Mid August Night's Dream

Before Thursday night's game, the San Francisco Giants were shut out twice in three games.  In the game they won between, they scored only three runs.

On Thursday, they scored three runs again, and won again, beating Washington 3-1 behind magnificent pitching, which is the only way scoring just three runs is going to get you wins.

The Giants wasted an excellent start by Chris Heston Wednesday but not an ultimately excellent start by Ryan Vogelsong Thursday night, who struck out eight in five innings.  The bullpen was even better: two terrific innings by Hunter Strickland, one very sharp inning by Sergio Romo, and a final inning with the dramatic uncertainty that's become all too prevalent with closer Casilla.  All together, Giants pitchers struck out 14, all (as Mike Krukow pointed out) by swinging strikes.

Note some of the names that get game balls: Vogelsong, who lost his spot in the starting rotation through no fault of his own; Gregor Blanco, the utility and these days starting outfielder whose first inning triple got the Giants back on track, rookie Matt Duffy and very rookie Tomlinson (also a triple), as well as Posey who is having an amazing late summer.

The Giants need heroics from players like these if they are to get through the month even or better.  Aoki was placed on the 7 day concussion DL, so that's two starting outfielders on the DL (and the only starter, Hunter Pence, is slumping.)  The linchpin of the infield and the batting lineup, Joe Panik, is out.  Meanwhile, Washington is fighting for its playoff life for the next 3 games at SF, and in the Giants near future there's a road trip to St. Louis and Pittsburgh.

Elsewhere, the Pirates got one of three in St. Louis (losing ground in the division but enough to keep them firmly at Wild Card #1), and the Cubs and Mets stay hot. The remaining schedule tends to favor the Cubs and Mets continuing to win, but the Giants schedule is pretty tough.  So the possibility of the Giants backing into a second Wild Card slot is fading fast.

So the Giants' best chance may be the division.  The Dodger bullpen that got scorched in Pittsburgh, got scorched at home on Thursday by the Reds.  Their big trade, Matt Latos, again got shelled, and was loudly booed at his new home park.  The Dodgers always seem capable of imploding, and they are on the edge of it now.

The Giants are 2.5 back, which is within striking distance if they can maintain that margin through the month.  It will take games with heroics like tonight to do so.

It will also help to have the acknowledged best manager in baseball.  Bochy reconfigured his lineup on Thursday, with Blanco leading off and Belt moved up to third, and it worked.

 But it won't be easy--starting Friday, with what was once a marquee matchup but these days has Giants fans awfully nervous--Scherzer against Cain.

MadBum Is Back

Everybody is heading for the hills, but the stern tall marshal is going to defend the town.  The Madison Bumgarner of last autumn came fully back on Tuesday when his team needed him most--a four game losing streak, a depleted bullpen.  Bumgarner took on the mighty Astros, pitched a complete game, striking out 12 and walking none, for a 3-1 victory at home.

The strikeouts included 7 in a row in the early innings, a team record.  He also took the record for the number of games with more than 10 strikeouts and no walks.

Did I mention a complete game?  Nine innings for the starting pitcher?  Pretty close to a miracle these days, and just what the Giants needed.

Brandon Belt hit two home runs, after a road trip during which he hit 5. In a very streaky year in which he didn't seem to be showing a lot of power, he's now equaled his season high of 17 homers.

 And the defense was stellar yet again, with two nice line drive grabs by Belt and Crawford to end the game.

Off-field news wasn't so good, at least in the short term: Angel Pagan went on the DL for his knee, Joe Panik will still be rehabbing when he gets off the DL, Andrew Susak is not ready either, and neither is Tim Hudson, Tim Lincecum or especially Mike Leake.  But Leake at least is showing good progress, and Aoki passed his concussion tests.  This is critical time for the Giants, with all these injuries, and before rosters get expanded.

Now what the team needs is a rebound performance by Chris Heston tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Pirates fell to the Cards in St. Louis, in one of those one run games that the home team usually wins.  The Dodgers lost one, won one.

Sunday High and Low

On the big stage of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, in a sold-out PNC Park, the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers with a spectacular come from behind win.  Down 5-1, they clawed back until the 7th, when they scored 9--count 'em NINE--runs, one on a sacrifice fly, one on an infield hit, two on a single by Cutch (who'd homered to center with one on in the 5th) and a titanic 3-run homer by Jung Ho Kang, who'd been hit by pitches in his previous two at-bats.  Francisco Cervelli' s single in that 7th started the deluge by making it a 5-4 game, and he capped the victory in the 8th with a titanic home run into the upper deck in left.

The Pirates sweep of the Dodgers was about the best news the Giants got on Sunday.  They were swept in Chicago--and it was a 4 game sweep--with a biting 2-0 loss.  They had great chances all game to score runs, including in the 8th, and in the 9th they had the bases loaded with no outs.  Jake Peavy pitched pretty well, though he threw a lot of pitches, and the bullpen held the line, but this time the injury-riddled lineup (losing Aoki during the game, and perhaps for longer) couldn't push over those runs against a dominant starter and closer.

So though the Giants lost no ground to the Dodgers, thanks to the Pirates, they fell way behind in the Wild Card race.  The Cubs on the other hand have to feel great, and super-confident.  They beat the World Champions four games straight, the kind of confidence-builder that a young team needs.  They had plenty of good fortune as well, especially on Sunday when the game came down to a couple of feet shy of the center field wall for Hunter Pence's blast, and a disputed strike three on a 3-2 count to end the game.

