Royal Sweep!

Sep 23, 2024 | 2024 Season, Latest Post

by
Greek Giant

Where was this earlier in the season when the games mattered? How typical of our beloved Giants team to play its best baseball of the season, winning five of six on the road against top tier American League teams, after our playoff hopes were finished!

Really!

How typical!

I am kind of beside myself because I did not see this coming. All of a sudden the Giants are a juggernaut. Yesterday they completed a three-game sweep against a Kansas City Royals team that has been slumping but has been one of the elite teams all season. With their mix of Bobby Witt Jr. (Simply Phenomenal), athletic outfield and very strong starting pitching, the Royals actually were in first place as little as three weeks ago when they beat the Guardians in Cleveland. The next day the Royals coughed up a lead and a series sweep and they have never been the same since. In that span the Guardians have run away with the AL Central. What’s the point of all this, you ask?

I am so happy you asked!

Poopy Pants.

I once heard Jimmy Rollins use that term in an analyzing how a certain favored team came up small in a big NL Division Series game in 2014. He was referring to the Nationals in Game 1 against the Giants. It’s what happens when a player or a team tightens a sphincter here or there in the heat of a Pennant race or during the postseason. Everybody knows you cannot win baseball games with poop in your pants and sphincters tightened. We also call it “choking.” That’s what the Royals are doing now. That’s what the Giants did for most of the season: they came up small in the big moments are now coming up huge in the meaningless moments of a dying and wasted 2024 campaign.

Forgive me for being so brutal but somebody needs to write it. It’s why you read TWG to begin with. It often happens with young, inexperienced teams and players. They have a hard time adjusting psychologically and physically to the bigger moments. It also happens to veterans sometimes. The Giants are a mix of all of the above. It’s kind of inconceivable for them to come into Baltimore and Kansas City and win five of six when those teams are desperate to clinch playoff positions. But here we are! Imagine how Kansas City fans must be feeling this morning:

Royals Fan #1: First they beat us in Game 7 (in the 2014 World Series)! Now this mediocre bunch of overpaid bums kicks our ass and sweeps us in our own park!

Royals Fan #2: I know. Let’s go out for some BBQ at Oklahoma Joe’s!

Royals Fan # 3: Let’s roll!

Yesterday Blake Snell was brilliant again is probably the hottest starting pitching in Major League Baseball since the All Star Break. He pitched six innings and allowed no runs, two hits and one walk while striking out nine Kansas City folks. He was damn impressive and pretty much in control for the entirety of the game. He threw 88 pitches with 56 going for strikes. I am sure if the game mattered more he would have pitched the seventh and maybe even the eighth inning. In the process he earned his fifth win and lowered his ERA to 3.12. Remember when his ERA was somewhere around 24?

The Giants had three hits in the game. So did the Royals. It was a pitcher’s duel from beginning to end with the Kansas City starting pitcher going seven strong innings but allowing the two runs that made the difference in the game. They came from the bats of Brett Wisely and Grant McCray. Mr. McCray tripled in the top of the second inning to score Jerar Encarnacion. Brett Wisely singled in Grant McCray after that. It turns out with the way Snell was pitching two runs were as good as twenty. The Royals were not scoring on him. The Giants relieved Snell with shutout innings by Sean Hjelle, Tyler Rogers and Ryan Walker. Walker earned his ninth save. The Giant pitchers struck out 13 Royals on the day.

With the win the Giants are 77-79. Baseball is weird.

There are six games left in the Giants season.

The Highlights

Ok, that last Tweet is not really a highlight but it’s funny and cute and it’s Monday. You’re welcome.

Tonight’s Game

The Giants travel to Phoenix for three games against the Diamondbacks beginning tonight. It will be Birdsong versus Rodriguez at 6:40 PM.