by
Greek Giant
Last night the Giants lost a game, 2-1, to the Padres in ten innings that was a good old fashioned pitcher’s duel. In this case it was between Logan Webb and Jake Musgrove, two of the top pitchers in the National League. Webb went eight innings and allowed only a solo homer off the bat of Manny Machado. He had two strikeouts and one walk while allowing six hits. In throwing 103 pitches Webb did not factor in the decision but his fastball and slider were superb.
Musgrove was even better and the only reason the Giants lost in ten innings was because they manufactured a run in the ninth when Austin Slater was hit by a pitch then stole second. From there he scored on Brandon Crawford’s one-out single to tie the game.
CRAWFORD COMES THROUGH 🙌 pic.twitter.com/5d64ObJIUQ
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) July 8, 2022
The Padres won it on a bases loaded single by Alfaro who actually hit a ground-rule double but decided to preen for about forty five minutes after his hit and barely made the obligatory touch of first base. If I am a Giant pitcher in today’s game Alfaro gets one in the ribs on the first pitch, not for the hit, but for the bat slam and histrionics after. It was a bit much.
The Box
The First Half Is Over
The Giants are now 41-40 after 81 games, the first half of the season is now complete. I’m not going to pile on and add to what has already been said and written about this team. It’s a simple situation of accepting that this is not a baseball club that can compete with the Padres and Dodgers for the Division. They are now 11.5 games behind LA and 5.5 behind San Diego.
The Padres are playing short-handed without their star Tatis Jr. The Dodgers have suffered serious injuries to their pithing staff. Neither team has slowed down much.
The Giants are now fringe .500 team and not even a legitimate playoff contender in my book. They just have too many talent shortcomings and they are not performing well with the pinch-hit, platooning, and five and done pitching philosophy.
Tonight’s Game
In game 2 of the four-game series it will be Sam Long against Blake Snell. Game time is 6:40 PM.