NFL Violence Over Skill

Network ratings for NFL games are down considerably, and lots of folks are spouting off on why that should be.  Everything from the Internet to political protests are offered as the reasons.

What almost nobody is taking seriously is that a growing number of people may just be fed up with the NFL's wanton violence.  The NFL can minimize the concussion issue, and the vested sports interests including sports media can ignore it, but lots of parents have to take it seriously.  They have to make decisions for their boys on whether football is worth the risk.

Parental concerns may be having some influence on the rules and how the game is played at the school level, maybe even the college level, though for the big schools, football is an addictive big business of enormous profit--especially since there are few paid employees.

But in the NFL nothing meaningful has been done, and the violence increases.  The Pittsburgh Steelers are charging that the knee injury to their star quarterback was intentional, though the NFL refused to even fine the miscreant.  He is one of several players who are known to deliberately injure opposing players.

Who wants to see that?  Who wants to see a team with its best players injured, because the NFL values violence over skill?

I don't.  And I wonder how many others are turned off as well, and are turning off the NFL.

Post Giants Season

As the postseason develops, a couple of things are apparent: relief pitching is proving crucial to winning teams, and with a better bullpen, the San Francisco Giants could beat anybody still playing.  And if the Dodgers make it to the Series, the Giants will really be kicking themselves harder.

Though the Giants immediately fired both first and third base coaches, the words out of the club have emphasized no panic, but yes, we're going into next season knowing who our closer is.

It won't be Casilla or Romo, as it's pretty likely they won't be with the team.  It's sad because they both contributed so much to World Series seasons.  The story of Casilla in tears after the horrendous 9th inning meltdown that ended the Giants season, because he was even asked to warm up, is heart-breaking.

Other absences are likely to be free agents Angel Pagan and Gregor Blanco.  Pagan's contributions--heroics, even--are pretty well known, but there were stretches in several years when Blanco carried the club. When healthy he was a real asset.

Management signals that it will concentrate on getting that big time closer, with several available through free agency.  That had better work, because big money is their best option.  They can't afford to lose position players through trades.

Otherwise it seems they're looking to keep young arms in the bullpen, and look at others to compete for the fifth starter.  They could use another bat with some pop. The infield is interesting, with now two possible starters at third, and Kelby Tomlinson becoming a reliable pinch hitter as well as utility infielder.  If a power hitting left fielder suddenly presented himself they might jump at it, but otherwise it seems they'll be content to platoon with young players.

Bruce Bochy seems itching to come back, so that's a plus.  We'll see what happens in the Hot Stove League (do they still call it that?)

Done, Done In

Two things about this final game of the SF Giants' season.  First, if you're a team of destiny, you get hits like the Cubs got in the 9th inning.  Derek Law induced a double play ball, except there was an overshift and nobody was at home in the usual shortstop area.  And the hit that tied the game was a slow hit ground ball that just happened to be perfectly placed, also due to the defensive alignment.

Second is that if you have a bullpen that can't hold a 3 run lead in the 9th, you probably don't deserve to get very far in the playoffs.  The Giants were that team.

Had the Giants won this game, they would have felt good about this season even if they'd lost in Chicago.  They got two magnificent starting pitching performances in the first and fourth games by Johnny Queto and today by Matt Moore, they had their surprising hitting star in Conor Gillaspe, solid hitting by Joe Panik and Brandon Crawford, with signs that the bats of Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt were coming around.  They were resilient.

But for all that, the total bullpen meltdown in this game has once again given this season a bad taste.  There are few things in baseball more dispiriting than a bullpen loss in the 9th, and the Giants went through that way too many times.  It's going to make a difference in who is on the field in 2017, probably beyond the bullpen.  

Well, at least here come the Warriors.

We Had 'Em All The Way

The Chicago Cubs came into the division series a confident team, and it showed.  They risked starting a pitcher the Giants had gotten to earlier in the season instead of their ace for the first game, and it worked.  They got to the Shark in game two, stifled the Giants and left Chicago looking for the sweep in San Francisco.

The Cubs took the lead on an improbable home run by ace pitcher Arrieta off Bumgarner.  Neither of the starters made it out of the sixth due to high pitch counts, although it was just a 3-2 game.

The Giants started giving the Cubs some doubt in the 8th.  They put two on and the Cubs tried to restore order with their flame-throwing closer Chapman.  But Conor Gillaspe, long ball hero of the wild card game, smoked a 101 fastball into triples alley and therefore got a triple (the first Chapman has given up to a left handed batter) and drove in the tying and lead runs.  The Giants got one more to go to the 9th ahead 5-3.

