OUT OF LEFT FIELD
DR. LEFTY'S TAKE ON ALL THINGS GIANT
LATEST OUT OF LEFT FIELD POST

The Final Countdown
by DrLefty A lot has transpired since I published my last Out of Left Field two weeks ago today. Rookie top prospect Kyle Harrison made a brilliant home debut, and grizzled veteran Alex Cobb followed that up by coming one out short of a no-hitter. The Giants won 4 of 5 and their first series since the beginning of August and were back in playoff position. And then September happened. After...
Stuck in Neutral?
by DrLefty I wrote a column on April 22 from a hotel room in Madrid saying that the Giants (then 6-13) were playing "putrid baseball." Shamed by my truth-telling, the Giants promptly ran off a five-game winning streak (still their longest of the season), and my next...
Taking Stock Two Months In
Photo credit: Brace Hemmelgarn/Getty Images by DrLefty The Giants were five games under .500 for March/April and five games over .500 in May. In June so far, they are 1-1. You can't be more ".500" than that. However, thanks to recency bias, most fans will be more...
Buyers, Sellers, Both, or Neither?
Luis Matos, next rookie sensation? by DrLefty What a difference a month makes, huh? On April 22, the Giants were playing flat-out putrid baseball. They were 6-13. Since then they have gone 20-12 to arrive at their current 26-25 record. In the "Putrid Baseball"...
The Future is Now
Patrick Bailey on team photo day in spring training. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) by DrLefty Aloha from West Maui, where MrLefty and I have been since Monday afternoon. Since I'm on sabbatical this quarter, we booked two weeks at our timeshare...
Zaidi, We’ve Got a Problem(s)
by DrLefty Greek Giant wrote a couple of days ago--after Sean Manaea's latest disastrous outing--about the amount of money spent/wasted on Manaea, Ross Stripling, and Joc Pederson (about $69 million total, if you assume that both Manaea and Stripling will opt into the...
“Hopefully the s**ts go away”–Words to live by
Logan Webb, the author of the above quote, wearing a Steph Curry jersey after losing a Warriors-Kings Game 7 bet to Brandon Crawford by DrLefty After the Giants' somewhat surprising series win in Houston this week, Logan Webb was candid about what the team had...
The Giants at the End of April: Putrid or Plausible?*
by Dr Lefty *hat tip to MrLefty for help with the title Last week when I wrote Out of Left Field from Madrid, I described the Giants as playing "putrid baseball." At that moment, they were 6-13 and had lost 7 of 8 games. Fired up by my very justified criticism, the...
Putrid Baseball
by DrLefty This has not been a good week for Bay Area sports fans, and I'm not even talking about the sideshow that the Warriors-Kings series turned into. Between the news that the A's are leaving Oakland and the horrific play by both Bay Area teams...well, it's ugly...
Opening Dud
Full box here by DrLefty MrLefty and I have a modest home opener streak going. It's not as prodigious as Crawnik's, but it goes back to 2017. (We even were among the 8000 or so who got to go to the 2021 opener under severe COVID restrictions, and I also count...
Churn to Burn: “No Move Too Small”
by DrLefty On March 28, 2019, my family and I went to Petco Park for Opening Day. We made the trip for two reasons: (1) It was both spring break and Lefty Jr's birthday and (2) We thought there was a good chance it might be Madison Bumgarner's last Opening Day start...
Taking Stock: Last Day of Camp
by DrLefty The slogan at the top of this post is from 1986, and it was coined in anticipation of the debuts of #2 draft pick Will Clark, along with earlier first-rounder Robby Thompson, and trade acquisition Jose Uribe. It turned out to be fairly prophetic: The 1986...
Camp Standouts
by DrLefty Spring training is winding down. Opening Day is less than two weeks away now, and the Giants have trimmed their roster a great deal. Before we leave camp, though, I thought I'd take a look at some players who have really stood out. No, I'm not talking about...