Though the Giants come home for a day off, the games won't get any easier--they'll be playing good teams for awhile. Houston and Washington come in, then a perhaps fateful road trip to St. Louis and Pittsburgh--with the two best records in baseball--and then guess who comes to SF?  The Cubs.

 Aoki got beaned Sunday and his availability won't be known until Tuesday.  The Giants won't get Joe Panik and Mike Leake back until the series in St. Louis.  Lots of speculation, bordering on panic, about quick acquisitions before things get completely out of hand.

 Meanwhile, the Pirates have been doing a lot of winning without two key players, Jody Mercer and Harrison, and they both are off to rehab assignments early.  The Pirates have a tough road trip coming up, starting with their nemesis St. Louis and then the currently high flying New York Mets.

The Cubsaw

Not following the Chicago Cubs every day, I find it difficult to pin down why they are so hot right now.  They are a very young team and though there may be future stars on the roster, it's hard to say who they are.  Maybe it's chemistry between the manager and young players, but they've won 9 out of 10, and the Pirates as well as now the Giants (big time) have been among their victims.  The Giants just lost three straight to them, and will have their hands full to salvage the fourth game on Sunday.

What ails the Giants is easier to see.  On this current road trip, their hitting has been good to excellent, and their fielding has been excellent to spectacular.  Their bullpen has been so-so, but their starting rotation has just fallen apart.  Somebody came up with an amazing stat--that the starters have failed to get an out in the fifth inning.  Chris Heston faltered, Ryan Vogelsong pressed back into starting duty was shaky and Matt Cain was terrible on Saturday--only superior defense (especially by Brandon Crawford) and luck kept him in the game for the first two innings.

As for the bullpen, it's notable that Bochy--while holding out hope for Cain to regain his winning ways--commented that Cassia seemed to have lost his concentration.  The runs he gave up in the 8th were the difference in the game.

The crisis in the starting pitching rotation became acute when Mike Leake went on the DL after pitching but one game for the Giants since the trade.  With Hudson and Lincecum already on the DL, the starter crisis became a bullpen crisis, as there are no long relievers left, with Vogelsong a starter.

Losing to the Cubs is especially meaningful since if the Giants fail to win the division, they will likely contend with the Cubs for the second Wild Card.  Fortunately, the Dodgers have lost twice to the Pirates--the Bucs are near invincible at home--and so the division race could be a lot worse.  (On the other hand, the Giants will soon head for Pittsburgh; the Pirates swept them in San Francisco, plus the aforementioned invincibility at home.)

Things could turn around for the Giants, once everyone is healthy (if that ever happens this year), and the young Cubs could just as easily go on a 10 game losing streak.  But unquestionably they are one of the hot teams at the moment, along with the Mets and Toronto.   Getting hot at this stage could mean that the team is clicking and knows how to sustain it, or it just might be a streak.

Same with losing streaks. Washington is on one, and may be self-destructing; there was always that potential, as there still is with the Dodgers.  There's lots of baseball yet, and the Giants have a lot of good things going--especially (of all things) hitting.  (They're also wasting one of Brandon Belt's power hitting streaks, which don't usually last.) They've got the best infield in baseball with the best depth defensively.  But in ways unanticipated, the generally anticipated problem of starting pitching (which just a week ago seemed almost solved) is their Achilles tendon.

I still marvel at the way relief pitching is handled these days.  I know I grew up in a different era, but this universal practice of using a parade of relievers for one inning or even one batter, in nearly every game, just doesn't make sense to me.  The law of averages suggests that the more pitchers you use, the more likely it is that one of them isn't going to be very effective that day.  But if one is clearly dominant and having a great day, he is still replaced the next inning because, well, that's how it's done.

Don't Panik

For the second straight night in Atlanta, the San Francisco Giants scored 8 runs, but this time they won 8-3, with an 8th inning rally of four runs.  After the Giants squandered another lead, they got two straight doubles to tie it up again.  Atlanta elected to intentionally walk Posey to get to Hunter Pence.  It didn't work.  Pence hit a three-run homer.  Only so many times he's going to hit into a double play in this situation.

He did that with the bases loaded to end the last game against Texas, the first of two losses of the kind that give restless nightmares to Giants fans, if not the players.  But the worse loss was the first game in Atlanta, when the Giants bullpen gave up three leads to lose in the 12th 9-8.

I know as a Giants fan I'm supposed to hate the Dodgers most of all, and as a Pirates fan it's St. Louis these days.  But I've been a Pirates fan a long time and I learned to hate Atlanta above all.  I also won't use their racist team name.

In the second game of the series on Tuesday, Matt Duffy had another 4 hit night, including driving in the tying run in the 8th.  The Giants and associated media are promoting him for NL rookie of the year, and he's certainly the Giants' rookie of the year.  Other good news: Aoki and Adrianza are hitting, and Jake Peavy continues to pitch well--he threw a lot of pitches for six innings but had 8 strikeouts and gave up just one run. He deserved the win but the bullpen again blew the save.

But this may all be outweighed by the bad news, at least if it continues: Joe Panik is on the disabled list with back problems of mysterious origin.  Just as the Giants were getting healthy, this is a significant blow.  You don't lose a .300 hitter and a superior infielder without consequences.

