Month: September 2017

Engaged Giants sweep short series against the suddenly, tumbling Rockies

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AP17263778697205
San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik makes an off-balance throw trying to throw out Colorado Rockies’ Charlie Blackmon at first base during the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. Blackmon was safe at first base on the play (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants didn’t crawl any closer to 100 losses. Folks sitting in the right field arcade got to chase after a home run ball hit by the good guys. And Matt Moore didn’t surrender any extra-base hits.

For the thought-to-be forlorn Giants, today was a good day.

For the struggling Rockies, not so much.

“It’s easy to get in that shut down mode this time of the year when you’re out of it,” manager Bruce Bochy said after his Giants swept the Rockies with a 4-0 shutout. “I think if you look at these two games, that has not happened. These guys have stepped up and hit the field meaning business.”

Meaning business is a term used on a sliding scale for the 30th-out-of-30 Giants.  Still a 4-4 home stand against the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Rockies says the team’s engaged, and the individual players want a role in Giants baseball going forward.

In Moore’s case, Wednesday’s game was a definitive statement. Notified that the club would be picking up his 2018 option earlier this week, this was no time for the pitcher to go out and pick up his National League-worst 15th loss.

Instead, Moore was fantastic, throwing six shutout innings, allowing six singles while walking two, and striking out six. Not only was the outing Moore’s best of the year, it was his best in the face of his 0-2, 13.50 ERA against the Rockies, and his 5.39 ERA overall.

In other words, wholely satisfying as has his overall body of work been disappointing. Think the Giants embracing the embattled pitcher with that contract extension played a role in Wednesday’s about face? Here’s what Moore said:

“For Bobby and the front office to show that kind of confidence before they had to, without a doubt, it’s probably the best thing that’s happened all year.”

Offensively, the Giants weren’t the knockout that Moore was, but what they did–for the second straight day–totaled four runs, and four is the magic number.

In games the Giants score three runs or less, they’re a barely-alive 13-72. When they score four or more, they’re a totally-engaged 47-21.

Joe Panik led the way with three hits, including a first-inning triple that resulted in the Giants’ first run. He would later add a double and a single, but didn’t get a fifth at-bat and an opportunity to hit for the cycle.

Brandon Crawford homered in the third, a first pitch liner down the right field line off losing pitcher Tyler Chatwood.

Hunter Pence walked and later scored in the seventh, as three Rockies’ relievers failed to close the door after Chatwood departed. Pence finished 0 for 3, but like Panik saw a nice jump in his offensive numbers over the eight-game homestand.

The Rockies captured 10 of the first 11 games between the two clubs this season, but the Giants struck back with wins in six of the final eight contests. The Rockies’ season-to-date mirrors the 2016 Giants with the fast starts and an agonizingly poor finish. The Rockies started 47-26, but they’re 35-44 since, and their lead over the Brewers for the second, wild card spot is down to one game after both teams lost Wednesday. The similarities between the two seasons weren’t lost on Chatwood.

“I think we came in here and beat them two out of three at the very end of last year when they were in the wild card, so I think that’s what you kind of play for is to interrupt somebody’s run for the playoffs,” Chatwood said.

 

 

Athletics down Tigers 3-2 Wednesday to sweep the 3-game series on the road

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DET Mengden

by Charlie O. Mallonee

Detroit — The Oakland Athletics have been the worst road team in all of baseball several times this season. They have been strong defenders of their home field, but the road has been their nemesis. Since a major league team plays 81 of their 162 games on the road, learning to win in the other guy’s park is mandatory.

The Athletics embarked on this nine-game road trip to Boston, Philadelphia and Detroit needing to prove to themselves that they could win on the road, and that is exactly what they did.

Wednesday in Detroit was a crowing effort for the A’s

The A’s had won the first two games of the series in Detroit. They had compiled a 5-3 record on the road. With Wednesday being a day/get-away game to head back to the Bay Area, it would have been very easy to have a mental let down and just go through the motions to get out of town in order to get home.

The Athletics did not do that. They played tough. They played solid defense behind their starting pitcher Daniel Mengden. The Athletics worked to get runs when they could and they won the game.

They also swept the three-game series at Comerica Park and finished the nine-game road trip with a record of 6-3.

