by
Greek Giant
“A gut punch” That’s how Giants Manager Gabe Kapler described last night’s 4-3 loss to the Philies. I could use even more colorful words but this is a family blog so….
Entering the bottom of the ninth in desperate need of a win and leading 3-2 the Giants sent their closer to the hill, the awesome Camilo Doval. It all went south for Tranquillo Camilo from the first batter in the bottom of the ninth when he hit Stott with a pitch to put the tying run on base and a rabid Phillies crowd sniffing Giants blood in the water. Cave flied out to short before Marsh singled to right to put runners on first and third with one out and Kyle “Babe” Scwarber coming to bat.
If I am dissecting this loss I point to the Schwarber at bat and the Stott at bat as the critical moments. Schwarber was intentionally walked following a 2-0 count because Doval forgot to pay attention to Marsh on first base. He stole second uncontested and that simply cannot happen in that situation. He represented the tying run and Patrick Bailey or Gabe Kapler should have reminded Doval of the importance of keeping Marsh at first. There was another important reason for this: keeping a runner on first and third gives the chance a good shot at turning a double play. Worst case scenario the Phils tie it with a runner on first and two outs. Instead, With Schwarber’s walk loading the bases and Trea Turner fighting off heater after heater and slider after slider finally nailed a 100 MPH fastball right up the middle that ticked off Doval’s glove and caromed away from Estrada into right center.
Ball Game.
The Philadelphia crowd goes nuts.
The Giants cough another game.
If Turner’s ball is not touched by Doval it goes straight to Estrada who was positioned perfectly. He would, in all likelihood turn a very quick double play that would have preserved the victory.
Nope.
Marsh’s stolen base set up that whole inning (along with the hit batsman). SMH.
The fundamentals matter!!!! Even Hunter Pence, in his polite Hunter Pence way could not believe the stolen base!
Kyle Debuts
We could say the bright side was Kyle Harrison’s Major League Debut. The big lefty has some mean stuff and is one of the top ranked prospects in all of baseballs. The Giants had him on a VERY short leash but he got plenty of whiffs and ended up with five punch outs in 3 1/3 innings of work, allowing three runs on five hits. The big blow as a two-run dinger on a curve ball by Bryce Harper in an example of just awesome hitting. Harrison has the stuff. Let’s hope he strings some wins together. The future at the top of the Giants rotation with Webb and Kyle Looks very bright. Throw in Cobb as the number 3 guy then you get the Giants looking for two more starters. Too bad about the abysmal results of the Stripling and Manaea signings.
Giants Fans Are Getting Restless
Instead of recapping the entire game needlessly I think it much more fun to chronicle some of the pithy comments of Giants fans. Here’s what they are saying in Baggarly’s piece published today in The Athletic:
Zausmer R.
· 4h 17m ago
There is still plenty of season left to play, but the Giants definitely are in a death spiral at the moment. The utter ineptitude of the offense can no longer be attributed to a team-wide “slump.” The veteran players the Giants counted on to deliver some offense (Conforto/J.D. Davis/Petersen/Slater) are not getting it done. And, the rookies (Schmitt/Matos/Bailey) are hitting the rookie wall. As far as the starting pitching, it is clear that Farhan completely missed the boat with his off-season signings of Stripling and Manaea. And, relying on Wood and DiSclafani to be effective starters also turned out to be another error of judgment on his part.
The Giants have a lot of young players already up, and/or soon to arrive. Watching Harrison blow away some pretty good Phillies hitters in his debut last night gives us some hope the Giants may have now found a 1-A starter to go with Webb. Unfortunately, it’s starting to look like it’s already “wait till next year” for this team.
John H.
Imagine if Farhan took all the money he’s paying to Stripling & Manaea, and gave it to Gausman. Or if he signed Schwarber instead of Joc. Or basically any good player to a deal that wasn’t 1-2 years. He has missed the boat on many free agents and it’s becoming more obvious with every platoon failure.
Every night Kapler continues to de-incentivize the players by boiling them down to left-right matchups or not pitching to a lineup more than twice. They (management) might think this is the way to maximize a roster, but the emotional toll of turning everyone into a part-time baseball player has sucked the life out of this team. Nobody wants to play hard for this manager because there is no reward for it. You’ll just get benched when the matchups dictate it
Steve E.
Also, it’s boring as hell to watch.
From our very own TWG: