Torture

I decided to look up the definition of torture.  I found it in Webster's Dictionary.

Torture:  Watching Tyler Clippard pitch the 8'th inning of a 1-0 game.

That's it.  The official definition right there! My god!  If the game had been moving any slower at that point, it would have been going backwards!

Oh, and how useless are the Padres?  And whatthehell happened to them anyway?  Can't believe there won't be a complete top-to-bottom management cleanout there when this is over.

I went to bed thinking I would be writing about a 3-game lead with 4 to play.  We'll have to settle for two.

Bum vs Kazmir today.  And yeah, the Giants are probably going to have to win 3 of 4 to hold off the Dodgers.

Like the Sands in an Hourglass.....

The Dodgers hourglass of time is starting to trickle down to the last few grains of sand as the Giants knocked off another milestone tying the San Francisco era team record for wins in a season('62 and '93).  With it, their "magic number shrank to 4 with 5 games to play.  The Dodgers magic number situation is much more daunting.  If the Giants win just one more game, the Dodgers must go 4-1 to beat that.  If the Giants go 2-3, the Dodgers have to win out.  In other words, the Dodgers "magic number" is 8 with the same 5 games to play.

This game was won by what might be the single greatest AB by any Giants player in my memory.  That would be Buster Posey in the first inning.  D'Backs SP Luke Weaver came out firing BB's using exclusively high heaters to make quick work of Tommy La Stella and Lamonte Wade Jr on 2 quick K's.  Buster came to the plate and sure enough, Weaver brought the high heat on the first pitch.  Buster was all over it and fouled it straight back.  Weaver knew better than to test Buster again, or to put it another way, he immediately lost confidence in his best pitch and started nibbling around.  Buster got the count to 3-2 and after what seemed like about 10 pitches, lined one off the wall in the left-CF alley.  Weaver then really lost confidence and walked the next 3 batters to drive in a run.  He was saved by a terrible called third strike on Longo by the ump who had a generally terrible game, but ended up throwing over 45 pitches in the first inning alone guaranteeing an early exit.  

So there you have it.  Buster Posey had the best AB of the game, probably of the season and possibly the best AB ever!  

Bad News on Belt

As feared, the follow up news on Brandon Belt's left thumb injury was not good.  Additional imaging showed a fracture.  While that can include a wide range of severity it likely means significant lost time and/or reduced performance.  I mean, it's quite obvious that Brandon Belt's left thumb is a key piece of anatomy for what he does so well for a living.  

So frustrating this is the story of Belt's career.   Every single time he's looked like he as breaking out, he's been hit with a key injury and had to work his way back.  The Giants have shown over and over this year they are not dependent on any one player, but Belt has been a huge factor in their stretch drive. His bat and defense at 1B will be sorely missed over the final week and into the postseason.  Even with a relatively minor fracture, it's tough to envision him coming back sooner than 2-3 weeks out.

Down the Stretch!

 Once upon a time a 3 game weekend series in Coors Field looked like a major potential Giants stumbling block to winning the NL West.  They dispatched that concern while barely breaking a sweat as the pounded the Rockies by combined 20-6 score.  Coming back home to Oracle Park, the biggest worry is over the condition of Brandon Belt's left thumb which was hit by a pitch.  On field tests seemed to be not too worrisome and Belt stayed in to run the bases but post-game X-rays were said to be "inconclusive".  Yikes!  He'll have more imaging today in SF.  

The Giants "magic number" is now 5 with 6 games to play.  If that doesn't seem so great, consider the Dodgers magic number is 9.  If the Giants go 3-3, the Dodgers have to run the table to win outright.  Of course there are numerous other numerical combinations for all potential outcomes, but overall the Giants are in significantly better situation than the Dodgers and a near wire-to-wire run to the NL West championship appears to be within reach.

Churning On!