Manager Bob Melvin was a happy man after the win on Wednesday

Pitching dictated the ultimate outcome of the game

Athletics starter Daniel Mengden threw seven shutout innings and extended his scoreless inning streak to 16-innings which is the longest for any A’s pitcher this season. He gave up no runs on seven hits. One of the big keys to his win was the fact that he did not issue a walk. Mengden struck out four Tigers. His record is now 2-1 with an ERA of 3.30.

Ryan Dull came to relieve Mengden in the eighth inning and set the Tigers down in order. It looked like the final inning would be uneventful.

Dull came out for the ninth because Melvin was hoping to rest his overworked bullpen. Dull walked the first batter he faced — Efren Navarro. Mikie Mahtook then hit a 1-1 pitch from Dull for a double that moved Navarro up to third. Pitching coach Scott Emerson came out for a visit before Dull went back to work.

Dull struck out the next batter he faced — pinch-hitter Tyler Collins — for the first out of the inning. Andrew Romine then stepped into the box and hit a single to right that drove Navarro and Mahtook home to make it a 3-2 game.

That was all for Dull as Bob Melvin brought Liam Hendriks in from the pen. There was also an injury delay as catcher Bruce Maxwell had to come out of the game after taking a ball off the mask. He was replaced by Phegley.

Hendricks was able to get Jose Iglesias to ground into a force out that erased Romine and left Iglesias at first on the fielder’s choice. With Alex Presley batting, Iglesias moved up to second on a wild pitch. Presley struck out swinging to end the game.

Hendricks was credited with a save but more importantly he put up a “Goose Egg” meaning he did not allow a run to score.

Detroit pitching

Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez pitched six-innings and allowed just one run (earned) on three hits. He walked three A’s and struck out eight. Sanchez threw an incredible 115 pitches (68 strikes). He was also tagged with the loss, so his record falls to 3-5.

The big problem for Detroit was their bullpen failed in its effort to throw “Goose Eggs”. Daniel Stumpf took over Sanchez in the seventh inning and gave up the two-run home to Marcus Semien that was the ultimate difference maker in the game.

Joe Jimenez and Zac Reininger each worked an inning of relief for Detroit and both posted “Goose Eggs” in the run column.

A’s batters

Marcus Semien was the man for Oakland in the big win on Wednesday. He not only hit the game deciding two-run home run in the seventh inning, but Semien posted all three of the Athletics RBI. In the series, he went 4-for-10 and scored four runs.

Catcher Bruce Maxwell went 2-for-4 in the game with a double and two runs scored. He is now hitting .315 in day game versus .205 under the lights. Guess who is catching the day games? Also, the initial reports are that Maxwell does not appear to have a concussion from the foul tip that caused him to leave the game in the ninth inning.

The Athletics scored three runs on six hits and left seven men on base. Their record improved to 69-83.

Detroit hitting

Nicholas Castellanos hit a single in the sixth inning which extended his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games. He hit .346 against the A’s in 2017.

Efren Navarro hit a single in the second inning that upped his hitting streak to five games. He now batting .400 — 6-for-15 — with a double and triple during the streak.

The Tigers posted two runs off nine hits and left eight runners on base. They also committed two errors. Detroit’s record now stands at 62-90.

Up next

The Athletics left for the Bay Area right after the game and will have Thursday off. The A’s begin a three-game series in Oakland with the Rangers on Friday night. RHP Kendall Graveman (5-4, 4.39) is scheduled to start for the Athletics. Texas has not named their starter.

The Tigers continue their homestand on Thursday as they begin a four-game series with the Twins.

San Francisco Giants Podcast with Michael Duca: Giants now make it three straight; Sabean to evaluate in off season

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San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Matt Moore throws to the Colorado Rockies during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

1 San Francisco Giants vice president Brian Sabean says this off season will be the time to retool the team. After the Giants had a second half melt down in 2016 they ended up failing to make post season and as a consequence the Giants only real big off season moves they fired their first and third base coaches Roberto Kelly and Bill Hayes. Then the Giants wanted to shore up their bull pen and obtained Mark Melancon who struggled and got injured and ended up having to have surgery.