But of course the 9th has been the Giants' Waterloo since July, and new/old closer Romo walked the leadoff hitter and hung a slider for home run hitter Kris Bryant, who barely got it over the wall to tie the game.

There would be more drama, especially some amazing defensive plays by both teams, as both teams were rapidly running out of players.  Until the bottom of the 13th, a Brandon Crawford double and a Joe Panik triple, and the Giants won their 10th straight postseason elimination game, the longest streak in MLB history.

Now both teams come back barely 17 hours after this game concluded, to go at it again.  The Cubs may not be quite so confident, but they sure don't want to take it to a 5th game, not with Johnny Cueto on the mound.  And they know the Giants have done this before--come back to win a 5 game series after losing the first two. They'll face Matt Moore on Tuesday.  

Wild Night

Mike Krukow's foolproof formula for how a pitcher wins: pitch a shutout, hit a home run.  Madison Bumgarner did the first.  Conor Gillaspe did the second--with two men on in the ninth inning.  SF Giants won their wild card game, defeating the Mets 3-0.

The Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard was, the Giants said, virtually unhittable. Brandon Belt got into one in the 6th, and only a great running catch by Granderson in center kept the game scoreless.

But the Giants kept after Syndergaard all game, extending their at-bats, until a high pitch count ended his night after seven innings.

The Giants had their best chance in the eighth.  They faced Reed in the eighth and loaded the bases.  But they didn't score.  They then got the Mets closer Familia in the 9th.

 Brandon Crawford led off with a double.  Pagan couldn't advance him and struck out.  Then Joe Panik came to bat, in what the Mets' manager described as the key at-bat of the game.  If they got Panik out, they would walk the next batter--Gillaspe--to get to the pitcher's spot, and get Bumgarner out of the game.  And it might have worked, because Jarrett Parker was on deck behind Gillaspe.

But fouling off good pitches, Panik worked a walk.  Familia had to pitch to Gillaspe, who has been on a streak at the end of the season, when he's been playing more.  The infield was set up for a double play.  But Gillaspe hit it a little farther--into the Mets' bullpen.  It was only the second homer Familia had given up all season.

 The scoreless tie was broken, the Giants were ahead 3-0.  And Parker was called back to the dugout.

Bumgarner had used high fast balls all game to get Mets swinging, and he got three fly balls in the 9th off high fast balls.  It was his second complete game shutout in a wild card game.  In Pittsburgh in 2014 he pitched much of the game with a lead.  This one was a little different.

Johnny Cueto gets the ball on Friday for the first of a five game series with the Chicago Cubs, owners of the best record in baseball and consensus favorite to win it all.  This is when lining up those killer starters can pay off.  Especially when they throw complete games.

Wild Finish

It does seem a little like 2014, doesn't it?  The Giants fade badly towards the end of the season and barely make it into the playoffs as the second wild card team.  But there were also signs in the last few games of a resurgence, especially in hitting.  And then...

Well, this year the Giants finished the regular season doing something they haven't done since before the All-Star break: win four games in a row.  They got the wild card with a 7-1 win over LA on Sunday, behind yet another masterful 3-hit pitching performance, this time by Matt Moore.

And they needed to win all these games, because St. Louis matched them.  Sunday they came back to batter the Pirates, but before that game was over, it was all over for their season.

Now it's on to New York to play the Mets in the wild card game on Wednesday.  I expect the Mets will be favored.  Besides MadBum's big game experience, the Giants have a better defense and a suddenly hot Brandon Belt and Buster Posey.  Romo's resurgence as closer--he was the official closer in their 2012 championship season--has steadied the bullpen and injected some confidence in the team that if they get a lead, they'll keep it.  That was key in 2014 as well.

If the Giants get into a series, their starting pitching gives them a real chance.  But they have to get past the Mets first, and especially show that their second half inability to hit superior pitching is also a thing of the past. And Mets starter Noah Syndergaard (100 mph fastballs, 94 mph sliders) is one of the best.

Update: I guess I was wrong about the Mets being favored in the wild card game, at least by ESPN "experts."  About twice as many picked the Giants.  However only one--David Schoenfeld--picked them to take the series with the Cubs, and only he picked them to win the World Series, with Brandon Belt as the projected MVP.