 The Giants signed two minor league free agent deals this week.  Here's the breakdown:

John Nogowski 1B.  DOB:  1/5/1993.  6'0", 245 lbs.  B-R, T-L.  Nogowski was drafted by the A's(of course) in 2014, round 34 out of Florida St.  His minor league resume includes the A's and Cardinals organizations.  He has just 148 PA in the major leagues but solid plate discipline numbers in the minors with a BB%= 11.13 and K%= 10.60.  The only thing missing from his minor league numbers is power which is essential for a 1B only defensive player.  This profile fits perfectly with the FZ formula of signing players with great plate discipline numbers and then letting the Giants swing mechanics coaches work their magic.  

Ka'ai Tom OF.  DOB:  5/24/1994.  5'9", 180 lbs.  B-L, T-R.  Tom was drafted in the 5'th round of the 2015 draft by the Indians out of Kentucky.  He made his MLB debut this year with a total of 129 PA's for the Pirates and, yep, the A's.  He also has strong minor league plate discipline numbers with a BB% of 11.21 and K% of 19.46.  He's hit for more power than Nogowski and has shown the ability to steal a few bases.  

Let's welcome John Nogowski and Ka'ai Tom to The Churn.

100 Wins and Two MILB Champions

 It was a great day for Giants fans at all levels.  The 7-2 win over the Rockies in Coors Field gave the team 100 wins for only the 8'th time in franchise history and only the 4'th time in the SF era.  SF teams previously on 100 in 1962, 1993 and 2003.  We'll try hard to forget that each of those previous 100 win seasons ended in crushing disappointment.  Down on the Farm, High A Eugene Emeralds and Low A San Jose Giants both won their league championship series.

The Giants closed in on another milestone by bashing 4 HR's for the 17'th game this season and came within 1 HR of beating the previous team HR record of 235 set in 2001 when Barry Bonds hit 71.  While Brandon Belt has a chance to hit 30+ HR's this season, the Giants will likely set the team HR record without the benefit of a 30 HR season from any one player making the accomplishment that much more impressive.

I'm also going to highlight the work of two rookie relievers, Camilo Doval RHP and Kervin Castro RHP.  Castro showed off a high 90's FB and killer curve in two dominant innings to get credit for the Win while Doval got a feel for pitching in the 9'th inning and reached 102 on the radar gun and backed it up with a killer slider.  Just think about what those two might accomplish in the next few years!

Highlights from the Emeralds and SJ Giants clinching games:

Eugene Emeralds blanked the Spokane Indians 5-0:

Ismael Munguia CF- 2 for 4, HR.

Brett Auerbach 2B- 1 for 4, HR.

Marco Luciano SS- 2 for 3, HR.

Ryan Murphy RHP- 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K's.  

San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies 7-2:

Grant McCray CF- 2 for 4, 2B, HR.

Luis Matos RF- 1 for 2, HR, BB.  

Torture Makes A Comeback

I was feeling a bit under the weather last night so when the Giants lead reached 8-1 and the Dodgers were safely tucked away in Coors Town, I felt secure enough to go to bed knowing the Giants had a two game lead in the NL West with 10 games to play.  Then I woke up and checked the final scores....wait, what?  I'm actually kind of glad I went to bed and missed THAT!  

FZ's mancrush on Scott Kazmir LHP finally paid off as the veteran lefty went 4 scoreless frames before running into some bad luck in the 5'th.  Camilo Doval RHP bailed him out in spectacular fashion and set the stage for the big lead followed by the near-meltdown by the Giants usually steady bullpen.  I'm not sure what went wrong with the Padres this year but there is a ton of talent in that lineup!

Speaking of Doval, the timetable for him to take over the Closer role might be moving up.  He entered the game with the Giants clinging to a 3-1 lead, a run in, bases loaded, 0 outs.  He proceeded to very calmly send the red-hot Manny Machado 3B back to the pine with 3 of the nastiest sliders you will ever see.  He then hit triple digits a couple of times to the dangerous Tommy Pham OF before inducing a GIDP.  He then calmly walked off the mound and back to the dugout as if he had just thrown a few warmup pitches.

