Where were you the last time the San Francisco Giants scored more than four runs in a single game? If you don’t remember, that’s understandable. It’s been a while. 17 days to be exact. The last time the Giants broke through for five or more runs was the Friday night series opener against the A’s, when they put up eight behind a herculean three homer performance by Wilmder Flores. Even that, given that it came all from one man, seems like a bit of an outlier.
Since then, it’s been nothing but futility up and down the Giants lineup. Slumping stars and completely lost young players have made for a grueling trudge through the back half of May for an offense that many thought could be one of the National League’s best. Here’s how the Giants have fared from a runs scored standpoint since Saturday May 17: 1, 3, 1, 3, 4, 3, 0, 3, 1, 1, 3, 2, 0, 4. It’s been downright ugly for much of the time, but it hasn’t been deadly for a resilient club that has thrived on its pitching. The Giants have somehow gone 7-8 in those 15 games.
Just like in the last Giants bulletin you digested, we’ll start with the positives. The starting staff and the bullpen have been incredible, championship caliber even. As a team, the ERA sits at a National League best 3.11, just one point off the Rangers’ MLB lead of 3.10. Giants’ arms have also allowed the second fewest home runs in baseball, behind only the Mets.
Wins like this have become commonplace for the Giants. You’d rather the issues not plague the pitching staff, but scoring at the low clip the Giants are currently isn’t conducive to winning baseball in the long run.
So which Giants hitter are you most concerned about? There are many valid answers, and there isn’t really a wrong one. You have the high price flops in Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, hitting .208 and .235 respectively, with Adames’ .618 OPS releasing an especially foul stench. Buster Posey told Murph & Markus to just be patient with the Giants’ new shortstop. There’s a lot of baseball ahead of Adames in San Francisco, but first impressions matter. His has been awful.
Here’s everything Buster had to say on the morning show this past Thursday. He’ll be on again this Thursday morning on June 5 at 7:30 for a special back to back edition of the Giants’ executive show:
Moving on down the line, there’s a serious, exhaustive, and almost hopeless offensive issue with Patrick Bailey. Bailey’s hitting a ghastly .186, with a .509 OPS. The defensive value is there, but it seems like the Giant’s success at least partly depends on Bailey finding it. Posey offered a vote of confidence to his gold glove catcher, insinuating that Bailey would continue as the Giants’ primary backstop no matter what.