9th inning: 5-13

1st inning: 7-11
2nd inning: 12-6
3rd inning: 6-12
4th inning: 10-8
5th inning: 11-7
6th inning: 8-10
7th inning: 8-10
8th inning: 6-12
9th inning: 5-13

Today was a sad day to be a Giants fan. Some team in Giants uniforms showed up to play, but they delivered a listless, desultory performance that had some in attendance--with good reason--streaming for the exits in the early innings despite Fan Appreciation Day giveaways. If Dodgers fans won most of the prizes, good on them. Today was an embarrassment and it capped a month of the worst baseball we've seen in a long time, perhaps ever. The Giants go 6-21 5-21 for September: a .222  .192 win percentage. I don't want to know where that rates in the History of the Franchise, but I'm sure someone will tweet it before the end of the day.

Should be interesting this November!

--M.C.

Madison Bumgarner's 2018 Numbers, or Bum's Nums

In 2018, Madison Bumgarner started the season with a broken hand, suffered at the end of spring training.  Madison's record this year is 6 wins against 7 losses.  That was after a 2017 that featured his dirt biking accident that kept him sidelined for about half a season.  Neither season was notable, except for how poorly the Giants did in 2017, and they will finish as a sub-.500 club in 2018 as well.  Their improvement is only notable because it came from such a low baseline.  Madison Bumgarner is the ace of our staff, without question.  There is more energy when he is on the mound, although he usually (not always, though) is fairly non-emotive as he pitches.  Here is a comparison of the last couple of years:

2014   217 IP,  9.07 K/9,  0.87 HR/9,  1.09 WHIP,  21 HR,  8.04 H/9,  3.36 R/9
2015   218 IP,  9.65 K/9,  0.87 HR/9,  1.01 WHIP,  21 HR,  7.46 H/9,  3.01 R/9
2016   226 IP,  9.97 K/9,  1.03 HR/9,  1.02 WHIP,  26 HR,  7.07 H/9,  3.14 R/9
2017   110 IP,  8.19 K/9,  1.38 HR/9,  1.09 WHIP,  17 HR,  8.19 H/9,  3.36 R/9
2018   130 IP,  7.57 K/9,  0.97 HR/9,  1.24 WHIP,  14 HR,  7.46 H/9,  3.54 R/9*

* Innings pitched, Strikeouts per 9 innings, Home Runs per 9, Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched, Home Runs, and Runs per 9.

So, without applying statistical analysis to any of these figures (most of which I have forgotten anyway), I would say that Madison's WHIP and runs/9 innings have gone up a little bit.  If his WHIP is up, it has to be because his walks are up, because his hits/9 is actually down from last year, and more consistent with his best years of 2014 - 2016.  In fact, the number of walks he issued matches the number in 2014 (43) in nearly 100 fewer innings.  In comparison, in 2017, he issued only 20 walks.   Why is that?   Have right-handed batters learned to lay off those pitches that tail away from the strike zone?  Also, in spite of the fact that the number of hits he has given up has fallen to a number consistent with his 2014 - 2016 totals, the runs he has given up has increased.  I don't know if the difference is significant, but it is interesting to me to see these numbers all in the 3's.  That means you need 4 runs to win, which at least right now, seems a stretch for the Giants.  Here is how it breaks out in terms of runs allowed per game:

2014 - 2.45; 2015 - 2.28; 2016 - 2.32; 2017 - 2.41; 2018 - 2.71

I'm just going to say that I think 2.71 is significant.  It means more than 5 runs in 2 games whereas in his prior years, he allowed less than 5 runs in 2.  That means something on a team that struggles to score any.

John Shea wrote a column the other day that stated that the new GM, whomever he or she may be, could trade Madbum.  Of course, that is predicated on the fact that he, unlike Buster Posey or Brandon Crawford, does not have a no-trade clause.  It's also a recognition of the potential value to a trade partner.  Those clauses can always be broken, though with the player's consent.  But he's really not saying anything.  The same is true for any player without a no-trade clause and is equally true for Bobby Evans as it is for a new face.  Bruce Jenkins, taking a brief pause from his "you kids and your statistics get off my lawn" rants, opines that the Giants should keep Madbum because the rest of the pitchers are too young and inexperienced.  Personally, I want to see him stick around.  I love hearing his thick drawl on the commercials, and I want him on my team should the Giants get back to playoff baseball.  He has more than earned it.  And I am not convinced that he can't get back on track, should he be able to remain injury-free.  A broken hand seems to be a tough thing to come back from.  I don't think his skill set is deteriorating, he's only 29.   The way he is built, he has the potential to be pitching when he is 40.  That's potentially a lot of valuable left handed starts from someone who has 3 World Series rings and has been instrumental in winning all of them.  I'll say this, though.  If Madbum is to be traded, it better damn well be for a monster.  No middle infielders with "potential", we've got those guys up the ass.  Aaron Judge.  Ronald Acuna.  A real force.

Madbum's Last of 2018 is a Turgid Affair

This was supposed to be a story about Madison Bumgarner, ideally one in which he would dominate the doggers and the Giants would put a dent in the playoff and division championship hopes of LA.  Instead, it was a just OK Madbum and too, too much of the same old, same old 2018.  Too little offense.  LA 3, Giants 1 in our park.

Madbum threw 6 innings, he had to pitch around an error and a hit in the 1st, but held LA scoreless.  By the end of the 2nd, he was already at 40 some-odd pitches, and had given up another hit.  LA scored in the 3rd, and then Justin Turner hit a 2-run shot in the 5th.  Madison was done after 6, with 6 strikeouts, 1 walk, 7 hits, 3 earned runs and 112 pitches.  Duane Kuiper reported that he had asked Madbum when during the year his mechanics felt best, and Madbum said it was at the end of spring training.  That was right before he got his hand broken.

