The Giants had to feel pretty good going into this series against a depleted Yankees team at home in Oracle Park which does not exactly play into the Yankees' strengths. The Giants were coming off a 3 game win streak on an East Coast road trip. All signs pointed to a potential series win. Instead, as we've seen repeatedly over the past 3 or 4 seasons, they faceplanted. The final scores might not look so bad, but make no mistake. These games were not nearly as close as the final scores make them look. The beatdown today was the worst of the 3 as the Yanks scored 6 unanswered runs in the first 3 innings and kept adding on as the game went along. Once again the Giants comeback was way too little, too late. Key Lines:
Pablo Sandoval 3B- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .295. Pabs clearly should be playing every day but the Giants self-created dilemma is they are committed to underperforming players at the positions Pabs can play. Giants may be forced to rethink those commitments.
Kevin Pillar CF- 2 for 4, HR(5). BA= .196. How can a guy who has done as many good things as Pillar be hitting under the Mendoza Line?
Dereck Rodriguez RHP- 3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K's. ERA= 4.35. There was some shoddy fielding, but the 4 BB's is all you need to know about this Start.
*********************************************************************************
With the Loss, the cellar-dwelling Giants drop 7 games behind the NL West leading Dodgers but remain just 4.5 games off the Wild Card pace.
*********************************************************************************
It doesn't get any easier as the Dodgers, who are arguably better than the Yankees right now, come to town with Jeff Samardzija trying to stop the bleeding against Kenta Maeda tomorrow evening.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
We get the Yankee games on the radio here and they came in to the Giants series playing well too, taking 3 out of 4 games from both the Royals and Halos, so I thought the Giants would have problems. Despite their stars being hurt, their young players led by Gleybar Torres, Luke Voit, Gary Sanchez are good young hitters that have the team playing well.
ReplyDeletePab's along with most the Core and some Pitchers should be candidates for a Break Relocation, time to move faster along the Rebuilding Process.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, over 162 games, talent prevails. The Giants, as currently constructed, are a 70 win team. Management created this hole through an effort to win that was admirable, but ill advised. I think the knowledge of the Giants fan base has been under estimated. There are a lot of Giants fans who feel as I do, grateful for three WS titles after such a long drought and willing to hang in there as young exciting players move up through the organization.
ReplyDeleteIt's painful, but not as painful as this. The Longoria trade looked bad at the time, and from here it could get downright ugly. It's not Longoria's fault, either.
On this blog, there were many comments going back to 2016, recommending big trades. Hindsight is 20-20, but had the Giants traded Bumgarner (my 2nd favorite Giant of all time behind Millie Mac) before the 2017 season, the Giants entire organization would look different today. I know, we are just fans proposing hypotheticals, but the last 2+ years have played out pretty much by the numbers. 2017 may have been worse than most expected, but 2018 should not have been a surprise to anyone.
Now, the assets the Giants hold are not as valuable in most cases, as they were and the bigger factor may be the liabilities they might look to shed have fallen further. There is no getting around this is going to be painful. But, there is hope. The Giants have some good arms in the system. Maybe no aces, but a whole bunch of guys who can get outs. The position player cupboard is not completely bare, and in fact one or two good bounces and the Giants could have a couple difference makers in SF by 2020 or 2021.
Give Farhan a couple years to keep churning is search a few diamonds in the rough. The Giants could really use a winning lottery ticket on an international signing or two. The Giants will get one or two top end college/HS players this June, and will be drafting near the top in 2020, as well.
Having said all that, the situation with Williamson is puzzling.
In the end, fans that hang in will be rewarded. But, it might be a while before the Giants can be counted on to play better than .500 ball.
The Giants did go to the playoffs in 2016 so I had no problem adding pieces then. I agree that some of their assets are not as valuable now due to under performance, plus their contracts make them tough to trade. Thats why it would be hard for them to go into a full rebuild right now. I think that Farhan may try to be both a buyer and seller at the trade deadline, which means getting players that will help them now and in the future. I do think they will continue to try and be competitive, since ownership is not afraid to spend $.
DeleteHopefully Z takes the emotions out of this, Owners can be squeamish making the required decisions. The Core is Done, Fini, Kaput, No Mas and they have been finished since the end of 2014. SF Mgmt. is 4 Years late recognizing this so its Catch Up Time and Z is the Enforcer...........if the Owners don't get too squeamish. Leadership starts at the Top.
ReplyDeleteDear Z:
ReplyDeleteFans aren't happy!
Even the Yankees didn't fill the house -- 32K per game with the Dodgers coming to town.
Mid-NL numbers on attendance.
Posey coming to life, sort of, sans power.
Belt is getting on base, hitting some dingers, but BA is career worst.
The rest of the Core is "D" only-- including a "D" in hitting
Pillar's bad average includes his near 0fer in the AL. He's .222 for the G's with a lousy OBP.
Sorry to say, might as well say Adios Jose to Panik.
Craw still plays D, so does Longo but they can't hit.
I love the Bill Walsh philosophy of building a winning franchise - trade or cit a player a year or two too early - Niners traded Joe Montana (4 SB titles) and also Ronnie Lott and others. That was the winning formula - try to stay young and fast. Giants management suffered form Hubris - I guess they never read the Greeks either and now we as fans have a team barely worth watching.
ReplyDeleteAnother night and Duggar is still not starting. An IR stint in his future, perhaps? :(
ReplyDelete