2 Taking a look at the significant changes and where the Giants need to shore up one place is in the outfield

3 The Giants have won three straight Sunday they got past the Arizona on Sunday, they got a walk off hit from Hunter Pence on Tuesday night to defeat Colorado 4-3 and Wednesday they shutout the Rockies 4-0 behind the brilliant pitching of Matt Moore who improved his record to 6-14. This team is doing everything it can to avoid a 100 game losing season.

4. Will Giancarlo Stanton become a Giant Michael says it’s unlikely, too many variables including his contract that he has with the Miami Marlins runs through 2020 and he has an option and another team could make an offer and he could opt out.

5 The Giants have a three game series coming up in Los Angeles starting on Friday night. The Dodgers need three more games to clinch the west and the Giants would like to win at least two out of three and the last thing that a club likes seeing is another team celebrating a division title after a game.

Michael Duca does the Giants podcast each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

 

 

 

Oakland A’s Podcast with Jerry Feitelberg: Opposition to A’s new ball park piling on; Peralta faculty and Audubon Society raising issues

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AP File Photo: New Oakland Athletics President David Kaval gestures during a media conference on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

1 The announcement of the Oakland A’s new ball park has sailed and that honeymoon is over. The Audubon Society is the first to throw their hat into the anti stadium movement saying the building a new park at Laney College would be disastrous for some 200 species of birds in what is considered the nation’s oldest refuge.

2 Audubon says their not anti baseball building at Lake Merritt is not the right location for a ballpark. The number one concern for the Audubon Society is the environmental issue and the wild life at Peralta College

3 Audubon also says with traffic and cars that with extra contaminants it would have an impact on wildlife at the Laney College location

4 The A’s have expressed that they want that location at Lake Merritt because of it’s close proximity to downtown, Chinatown, a nine minute walk to BART, and it’s  right there at the college

5 Also the Peralta faculty and community members have said they’ll also fight the new ball park saying it would effect the college’s educational mission, traffic conditions on game day would be horrendous, an it would also displace low income renters

Jerry Feitelberg covers Oakland A’s baseball for sportsradioservice.com

San Francisco 49ers Podcast with David Zizmor: 49ers needs some reworking for their offense; plus short four day turnaround as SF gets ready to host LA

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On the 49ers podcast with Dave:

1 With the 49ers starting the season at 0-2 and losing to Seattle last Sunday 12-9 there was a lot of talk about. The 49ers being concerned about their offense and quarterback Jeff Hoyer. These are some of the things that 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan will be addressing week to week.

2 Dave also talks about the NFL scheduling of having the 49ers play in Seattle on Sunday and turn around with just four days rest and host the Los Angeles Rams for Thursday Night Football.

David Zizmor does the 49ers podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Pence wins it in the ninth Giants edge Rockies to open two game set 4-3

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San Francisco Giants’ Hunter Pence, right, celebrates with teammates after hitting a sacrifice fly to score Orlando Calixte for the winning run during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. The Giants won 4-3. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO- Hunter Pence gave the San Francisco Giants the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, but it was his sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning that was even bigger.

Pence hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning that was caught by Carlos Gonzalez, to score Orlando Calixte from third and the Giants defeated the Colorado Rockies 4-3 before a crowd of 40,686 at AT&T Park.

Calixte was running for Pablo Sandoval, who led off the inning with a single off of Chris Rusin, then Ryder Jones singled and then pinch-hitter Kelby Tomlinson beat out a dribbler that loaded the bases for Pence, who hit a sacrifice fly that Gonzalez made a diving catch on; however, Calixte easily scored from third base with the winning run.

Pence’s home run gave the Giants a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he hit his 12th home run of the season that was measured at 441 feet over the center field wall, Johnny Cueto helped out his own cause, as he hit a single off of German Marquez.

In the early going, it looked like Cueto would be on a short leash, as his pitch count kept increasing; however, the right-hander ended up going 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits, walking four and striking out six; however, he did not fare in the decision.

The Rockies took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning, as Charlie Blackmon hit a two-run double off of Cueto. It was the 200th hit of the season for Blackmon, the first 200 hit season of his five-year career.

Pablo Sandoval got the Giants on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he drove in Buster Posey, who singled to lead off the inning, then beat the throw from Nolan Arenado at second base and then scored on the Sandoval single.

It was a nice night at the plate for Sandoval, as he went 3-for-4 on the evening for his second three hit game of the season and his first since rejoining the Giants.

