by
Greek Giant
Justin Verlander has now started twelve games for the Giants this season and has not recorded a win. That’s the longest such stretch in his career to start a season. His numbers yesterday, while not awful (five innings pitched, five hits, three runs, one walk and five strikeouts) were by no means “solid” as Dave Fleming claimed in last night’s broadcast. Let’s be clear, the Giants lost to the Marlins, a AAA team at best, because they could not hit much against a Marlins pitching staff near the bottom of every statistic in MLB rankings (27th in ERA at 4.87 for example). Verlander’s start was one of the issues, but not the whole picture.
Sometimes a relationship is simply not meant to be. You can have the best intentions, the best hopes, and try your hardest, but it just does not work between the two parties. I believe this is the case with Justin Verlander and the Giants. For some reason, perhaps a combination of his age and his exceeding loss of command, he is barely a five-inning pitcher. To add insult to injury, the Giants have not given him much run support and have, at times, played quite poorly defensively behind him. The Marlins scored their third run of the game when a single to shallow left that was fielded cleanly by Heliot Ramos with a runner scoring on second. Ramos, with a decent throw, nails the runner. Instead he threw a five hopper and the run scored as the batter took second on the play. It was just bad all around.
Conversely, Ramos doubled with a Devers on first and two outs. The rocket down the line was fielded cleanly, directly off the carom by left fielder Kyle Stowers who nearly in one motion, fired a bullet to the cutoff man, shortstop Otto Lopez. Lopez then turned a fired a one-hopper on target to nail Devers by a country mile. I agree with Matt Williams’ decision to send the runner there in a 3-2 game with the Giants desperate for runs. Unfortunately for the Giants, the Marlins made a great play. They also turned key double plays and the Giants made life easier for Cal Quantrill and company by popping up hanging sliders and curveballs or grounding out on very hittable fastballs.
The Giants appear to have a problem after their days off. This was a game the Giants should have won, by practically any measure. The Giants would end up with five hits on the night. Apart from the Ramos double and Christian Koss’s two-run homer off Quantrill in the bottom of the fifth inning, the boys in black had an awful performance at the plate. Remember that Quantrill came into tonight’s game with a cool ERA of 5.68. It will help put the Giants performance in context.
Willy Adames’s struggles are becoming a thing. He has a huge uppercut on his swing that plays poorly in Willie Mays Field. He is struggling to get hard contact in key situations and it is hurting the Giants. After a 1-4 night he is batting .206 with 9 homers and 33 RBIs, numbers that need to be much better if the Giants have a chance to compete in the postseason.
The Giants now have a record of 44-35 after 79 games. We are now two games from the halfway mark of the season and I believe we can all agree that this Giants team has exceeded expectations. If they can win 92 games, a very realistic number, they should be comfortably in the postseason.
One last thing: Those purple/orange/black disastrous uniforms gottago! It makes watching the Giants a challenge.
Bryce Eldridge Injury
Bryce Eldridge, the Giants top prospect and first baseman, suffered a hamstring strain and is expected to be out 3-4 weeks, according to team sources.
Matt Chapman’s Injury
Matt Chapman is progressing from his sprained fingers on his right hand. He is expected to be back in two or three days, according to MLB. When he returns expect Casey Schmitt to be the full time second baseman.
Tonight’s Game
Logan Webb (7-5, 2.49 ERA) opposes Marlins RHP Edward Cabrera (2-2, 3.81) at 6:45 PM at Willie Mays Field.
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