It was another close one--the Giants almost blew a lead late in the game, but this time they held on for the win. Just-recalled Camilo Doval was very effective in his 1-1/3 IP spanning the 7th and the 8th, and Ryan Walker kept his new closer job with a scoreless 9th. Starter Blake Snell walked six guys in three frames and had to be bailed out by Spencer Bivens. The lineup tagged George Kirby for nine hits and three runs over the first five. Mike Yastrzemski's solo shot in the 7th provided the winning margin. The Mariners had only four hits but still scored three runs.
Tomorrow is another day game (1:10 Pacific). Wouldn't it be great to have an entirely West Coast schedule? It's so civilized to play a ballgame at one in the afternoon! There are certainly enough teams: SF, SEA, OAK, SD, LAA, and LAD. And Arizona is on MST all summer which is the same as PDT. To hell with traveling and to hell with the East Coast. Ah well, a guy can dream.
Robbie Ray is listed for tomorrow. Go Giants!
--M.C.
7 comments:
When the Giants lost Friday, in extra innings, to Seattle, it felt to me like their season slipped away. So much like their losses to Atlanta, and capped off by losing to Seattle again on Sunday. That made 3 loses in their last 4 games. Overused, tired bullpen; starters not brilliant because they're still working out the kinks (Ray), or being used cautiously and still learning (Birdsong and Harrison); or just an insufficient offense. I might be wrong, but I just don't see them getting better against San Diego, Milwaukee, Arizona, Baltimore, or Kansas City.
For me, at this stage of the season, I find Melvin a rather conservative manager, making average moves, both in the short term for many games and for the long term. I suppose that is a great way to manage if you have a great team. If you have a team with potential that needs a boost, I just do not see him as even being nearly as good as Kapler who was not afraid to take risks. I don't find Melvin great for managing short term or long term. Dusty used to manage the season as he once said as if it had 4 quarters like a football game. He managed for the long run, and at the end of the season he often did nicely. Bochy on the other hand seemed to be excellent in making moves, especially in the post season, sans 2016. This year it seems to me that Farhan proved to the giants fan base, that he is no where near a genius, and made several almost unforgiveable moves. I don't know if they are going to keep the same management team for another year, or split it up or what, but the recent talk about looking forward to 2027-2029 before the giants can mount a serious threat seems to me to be unacceptable.
Jordan Hicks is now on the 15-day IL.
I think what FZ has done is fine. It's the players. The team is, if anything, still paying the price for Bobby Evans dereliction of duty in letting the farm system deteriorate. They entered the year needing to keep what prospects they had and go to free agency. And they did. They probably should have done this earlier, but maybe ownership didn't allow it. But they spent a lot of money in the free agent market. Signing Hicks was a good move, and it paid off well, until he hit a wall which was completely predictable. Signing Lee was a great move, but then he got hurt. They brought youth on board. The signed Chapman. They signed Snell and Ray, although it took awhile until they were able to pitch (and now Ray seems to be hurt again). Bart did well elsewhere (he's now hurt) but he didn't do well with the Giants. It's not as though I don't have criticisms of FZ, I do, but I just don't see what else they could have done, at least, without a billion dollars to spend on salaries. A number of players are not hitting like they did last year: Estrada, and Flores. I liked Soler, but he didn't add enough value to keep. Conforto is the same as last year, which isn't good enough. Call it a rebuild if you want, I would say that it probably should have been done earlier, and it needs to continue. I don't expect to see any of the last three Giants mentioned back next year (without looking at anyone's contract). Every other team in the West (well, not Colorado) also improved, and a few had much better farm systems than the Giants to draw on. I think the future of Giants pitching looks even better than the future of LA's pitching. Yeah, even with Yoshinobu and Ohtani.
I know it looks easy to say it in hindsight but I said many of these things at the time. Why sign Murphy when you already have Bart at very low cost. Also when they finally got rid of Bart for nothing, he did indeed have a breakthrough spring training. I guess it was inevitable, but after they fixed Manaea, why not try to make an offer to keep him before he opted out. Seemed as if at least for a year he would be a solid 4 or 5 starter, and give some of the young minor league studs another year to develop. Why not try to re-sign Pederson. He would not cost as much as Soler or J.D. Martinez, but J.D. did not want to play in SF. The rumor was that Pederson and Yaz, did not get along that well, and caused some clubhouse turmoil. To that I would say we had a new manager coming in, and could address that from the start, if that did not work, we all know that Kent, and Bonds did not get along, but they made a productive duo for many years. Agree that the Lee signing was a good signing, and the injury hurt this team. Also I know we traded injured for injured, Haniger *not really injured, and Desclafani (injured) for Raye, but if we wanted to win for this year, why trade for a guy who it looked like probably could not pitch until August, (ok, give you future move), when we already had Cobb, (most likely could not pitch until after the all star break). Then when at least it looked as if Cobb might be ready, Farhan traded him. Maybe in the long run it will be a good move. When Soler started to come around, Farhan traded him. Again maybe in the long run it may be a good move. Looks as if next year we have Ramos, Lee, McRae, Matos, and possibly another year of Yaz, or someone else for the outfield, maybe Meckler. With Meckler, McRae, Fitzgerald, Lee, the team will have some speed. Of course it looks like Chapman and Snell may opt out, and that is somehow just the way Farhan structures contracts. Maybe he has to structure hat way, but then if they don't win with guys like Chap or Snell, they are likely gone. I do agree that Hicks was a worthwhile gamble. The season is not over yet, but most of us were led to believe that this team would have at least about a 50 percent chance of making the playoffs. It is still possible, but very unlikely, so fans are disappointed. I am hopeful that the team does not have to wait for the 2027 to 2029 seasons to be competitive. It seems to me a team that wins 80 games give or take a few, can be playoff contenders the next year.
I expect all the veterans who are arb-eligible (like Yaz, Wade, Estrada) to be gone next year. They will be replaced by the youngsters. The real judgment of FZ will be the emergence of quality major-leaguers from the system. If you can draft and develop consistent talent then you have a base to build a team. Then the FA signings pay off as you have a nucleus in place.
I also think they will sign Chapman to a lengthy deal.
They will hopefully try to re-sign Chapman.
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