The Giants became the first MLB team in 2021 to get to 99 Wins and just the 9'th team in franchise history to reach that mark.  They have a chance to hit 100 wins today with Logan Webb RHP facing Yu Darvish RHP in an afternoon game.  As we know, anything can still happen and probably will, but the Giants finished the night with a bit of breathing room.  If the Giants go 5-5 the rest of the way, the Dodgers have to go 7-3 to tie and 8-2 to win.  They could well do that so it probably behooves the Gants to win at least 6 more games which would get them to 105 which has been my over-under for the winning record in the NL West for awhile now.

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Highlights from two minor league postseason games:

Eugene Emeralds blanked the Spokane Indians 3-0:

Ismael Munguia CF- 4 for 5, 2B.

Conner Nurse RHP- 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K.

San Jose Giants topped the Fresno Grizzlies 4-2:

Jimmy Glowenke 2B- 2 for 4, HR.

Patrick Bailey C- 3 for 4, 2B, 2 HR.

Carson Ragsdale RHP- 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K's.

Lamonte Wade Jr Rules Ninth Inning, Picks Up Kevin Gausman

 Kevin Gausman RHP has a long history of running hot and cold.  He was hot for so long with the Giants it seemed like maybe he found another gear to get him past the cold streaks.  Well, not so fast.  Home runs have always been his Achilles Heel.  Again, those were way down this year, but last night he gave up 3.  All were on hanging splitters.  Is it a mechanical thing?  Late season fatigue?  He just has not been the same guy since some mid-season family health issues.  The Giants now have to hope he gets the early season magic back at least by the postseason.  It's hard to imagine a deep postseason run without Gausman at the top of his game.  All this also raises questions about how hard the Giants want to pursue him in free agency.  Do they risk a big longterm deal on a pitcher with a long history of consistency issues or do they save the money for something else and try to find the next Kevin Gausman in The Churn?

Speaking of hot and cold:  Lamonte Wade Jr OF/1B's 12'th hit in 19 AB's in the 9'th inning was the game winner in this one.  THAT is not sustainable! Hopefully a future 9'th inning regression will be countered by a equal and opposite positive regression in other innings.

The drums for Camilo Doval RHP to be the next Giants closer are beating louder as his fastball sat at 101 MPH and hit 102.5 in his inning of work.  I say it's probably too early but I could see him taking over the role sometime next season.

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The Giants have two farm clubs in the minor league postseason, Low A San Jose Giants and High A Eugene Emeralds.  Both won their opening games last night.  Highlights:

San Jose topped the Fresno Grizzlies 3-1:

Luis Toribio 1B- 2 for 4, 2B, HR. 

Aeverson Arteaga SS-  2 for 4, 3B. 

Kyle Harrison LHP-  6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K's

Eugene Emeralds crushed the Spokane Indians 15-7:

Ismael Munguia CF-  5 for 6, HR.

Sean Roby 1B- 3 for 6, HR.

Marco Luciano SS- 3 for 5, 2B, 3B.

Ricardo Genoves C- 3 for 4, 2B, 2 HR.

Franklin Labour RF- 2 for 5, HR.

Seth Corry LHP- 3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K's.

Giants Waste DeSclafani's Quality Start

Anthony DeSclafani RHP turned in his second consecutive QS and 3'rd out of 4.  This comes after a rough August which included a 2 short IL stints for an ankle problem.  The problem in this game is the offense failed to score any runs in support so the effort went for naught.  DeSclafani's start, though, has a couple of longterm implications:  

1.  If the Giants don't get bounced from the postseason early in Wild Card game,  DeSclafani gives them another SP who gives them a chance to win in any postseason games he pitches along with Kevin Gausman RHP and Logan Webb RHP.  The hope is Alex Wood LHP gets stretched out and can join them as a 4'th postseason SP.  Postseason teams rarely need a 5'th SP.  

