Another aspect of luck that was once with the Giants and has since disappeared was the luck of the trade. In their glory years, nearly every trade the Giants made paid off, some of them--like obtaining Hunter Pence--big time. But in recent years their high profile trades have largely been busts. That was once again dramatically demonstrated on the field Monday in San Diego.
The Giants had a 3-0 lead thanks to one hit--a homer by utility fielder Chase d'Arnaud. But they couldn't add on and the Padres chipped away until it was 3-2 going into the eighth. Manager Bruce Bochy chose Mark Melancon to pitch the bottom of the eighth. When the Giants traded for him, Melancon was a premier closer. Injuries and ineffectiveness have made him a liability in close games, so it was completely predictable that the Padres would hit him and score. The only unusual event was that they only tied the game.
In the top of the tenth, the Giants had runners on first and third with two out, thanks to some actual good luck within the game, on bounces and bad throws. The Padres are not a good team. Up came Evan Longoria, another high profile trade for a veteran All-Star. As Dave Fleming said on the radio, they traded for him for just these moments. He popped up on the first pitch.
Fortunately, however, the Giants gritted it out to win in 12 innings on a home run by one of their pleasant surprises, Gorkys Hernandez, and bravura pitching by Will Smith.
When they traded for Andrew McCutchen, they hoped he would give them the combination of power, average, speed on the basepaths and brilliant fielding that ignites a team. He's given them at least something positive in all those departments except power, so he's been moved to lead-off batter in the hopes that he can ignite the team from there.
It could be a long rest of the season. With their upgrade trade, the Dodgers are clear favorites in the division, and the Giants had another hitting drought after the break to fall pretty much out of contention. But they can still play exciting baseball. They have found a number of really good young players, and they have core stars like Crawford, Posey and Bumgarner, and undervalued players like Kelby Tomlinson who keeps bouncing back from the minors to play key roles, as he did Monday. It seems they've finally found a closer in Will Smith, who struck out four Padres in a row to win (and save) the 12 inning game on Monday.
Meanwhile there are a few hours before the trading deadline. McCutchen is being talked about in the media as a possible trade. That would be depressing--I haven't even had the chance to see him in a Giants uniform. In any case, I almost cringe at the idea of a trade now. Not for the Bad Luck Giants.
Update: The trading deadline came and went without the Giants making a move. In a quick turnaround day game, their rookie phenom Rodriegez lost a deserved win when Longoria failed to come home on a passed ball to the backstop. He sort of made up for it with a triple in the 10th, as did Brian Crawford who singled him in, after striking out looking at three pitches with the bases loaded in the 8th. So the Giants barely survived two games in extra innings against the weakest team in the division.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers got more depth via trade, and the surging Pirates went all in to try to challenge for a playoff spot this year.