The Giants had injuries all last year and backed into the playoffs--really, lucked into the playoffs--and every season is all new, so it could happen again.  But their playoff hopes may depend on Joe.  Though Panik may not be as essential as Pence and Posey have proven to be, he's probably close.  They can win without Pagan, and so far this year, they mostly had to.

The Tuesday night game hurt too because it all fell apart with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, when closer Casilla, who was shaky and has been recently, gave up a gopher ball, two strikes from victory.  The only reliever who looked sharp was Romo, but apparently the scheme trumps game reality (or maybe it was just that Romo was overworked lately) but not bringing him back for the 9th turns out to have been much of the story.

The third game in the series Wednesday was set up to be the prime pitchers' duel. Those are always 50-50 chances, just as the series is evenly split.  The Giants are the better team, but their best chance of winning the series on the road may have passed.

Now It Begins

In some ways, it is unfortunate that the Pirates are in the same division as the St. Louis Cardinals.  The Cards have the best record, the most wins, in baseball.  Nobody is even close.  The Pirates however have the second best record.  In just about any other division of either league, they would be in first place.

But if the Cards push them to keep up, it is not so unfortunate, because they have a clear path to the postseason.  If the season ended now, they would have the first Wild Card berth.

The Giants on the other hand don't have as clear a path.  They are competing for their division championship, mostly with the Dodgers.  If they don't get that, things get chancier.  Because the race for the second Wild Card spot is unclear.  Even a half game out (as they are at the moment), they might not make the postseason--they are even closer to the record of the Chicago Cubs for the second Wild Card.

In the past two or three weeks, the Giants have done what they needed to do.  Playing mostly teams who are not in contention, they dominated.  On Wednesday they broke a pitcher's duel open with a five run inning, and took their home series with the Brewers, after breaking their latest winning streak at six with Tuesday's loss to the Brewers.  So they have won 12 of their last 14 games.

But after an off-day Thursday, things change.  They're on the road, playing better teams than they have been playing, in less congenial circumstances (like a lot of hot weather.)  The rest of the season is going to be challenging.

Both the Pirates and Giants (who play each other four more games, in Pittsburgh; the Pirates swept the last series in San Francisco) play a series with their main opponent in the last week of the season, and they both do so at home.  The Cards-Pirates games probably won't be meaningful for the division title unless the Cards have a last month swoon, and the Pirates streak.  Most Giants observers expect the Dodgers series to be meaningful, and possibly determine the division.  Probably there's a greater chance of that, but of course it's not guaranteed (besides which, both teams have another series after it.)

But that's late September.  There are a lot of games to come in the dog days--the period when the Giants faltered last year--and this year, it seems less likely that they will back into the Wild Card.  Manager Bruce Bochy seems really conscious of this--he's resting players, keeping his starters to pitch counts, and sacrificing hitters on the bench for a large pitching corps.  So this is when it gets interesting, in terms of season outcome (the Giants are an interesting and fun team to watch game by game anyway.)  This is when it begins.

Weekend Update, and Giants over the former Seattle Pilots

The weekend ended with the Giants sweeping their 3 game series with Oakland and the Pirates winning 3 of 4 from the powerhouse Washington Nationals, both at home.  The Pirates victory on Sunday meant Cole remains the win leader among starters in the league, and Melancon the league leader in saves.

One Pirates tradition from my youth still seems observed--Monday off.  But the Giants had a night game with the Milwaukee Brewers, and beat them 4-2.  For the second game in a row, their victory was aided by an inexplicable base running mistake by the opposition, with Buster Posey throwing out both runners trying a really ill-advised steal in the late innings.  On Sunday Matt Duffy had a towering home run, and on Monday Brandon Crawford sent a 3-0 fastball into the deepest part of the park, where it bounced off the low wall and into the hands of an absolutely thrilled young woman in a Giants jersey, a two-run homer.

So the Giants now have two six-game win streaks separated by one loss.  This has put them suddenly 11 games above .500 and a game behind the Dodgers for the division lead.

Chris Heston pitched seven and got his 11th win, so he remains tied for club lead with Bumgarner.  He was shaky early, even after the lead (he usually is stronger with a lead) but 3 double plays got him out of serious trouble. Aoki rejoined the team, but nobody even mentioned him in the post-game wrap.  He went 0 for 3, and Bruce Bochy wisely had him batting 8th.  And at his first opportunity, Bochy got Blanco into the game, as a pinch-hitter for Heston in the bottom of the 7th.  Blanco promptly hit a double, drove in the insurance run, and stole third.  Bochy respects team chemistry and individuals in the zone (like Blanco lately).  He's an if it ain't broke don't fit it guy.  At the same time, he can't ignore past heavy contributors coming back from injury.

 Bochy says he's committed to his current starting rotation, including Hudson, who looked better if not stronger in his victory Sunday--a victory over the As that meant he'd beaten every team in the majors over his long career.  He's the 15th pitcher to do it.  That's spectacular, although I'm surprised there were that many.

Before Crawford's homer, the Giants manufactured their first run in the classic Giants way--a Duffy double, Posey ground ball to advance him to third, Pence a long fly to score him.  The Brewers compounded the caught stealing with a hissy fit, and their cleanup hitter and manager got tossed.

