Coming out of the All-Star Break, the Giants had the best record in MLB, but were staring at what might be the toughest schedule stretch of the season. Over the next 23 games they would face 13 against the teams with the #2 record(7 games), the #4 record(3 games) and the #6 record(3 games). In addition, they faced 3 of the other 10 games against the #17 record(3 games) with 7 against 3 of the bottom 5 teams recordwise.
The Giants had the top MLB Power Ranking coming out of the All-Star break, but MLB jumped on the Dodgers bandwagon after the trade deadline giving them the top power ranking despite the Giants still having the best record.
So, how did the Giants fare facing that gauntlet of MLB power? They went 14-9 increasing their lead in the NL West from 2 games over the Dodgers to 4 and over the 3'rd place Padres from 6 to 7. Those top ranked teams they played? The Dodgers went from the 2'nd best record in MLB to #3 and the Astros went from #4 to #5 largely because the Giants beat them(5-2 in 7 games vs Dodgers and 2-1 over Astros). Going to Milwaukee they faced what many considered the hottest team in baseball, the Brewers, who had gone 12-5 since the break.
The weekend series against the Brewers had the unmistakable intensity of a playoff series. Two of the games went to extra innings and two were decided by 1 run. Leads seemed to change hands every few innings. Relief pitchers were digging deep to pitch in games they otherwise would have been unavailable for. The Giants took 2 of those 3 games.
So, what does this all mean? Are the Giants over the hump and can coast the rest of the way? We've seen them faceplant against inferior teams too many times to believe that(although they have not done that yet this season). In addition, although it's been said too many time in other places, I'll say it again, the starting rotation is leaking oil and FZ did not bolster it at the trade deadline.
Hopefully it's just a "dead arm" phase and the SP's will catch a second wind for the stretch run. If they do, the Giants will be OK. If they don't, it's not clear where help is coming from.
I don't get why FZ didn't give up 2 or 3 position players in order to get a good SP at the deadline. The Giants have way more than enough starter-caliber players on the 40-man roster, enough that with a healthier roster, the Giants won't be able to fully take advantage of all of their position players. Unloading a couple of them would likely have a trivial effect on the offense.
ReplyDeleteThe current rotation just does not look like a championship contender's rotation.
We'll see how it all works out, but the Giants current rotation is looking a lot like the bullpen of 2016 when Bobby Evans failed to trade for a proven Closer. Maybe the Giants coaching wizards help one out of Chatwood, Shoemaker and Ondrusek find a missing piece.
DeleteMissed this a few days ago and explains why A. Sanchez is no longer a Giant.
DeleteFrom oneflapdown:
Susan Slusser, on KNBR, said Sanchez is not a team guy because he doesn’t want to work as a reliever and has told the SF staff he only wants to start.
Not just passing on a proven SP, the Giants dumped one.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, how many "proven" SP's are needed in the post season? Don't 2021 SP's match up pretty well with the 3 WS winners?
They just promoted Hjelle. Could use him as a multi inning specialist and see if his velocity plays up in shorter stints. He could be a legit weapon if it did.
ReplyDeleteChatwood seems like the best bet to find something and help over the stretch run.
Word is Chatwood's 'stuff' runs out of the zone, leading to too many BB.
DeleteWebb had the same problem - which now seems fixed - so there's that.
btw.. Ondrusek in the 5.17 ERA Mexican League*:
ERA 2.38
K 50
BB 3
* Essentially an entire league of Coors' Fields
If Chatwood can pitch in Oracle Park against other teams the way he pitches against the Giants, he would be an huge boost to the rotation.
DeleteThe NL West is still a crapshoot even with the Giants' 4-game lead over LA and 7-game lead over SD.
ReplyDeleteThere beaucoup head-to-head in the final month, from September 3 to Oct 3
The 3 West teams are still a fair amount up to have the best record and the 2 WC teams, although that could change.
How the last month of the season plays out determines who doesn't have to play the WC and gets home field advantage in the 1st round, and also who gets home field in the WC game.
The Giants have 3 @ home with the Dodgers Sep 3-5, currently 8-8 head-to-head.
Then 10 of the last 19 games are with Padres, 7 @ home including 3 games to end the season, currently 5-4 head-to-head.
The Padres also have 9 to play with the Dodgers from Aug 24 to Sep 30, the last 6 in LA! In addition, they have series with current division leaders Philadelphia and Houston, and with 3 .500 teams: the Angels, Braves and Cards. From August 20th, 38 games, San Diego has only 3 games (of 38) with a bad team (Arizona).
If they don't get Tatis back, they may kiss it all off leaving Cincinnati possibly to get a WC.
Longoria was 3-3 yesterday with a HR. He's ready and, reportedly, playing 3B tonight with Bryant in CF.
Hjelle pitched in Sacramento yesterday. Got the W, but not great results.
ReplyDeleteNo Longoria sightings - perhaps he was traveling to SF?
The NL west is still a crapshoot, since who knows if teams will have pitching injuries due to the long regular season coming after a short 2020 season. My impression is the Giants FO believes that the starting rotation has pitched well enough this year not to prioritize an upgrade. They have pitched well. Unless they had picked up a Max Scherzer, I would not have liked it too much if they would have had to move a Logan Webb to the bullpen to make room for the so called upgrade.
ReplyDeleteI think they are OK at SP -- DeSclafani, Webb, Wood, Gausman and Cueto can roll out 90 pitch starts, skip a start here and there for 'shoulder fatigue', the bullpen has been great and managed well up and down to Sacramento. And what if Tyler Chatwood gets that ground ball pitch going again....
DeleteThe Giants announced today they are not in the shortstop sweepstakes to sign a FA!
ReplyDeleteVery good!