I should add for the record that this game was the last broadcast by Vin Scully, who did the Dodgers games for 67 years--roughly half the time MLB has been around. Which means if I had been a Dodgers fan, he would have been their voice for my whole life (assuming I waited until age 3 to start listening.)  It was also 80 years to the day that (as he recalls) he first became a baseball fan--and specifically a Giants fan.  Now that famous voice is gone, except when Jon Miller does his eerily exact imitation.

Also retiring this year is Lee Jones, the producer of Giants radio broadcasts.  I've recently become acquainted with the way retiring people can be completely ignored by their employers.  But the Giants have more class than that--they put the ball in Lee Jones' hand for a ceremonial first pitch.  Good for him.  

A Ty for the Win

Friday night's SF Giants win over the visiting Dodgers was solid, but the 9-3 score could be seen as chiefly due to the Dodgers auditioning a possible starting pitcher for the playoffs, and leaving him in too long in the sixth inning, when the Giants scored 7 quick runs, including a three-run homer by Brandon Belt.  Though he had two bad stretches, Madison Bumgarner was dominant, finally winning his 100th career game.

But Saturday's win was classic.  It pitted one of the great pitchers now in baseball and the Dodger's ace, against a rookie with one previous start, and he didn't get past the third inning in that.

Clayton Kershaw was sharp, but Ty Blach was better.  He pitched a three-hit shutout for eight complete.  The Giants' new closer--who was also their old closer before Casilla--Sergio Romo made quick work of the ninth.  Angel Pagan's homer off Kershaw (Pagan is the club leader for the tragic after the All Star season) was enough, as the Giants won 3-0.  Ty Blach also got two hits.  He's only the second pitcher to ever get two hits off Kershaw in a game.

Unfortunately the Pirates haven't contributed, as the Cards beat them easily on Friday, but had to come from behind to win Saturday 3-2.  So the Giants have held on to their one game lead for the second wild card spot.  If they win on Sunday or the Cards lose, they're in.  If they lose and the Cards win, these two teams are tied and play one game in St. Louis on Monday to break it.

The Cards had won their game on Saturday while the Giants-Dodgers were still scoreless.  But Sunday, the last day of the regular season, all MLB games will start at the same time, high noon in SF.  The Giants will again be working against the stats--Dodger pitcher Maeda hasn't lost at AT&T Park this season.

Announcer Mike Krukow made an excellent point about Saturday's game: a lot of credit should go to catcher Buster Posey for his work with the rookie pitcher, pacing the game, calling the pitches, keeping him focused and confident.  Nobody in baseball is better at this, Mike said.  

Looking forward, I'm not sure if Blach is eligible for the playoffs, but if he is, the Giants suddenly have five starters with the proven capability of shutting down a quality opponent. It's still hard to see anybody getting past the Cubs this year, but it's one game at a time for the Giants from here to wherever.  

Three to Get There

Three more games in the SF Giants regular season, all with the Dodgers in San Francisco.  They go into these games with a one game lead for the second wild card over St. Louis, who kept pace thanks to a blown call to end their game with Cinncy.

So absent a Mets crash--not likely since they are playing Philadelphia--it comes down to staying ahead of the Cards.  St. Louis is also at home, hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates.  So this weekend I get to root hard for both my teams.

 The Pirates are out of the playoff picture but they can help the Giants.  Who are going all out to win these games, with no thought of rotation consequences beyond it.  Except for Bumgarner, who will start Friday and will likely start the wild card game, if any.

The Giants kept their ultra-slim lead with a win against the Rockies on Thursday.  They still aren't hitting, though--the 7 runs were mostly due to errors and the luck they haven't had for months.  Only Johnny Cueto was impressive--after missing one start due to a groin injury, he pitched seven innings, struck out 11, gave up only two runs--and by running hard on a bunt and forcing an error, drove in two runs.  On a bunt!  Cueto has won 18 games, leading the team.

The Dodgers theoretically have something to play for, besides keeping the Giants out of the playoffs (not an inconsiderable goal.)  Though they've won the division, the home field is still to be decided.  But Washington is ahead two games so it's unlikely but it is still there.

Being this close with the last regular season series starting may help to keep this team more or less intact for next year, even if they don't make the postseason.  But how they play these last three games may be very consequential, beyond this season.

A New Sound That May Echo For Awhile

As shocking as the SF Giants fall has been, it reached a particular inflection point on Saturday night that might have consequences beyond this season.

The Giants had won two games in a row against St. Louis, improving their wild card position while gaining on the Dodgers.  On Saturday they were leading 2-1 going into the ninth, in the game that would put them 4 games up on St. Louis for the wild card.