Years ago, probably after 2010 WS win, Margaret gave me a Giants daily calendar--one of those small square jobs that you tear off a page every day, this time with a baseball fact on each page.  I saved a bunch of them for bookmarks.  Yesterday I grabbed one from my stash and for some reason actually read it.  It happened to be about the Milwaukee Brewers, and it was something I didn't remember.  The Brewers originally were the American League team, the Seattle Pilots, in 1969.  Even after they moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers, they remained in the American League, until switching in 1997.

I wasn't paying much attention to baseball in 1969, and hardly ever paid much attention to the American League, so I don't even remember the Seattle Pilots.  They lasted one season there, and after protracted legal and other shenanigans, a judge declared the team bankrupt, and Bud Selig took them to Milwaukee, which had lost its Braves to Atlanta.  I should have remembered the Pilots, though, because Jim Bouton's famous Ball Four was about his season with them.

Wins and Bochy, Patron Saint of Writers

They seem to save it for the best teams.  The Pirates, comfortably back home, beat the Washington Nationals twice, with more power than pitching this time, including a monster home run into the river by Pedro Alvarez (who homered in both games) off Nat's ace Scherzer, who no-hit the Bucs the last time they met. (He came within an out of a perfect game.)

The Giants, also comfortably at home, beat the Oakland A's 9-3, without a home run.  Just four hits by Hunter Pence, including two RBI doubles, and true to his streaky ways, a multi-hit night for Brandon Belt, plus a very nice double play in the field.

But the reason I'm hitting the keys tonight is to mention something I keep forgetting. I've mentioned many times how much I like the Giants announcers (they make the current Pirates announcers a real embarrassment), while recognizing their wit and intelligence fit well for the Giants market of upscale techies.  And Bruce Bochy is recognized everywhere as one of the best managers, if not the best, in baseball.  Bochy, like players and managers everywhere, does things for "charity," and like a lot of both, he's written a book.

Bochy's book is about walks he's taken in cities the Giants have visited.  And if that's not unique enough, the proceeds go to help aspiring writers.   That's not only unique--that's amazing, even if you're too old to be called an aspiring writer anymore.

Heating Up

The Pirates haven't righted the ship yet after the All-Star break, but the SF Giants are clipping along.  They've finished a 5-1 road trip, and have won 8 of their last 9 games.  After losing the first in San Diego, they won the next two, and scored a lot of runs doing it.

 Wednesday's game was really interesting.  Matt Cain again got better as he went along, and gave up only one run, on a mistake pitch homer.  James Shields pitching for the Padres had the Giants scoreless, missing one opportunity after another with runners on base.  But those extended innings, and the long at-bats Giants hitters had, chased him from the game early because of pitch count. Once he was gone, the Padres vulnerable middle relievers got hammered.

Brandon Belt homered for the first time in ages, and that bodes well for the near future with this highly streaky hitter.  Buster Posey once again muscled two runs across with a double--he's an unassuming Superman with runners on base.  Pence, who launched a screaming line drive homer on Tuesday that went nearly 500 feet, scorched a single and an RBI on the next pitch after Posey's double on Wednesday.  Once again, Joe Panik and Matt Duffy were getting on base the entire road trip.

But it's really past time to take notice of Brandon Crawford.  I have to admit that last year when he hit the grand slam that sunk the Bucs in their Wild Card game, I thought of it as a fluke, a lucky swing that sent the ball out in the perfect spot, the closest and lowest point for a homer.

But this year he's not only the best defensive shortstop in the league, or a clutch singles hitter at the back of the lineup.  He's hitting with authority and power. On the Giants he's second to Posey in homers, and here's a stat that blew me away: he has more RBIs than the Buc's run producer, Andrew McCutchen.  Crawford hit a big fly homer on Wednesday, with a real home run swing.

Tuesday's homer highlight was a grand slam by none other than Hector Sanchez, the catcher called up from the minors when Susak got hurt.  That was a home run swing, and a home run flip of the bat, which got the ire of the Padres' pitcher.  The man threw chewing gum at him!  The umps warned both benches.

After an off day, the Giants at home face another couple of teams with losing records, though both have been winning lately: Oakland and Milwaukee.  Then they start facing tougher opponents.  Friday may well see the return of  Aoki to the lineup.  He only got one hit in his two minor league rehab games so his timing is apt to be off, but how about this: the Giants with Aoki AND Pence in the lineup, and three pitchers returned to the starting corps, of which two--Cain and Peavy--look good.

Only flies in the ointment: Hudson didn't look sharp his first start (though he didn't get bombed either), and reliever Affeldt was ineffective in his return. We may not see Lincecum again this season, with hip problems that may require surgery.  It's not clear whether Pagan has fully recovered from his leg injury. But the Giants right now have more of their key personnel healthy than they did much of last season.

While there is some speculation about moves the Giants might make before trade deadline, there's also a feeling that they mostly have the makings.  Not so in Pittsburgh apparently--the players are fielding questions about trades, with Neil Walker quoted as saying the team has some obvious needs.

There's been a lot of chatter about trades, and none made so far.  Both the Oakland As and the Brewers are surrounded by trade talk, and some of it may happen while they're in SF.  I'd be surprised if the Giants traded very high--maybe Maxwell, who has a lot of potential, maybe Affeldt, but this team has such great chemistry it's hard to see it disrupted.  The infield is solid and with Aoki back, so is the outfield.  If the Giants trade it will be interesting to see if they sacrifice experience (a few of their older relievers) or youth (they're packed with great potential among pitchers in the minors.)  I wouldn't be surprised--or disappointed--if they stood pat basically.  And I don't think many other fans would either.