2.  DeSclafani looked like a prime deadline trade candidate when he was signed in the offseason to a 1 year/$6 M contract.  But then, a funny thing happened on the way to July 31. The Giants were not only in contention, they had the best darn record in MLB!  No trade deadline firesale for them!  DeSclafani looked more like a guy who was going to get The Gausman, a QO too good to turn down.  Then August happened and it started to look like DeSclafani might not even make it to the end of the season.  Now with a bounceback September, he's in contention for a QO again.  Will the Giants give it to him?  Will he accept it?

For reference sake, here is Kevin Gausman's pitching line in 2020 that got him the offer:  

Age: 29.  3-3, 3.62, 59.2 IP, 11.92 K/9, 2.41 BB/9, 1.6 fWAR in 12 Games.

Here is DeSclafani's 2021 line:  12-7, 3.23, 158.2 IP, 8.28 K/9, 2.33 BB/9, 2.7 fWAR, 29 G.  The fWAR translates into $21.4 M earned with 2 Starts likely to go.

Anthony DeSclafani has definitely earned a QO.  The only question is whether he would accept it or not.  It would be a good deal for both him and the team, but it seems likely he will get a longer offer for only slightly less AAV.  A related question is whether the Giants will take on the risk of a big longterm deal for Gausman which he seems certain of getting from some team this offseason?  Gausman has fulfilled his dream of playing with Buster Posey C.  He's thrived with the Giants but in the end, will likely take what is probably his last, best chance for a "megadeal" FA contract.

Casali's Magic Fingers.....And Bat

 Early in the season, Curt Casali C made some headlines by catching 5 consecutive shutouts by Giants pitchers.  That slice of baseball trivia has faded with time, Casali was putting down the Magic Fingers again tonight behind the plate while 7 Giants pitchers held the Braves scoreless on 5 hits.  Oh, and Casali had the Magic Wandoo in his bat and drove in the only two runs of the game with a soft liner off his fists over first base after YtY sacrificed two runners over in the previous AB.  I mean, that's how you draw it up.  Without the sacrifice, Casali's hit maybe goes for naught and without his hit, the sacrifice is just another out.

Alex Wood LHP started the pitching parade and was electric for 3 innings but was also on a strict pitch count coming off a what sounds like a pretty significant bout with COVID.  He should be able to stretch out by the time postseason comes around so now the Giants have 4 SP's that give them a reasonable chance of winning any postseason games as well as remaining regular season games needed to keep them on top of the NL West.  

Tyler Rogers RHP and Dominic Leone RHP switched places in this game which worked out great.  Look for that to be the most common alignment for the 8'th and 9'th innings when the Giants lead close games going forward.

Giants Top Braves In Postseason Atmosphere

The Giants gained back a game on the Dodgers with a wild see-saw battle agains the Braves extending into extra-innings.  

Logan Webb RHP gave up a 2-spot in the first inning but pitched like an ace the rest of the way through 7 innings:  7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 9 K's, GO/AO= 9/1.  Right now he's the Giants #1 SP, their stopper.   He might have the best 3-pitch stuff in MLB right now.

Brandon Belt 1B hit his 26'th HR and 5'th in 7 games to pick up Webb in the bottom of the first.  With 14 games to go, Belt has a real shot at hitting 30 bombs on the season.

With the emphasis on WAR to judge player value, Brandon Crawford SS probably won't win the NL MVP.  Bryce Harper OF(Phillies) probably has the strongest case(sorry all you Harper Haters).  But Crawford deserves to be in the discussion and get votes.  He doubled and homered(21) last night and added 2 sparkling defensive plays.  On one that I saw on TV, he laid out to stop a 110 MPH scorcher on the OF grass, got up and threw a bullet to nail the runner and it wasn't even that close.  That earned him a tip of the cap from the batter/runner, Austin Riley 3B.  The arm.  The arm is special!

Another guy who deserves some award votes is LaMonte Wade Jr OF/1B.  What a season he is having!  Jonathan India 3B(Reds) has the top rookie WAR but Wade Jr may have had as much or more impact for the team with the best record in MLB(up to this point).  His 18'th HR last night cleared the RF arcade and splashed down WAY out on McCovey Cove.  With all due respect to YtY, Wade Jr is turning into the Giants version of Max Muncy UT(Dodgers).  It's starting to look like Wade Jr has beaten out Alex Dickerson OF for a roster spot.