That manager Bruce Bochy turned to Casilla to save the game was a surprise.  Casilla's reception in his home ball park was the shock.  He was booed.  When he gave up the tying run, he was booed again.  When he left the game after giving up the lead run, he was booed once more.  The Giants lost 3-2, and went down with barely a whimper on Sunday afternoon.  They split the series, but to play even at this point in their season is to lose ground, and they did.

Writers so far are saying that no Giant has been booed in their home park in this century.  (The good-natured booing that greeted Bochy's visit to the mound to take his own son out of the game--which he then decided against--doesn't count.)

It's a big deal.  And it can mean a great deal.  It probably means that Casilla will not be booed again this season, because his season in his home park is probably over, certainly in the ninth inning.  He probably won't be in an SF uniform next year.

But if this trajectory continues and the Giants fail to make the playoffs, he may not be the only one. There could be a very different team in San Francisco next season.  Conceivably with a different manager.

The Giants made a mid-season correction to better their chances in the playoffs.  But they weakened themselves for getting to the playoffs by lacerating team chemistry with the Duffy trade.  They gambled on stacking their starting pitching and their starters have been excellent lately.  But they don't have a closer, and they don't have much time to find one.  They'll try Derek Law, who is probably not even at full strength after his injury.  But that's their last play this year.

Bochy has 15 relief pitchers on the payroll, and still his bullpen is weaker than it was last year and certainly in 2014.  All those roster spots mean fewer hitters, fewer pitch hit possibilities in those last of the ninth matchups when the bullpen blew the lead.  Fewer ways to spell starters and keep them fresh.

The lineup may start changing even before this season ends.  Meanwhile it's hard to watch.  And if things keep going down like this, there's not much more to say.

Giant Nightmare

If the trajectory of the SF Giants season continues as it's going now (which is down, down, down),  there might be a moment remembered as both causal and indicative.  It happened Tuesday night in the ninth inning.

SF went into the ninth leading San Diego 4-1.  Hunter Strickland was in his second audition recently as Closer; he'd done well the last time, inducing a game ending double play.

He got the first out.  Then things started dinking and dunking badly and he started losing it.  But..there came a moment when the Giants still led that he induced a double play ball that would have ended the game, heading towards the sure glove of Joe Panik--and Strickland stuck out his glove just enough to deflect the ball.

 Even at that Panik was able to get one out.  But not the two that would have saved the victory, and boosted the Giants one game closer to LA.

But it didn't happen and agonizing minutes later,a rookie reliever gave up a 3-run homer on a two-strike pitch.  The Giants went meekly in the bottom of the 9th (losing 6-4), and apparently were so disheartened the next afternoon that they could manage but one run to support their ace Bumgarner, and lost 3-1.

A crucial tuneup against a weaker team turned into a sweep for San Diego.  Someone has figured out that if the Giants second half won-lost record were extrapolated for the whole season, this would be the worst team in Giants history.

The Giants conceivably could still make the playoffs (the division title is now pretty much gone) and advancing is within the realm of possibility.  But the latter is very unlikely, and so the former might be worse.

When a series or maybe even a season definitively and finally goes south, there might be a moment in which (at least in retrospect) the story was told.  That just might be the moment the ball deflected off Strickland's glove on Tuesday night.

How Sweep It Is

The SF Giants return home after sweeping the three game series at Arizona.  Matt Moore pitched a strong, confident game, and Hunter Pence was the all out star of the series, blasting the winning runs in this one with an opposite field double.

With the wind at their back they take on San Diego before upcoming and potentially fateful series with St. Louis and six of their last 20 games with LA.  Apart from those games, the Giants' schedule is easier than the Dodgers.  The Dodgers lead by 3 games.

 Sunday's win at last felt like the first half Giants.  They weren't overpowering but they were determined and clutch.  Except for Moore, who was at times overpowering.

The other day I saw an evaluation of their second half troubles by somebody who writes about the Giants professionally.  He notes the disruption caused by the Matt Duffy trade, which is exactly what I was afraid of when it happened.  The team chemistry got thrown. It left a bad taste.

Now maybe they're overcoming it (and Duffy would probably be unavailable to them anyway, as he is out for the season requiring surgery.)  It's hard to complain about the guy they got for Duffy, Matt Moore, with a very near no-hitter and his performance Sunday.

Hunter Strickland saved Sunday's game and so may be trusted as a closer.  High hopes in that role as well for Derek Law when he returns.  Casilla and Romo may have had their day, though they can still have their excellent outings.  But Casilla can't be trusted to pitch the ninth.

