by
Greek Giant
It’s important for both fans and baseball players to know how to take a beating, in context, especially one following a ten-game winning streak. Yesterday the Giants lost 10-0 to the San Diego Padres and Blake Snell in a game that was not as close as the final score. In fact it felt more like 25-0 but even if the Padres only scored a single run they were going to win this game because Blake Snell was simply that brilliant. Though he only pitched six innings Snell could have gone the full nine if necessary. He shut down the Giants with 97 mph fastballs on the inside and outside corners on the black, at the top edge of the zone and just about everywhere else. Combined with his cutter and curve/slider he was basically un-hittable on this day. As if all those pitches were not enough Snell would mix in a few change-ups just to torment the San Francisco batters. It was not fair. Imagine a left-handed Greg Maddux with the same command and a better fastball and you begin to approach the brilliance of Snell yesterday.
In fact, until Patrick Bailey’s opposite field single in the bottom of the third I was not certain the Giants would manage a base hit in this game. They only had three for the whole game.
Coming into the game Snell had an ERA of .065 since May 1, making him the best pitcher in baseball in that span. I still scratch my head at his 3-6 record coming into the game and then I remember that this Padres team has a lot of holes in its lineup and is under-achieving in other aspects. So there’s that.
Then there was Alex Wood, the Giants starter. Wood gave up six runs in his 3 1/3 innings and allowed four hits and four walks. That’s not too many hits but the Padres hit two three-run homers off him, one by Manny Machado in the third inning and one by Gary Sanchez with two outs in the top of the first inning. The Sanchez homer was the one that felt pre-destined. After many Giants fans, including yours truly, felt proud of our Patrick Bailey and his debut we congratulated ourselves and Farhan Zaidi for never biting on the Gary Sanchez bait when the former Yankee catcher was available for free after drifting in the MLB DFA periphery.
Well, Sanchez has home run skills and yesterday he actually caught a good game too so, congrats Gary. You had a great game.
The story however, was the mismatch between Wood and Snell. With the Giants riding a ten-game winning streak we all hoped for that 11th to happen with some form of late-inning magic.
Nope.
Wood could not find the plate, either throwing balls or throwing balls that found the sweet spot of San Diego lumber.
Jacob Junis fared badly as well. His line of 3 2/3 innings with seven hits and our runs allowed is ugly. Sean. Manaea pitched a scoreless inning, mercifully. So did David Villar!
In fact the only time Giants fans cheered was when it was announced that Buster Posey was at the game!
The one and only @BusterPosey in attendance 🤩 pic.twitter.com/Gf1W7T1UQv
— Oracle Park (@OracleParkSF) June 22, 2023
Wash it off.
Move on.
The Giants took three of four from these Padres and now host the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks for three games beginning tonight at Willie Mays Field.
I’m choosing to focus on the positives.
With the loss the Giants are now 42-33, 3.5 games behind the Arizonans.
Tonight’s Game
It will be Davies of the Diamondback versus Webb for the Giants tonight at 7:15 PM at Willie Mays Field.