The Giants are playing sixteen games in sixteen days, without a break. Last night was Game 9 of 16. Game three of four with the Brewers. This gauntlet of 16 games will define the stretch so I was live-blogging them and posting immediately afterward. But last night’s loss to Milwaukee depressed me, so I stopped.
When you hit a losing streak, you should change things up. I am taking off the lucky nail polish today and growing out my beard again, too, ending the Maystache that carried us through an incredible season.
What a run. The Giants were in first place on the last day of April, May, June, July and August. They led the nation to 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 wins and lead the major leagues in win-loss and home runs for most of it. It has been a spectacular season of Moneyball tactics during which we never had a starting rotation.
Hit by Covid and illness this week, the Giants got hung up and stay there. I predicted we would win 85 games this season and curiously, we hit 84 and stalled out. The Giants didn’t hit a home run last night either, which meant they are also hung up on 199 big flies for the season. They still lead the majors, but I really want that ticker to roll over to 200. We’ve only hit eight homers in the last eight games.
We never had a starting rotation in ’21.
The Giants used 32 pitchers during the run (including Darin Ruf and Austin Slater, momentarily). We never really had the starters healthy in an ensemble and never found a fifth starter. We lost a lot of games up front with the bullpen, but then experimented agressively to find bullpen combinations that worked. Incredible bullpen highs and lows this year culminated in the loss last night, charged to Dominic Leone. But Brebbia was bad again, too.
2021 National League West Standings
| TEAM | W | L | PCT | GB | STRK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 85 | 49 | .634 | 0 | W3 |
| San Francisco | 84 | 49 | .632 | 0.5 | L4 |
| San Diego | 71 | 63 | .530 | 14 | L1 |
| Colorado | 61 | 72 | .459 | 23.5 | W1 |
| Arizona | 45 | 90 | .333 | 40.5 | W1 |
The Giants play Milwaukee in a day game today. Marc will be there. I expect him to bring home the win. No matter what happens from here on out, that was a GREAT summer by the Giants and I’m proud of them.
Let’s Go Giants! Hit, Run, Catch, Fight Win!
Giants Baseball Corner 