Good, Bad and Ugly

Coming out of the gate after the All-Star game break, the San Francisco Giants swept their three game series at Arizona, including a 5 hour epic that used a record 10 pitchers.  That extends a pre-break winning streak to 6 games, and two sweeps.  Good!

Coming out of the break, the Pittsburgh Pirates were swept in Milwaukee.  This team has a history of stuttering if not stopping in the second half of the season.  Bad!

The ugly was a serious injury to the Pirates' starting shortstop Jordy Mercer.  It sounds like it may have ended his season, though that's not yet confirmed.

Also not pretty but not as bad by comparison was the minor injury to Giants catcher Andrew Susak.  He's on the 15-day DL by which time he's expected to be fine.  But he'd been hitting very well lately and stoking hopes that he could platoon behind the plate more often, getting Buster Posey in an upright position playing first base.  His injury also may complicate trade possibilities before the deadline for Hector Sanchez, the backup catcher he replaced and who is now replacing him.  The Giants carry only two catchers.

The Pirates getting batted around in Milwaukee may not be as bad as it seems, since the Brewers were already on a hot streak.  It doesn't get any easier for them however, as they next play last year's American League champs at Kansas City.

The Giants will test that Brewer's streak when they come into SF next week but first they go to San Diego, where the Padres have recently awakened.  On Sunday, the Padres experienced only their second rain-out in the history of their ball park, as remnants of Pacific hurricane Delores deluged southern California.  The Angels game was also called.

And then there's a really hard month of baseball for the Giants as they play a string of contenders, often away.  So could be good, could be bad, and it could be ugly.

My All-Star Moment

As both of my teams are in the NL, not good news that the AL won the All-Star game to secure home field advantage in the World Series.

As possibly the world's only Pittsburgh Pirates/San Francisco Giants fan, I note that the Giants players did ok--Madison Bumgarner pitched a scoreless inning, Brandon Crawford got an RBI--and the Pirates did well, especially Andrew McCutchen who blasted a second-deck homer.  Pretty to watch.

But the highlight perhaps peculiar to me was the strikeout of the game's MVP, Mike Trout (the first to go back to back) with the Bucs' ace Gerrit Cole pitching (a nasty curve) and the Giants' star Buster Posey catching. Both of these are currently on a loop at Bleacher Report-Pittsburgh Pirates.

Springing into the Break

Both my teams are surging into the All-Star break,  but you can't beat the Pittsburgh Pirates for a dramatic and ecstatic weekend.  On Saturday night, they played the St. Louis Cardinals to a tie in regulation nine, then St. Louis scored a run in the top of the 14th.  But in the bottom of the 14th, Neil Walker singled and Andrew McCutchen hit a towering homerun to center that hit into the topiary bushes that spell out  PIRATES.  Game over.

Can't top that huh?  Think again.  In the ESPN nationally broadcast Sunday night game, the Cards and Bucs again went back and forth until they were tied at 3 apiece in regulation.  In the top of the 10th the Cards scored not one but two runs. (They tried to score three but got thrown out at the plate.)  They led 5-3.

Then against the All-Star closer Trevor Rosenthal, the Pirates kept hitting in the bottom of the 14th, with RBIs by Marte, their surprise star catcher Cervelli and their new star outfielder Gregory Polanco, who (with two outs and bases loaded) stroked a single to right to bring in the winning run and end the game, 6-5.  The Pirates go into the break an amazing 18 games above .500 and now only 2.5 games behind St. Louis in the division.  Good enough for the second best record in the league.

Meanwhile, the SF Giants swept their three game series with the visiting Phillies, with 15 hits on Saturday and a more subdued 4-1 victory Sunday on Andrew Susac's three-run homer in the fourth.  Like the Pirates, they got great starting pitching in this last series--on Sunday it was Chris Heston for his 9th win, matching records with Madison Bumgarner as tops on the team.

The Giants go into the break with good momentum and more players getting healthy, but only 3 games above .500 and 4.5 back of Los Angeles in their division.  But at the moment they wouldn't qualify for either Wild Card spot, behind the Cubs and the Mets.

Both teams have great starting pitching, a dominant closer (though more so the Bucs), big stars (Cutch, Posey) and big young surprises--Cervelli and to some extent Polanco for the Bucs, Duffy, Heston and to some extent Susak for the Giants. The Pirates are finally living up to their potential, and though the Giants play exciting and exception ball (3 double plays Sunday) they have yet to prove they are better than a .500 team.

When the Giants managed only one of three against the Mets last week it looked bad, but the Mets have been surging too, and are now only 2 back of the Nationals in their eastern division.  The Pirates and Cards have split their 10 games with each other right down the middle, with half of those games going to extras, and the home team winning each of those.

Good News Night

Barry Bonds was hanging around the batting cage before the game, talking to players about hitting, and talking about players to coaches.  In the game, the SF Giants collected 22 hits, setting a record for the 16 years of their current ballpark.  Coincidence?