FZ made a hard choice to send out Thairo Estrada UT to bring back Donovan Solano IF from the COVID IL.  Solano rewarded that decision with a game-tying HR in the bottom of the 9'th with the Giants down to their last strike.  Unbelieveable!  

It seems pretty clear that Tyler Rogers RHP is more comfortable and better in the 8'th inning than the 9'th.  He gave up his 6'th Blown Save last night on Travis d'Arnaud's 3-run blast and even the outs were hard hit.  With Jake McGee LHP on the IL with an oblique strain, Gabe Kapler is going to have to dig deep to come up with a 9'th inning plan.  Tony Watson LHP has closing experience but a rather checkered history in the role.  Dom Leone RHP is a consideration too.

Starting an extra inning with a runner at 2B is not a role Kap might be ready to trust Camilo Doval RHP with but he didn't have much choice in the 11'th inning last night.  Doval kept his cool.  He gave up a couple of rockets but they were right at fielders to hold the line for Kevin Gausman RHP to deliver the walk-off Sac Fly.  In the process, Doval threw one pitch registering 100 MPH that impressed the Braves announcing team with how easy he threw it.

Kap used up all his position players by the 11'th inning so had to turn to Kevin Gausman to pinch-hit with 1 out and the bases loaded.  Not only did Gausman deliver the Sac Fly, he put together a very impressive AB spitting on a couple of close high-90's FB's that could have been called strikes.  He finally got a pitch he could handle and hit it far enough in the air to get Crawford home with the walk-off run.  I was seriously worried about Gausman getting hurt in the immediate post-game celebration!

The Giants now have a 2 game lead on the Dodgers. The Giants have 96 wins with 14 games to go.  What's your over-under for the number of wins to take the NL West?  I'm thinking it might take 106 to get it done.  Giants can get there with a 10-4 while the Dodgers would have to go 12-2.  I'm also thinking a 1 game playoff to determine the NL West Champ is getting more and more likely(is that how it works or do they use tie-breakers?).

Giants Crush Padres; Clinch Postseason Berth

In the past, running out a bullpen game against the opposing team's best starting pitcher would signal a "forfeit" game designed to preserve player resources to fight another day.  That's not how these Giants roll as once again they used a bullpen game as a weapon, a competitive advantage.  Right now if they came down to one game they had to win and Kevin Gausman RHP and Logan Webb RHP were both not available, Kap's best option is probably to throw the bullpen out there.  Of course, it helped that the Giants hitters jumped all over Yu Darvish RHP for a 5-spot in the first inning.

The Giants did more than clinch a playoff spot at the earliest date in the San Francisco era.  They extended their longest win streak of the season to 8 games.  They also maintained a 2.5 game lead over the Dodgers with 18 and 17 games left to play respectively.  They look increasingly like a lock to win 100 games and 104-105 wins is within very reasonable reach.  The way the Dodgers are playing, even that might not be enough to win the division but going 12-6 the rest of the way would give them 106 wins.  The Dodgers would have to go 14-3 to tie that and 15-2 to win outright.  While nothing is impossible, that seems a bit unlikely while the 12-6 is eminently doable for the Giants.

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It's time to stop and give credit to the Giants leadership.  At this point, Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler should be shoe-ins for Executive of the Year and Manager of the Year respectively.  Their belief system of how a MLB roster should be built and managed appear to be in perfect alignment.  FZ and his staff identify overlooked players with untapped potential.  The young, data driven coaching staff works with the acquired players to find adjustments that unlock that potential.  Gabe Kapler puts them in positions that maximizes their skillset.  The result is a perfectly synchronized organization from top to bottom resulting in the remarkable on-field performances we witness daily.