Following Sandoval’s third hit of the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, Sandoval was replaced by Calixte, who scored the eventual game-winning run for the Giants

Marquez went six innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, walking just one and striking out eight and like Cueto, he did not fare in the decision.

The Rockies tied up the game in the top of the eighth inning, as Gerardo Parra hit a double just inside the first base line that scored Gonzalez, who doubled with one out in the inning.

Nolan Arenado nearly gave the Rockies a 4-3 lead, as he hit a Hunter Strickland curveball that was caught Jarrett Parker on the warning track, as Arenado went 0-for-4 on the evening against Giants pitching.

Arenado went 0-for-3 against Cueto, and is now 5-for-32 (.156) in his big-league career.

The Rockies lead for the second wild card dropped to just one game over the surging Milwaukee Brewers, who defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 at PNC Park.

NOTES: Matt Moore looks for his sixth win of the season, as he takes the mound on Wednesday afternoon, while the Rockies will send eight-game winner Tyler Chatwood to the hill, as the Rockies look for the spilt in this brief two-game series.

This was just the sixth win by the Giants in their last 16 home games, and it was their first back-to-back victories since winning four in a row from August 8-18.

Sharks dominate Ducks in their pre-season debut 5-0

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nhl.com photo: San Jose Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell who stopped 24 shots against the Anaheim Mighty Ducks at SAP Center in San Jose good enough for a shutout in pre season game number one Tuesday night

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE–Summer is over and with fall right around the corner, the San Jose Sharks were back out on the ice at SAP Center in their first pre-season game of the 2017-18 campaign as they skated circles around the Anaheim Ducks for a 5-0 victory.

Pre-season games are a chance for the younger prospects to try to make a name for themselves enough to earn a coveted spot on the 23 man roster. For veterans like captain Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton, they usually get the night off. Forwards Logan Couture and Mikkel Boedker and defensemen Marc Edouard Vlasic and Justin Braun were the only veteran Sharks in head coach Peter DeBoer’s lineup in front of an announced crowd of 15,032.

The majority of the lineup consisted of players who played on the Sharks’ minor league team, the San Jose Barracuda including forwards Danny O’Regan, Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Carpenter. Back up goalie Aaron Dell started in goal for the Sharks as he looked to fine tune his game for the upcoming season. Dell played a solid game as he stopped all 24 shots he faced to preserve the shutout, including a point blank shot by Anaheim’s Antoine Morand with 12 minutes left to go in the third period.

Sharks forward Filip Sandberg drew first blood on a breakaway goal with ten seconds left in the first period thanks to a heads up play by defenseman Tim Heed. Sandberg, who signed with the Sharks back in May after playing last year in the Swedish Hockey League, showed off his speed after receiving a nifty pass from Heed that sprung him down the middle skating past two Duck defenders before beating Ducks goalie Reto Berra to the lower right corner of the goal. “He’s a hard working kid”, head coach Peter DeBoer said of Sandberg. “He helps along the boards, he has some speed. We’re trying to infuse some speed in our lineup.” O’Regan scored the Sharks second goal of the game less than two minutes into the second period.

After a clean face off win in the neutral zone, defenseman Nick Desimone set up O’Regan in the slot and he planted the shot top shelf past Berra. Defenseman Jacob Middleton also was credited with an assist on the goal. The Sharks cashed in on the power play as Boedker made the Ducks pay after Anaheim’s John Manson went into the sin bin for slashing with his power play goal seven minutes left in the second period for a 3-0 lead. Heed received his second assist of the game.

Kevin Lebanc cleaned up a rebound for the Sharks fourth goal of the game after a mad scramble in front of the net after a Goodrow shot was initially saved by Berra. The goal came just as the penalty of Anaheim’s Kevin Roy for interference (he received 20 seconds after Boedker’s goal) had just expired.

The Sharks kept pouring it on as fourth liner Brandon Bollig crashed the net and tipped home a rebound off a Rudolf Balcers shot to round out the scoring for the Sharks. Bollig and Ducks forward Jared Boll exchanged some fisticuffs midway through the third period after Bollig took exception to Boll’s hit along the boards on Sharks forward Sasha Chmelevski. Bollig received an extra minor for roughing.

NEXT UP: The Sharks take on the NHL’s newest member, the expansion Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday at SAP Center at 7:30pm.