A big finish is really important to this particular team.  Now it actually seems possible.

No Longer A Sport

I've approached the NFL season warily, reading a few stories, especially about the Steelers.  But my worst fears were confirmed in accounts of the Carolina-Denver game, in which Carolina quarterback Cam Newton was hit repeatedly in the head by Denver's thug head-hunters.  In the later very weak judgment of the NFL, one merited a penalty.  Denver's thuggery lost them nothing.  Newton, visibly hurting, was not lifted or the concussion protocols followed by his own team.

From all this I conclude that the officials who didn't call the penalties should be fired,  the Carolina officials who did not invoke the concussion protocols should be fired, members of the Denver team defense and their coach should be suspended and fined or better yet, arrested, and the game should be forfeit.  And the NFL should fine itself.

None of that happened or will happen.  And I won't be watching an NFL game until this scandal is rectified.  It's not a sport anymore. It's criminal assault, and probably slow motion manslaughter.

At the moment, the SF Giants have won two games in a row on the road for the first time in this second half.  They cling to playoff possibilities but must keep winning at a first-half rate.  We'll see.  Starting pitching and Hunter Pence are carrying them at the moment, with some other bats coming around.  But even one of these games involved a blown save and a torturous 5.5 hours of 13 innings against a team on a losing streak.

The bullpen is their Achilles heel.  They won in 2014 with less than a stellar starting rotation but a supple, strong and reliable bullpen.  They fixed the rotation pretty much this year, but the bullpen --and the absence of a closer--is a significant deficiency, in the playoffs even if they get there, which is not at all certain.

The Pirates also seem to be fading from the playoff hunt though neither team is out of it yet.  Only the Dodgers seem to be getting stronger, especially with the return of Kershaw.

The Great One

Major League Baseball celebrates the career of Roberto Clemente today.

I saw Clemente play at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and as a kid went down on the field on a meet the players day and shook his hand.  He was the player I sought out.

Here's my favorite Clemente story, which I've probably told you before.  It was a night game at Forbes Field.  I don't know if beer was sold there by the can or people just brought it in, but I remember hearing the sound of many cans opening and seeing the spray in the lights.

It was a long game.  The score was tied in the bottom of the ninth, or it may have been the 10th.  I was excited but getting sleepy.  Concentrating on a ball game is tiring.  But one of the Pirates got a hit, a double. Everybody stood up for that.

Clemente was coming up. People were sitting down, settling in for a typical Clemente at-bat.  This almost always meant he let the first pitch go by.  He might swing at a pitch so hard that his helmet and his regular cap he wore underneath it would both fly off.  And then he would get serious.

Except not this time. People were still sitting down when he swung at the first pitch and hit it so hard, that when it hit the right field fence right on the foul line, it seemed to knock the paint or the chalk right off of it.  It sounded like a cannon shot and left nothing to see but smoke.  The game was over.

The last time I saw him was more than a decade later, in 1972, playing against the Mets at Shea Stadium.  I was in an upper deck on the first base side, so I watched him on first base after he hit a single.

It turned out to be one of the last times anyone saw him.  It was the last away series before the Pirates returned home and Clemente got the 3,000 hit of his career, against the Mets.  That's his official number.  He actually got several more hits in a playoff series, but the Pirates didn't advance.

And then that winter he was lost in the sea, trying to get supplies to earthquake victims in a little country not his own.

He was the Great One.

He played right field like a gazelle, and had a cannon of a throwing arm.  He complained it was never the same after early in his career he threw from the deepest part of right field on a line to home plate.  He had style--his own form of the basket catch, his batting stance and base running.

The deepest part of right field, by the way, was the Exit Gate, not always used as I recall but once we did leave Forbes Field that way--walking across the grass that Clemente patrolled every game.

He played in the World Series twice.  In 1960 he hit safely in all 7 games.  In 1971 he hit over .400 and won the series MVP.  The Pirates won both championships.  The one in 1960 against the Yankees was their first since 1927.

He overcame racial hostility and misunderstanding to become a beloved player in Pittsburgh.  When the Pirates left Forbes Field for Three Rivers he was bereft--he'd played that right field half his life, he said.

Pirates announcer Bob Prince would pronounce his full name with correct pronunciation--Ro-buer-to Clem-en-tay the first time, and then refer to him as Bob or Bobby "Clemeney."  He also gave him the nickname of "Arriba" as in "Vamos arriba," let's rise up, let's go.