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One concept openly espoused by both FZ and Kap is that of the Opener.  That has not always worked out on the field they way they draw it up.  Clearly, not every short-inning pitcher, formerly known as relievers, has the mindset to open a game and often Kap's Openers have opened up an early lead for the opposing team.  Dominic Leone RHP seems to have solved that problem as he turned in his third consecutive dominant opening.  He's done it so efficiently it would not surprise me to see his continued use in the role even as SP's come back from injury and illness.  Alex Wood LHP in particular seems like a well matched "Bulk Innings" guy to pair up the Leone as the Opener.

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A couple of young relievers who appear to have bright futures with the Giants appeared in this game. They both showed potential to be dominant but both showed flaws that still need work.  I'm not sure why Camilo Doval RHP, who can "take something off" the fastball and still hit the top of the zone at 97 MPH.  He also has a wicked, wipeout slider but throws it about 95 % of the time.  If you throw enough sliders, you're going to hang a few and hitters are going to be ready to pounce on those hangers.  It's exciting to think of what Doval can do with a more balanced use of those two amazing pitches but he has to believe in it first.

Kervin Castro RHP had the opposite problem.  He has a mid-high 90's FB that induces swings and misses at the top of the zone, but every slider he threw was spiked in the dirt.  By the end of his second inning of work he was throwing only fastballs and the Padres were timing them.  Fortunately the big lead allowed him to keep pounding the zone eventually getting soft contact or a frozen batter(not sure why the last hitter of a game would freeze on a fastball when that is the only pitch he's seeing, but that happened).  

Undefeated Road Trip

 Perhaps it's better to judge a team's strength by what it does in a sloppy game than in a perfectly played one.  The Giants had plenty of reasons for an emotional letdown today:  Last game of a road trip, a bright windy outfield adding about 20 feet to flyballs and blinding the outfielders trying to catch them.  Adding to that, while they were not totally shut out with RISP, they didn't exactly cash in their opportunities either.  They still somehow managed to hang onto a win to complete a 6-game road trip sweep across two ballparks where weird things are known to happen and big leads are known to disappear quickly.  While neither the Rockies nor Cubs are good teams at this point, any fan knowledgeable in Giants history would look at this late-season trip on the schedule and feel more than a bit uneasy about it.

The Giants return home with a 93-50 record and just 19 games left to play.  13 of the 19 are at home.  10 of the 19 are against the Padres who seem to have completely fallen apart but are still dangerous even though the rolled over and played dead for the Dodgers.  Here's the crazy part of all this:  Remember when the Giants won 103 games and lost the division?  It's not too hard to see a scenario where they win 104 by going 11-8 and still lose to the Dodgers who would have to go 14-4 but appear eminently capable of that. Their one ace in the hole might be that they play the D'Backs on the final weekend while the Dodgers play the Brewers.

Buckle up!

Harrison Finishing First Pro Season Strong

 Kyle Harrison LHP was the Giants third round draft pick in 2020, although they gave out several underslot deals to get him a $2 M signing bonus to not go to college(UCLA), which is first round money.  This was Kyle's age 19 season in low A ball which is an age appropriate placement(he turned 20 on 8/12/2021)  He's responded with a fine pro debut season with an extra strong finish.  

Over his last 3 starts his combined pitching line is 2-0, 1.13, 16 IP, 4 BB, 29 K.  His overall line for the season is 3-3, 3.36, 93.2 IP, 49 BB, 149 K.  For comparison sake, Madison Bumgarner LHP had 164 K's in 141.2 IP at the same level in 2008.  The only concern in that line is the 49 BB's are quite high but he's cut that way down over his last 3 starts so hopefully he and the Giants pitching ninjas found a fix.  

He should start out next season in High A Eugene with a possibility of reaching AA.  ETA for MLB would be 2023 at the earliest, more likely 2024.  The future looks bright for Kyle Harrison and for the Giants.

