When the Giants left Oracle Park this past Thursday after being swept at home by the Marlins, it felt like things couldn’t get worse. A forgettable 3-6 homestand ended in embarrassing fashion for the suddenly floundering Giants, but more soft schedule was on the horizon. It came in the form of the Chicago White Sox, who in 2024 set the all time record for most losses in a single season. Somehow, things got worse for the suddenly reeling G-Men.
The Giants dropped the series to the lowly White Sox, scoring a grand total of five runs in three games against one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball. On Saturday, in the fourth 1-0 loss of the season, the Giants somehow found new lows when it comes to executing with runners in scoring position.
Rafael Devers was up with runners on second and third and no outs. Heliot Ramos waited on deck. Devers swung through a change up for an untimely strikeout. Frustrating, but not at all uncommon for the 2025 Giants, with or without Devers. The jaw-dropping part came when a snap throw to third backpicked Brett Wisely on the same pitch. A double play without a force on the bases is a new level of incompetence for this shockingly futile lineup.
Here’s how it sounded on KNBR, in all of Joe Ritzo’s disbelief.
Mike Krukow joined the morning show on Monday, and the Giants pitching and broadcasting legend certainly had his fair share of thoughts on the Giants’ worst stretch of the season. He told Brian Murphy and fill in host F.P. Santangelo Sr. that the Giants are trying to do too much individually, and it’s leading to uncharacteristic mistakes.
“I think one of the worst things that can happen to a team is you become a soloist. And all of a sudden, that camaraderie and trust that you have to have… they don’t have that right now,” Krukow said. “There’s just way too many mistakes. They gotta clean it up. And the beautiful thing about it is, they can.”
In the unique galvanizing way that Mike Krukow can make anything sound, he chastised the Giants while in the same breath promising fans that things can and will change. If any Giants players, or coaches for that matter, were listening to Murph & Markus in the 7:00 hour, they might pull up to Chase Field in Phoenix with their hair on fire ready to right the ship.
Check out the full Mike Krukow interview here in the hour two podcast here: https://omny.fm/shows/murph-markus-podcast/6-30-murph-fp-santangelo-hour-2-mike-krukow-joins-the-guys-to-talk-giants-baseball-and-what-is-next-after-another-disappointing-series-loss-against-the-chicago-white-sox
So… How does a team trade for a huge impact slugger like Rafael Devers and promptly get worse? Million dollar question. John Dickinson and Greg Silver discussed what’s gone wrong for San Francisco in the two weeks since Devers was acquired. Were the Giants simply overachieving as a unit for the first two months of the season?
The Giants are in desperate need of a series win. Four games in Arizona against the Diamondbacks, who have been struggling with an absurd injury bug and were also somehow just swept by the Marlins, could be the perfect opportunity to do just that.