Giants Bulletin: Takeaways from statement series win over LA

By Jack Loder

Winning two out of three games in a series in April isn’t enough to stop the presses at face value. But how the Giants took the first two from their hated dynastic rival is definitely worth noting. With Yamamoto, Ohtani, and Glasnow looming on the mound for LA, most Giants fans would have been content with one win. All the Giants did was shrug, and win the first two games of the series behind excellent pitching, defense, and timely hitting. 

The pair of wins showed a team rapidly gaining confidence, and just maybe, maturity, behind its first year manager. Yeah, they dropped the matinee finale, but a sweep would have been gluttonous. It wasn’t just that the Giants won the series, it’s that Monday and Tuesday’s victories featured a blend of sustainable baseball, and the attitude of a team that doesn’t care what it’s perceived as by outsiders. A team that closely resembled Tony Vitello’s Tennessee teams. 

Here’s what we learned: 

You could make the argument that Landen Roupp has been the Giants best player through the first month of the season. He’s been a bulldog on the bump every fifth day, compiling a 2.28 ERA in five starts. He beat the Dodgers on Tuesday night with five innings of one run ball, a week after blanking the Reds for seven innings to stop a skid in Cincy. He’s had an All-Star start to the season, and an All-Star game bid is within his grasp if he puts together a May and June similar to April. 

Patrick Bailey is still a clutch God. By all metrics, Bailey is a dreadful Major League hitter. But baseball is a funny game, and in his still young career, the defense first catcher has had a knack for the dramatic. He’s authored three walk off homers, and a handful of other late game round trippers that gave the previously trailing Giants the lead. He added another notch to that belt on Wednesday night, when he blasted a three-run seventh inning homer to break a scoreless tie. His dramatic and often Dodger-torturing ways live on. 

Tyler Mahle will be hot and cold this year, and that’s just fine. The Giants’ right-hander turned in a stellar outing on Wednesday, tossing seven shutout innings against a potent Dodgers lineup, striking out six and walking just two as he earned the win. He’s pitched well against the Phillies and Dodgers, poorly against the Mets, Yankees and Reds, and all else in between. It may just be that the Giants’ fourth best starter is either going to shove or get shelled, and you can absolutely live with that.

There are signs of life at the plate for the Giants’ outfield. As Heliot Ramos circled the bases in Washington pounding his chest last weekend, an entire fan base could feel the release of nearly a month’s worth of frustration. Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee, and a platoon of Harrison Bader and Drew Gilbert make up a Giants outfield that hasn’t been nearly up to snuff at the plate, but things are turning. Ramos has gotten hot, he’s striking out less and walking more. Jung Hoo Lee has seen the ball better as well, using all fields and racking up singles. Gilbert has been a jolt as well, though he was quiet against the Dodgers. 

Brandon Belt joined Murph & Markus on Friday morning ahead of his ceremony of recognition on Saturday at Oracle Park. The former Giants slugger gushed about his days with the Giants, anchoring a pair of World Series teams at first base. The most iconic highlight of Belt’s career came in the 2014 Division Series, where he blasted an 18th inning home run to break an epic stalemate against the Washington Nationals. The Giants would win the game, and of course the series.