Duggar Gives A Clinic

 Steven Duggar OF might not be the first Giants hitter you would think of to teach a clinic on the art of hitting.  He has been on fire since being recalled Saturday, 6 for 14 with 3, that's right 3, triples and a double.  Two of those triples and the double came tonight.  I'm going to highlight the second triple, a bases-loaded shot that had Giants running around the bases like I've never seen before.  BTW, I wonder how many bases-loaded triples have been hit in franchise history?  

Anyway, lets break down that second, bases-loaded triple with some help from Giants announcers Dave Fleming and Shawn Estes.  Duggar was up there with 2 outs and had a 1-2 count.  Robert Stephenson RHP threw an almost perfect 2-strike slider that dived down below the strike zone.  Duggar started to swing but recognized it in time and checked up.  Flem and Estes commented on what a great take it was.  He recognized it as a slider, saw it was low in the zone and correctly judged it would finish low.  What that did was force Stephenson to bring his next slider up because if he threw it in the same location again, Duggar would just spit on it again.  It's just that he brought it up a bit too high and hung it which allowed Duggar to smoke it up the R-CF alley to the deepest part of Coors which started the crazy chase around the bases.  And how exciting is a bases-loaded triple?  I'm going to say even more than a grand slam HR!  

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Speaking of Dave Fleming:  Wow!  He went there!  Dave opined on NBC Sports Bay Area that it's quite obvious the Dodgers and Padres were adversely affected by MLB's foreign substance crackdown to a significantly greater degree than the Giants who "weren't dependent on that stuff."  Good stuff, Dave!  

Oh, and Dave and Shawn Estes had a lot of fun at the Dodgers garish City Connect unis and how they are the worst!  Definitely true.  I've always been a bit jealous of the classic clean white and blue Dodger unis but those all blue atrocities had to be the worse baseball uniforms ever worn outside of Pittsburgh or the Chicago South Side.  And whattheheck does that shade of blue or any shade of blue have to do with LA?  I mean, the Dodgers brought those colors out with them from Brooklyn!  And what does it say about LA as a city that the designers couldn't think of anything else to connect the Dodgers to the city with?

Gausman Deals

 Something that got a bit lost in the offensive outburst in yesterday's game was that Kevin Gausman RHP was dealing.   He gave up 3 runs which doesn't seem all that great but you have to remember the context which was Coors Field on a clear day in the afternoon and balls were flying out of the park like they can only do at Coors.  Gausman looked like the early season version when he was being legitimately talked up as a Cy Young candidate.  He threw more fastballs more effectively which kept hitters from laying off the split change.  7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 9 K's, GO/AO= 7/1.  

Add that performance in to what Logan Webb RHP has been doing for weeks and the resurgence of Anthony DeSclafani RHP against the Dodgers and the Giants may be in better shape with their pitching than we feared.  

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Between Tommy La Stella IF who is under contract for 2 more seasons and Thairo Estrada IF/OF who is pre-arbitration it looks like the Giants have their 2B platoon set for next season which would tend to not bode well for Donnie Barrels sticking around.

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Dave Fleming had a fun fact on the broadcast yesterday:  The Giants have the best OPS in MLB at the 1B position.  Players who have logged significant innings at the position include Brandon Belt 1B, Darin Ruf 1B/OF, Lamonte Wade Jr 1B/OF and Wilmer Flores IF.  This after Fangraphs had them at #12 in their positional power rankings back in May.  Ruf in particular has been killing it with an OPS of 1.069 in July.  He slumped to .937 in August but is back up to 1.081 so far in September.  He's doing it against both LHP and RHP's with 6 of his 15 HR and a .878 OPS coming against RHP's.  Now they just need to keep him from chop blocking Buster Posey C on IF pop ups!

Giants Win Season Series From Dodgers

  If you looked at the pitching matchup for yesterday's game against the Dodgers and said to yourself, "it sure is a good think the Giants won that crazy, crazy game Friday night" to avoid a series sweep, I can say you were not alone, because that's what I was thinking.  I'm not sure what the deal was with Walker Buehler RHP.  Maybe this pitches were a bit straight?  Maybe his command was just a bit off?  I will say, the top velocity I saw on the ESPN TV monitor was 95 MPH which is a tick or three slow for Buehler.  Keep THAT tucked away in the back of your mind!   At any rate, the Giants jumped on him for 6 runs in 3 innings and held on to win the game.