The Giants chased Phillies ace Cole Hamels in the rout, winning 15-2.  Hunter Pence hit a grand slam homer to the opposite field in his third game back.  Normally the story would be all about that.  Not this game.  Joe Panik, Matt Duffy and Justin Maxwell all had four hits. Three players with four hits hasn't happened since the 60s.  Panik hit a two run homer that got wet on a bounce. Maxwell had two doubles and a triple.  Angel Pagan, finally rested and his injury better, had three hits and two RBIs batting leadoff.  Brandon Belt (seen in conference with Barry Bonds earlier) had two doubles.

Yet the game started slowly.  Both SF Giant Madison Bumgarner and Hamels looked pretty sharp in the early innings.  The Giants scraped a run, and the Phillies got two on a homer.  It looked like another low scoring, low support Bumgarner start.  Lately the Giants have held on until he weakened in about the sixth, and then the bullpen did or didn't hold a small lead.  But the fourth just exploded with 9 runs, so not even a grand slam got the majority of them.

Plus Bumgarner continued his torrid hitting--he's over .400 for the past month or so--with  a couple of hits and an RBI.  He's still tiring in the late innings, though.

There was more good news for the Giants.  Pitcher Tim Hudson looks very close to ready, reliever Jeremy Affelt pretty close ( with Tim Lincecum better but not close) and outfielder Aoki improving faster than expected.  He may be back in a couple of weeks.

Good news also for the Pirates, who beat their division rival the St. Louis Cardinals.  When they've made a run in recent years, it was because they handled the Cards, and when they fell short--like last year--it was because they didn't.  They lost the first game of this set, but won 5-2 on Friday behind Geritt Cole's majors-leading 13th win, and Neil Walker's 2-run homer.

The Giants have the mo to get the sweep they should get against the Phillies, and that they need going into the break.  They are still 5.5 games behind LA.

Can Buy A Thrill

Imagine you are a SF Giants fan who lives within an hour or two of the city, and you don't have a lot of money.  There probably still are such people, even in this high income tech zone.  Anyway, you can't afford a lot of games but you got tickets early to a game that was available and not especially important: a Tuesday night game with the New York Mets.  Maybe you even got it from somebody sufficiently discouraged by a 7 game losing streak.

Well, you got quite a night.  First, Matt Cain in his first start at home in a year.  But at least that was scheduled, you knew that going into the ballpark.  What you didn't know, what noone knew, was that you were going to see Hunter Pence suddenly return to the Giants lineup.

I can just imagine the buzz, the swirl and then the roar of sound when he trotted out onto the field.

Then how about when he drove in the Giants first run.  And then when he singled in the Giant's second run--which turned out to be 2/3 of their total.

And then the catch and throw, which quickly got the honor of playing on a loop on the SFG's Bleacher Report page all night.  He layed out for a fly ball on the line, jumped up, and gunned down the Met heading for home.  Pretty much the play of the year so far.

Wow.

The Giants won that one 3-0.  That goose egg courtesy most of all of Matt Cain, who pitched a strong 6.

Wednesday's day game was played under the lights, as the fog played around fly balls before lifting to a gloomy marine layer.  And it stayed gloomy, as ace Mets pitcher and All Star de Grom held them in check.  The Giants hit some hard deep balls but for outs, plus a Hunter Pence homer that went foul by inches.  They also had an inning of opportunity which they blew with poor baserunning by Justin Maxwell.  Otherwise, nothing until they scored one in the 9th.

The worst part of it was they again wasted a superlative start by Jake Peavy.  He's pitched well enough to win both outings since his return, and he's lost both because the Giants didn't score behind him.

There was some managerial bad luck, too.  Bochy rested Buster Posey (with a hamstring problem) and the hurting Angel Pagan, but not Brandon Crawford, who made an uncharacteristic and costly throwing error.  Then in the 9th Andrew Susak was the tying run at the plate with two outs, with Posey set to pinch hit if he extended the inning.  Bochy couldn't pinch hit for the catcher because Posey, the only other catcher on the roster, couldn't catch with that hamstring.  But that was minor, really.  Even though Susak hit the ball up the middle but not hard enough for a hit, it was a good at-bat, and he's enough of a hitter to trust in that situation.

The Giants are unquestionably limping to the break.  But if they can win the last few, they won't be in bad shape--and the last few days have shown that the second half could be good.  Peavy and Cain are clearly ready, Pence is back.  I think Bochy learned today that Maxwell can play left field (he sure can't play center)--so with him in left, Blanco in center and Pence in right,  it's a solid defense.

Meanwhile the Pirates are sprinting to the break, as they did last year.  In fact, last year the break broke their mo.

Giant Goose Egg

That the SF Giants lost their three game series at Washington was less of a shock than their 3 duds in Miami, but it still had to be discouraging.

 Washington proved to be the better team, and the Giants didn't even see their best pitcher.  The Nationals' infield woes receded, and they have right now a superior outfield that took away several extra base hits from the Giants, who couldn't score a run for two of the games except for two solo homers.The final game was additionally frustrating for all the bad calls on balls and strikes.  Ryan Vogelsong was still pitching well when he was ejected, which didn't help matters.  George Kontos, who hadn't given up a run in ages, gave up the winner on a home run.  It ended up 3-1.

Bryce Harper of the Nationals was the top All-Star vote getter, and he showed why even in this relatively quiet series for him.  He's something of a Mickey Mantle figure, with incredible potential and putting up incredible numbers, but whose career has been marred by injuries.  And instead of off-field excesses like Mantle, he's prone to on-field temper.