NOTES: The Sharks went 1-4 on the power play while the Ducks were 0-4.

 

A’s Jed Lowrie’s Grand Slam tames Tigers 9-8

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by Jerry Feitelberg

Detroit- The Oakland A’s outlasted the Detroit Tigers Thursday night in a game that was fifteen minutes late starting due to a rainstorm. The rain did not dampen the A’s bats as they came back from a four-run deficit and beat the Tigers behind a grand slam by Jed Lowrie in the eighth to win the contest by a score of 9-8.

The starting pitchers for both teams did not fare well. The Tigers’ lefty Chad Bell exited the game in the fourth inning. Bell was looking for his first win of the year, and that did not happen. He didn’t lose either. Bell’s line was 3 & 1/3rd innings pitched, and he allowed five hits and three runs. The A’s starter, Daniel Gossett, did not go five innings again. Gossett usually pitches well in the first two innings but loses it in the third, fourth, or fifth inning. That was his modus operandi on Tuesday evening. The A’s staked him to a 3-1 lead after three innings. The Tigers scored one in the third to make it 3-2 and then plated four more in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-3 lead and send Gossett to the showers.

The A’s scored one in the top of the sixth to trail 6-4, but the Tigers came back in the bottom of the inning with two more runs to take a commanding 8-4 lead. The A’s got one back in the seventh and were trailing by three until the fateful eighth inning.

With the Tigers’ Alex Wilson pitching, the A’s loaded the bases with no out as Joey Wendle, Franklin Barreto, and Chad Pinder all singled. The next batter, the A’s double machine Jed Lowrie, made his way to the plate. Lowrie, hitting left-handed, hit his third-career grand slam to propel the A’s into the lead 9-8. Bob Melvin called on Chris Hatcher to pitch. Melvin was hoping that HAtcher could keep the Tigers off the board. Hatcher did his job, but the team and all the A’s fans either listening to the radio, watching on television or in the stands in Detroit were squirming. Miguel Cabrera singled to start the rally. He went to third on Nick Castellanos’ double. Hatcher retired Candelario for the first out. Melvin ordered the next hitter to be walked intentionally to load the bases and set up a possible double play. Hatcher struck out James McCann for the second out and also struck out Mikie Mahtook for the third out as the Tigers could not capitalize on a bases-loaded no out situation.

Blake Treinen pitched the ninth for Oakland and was able to close out the game and secure the win for the A’s.

Game Notes- The Tigers used seven pitchers and the A’s used six. Santiago Casilla, who pitched the seventh, was the winning pitcher and Alex Wilson absorbed the loss. The A’s won their fifth game of the nine-game road trip and will close out the trip on Wednesday afternoon in Detroit.

Jed Lowrie was the hitting star for Oakland. Jed hit his 47th double of the season to tie the team record held by Jason Giambi in 2001. Lowrie hit his third grand slam of his career and drove in five runs. Matt Olson hit his 23rd of the year. He tied an Oakland rookie record by hitting homers in five consecutive games, and it was his twelfth in his last sixteen contests.The A’s have now hit 221 homers this season.

Ian Kinsler, Alex Presley, and Nick Castellanos each hit a solo home run for Detroit.

Game three of the three-game set will be played Wednesday in Detroit. Game time will be at 10:10 am. Anibal Sanchez will pitch for the Tigers, and Daniel Mengden will go for the A’s. Mengden pitched a two-hit complete game against the Phillies last week.

That’s Amaury’s Podcast, News, & Commentary: Phillies Galvis gives all the credit to “Friends” for learning English, Astros get first division title since 2005, Boyd loses heartbreak no hit bid

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Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis (13) hits an RBI single in the fifth inning during an MLB game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals on September 7, 2017, at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)

On the MLB Podcast with Amaury’s Podcast:

1 Latino players gave credit to the TV sitcom “Friends” for learning English according to Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Freddy Galvis. Galvis said that a number of players followed the Spanish captions on the NBC sitcom and listened to the English portion. For example when they said “Happy” on the show Galvis knew they were saying “Feliz” it all worked out for him and a great number of Spanish speaking players.

