By Morris Phillips
A week ago the Giants were frustrating themselves and their fans. A week later, things are much brighter. Winning games in bunches, and beating the preferred opponent makes a difference.
Prior to facing the Dodgers and Royals, the Giants had lost 21 of 38, a step back for a club that got off to a roaring start to their 2022 season (13-5 through the first 18 games). Injuries to starters Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood and position players Evan Longoria, Brandon Belt and Lamonte Wade Jr. were a major part of a team didn’t measure up to other playoff worthy teams, and/or saw its offense disappear one too many times/or saw the bullpen blow a couple of leads.
Plus, when your coming off a 107-win season and the retirement of Buster Posey, the biggest name in local baseball over the last 15 years, the microscope gets a longer look. But overall, the Giants have held up without looking good throughout. Now with the team’s health improving and the schedule easing considerably, the Giants can–hopefully–look more like themselves.
The biggest thing that needs to change? And road baseball could enhance the chances of it happening? The Giants need more base hits, doubles and triples, anything that improves a .239 team batting average that’s a culprit when the team has scoring droughts.
The pitching’s been good not great with an ERA of 3.92, just ahead of the league average. But the numbers have swelled in recent weeks, suggesting a tweak or additional arm could lower that number. Even more encouraging, the Giants continue to be rough on opposing home run hitters, by allowing a MLB-least 48 homers thus far.
Power hitting could set the Giants apart as the season progresses, with health being the biggest factor. Of the guys who’ve missed time, Brandon Belt has returned to the lineup and hit his fifth home run of the season on Wednesday. Evan Longoria’s return has reached 28 games, but he hasn’t hit a home run outside of a five-homer-in-six-games stretch in late May. Longoria’s gotten fewer at-bats within games as well in June, that could continue when Lamonte Wade Jr. returns.
Darin Ruf, Brandon Crawford, Austin Slater, Belt and Longoria are all hitting below the .239 mark, and are the biggest candidates to pick up their offense. Wade enters this mix as well when he returns in the coming weeks. So far, Wade’s appeared in only ten games.
Twelve of the 28 games remaining before the All-Star break are against the Braves, Brewers and Padres and critical to playoff momentum and seeding. Starting this postseason, the top wild card holds home-field advantage in a short, opening round series. The other 16 games are against teams the Giants internally will be happy to see with the first six of 19 games against Arizona topping the list. The Giants also see the currently under .500 quartet: Reds, Pirates, Tigers and White Sox.
The schedule’s balanced: 15 of the 28 games remaining are at home, 13 on the road, but the Giants have winning records home and away.
The Giants have announced Carlos Rodon as their Friday night starter against the Pirates, who will be pressed to field a formidable lineup against him. The Pirates ranked 6th worst in strikeouts (562 through 62 games) and have a paltry .220 team batting average. Rodon just went more than a month without a victory before he shut down the Dodgers for six innings in his last start.
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