That gave the Giants 10 wins in the 19 game season series which accounts for the one game lead they have in the standings coming out of the series.  Possibly more importantly, the Giants went 10-5 over the last 15 games after starting out 0-4 including a 3-game series sweep loss in the first series of the season played in Oracle Park.  The only reason they didn't start 0-5 was that game-saving catch over the LF wall by Mike Tauchman OF to bring back a walk-off HR by Albert Pujols.  The Giants went on to win that game plus the next 2 in Dodger Stadium and went 7-5 in the rest of their games against the Dodgers.  

So there.  Tauchman's catch remains my leading candidate for play of the year.  It not only saved a walk-off loss, it ended up winning that game and completely turning the H2H season series around which is now the difference in the standings.  

DeSclafani Steps Up

 For a team in desperate need of not just a Quality Start but a Dominant Start in the crucial final series against their archrival Dodgers, things were not looking good.  If the starting pitching leaked oil for the past couple of weeks, the oil pressure light was on with smoke billowing up from the hood.  Anthony DeSclafani RHP came out of his previous start in the third inning with a sore ankle and gave up 22 runs in his previous 21 innings against the Dodgers.  His career record against the Hated Ones was something like 1-10.  Well, DeSclafani stepped up, bigly!  The stands were full of orange pom-poms and the crowd was chanting "Beat LA!"  6 IP,  2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K's.  He left the game leading 1-0, but that was just the beginning of one of the most intense games in Giants history and there have been a lot of barnburners!

5 more innings, 5 more pitchers.  Jake McGee LHP lost the lead in the 9th but kept the Dodgers from taking the lead themselves.  Rob Manfred got the last laugh here because starting the extra-innings with a runner on 2B proved to just increase the intensity with the game in the balance on every pitch.  The game finally ended in ecstasy for the Giants and their fans when Buster Posey C ran hard on a routine grounder to 2B and Will Smith C couldn't get his foot back on the bag after Trea Turner 2B pulled him off with an errant throw.  

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The AAA Sacramento River Cats put together a combined no-hitter and here's a name to pay attention to:  Norwith Gudino RHP.  Gudino has been quietly climbing the minor league ladder for several years and is now 25 yo.  He started the season with the AA Richmond Flying Squirrels pitching out of the bullpen and got a mid-season promotion after posting a 1.44 ERA in 25 IP.  Gudino as the starter for the River Cats last night and went 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K's. 

Webb Gem

OK, it's not an original title but Logan Webb RHP did pitch a gem of a game to salvage the finale of the 4-gamer against the NL Central leaders.  7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 10 K, GO/AO= 7/1.   He won't get Cy Young consideration because there are other pitchers with just as impressive results and more starts and IP, but Webb has pitched at a Cy Young level since spending the month of June in the IL.  We can break it down in multiple cherry picking ways but every one of them point to about as good as it gets for any pitcher.  

So, the Giants go into the weekend series against the archrival Dodgers tied for first place in the NL West and with momentum back on their side.  Let's look at the pitching matchups:

Tonight:  David Price LHP vs TBD.

Saturday:  Julio Urias LHP vs TBD

Sunday:  Walker Buehler RHP vs TBD.

Hmm....I'll have to get back to you on that one.  

Folks?  Logan Webb notwithstanding, the Giants have simply run out of pitching down the stretch.  Barring some very unexpected miracle work by the Giants pitching gurus to transform Sammy Long LHP and Jose Quintana LHP into their own version of Logan Webb, They'll rely on bullpen games for at least 2 of 5 starts which is not sustainable, even for a month.  The Giants have a big enough lead in the Wild Card race to grab a playoff spot but then they have to hope for not one or two but several near miraculous health comebacks to even thing of going deep into the postseason.

Hope I'm wrong about all this.