The Giants return home from an 0-6 road trip depleted and exhausted, 4 games back in second place.  It could have been worse, since the Dodgers also lost on Sunday.  They have to rest Pagan or risk losing him later, and they are going to rest Panik as they did Duffy today.  Their latest roster moves bit them today when Travis Ishikawa returned to the Pittsburgh Pirates on waivers. That's an experienced bench player the Giants won't have for late season, but the Pirates now will.

 The Pirates are ending the first half going in the opposite direction of the Giants.  They won their series against Cleveland, with a 1-0 gem by Jeff Locke and a 5-3 win by league leader Gerrit Cole (his 12th victory), with a 5 run fifth capped by a double by Andrew McCutchen, who didn't make the All-Star starting lineup but will probably start anyway due to injuries.  The Giants' Aoki was the 4th outfielder in votes, but he's injured, too.  The Pirates have no starters, and the Giants only Buster Posey.  So that's exactly one of my selections that start, two if you count Cutch.

All-Star Update: NL players voted Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford onto the All-Star team, and All-Stars manager Bruce Bochy selected second baseman Joe Panik for the team, as well as pitcher Madison Bumgarner. Pirates added to the All-Star team are Andrew McCutchen and pitchers Gerrit Cole, Mark Melancon and A.J. Burnett.  It's great news for Burnett, who had a bad year last year with the Phillies, and is back with the Bucs for his 17th and last year (at least, that's his plan.)  Meanwhile, starter Cole leads the league in wins and closer Melancon is arguably the best in the league.  (So that's four of my selections.  Fans didn't pick pitchers.)

Fall of the Lakers

This week's NBA news has all the major free agents wooed by the Los Angeles Lakers going to other teams.  The best the Lakers can do is trade for a center (Roy Hibbert of Indiana) who is slow, has no shot and rebounds poorly.  He could bounce back from a bad year, he could suddenly click with the Lakers, but it's unlikely.

The Lakers aren't used to being snubbed.  And while the sports world likes to blame Kobe Bryant, it's pretty clear to me that its the Laker management.  The team has not been the same since baby Buss took over for his father.  The elder Buss was universally respected, loved by his players (Magic Johnson for one revered him.)  In the years that Jerry West was also in the front office, the Laker organization was the classiest, most astute and most powerful in the league.

Now that mantle has likely fallen to the San Antonio Spurs, who were able to take away free agent star power forward Aldridge.  I have my doubts that Aldridge will work out on the Spurs, but if he does, it will be another indication of that organization's skill.  He was a malcontent in Portland for no real reason, and if the Spurs can quell his jealousy of other players, it will signal to other stars that their organization and team ethic is for real.

In any case, top players making obscene amounts of money aren't necessarily following just the dollar signs or the major market endorsement possibilities.  Whatever it is they are looking for, the Lakers don't have it.  And it's not just prospects for winning, and it certainly is not playing with Kobe Bryant.  Whatever the word is among players, they are being cautious and skeptical at best.  This year's failures don't auger well, after last year's etc.  The pattern is set, and top players aren't getting on the Buss.

Limping to the Break

The Giants wasted a very impressive return performance by Jake Peavy to lose 2-1 to the Washington Nationals.  Things only get harder in Washington now.  Next game is Bumgarner v. Strasbourg.

The Giants made a number of roster moves prior to the game.  As mentioned here, depth in the outfield was really getting to be a problem, and they addressed that by bringing up Ryan Lollis, a fairly good hitter who has been on a tear in the minors recently.  He has speed and can play all three outfield positions.  He's said to be an enthusiastic player in the Hunter Pence mold.  He bats left.

The Giants really need him or someone right away, as Angel Pagan is obviously hurting and pressing.  I think he's in pain all the time, though that's just intuition.  But he needs rest, as the Giants limp to the All-Star break with potentially none of their original starting outfield.  Fortunately Blanco is hitting very well, Justin Maxwell not so much.  If Lollis can contribute right away, he might get them over the hump.

As it is the Giants are wasting Buster Posey's amazing hot streak, and it won't last forever.  But he's playing more first base and that's good for the long term.  He's not bad at that position, and Brandon Belt is improving as a left fielder.

Apparently Casey McGehee is gone--I missed that--and Tim Hudson is on 15 day DL.  The team sent down pitcher Broadway as well as outfielder Ishakawa, and brought up left handed pitcher Josh Osich, who pitched late against the Nats and had a scoreless eighth.

So for the short term at least, Cain and Peavy join the starting rotation, replacing Hudson and Lincecum.  Romo is apparently going to be the closer, and Hunter Strickland is likely to be the late innings rightie in Romo's previous role. Along with Cassia.  Osich joins Lopez as left hander relief, though manager Bochy said that Osich will pitch to right-side hitters as well, as he did today.

I was puzzled by the news that the Giants paid major money for the contract of an international player, just 18, who plays middle infield and is a contact hitter.  Don't they have a bunch of them on the squad now, all pretty young?

The Giants have lost 4 straight now, and like many losing streaks, bad luck is playing a part.  But they've been a streaky team all year, and the dynamics keep changing with injuries, as Bochy is forced to change batting order and player positions.  Still, with Aoki and Pence both out, it could even be worse.  The problem could be if they lose too much ground before the break.  They were nearly tied for first just a few days ago, and they're 3.5 out now, with the Dodgers playing tonight.