He battled injuries but had a career of remarkably consistent excellence as a hitter and a fielder, and longevity as a player of 18 seasons with the Pirates. Considering that he'd won that MVP one season before he died, his career wasn't nearly over.  We sure weren't ready to say goodbye.

There's Always '018

The San Francisco Giants played four games in Chicago decided by one run each, and lost three of them.  The one that hurt the most was the last one, on Sunday, when they led 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth.  Casilla blew another save when the Cubs tied at 2-2, and then the Giants failed to cash in on several chances in extra innings.  They lost 3-2 after 13.

The one bright spot was Saturday, when the Giants combined a very strong performance by Madison Bumgarner with opportunistic baseball, taking full advantage of a couple of Cubs mistakes.  This game suggested that the Giants still have some postseason moxie left in them.

They can console themselves that they lost to the team that is clearly the best in baseball at the moment, and must be the heavy favorite to win all the marbles this year.  On the other hand, the Giants had everything to play for and the Cubs essentially had nothing, and it was the Cubs that came through in the crucial moments to win three one-run games.

The Giants are a mess, carrying way too many pitchers and not getting enough hits.  At least one of their risky moves last month has come back to haunt them, as I suspected it might: they got rid of catcher Andrew Susak, their backup catcher last year who would have been a strong third option now.  With backup Trevor Brown ailing, Buster Posey has been playing way too much, adding exhaustion to several minor ailments that aren't getting rest to heal.  Posey's hitting is predictably way down.

The Giants have been lucky in one regard--the Dodgers haven't been a lot better.  But today's combination of Giants' loss and Dodgers victory drops SF three games back, which right now looks like a very steep climb.  With the Cards and Mets surging, and the Pirates staying around, even a Wild Card berth is questionable.

Bumgarner on Saturday pointed out that the Giants are actually in better shape in the standings now than they were at this time in 2014.  I don't know how much consolation that is, however.  The Giants had a more reliable closer then, and a more experienced bullpen.  And there wasn't anybody who looked as strong as the Cubs do now.  Even if the Giants limp into postseason, it's hard to see them getting past the Cubs in a series.

Still, it's baseball.  And there's enough of it left to offer big surprises.

Historic

On September 1, 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates fielded the first major league baseball team in history comprised completely of African American and Latino players.  This team would go on to make similar World Series history.  It included several All-Stars and two future Hall of Fame players in Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell.  Also starting were Rennie Stennent, who was back in the news this year when Brandon Crawford matched his 7 hits in one game record, All-Star catcher Manny Sanguillen and pitcher Dock Ellis.

This was also the Pirates era of longevity.  Clemente and Bill Mazeroski were among the players who had starred 11 years before on the 1960 World Champion Pirates, and would again with this team.  Their manager was also the same: Danny Murtaugh.  Bill Virdon, center fielder for the 1960 champs, was a  Pirates coach in 1971.

This was the Pirates' 90th season, and their first away from Forbes Field--they'd inaugurated Three Rivers Stadium the previous July.  They beat the San Francisco Giants in the National League Championship series and the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.  Roberto Clemente would be named the World Series MVP.

Fateful

The San Francisco Giants begin their most important road trip of the season tonight in Chicago.  They begin 1.5 games out of first place, and only barely ahead in the Wild Card.  They split their home series with Arizona by winning Wednesday 4-2.

As beset by injuries as the Giants have been, the Dodgers have their continuing woes, especially among starting pitchers.  After losing the first game of their doubleheader at Colorado 7-0 on Wednesday, they were forced to string together bullpen pitchers for the second game when their announced starter continued to have blister issues.  Only a late offensive flurry saved them from losing both games, but the split kept them 1.5 games ahead of the Giants instead of .5.

The Giants are going to have to show such resilience in Chicago, Arizona and Colorado before they finish mostly at home.  The Cubs are one of the hottest second half teams, running away with their division.  The Giants...well, you know.

A bunch of roster additions today, including the return of Kelby Tomlinson from the DL.  Giants get a look at young phenom Ty Blach, left handed reliever.

Panik Attack

You buys your ticket, you takes your chances.  Folks who spent this Sunday at the ball park (as I did two weeks ago), got a really great day, and an historic one.

It was the San Francisco Giants biggest offensive game in the park's history.  They broke a record with three triples in one inning.  The Giants haven't had a game with four triples and four homers since 1900, and their opponents, the Atlanta club, haven't given up four triples in a game since the club was the Baltimore Bees.  One of those triples belonged to Brandon Crawford, his 21st, the most in SF Giants history.