Todd Hundley launched a home run over the Chevron car in left in the bottom of the 2nd.  Of course, no one was on base.  The Giants loaded the bases with 1 out in the 4th, but grounded into a double play.  The Giants grounded into 5 double plays on the night, including in the 8th and 9th inning.  So that effectively erased all their hits except the Hundley home run (although the Giants actually were the beneficiaries of 3 walks and 1 error).  No matter, it was a punk effort that came up short.  It is going to take better than pretty good pitching to win with this offense.

I was going to post some numbers and thoughts about Madbum, but it's late, and I'll get to that later.

Three to go

The Giants have three games left in their disappointing season and they take on the LA Dodgers who are fighting for a playoff spot. The boys in blue are one game back of the Colorado Rockies for the NL West top spot and a game ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the second Wild Card berth (the Milwaukee Brewers* have clinched the other). The urgency for the Dodgers should add some frisson to the matchups, with nothing left for the Giants but bumping their rivals we could see some good games. Madison Bumgarner gets the call tonight against Hyun-Jin Ryu. Rookie Dereck Rodriguez faces Clayton Kershaw tomorrow, and rookie Andrew Suarez takes on rookie Walker Buehler on Sunday. The Giants, I suppose, are itching to play spoiler. I sure hope so--it's not much but it beats finishing in fourth place. If the Rockies and Dodgers tie, they will play a tiebreaker Monday in LA. If the Cardinals catch up and force a three-way tie, the winner of Monday's game will play in St. Louis on Tuesday to determine the Wild Card, and that game (vs. Cubs or Brewers) would be on Wednesday.

Enjoy!

--M.C.



*The Brewers are a game back of the Chicago Cubs and could still win the NL Central. If they tie, they play a tiebreaker Monday in Wrigley.

Walk-off Win!

SF 5  SD 4 (12)
Madison Bumgarner's pinch-hit in the 12th wins it for the Giants, driving in Gorkys Hernandez who had tripled. It was a long and painful game but it was a win, and all wins are to be celebrated especially after four losses in a row. Chris Stratton had an inning from hell in the 3rd and was done by the 5th, and Will Smith blew a save in the 9th, but it all worked out. Gregor Blanco had a clutch pinch-hit to give the Giants a late lead, and Hunter Pence hit a homer. The Giants have 11 wins in 18 games against the Padres, but it doesn't seem like it.

Casey Kelley gets the start tomorrow night. Go Giants!

--M.C.

Takin' one for the Team

SD 5  SF 0
That's Bobby Evans, former minor league administrative assistant and now former General Manager. It was quite a ride and it came to an end after twenty-four years. This is the Giants which means they will keep him around--assuming he wants to stay--and find another job for him. But a new GM is on the agenda for Larry Baer and Brian Sabean. Sabes wants to stay upstairs, his late night poker games are a thing of the past. BobbyE was supposed to do that part of the job but it didn't work out. Brian's a family man, and made the mistake of hiring another like himself. The Giants probably need an outsider who will clash with senior management and ownership now and again just to keep the water in the hot tub fresh. We'll see if they can pull it off. I don't expect anything splashy, like luring Kim Ng away from the Commisioner's Office, but some new blood seems likely.

In the meantime the Giants got shut out by the Padres, at home no less. On the bright side that's only the eighth time they've failed to score at least a run this season. They drop to 4-17 for September, a brisk .190 clip.

Chris Stratton tomorrow night.

--M.C.

Midwest Madbum Matchup

The St. Louis Cardinals came into tonight's game as the 2nd wild card team.  They're in decent shape to end the season in that position, but it's far from certain as the Story-less Rockies, coming off the losing end of a sweep by the doggers (damn it) are not far behind.  The Cardinals played like a team that has designs on playing in the post season.   And the Giants......gave it a pretty good effort themselves.  This was no give-away by the orange and black, but they came out on the losing end by a score of 5 - 3.

Madison Bumgarner on the mound.  He threw 98 pitches to get through 6 innings, and gave up 3 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk.  He struck out 5.  It seems to me like Madison is striking out fewer people per start this year, I'll check at the end of the season to see if that is true.  He still has the smooth, deceptive, sweeping lefty-handed delivery that we're used to, but maybe the league has caught on to him a bit.  At the end of 6, the Giants were behind, 3 - 1.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals' starter, John Gant, couldn't finish the 3rd inning, but they brought in Tyson Ross to get through the 5th.  The Cardinals used a total of 6 pitchers on the night, compared to the Giants' 5 (Okert and Moronta in the 7th, Melancon and Watson in the 8th).  The Giants scored 2 more in the 7th on a Blanco single and a Longoria ground-out to tie the score at 3 all, but Melancon gave up the game in the 8th on a 2-run double to Matt Adams.

The Giants struck out 16 times in this game.  Think about that.  16 times.  That's like coming to the plate with 2 outs per inning in every inning except 1.  Although the Cardinals struck out 8 times, so, like giving away 1 out in every inning except 1.   The announcers were saying something about how the Giants have a hard time hitting fastballs, Buster Posey and Alen Hanson excepted.  That doesn't make sense to me.  I always thought the one criteria for being in the major leagues was that you could hit a fastball, therefore pitchers always needed other pitches.  Is that not true for the Giants?  Evan Longoria had a good game, he is hot at the end of the season, so maybe his broken hand bothered him for a bit longer than his stint on the disabled list would indicate.  No one else had a notable offensive night.  And with this loss, the Giants cannot finish at .500.