2 For the first time since 2001 the Houston Astros have clinched a division title. In 2001 the Astros were a National League team. When they won the National League pennant in 2005 they won by the Wild Card. The Astros are tearing up the American League this season and are favored by this reporter to win the AL Pennant this season

3 Tough going for the Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Matt Boyd who lost his no hit bid. As the Chicago White Sox Tim Anderson belted a clean double in the ninth inning and there went the no hit bid on Sunday. The Tigers held on for the shutout and win.

4 The SF Giants Pablo Sandoval had a break out game on Sunday with a home run and three RBIs. Sandoval had been in a drought but got the pitch he was waiting on and went yard against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the final game of that three game series over the weekend.

5 After getting a dose of the Giants during the series at AT&T Park last week the Los Angeles Dodgers who won four straight after losing 11 straight. The Dodgers after winning those four straight have found their way back in the loss column and have lost two straight.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Angels Spanish TV talent, the A’s Spanish radio talent, and does News and Commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Categories MLB

2018 Giants must figure out how to gain ground in the competitive NL West

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AP17261007251750
Arizona Diamondbacks’ J.D. Martinez (28) is greeted at the plate by Daniel Descalso, left and Paul Goldschmidt after hitting a two-run home run against the San Francisco Giants during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, Sept. 17, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/George Nikitin)

By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants are rumored to want to bring back a majority of their 25-man roster, a retooling project as opposed to a rebuilding effort to shape their 2018 squad.

Add a power source, the thinking goes, someone like Giancarlo Stanton, if not Stanton himself, and that big bat in the middle of the order takes the pressure off Brandon Crawford, Buster Posey and others, giving the Giants a competent offense, one at least slightly better than the three-runs-or-less trainwreck of 2017.

But the Giants don’t just need to get better, they need to gain traction within the NL West, a division that’s gone to the Dodgers for a record fifth year in a row, and has two other 2017 postseason qualifiers with staying power in the Rockies and Diamondbacks.

So to recap, the team with the worst record in baseball this season, and the last half of the previous season, is supposed to catch its rivals by tweaking it’s roster.

How’s that supposed to work?

Start with pitching, and that’s where the Dodgers and Diamondbacks have set themselves apart, with both staffs ranked among the top three in baseball. The Dodgers and D’Backs have done it in the manner the Giants intended: with pitching that provides two or more dominant starts every time through the five-man rotation, and a bullpen that protects all leads.

The Giants will need to shave a run off their slightly-below MLB average team ERA (4.59) and come up with two more strikeouts every nine innings to get to where Los Angeles and Arizona are. They may attempt to do that with a bullpen and a starting staff that could return intact, that after the team announced Matt Moore’s option will be picked up despite his 14 losses, and ghastly performances versus NL West competition (1-7, Moore’s only win within the division came on April 10).

“I’ve really enjoyed the city and staff we work with every day, the ballpark and the division,” Moore said when asked if he was excited for the opportunity to return.

The Giants’ aim for 2017 was (prior to the 93 losses and counting) to win low scoring games with pitching and defense. Neither aspects were anywhere close to where they needed to be this season, resulting in the team’s proverbial margin for error being too slim.

Once again, how will that work? Don’t be surprised if the Giants answer by saying a healthy Will Smith, Mark Melancon, Johnny Cueto and Madison Bumgarner minus the dirt bike will suffice.

Offensively, the Giants run counterintuitively to the vast majority of clubs in terms of offensive philosophy with their retention of clutch hitters who don’t necessarily hit the ball out of the park. Thus, the ESPN article a month ago suggesting the club rid itself of nearly its entire everyday lineup in search of hitters with a home run profile.

But the Giants may only tweak here, let’s for now say Stanton or Mike Moustakas (both having career years in home runs) and a plus defender in centerfield in, and Brandon Belt and a reserve outfielder out.

Is that enough bold change to make up the 23 home run gap between the Giants and 29th place Pittsburgh, or the 85 home run difference between the Giants and the Dodgers?

Probably not. For instance, Stanton is likely to finish second or third in the NL MVP race to Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt and/or Colorado’s Nolan Arenado despite hitting 55 home runs to date. Were Stanton to do something similar for the Giants in 2018, guess what? His contributions could still leave him behind Goldschmidt and Arenado. No slight to Stanton, that’s just reflective of how good the other two are, and how much promise they retain heading into next season.

Again, it’s hard to see how the Giants close the gap so dramatically in such a short period of time. But don’t be surprised if they try.