On the Road: Woe and Flow

The Marlins swept their three game series with the visiting Giants, and the only team more surprised at that than the Giants would be the Marlins.  A bottomfeeder this year, reeling from organizational woes, the Marlins probably did not expect to even win the series at home against the world champs.

But Justin Bohr, who the rest of the league has "figured out," beat them three times with homers, two of them with two on base.  These constitute a third of his year to date total (he had six, now he has nine.)  His walk-off was the stunner.  With the Giants leading by two runs in the last of the ninth and their closer on the mound, the first two hitters reached base and he promptly homered.  It was all over in minutes.  Before that, the Marlins had committed three errors and didn't seem to be in the same league as the Giants.

Thursday Matt Cain returned to the mound, and so did the Marlin's young ace, Jose Fernandez.  Cain was reportedly pretty sharp for four innings but lost it in the fifth, when Fernandez homered and Bohr hit another three run dinger.  Fernandez had a better first outing, going a strong six, as well as homering.

What hurts the most is that these were supposed to be the gimme games.  The tough ones are ahead, with the strong Washington Nationals.  And the Giants will start off with another season debut by an injured pitcher, Jake Peavy.  The Giants kept the Marlins from scoring after the fifth mostly because of pitcher George Kontos.  But he's unlikely to be available for long relief if Peavy gets in trouble or tires early.  Apparently the Giants will also be going to a different closer, as manager Bochy diagnosed closer Casilla's problems Wednesday as arm fatigue.

Stuff like walkoff losses and a closer losing a game happen during the course of any season.  But it should also motivate being smarter.  If the rest of the league had figured out Bohr, and he hit his three homers on pretty much the same pitch in the same location, shouldn't the coaches take notice and figure out what they missed?  Same with Casilla's arm.

Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Pirates went to Detroit and swept that three game series.  The first they won with grit, the other two with power.  Neil Walker hit two homers in the middle game.  They got great pitching, especially from Liriano today.

Sprinting for Midseason

An off day Monday for the Giants and the Pirates, so taking a breath to take a longer view.  One of those assessments of the season so far makes a persuasive case that neither will win their divisions.  The Dodgers and the Cardinals are dealing with more injuries than many other clubs, even the Giants at this point, but they're holding down first place--the Cards by a considerable margin.  It's true the Giants had that commanding lead at the All-Star break last year and lost it, so it isn't impossible.  But the reasoning is sound--it is more likely that the Giants and Pirates will again face each other in the Wild Card game.

As for the Pirates, since its been awhile since I've been back in the Burgh for any length of time, I read with interest this claim that the Pirates have replaced the Steelers and Penguins as the most popular sports team in the city.  The article quotes a Pittsburgh sports fan's blunt assessment: “The Steelers are thugs, and the Penguins are crybabies. The Pirates are good guys and work hard. It’s easy to root for this team.”

The piece is mostly about the supposed decline of the Steelers but what this guy says about the Pirates rings true.  They do seem like good guys that work hard.  I would attribute my own distance from the Steelers to my dismay over professional football in general.  I've been unhappy for some time with the emphasis on hard hits (fed by sports media) over other aspects of the game, and the revelations on concussions kind of sealed that deal for me.  Of course, I still secretly read everything I could find on this year's Steelers draft picks.

But as a more active fan, baseball has really become my game.  I admire the Giants team--they're good guys who work hard, too, and they are easy to root for.  So I've filled out my All-Star ballots with a combination of Giants and Pirates.  Mostly Giants I must confess--I recently switched my third baseman to Matt Duffy, how could I not after the week he's had?  But I also switched out one Giant for the Pirates' Sterling Marte in the outfield (I still have Aoki out there, though.)

How many Giants fans today would trade Matt Duffy for Pablo Sandoval?  Pretty much zero I'll bet.  

On A Clear Day You Can Hit Forever

On a clear day you can hit forever, at the San Francisco Giants home park at least.  Blue skies and at times blinding sun helped 31 hits happen, including a bunch by San Diego in their strange eighth inning.  A parade of pinch-hitters dumped hit after hit off Giants relievers and the Padres turned a 9-2 laugher into a 9-8 squeaker, at least until the last half of the inning when the Giants scored 4.  The distinctly un-SF final was Giants 13 Padres 8.

The Giants not only hit 19 times, they seldom settled for singles.  They hit four triples for the first time at home in San Francisco (Belt had two), plus 4 doubles (Posey had two.)  Seven players had more than one hit in the game (including 3 with 3 hits), and 9 Giants hit safely (including pitcher Chris Heston, who drove in a run.)

The hit stats obscure the great outing that Heston had on the mound.  The no-hitter two starts back was a career achievement, but how he pitched in this game I think turned him into a starter for SF for a long time to come.  He's also an asset fielding his position and hitting.

(Now that I said that I had a weird feeling that the Giants may be about to trade a pitcher for more bat.  But let that pass.)

Anyway, three excellent starts against San Diego, one bad luck (and dead bat) loss, so a series win.  Colorado next, another division foe.  The Giants hit the Padres best starter and best reliever, so this hitting thing may be for real, even at home.  Travis Ishikawa rejoined the club yesterday, got a great ovation by fans taking their first opportunity to recognize his home run last season that won the pennant.  He wasn't among those getting hits today, and he didn't figure in the scoring.  But with Pence and now Aoki out for several more weeks, they need gloves in the outfield at a minimum.  Blanco continues to perform well at the plate and in the field.