Joe Panik led the way with two homers, his first multi-homer game.  Jarrett Parker had 4 RBIs, Nunez and Span homered.  With an 8 run outburst in the 7th inning, the Giants won 13-3, and most importantly, won the series against Atlanta--their first series win at home since the break.  Madison Bumgarner went 7 and got the win.  The Dodgers also won, so SF remains 2 back.

If that wasn't fun enough, it was Mike Krukow bobblehead day at the park--the popular Giants on-air commentator and a 20-game winner.  Before the game, the National Anthem was sung by three of his kids, in 3-part harmony.

Panik's return to form is a big booster.  And his home run rivalry with former third baseman Matt Duffy continues, as Duff went deep for his new club in Tampa Bay.

Nunez homered and made a spectacular play at third, and another damn good one to end the game.  People are still talking about Matt Moore's near no-hitter, and how calm he was when he lost it. That these new guys are showing character as well as contributing is a big boost, too. If the Giants truly recover this year, that win and today's will look like the start of something big.

But the Giants continue to deal with injuries.  Their brightest new addition to the bullpen, Derek Law, is on the 15-day DL with elbow strain, though it's not expected to need anything but rest.  Matt Cain is rehabbing, but that starting spot is still up in the air.  Fortunately Arizona comes in Tuesday, and once again the Giants have to take advantage of a lesser team before they head to Chicago.

Almost September

Are the post-All Star game San Francisco Giants (with the worst record in MLB) the real 2016 Giants, or are the first half Giants (with the best record in MLB)?  Those who lean towards the second proposition--or at least to the Giants as division winners--have been waiting for the team to finally turn the corner.

It looked like they might when they won the first two games of the Mets series at home.  But then they lost the next two, and the first two in LA against the Dodgers, scoring five runs in the first game but giving up 9, and then losing 1-0.  They fell 3 games back.  A Dodger sweep might finish them.

But then they got an electric almost no-hit performance by Matt Moore and won 4-0.  Moore threw 133 pitches, and had a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth.  Spoiled by a bloop single to right (and if Hunter Pence hadn't left the game with the injury that's keeping him out of the lineup until maybe Tuesday, he might have gone for the catch.)

Then back home to dominate the Braves 7-0 with all facets of their game: Jeff S.'s stingy pitching (gave up 7 hits but no runs; the Giants had 10 hits and 7 runs), solid relief work, timely hitting in multiple innings, a homer by Pagan, superior fielding--especially by Brandon Crawford.  The Dodgers lost to the Cubs and so suddenly the Giants are just one game out.

But the team is still dogged by injuries.  They lost another starting pitcher--Jake Peavy--who was back in the rotation to replace injured Matt Cain.  (Suarez takes his start tonight.)  And Pence out of the lineup again.  The Giants still have to feast on the clumsy Braves (3 errors last night) with a trip to the Cubs looming.  And the Dodgers won today, so the Giants have to win just to stay 1 back.

It's a long season, August was never a great month for the Giants or for players like Bumgarner, but they are going to have to regain their confidence over a stretch of winning--at least more than they lose, which would be a second half change. September's coming, and it's then or never.

At the Ball Park

The Giants beat the Mets on Thursday night 10-7, behind Madison Bumgarner who also homered to put SF into the lead.  It broke a 4 game home losing streak.

I was there for two of those games: the 8-7 loss to the Orioles, another Casilla blown save after the Giants were leading 7-1; and Monday night's loss to the Pirates 8-5, which they also led 2-0 early.

The Pirates-Giants game was double loyalty for more than me.  The Pirates starting pitcher was Ryan Vogelsong, a Giant until this season.  He got a warm ovation before the game and an even warmer one when he left, despite getting the victory over his old team.  At an on-field event celebrating the retirement of another pitcher late last season, Vogelsong famously said, "I don't know where I'll be next year, but I'll always be a Giant."  At the game Monday I was close enough (thanks Cameron!) to see how moved he was when he tipped his cap to acknowledge the SF applause from the dugout, after he'd been lifted.

There were a surprising number of Pirates fans at that game, attending in team regalia as elaborate as the Giants fans in theirs.  I talked to one, another exile of the steeltown diaspora, who was transferred to SF in 1986, but is still a Pirates fan.

