett Wisley stabbed a hot shot in the 6th, and Matt Chapman nabbed another of those impossible foul pop-ups in the 8th. He's good at that!

It's a FOX game at 4:15 Pacific this afternoon. Rookie Hayden Birdsong gets the start.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Snell swell; Giants walk it off

SF 4  TOR 3

An errant pitch in the 9th capped a gritty comeback by the Giants and they snapped their two-game skid. They've played a nice stretch of ball lately: winning three of four from the Cubs, two of three from the Dodgers, and two of three from the Braves. Then they had three hard-fought close contests in Cleveland, just getting edged out and losing two of them to the best home team in baseball. If the Giants can go toe-to-toe with the Guardians and stand up to LA and Atlanta they are doing better than their record shows.

Last night was a breakthrough for our Thirty Million Dollar Man. Blake Snell went five scoreless allowing only one hit and three walks on what for him was a parsimonious 74 pitches. Let's see some more of that!

Youngsters Heliot Ramos and Casey Fitzgerald both homered off Yusei Kikuchi (who was awesome, whiffing 13 in 7-2/3) and that fueled the comeback. Ryan Walker had a rare bad outing and the Giants trailed late but still pulled out a win. Brett Wisely had  the game-tying hit in the 9th. There's a nice youth core emerging on this club. Austin Slater got lost in the squeeze--the veteran OF was traded to the Reds for lefty reliever Alex Young.

I missed posting for the team's 90th game or the end of the fifth seasonal inning. That was the loss on Saturday. Here's the story so far:

1st inning: 7-11

2nd inning: 8-10

3rd inning: 12-6

4th inning: 8-10

5th inning: 9-9

They've gone 1-1 since then and their record after 92 contests is 45-47. That's good for third place (tied with Arizona), ten back of the top and 2-1/2 games out of the Wild Card. Logan Webb and Heliot Ramos are All-Stars. It's exciting to see Ramos put his game together.

Speaking of Webb, he goes tonight at 6:45 PT.

Go Giants!

--M.C.