Post by poldyPost by John WalshPost by poldyPost by John WalshPost by John WalshGausman is having another awesome game and it looks like the he Giants
will end the first half of the 2021 season in 1st place. That isn't
where the writers thought the Giants would be and it bodes well for
the Giants in the 2nd half. They've got some of the best pitching in
MLB and the hitters have really come around,
Giants 3 Nationals 0 (6th)
Gausman has 9 K's at the start of the 7th inning, although he's just
walked two straight batters, so it might be time for the bullpen. Yup,
two straight walks and a single to load the bases ... bullpen. Leone
in for Gausman. Pray!
Leone puts out the fire with a force out, a flyball and a K.
Giants 3 Nationals 1 (7th)
Caught a bit of the postgame show on NBC Sports Bay Area.
They were touting some Rockies outfielders with power that the Giants
should try to acquire.
Of course their power numbers in Coors may not translate to AT&T.
One of them is apparently from the Bay Area too.
You know they lead MLB with 132 home runs at the halfway point,
right? Zaidi said they were not going to sign big names from other
teams.
Crawford leads the team with 18 HR's. And seemingly, they're getting
the long ball from all over the batting order. Dugger is finally
playing as a regular, Slater finallly started to hit and they both
have contributed big hits.
I'd stick with what seems to be working. They don't even suffer from a
power drop on the road. What they really need is two more solid
starters.
I wouldn't count on Crawford to hit another 18 HRs (or pro-rated for
however many games are left in the season).
Yes they're on pace to break the team record of 235 HRs the year Bonds
hit 73.
They've gotten great pitching out of Gaussman, Wood and DiScalfini. All
of them are on 1-year contracts, I believe.
Yet they're only 1 or 2 games up?
Not that it matters too much, because a WC team can win it all. But
those extra games are risky.
So it just depends on what their expectations are. I think coming into
the season they probably didn't expect to be where they are now.
Would they simply be happy to get into the playoffs or would they prefer
to win the division, host more playoffs games than they would as a WC?
I don't see why you're down on Crawford. I even wanted him gone, but
he's really transformed his game. There's a great article about the
group of batting instructors that Zaidi put together.
They asked him what he needed to do and then they showed him what had
happened to him over the years. They got him to open his stance and
suddenly, he was powering the ball all over the field. He's healthy
and has stayed that way.
Nobody expected them to be where they are today, but they made
believers out of them. ESPN had them last, with about a 2% chance of
winning the West, but they had to eat their prediction after the
Giants stay in 1st to the end of the first half.
I think their expectations are higher than you think. They proved what
they could do.They're learning that there are few limits on how good
they can be.
I especially like the patient style they use in worknig the pitchers.
Instead of swining for the fence, they wear out the opposing pitcher
and force the other team to put in a reliever. That's one of the
reasons they've continued to score late runs.
Over the last couple of years, they would score some runs and then go
absolutely flat for the rest of the game.