Despite the Giants losses, which I find really hard to take at home, I enjoyed being at the games.  The Giants played well--fine fielding by Brandon Crawford, Hunter Pence and Nunez, who got knocked to his can by a hot grounder and threw out the runner from that position, then hit the deck again to spear the next hot grounder but this time got to his feet to throw him out. And a Crawford-Panik-Belt double play which I've long wanted to see.  Some big hits, including homers by Pence, Nunez and Span.  On the Pirates side in that game, a homer by Polanco and the deciding moment of the game--a fantastic catch by Andrew McCutchen in center that saved at least two runs.

But the Giants couldn't put it together--the Achilles heel of relief pitching against Baltimore (it will be awhile before I can erase the image of Pagan climbing the wall in vain for the 3-run homer that won the game), and some crucial baserunning mistakes against Pittsburgh.  Giving up too many home runs, which continued for the Pirates series, which they swept, enhancing their playoff chances as the second wild card.

Meanwhile the Giants finally fell out of first, and have to be thinking about the wild card now themselves.  They have a crucial series upcoming against the Dodgers in Los Angeles which will determine a lot.

Thursday offers another Pittsburgh connection--it tied Bruce Bochy with Jim Leyland on the career win list for managers.  Leyland was the manager of the last Pirates team before the current one to get into the playoffs, during the early 90s. When the Pirates essentially sold off that team (and Barry Bonds went to San Francisco), Leyland went on to Florida where he finally got his much-deserved World Series ring.  Then he went to Detroit and won another pennant.

Leyland finally retired--to Pittsburgh.  Between jobs he was often seen in the stands at PNC Park, in the company of Chuck Tanner (who managed the last Pirates world championship team in 1979.) Leyland had succeeded Tanner as Pirates manager, and the two became close friends. I saw a bunch of games at Three Rivers Stadium when those two managed the Pirates.

" Jim is somebody I've always revered," Bochy said. "What an unbelievable career. I'm humbled to reach this milestone with somebody who's done so much for the game and is one of the best managers ever in the game. I've said this so many times: I'm fortunate to have been doing this as long as I've been doing it."

Schzoid Giants

For the past four games the SF Giants are schzoid, and I'm afraid it might go on like that for awhile.

Two of those games were gutcheck victories.  Two of them the Giants were shut out, while their starting pitchers gave up just one and two runs respectively.

At the moment they are likely to be tied for first with L.A., but a continued drop down the division is not out of the question.  Both the Dodgers and the Rockies have played better than the Giants since the All-Star break.

The first of these four games looked like a sure loser--their fifth starter, Matt Cain, against the nearly perfect Steven Strasburg. But the Giants got to him and to the Nationals bull pen, with three extras by Eduardo Nunez (plus some much improved fielding) and three hits by Brandon Belt, including a homer.  Cain pitched strong though not very deep into the game.  The Giants won 7-1 and suddenly it looked like the bad days were over.  The game by Nunez made the Giants GM look good.

Then the next game in Washington, Madison Bumgarner pitched 8 innings, and gave up one run on a dinky homer that only would be a homer in Washington.  The Giants squandered chances and got nothing.  They lost 1-0 and the effort made some commentators question the team.

Then came the 14 inning, 5 plus hour game in Miami.  Cueuto wasn't sharp again, gave up back to back homers, the Giants fell behind but came roaring back, went ahead, fell behind, tied the game at 7.  And squandered chance after chance, runner on third less than two outs, bases loaded, whatever.  Until Brandon Crawford got his seventh hit of the night in the 14th.  The bull pen pitched magnificently, and Crawford's bat went to the Hall of Fame--he was only the 2nd National Leaguer in the modern era to get seven hits in a game.  The other was Pirates Rennie Stennet in a blowout in the 70s.  Crawford's hits came in a closely fought game in pressure situations.

So that had to be the game that turned it around, right?  It was just hours later than the Giants took the field again and squandered a three hitter by new Giants starter Matt Moore, his second quality start since becoming a Giant.  The Marlins got 7 innings of quality pitching from Koehler, their best starter recently, and their big star Stanton came through with a clutch if unusual hit in the first inning.  The bull pen, which after 14 innings would seem likely to be a weakness, performed well (including its latest addition, Jake Peavy)--the Marlins didn't score after the first.  But SF didn't score at all, again.  2-0.

It's a long season, and it's probably going to seem longer if it remains an inconsistent team that can't get all the elements of winning baseball together at the same time.

Things aren't any better for the Pirates--and it looks like one of the games I'm going to see in SF pits my two teams against each other--Giants v. Pirates.  It would be a lot more fun to anticipate if they were both going great.