The San Francisco Giants are playing lousy baseball. This thought, while evident now, cannot be limited to this year. Unfortunately, after their five game winning streak, the Giants aren’t having much luck. They lost both Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Crawford to the IL as both players sustained injuries during the Mexico City Series last weekend. With the injury news and the team’s recent woes, now is the time to get back on track after a rough first month of the season.
Why Are the Giants Playing Bad Baseball?
Someone is a Loser Every Day
For a while now, we’ve thought the Giants could push through even without the top-level free-agent talent that they unsuccessfully sought in the winter. ZiPS projections, in particular, were favorable.
It’s not that the Giants haven’t rewarded any of these expectations. They have been a powerful team with the ability to hit homers. Not only that, but they need players that are good at getting on base. Both J.D. Davis and Thairo Estrada have high batting averages. With LaMonte Wade Jr., it’s less his batting average than his eye at the plate. He has a unique ability to draw walks and sometimes mixes in a home run.
While it can’t be taken lightly that the rotation isn’t as good as we had hoped, it is equally significant that the bullpen is often unable to close out games or hold the ties. Monday night against the Houston Astros was one nightmare. Now, why Sean Hjelle, who was recently demoted, stayed in long enough to allow five runs is something to be unsure about. But the point is that even one run is often enough to lose if it breaks a tie.
Good Performance and Runners on Base
The day before the Hjelle catastrophe, Tyler Rogers blew a save to lose the game to the San Diego Padres. Initially, the Giants had been leading 4-0. While Rogers allowed all those runs, he allowed the two that knocked the game out of the Giants’ hands.
While Hjelle can be forgiven since he’s just one of those depth guys that wouldn’t have his critical role had the Giants done anything in the offseason, Rogers has been a longtime late-inning contributor. Sometimes I’m tempted to look beyond his actual ERA and hold him accountable for the late-inning games he’s blown. Good performance with runners on base is a must.
Plus, Camilo Doval only sometimes locks down the save when he should, too. While he’s notably saved the day in certain instances, he has blown it in others. These kinds of things are all bad baseball.
The Offensive Side
The Giants’ lack of team coordination is broader than one area of their roster. They find a lot of ways to play bad baseball. When a starter throws a gem, but the bats can’t get anything going, the result is typically a loss. Sometimes, the bullpen’s clutch inability is a complementary factor. When good starting pitching performances are wasted, the Giants lose games they should have won. (And good starting pitching performances don’t happen daily, either.)
Logan Webb started on the Thursday, April 27, loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s contributed his share of the Giants’ early-season trouble. But on this particular day, he was effective. Guess what? It was wasted.
The Giants can’t lose Webb’s starts, period. This message is valid even when it isn’t ultimately about Webb himself. There are two outcomes for a game: a win and a loss.
Final Thoughts Moving Forward
The team can’t hold together. Somebody always finds a way to mess up. Whether the Giants are resilient enough to counter that remains to be seen. They have to stop playing such lousy baseball and a good start to the month of May could change that. San Francisco found a way to get back on track after taking two of three from the reigning World Series champions. It wasn’t easy considering the travel schedule and the stomach virus surrounding the team.
Photo Credit: © Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
Players mentioned:
Mike Yastrzemski, Brandon Crawford, J.D. Davis, Thairo Estrada, Sean Hjelle, Tyler Rogers, Camilo Doval, Logan Webb
