Author: moepea

I like lilacs, mist and cold air.

A’s Langeliers Angling For A Callup: Futures Game sees AL power to a 6-4 win

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American League’s Shea Langeliers, right, steps on home plate after a solo home run during the fourth inning of the MLB All-Star Futures baseball game against the National League, Saturday, July 16, 2022, in Los Angeles. AP News photo

By Morris Phillips

LOS ANGELES–The A’s got shutout on Saturday afternoon in Houston, and top prospect Shane Langeliers homered with a smooth swing in the SiriusXM All-Stars Futures Game in Los Angeles.

It may be time to unite these two parties for the greater good.

Langeliers continues to be the name most frequently mentioned in the A’s haul of minor leaguers from their off-season purge. He’s tearing up the Pacific Coast League and on Saturday he was part of the AL’s power surge in the fourth inning of Saturday’s win. Langeliers caught hold of former minor league battery mate Jared Shuster’s off-speed pitch and sent it nearly 400 feet into the left field bleachers. That was third home run for the AL, all in the first four innings.

“I know how good he is,” Langeliers said of Shuster. “He made my job really easy catching last year.”

Jasson Dominguez got the power display started by victimizing Kyle Harrison of the Giants’ farm system with a 415-foot blast in the third. That gave the AL a 3-0 advantage and spoiled the story of Harrison’s ascent from obscure draft pick to prize jewel of the Giants’ farm system.

The National League squad answered with a three-run third inning, but were shut down from there until they scored a fourth run in the ninth inning. The National League finished 1 of 5 with a runner in scoring position and left five runners on base. Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks system attempted to steal third base on Langeliers and was thrown out, dashing a potential rally.

“Throwing the runner out, for sure,” Langeliers said when asked which feat was more satisfying.

The teams played seven innings and involved a combined 49 players which meant frequent positional changes, and a breakneck pace. But the incredible numbers from the pitchers on the radar gun and the power displays from the prospects were worth all the confusion.

Bludgeoned By The Brewers: Giants led early, then go cold offensively in 3-2 loss to Milwaukee

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Well that Gabe Kapler-inspired time of possession in baseball thing didn’t lean toward the hosts on Thursday.

The Brewers played with base traffic all night, bundling 13 hits and four walks, but just two runs until the 10th when they got an infield single from Jonathan Davis to push across the winning run. The Giants led 2-0 early, but got just one hit after the fifth inning as the visitors pitching proved as good as advertised.

The Brewers increased their lead in the NL Central to three games with the win and the Cardinals’ loss to the Dodgers. The Giants fell to 45-43 which is 13 games off the pace of the Dodgers.

The Giants scored twice in the third, first on a passed ball charged to catcher Victor Caratini, which was followed by Joc Pederson’s RBI single. Outside of that burst, Milwaukee starter Corbin Burnes pitched in character, striking out 10, scattering all four Giants hits and keeping his club within reach.

The Brewers rallied with single runs in the fourth and sixth. Andrew McCutchen’s sacrfice fly chased home the first run, Wily Adames’ base hit scoring Rowdy Tellez tied the game in the sixth.

Carlos Rodon found himself in another tight ballgame and couldn’t win it, lowering his ERA to 2.66 but gaining a no-decision. Rodon allowed the first Milwaukee run and departed before John Brebbia gave up the second run in the sixth.

The teams are back at it on Friday with starters Alex Wood and Brandon Woodruff scheduled at 7:15pm.

Craw Delivers: Giants complete comeback on Crawford’s walk-off hit, win 4-3 over the Diamondbacks

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Consecutive wins have the Giants looking like their old selves.

As in the 2021 version with the 107 wins, the record number of homers and late comebacks. It’s not a bad look.

After trailing 3-0, the Giants got a game-tying home run from Wilmer Flores in the eighth, and a game-winning RBI single from Brandon Crawford in the ninth to put the squeeze on the Diamondbacks in a 4-3 win.

The Giants have won four of five to stay within striking distance of the Phillies and Cardinals, the two teams ahead of them in the National League standings and the race for one of the three wild card spots.

“We’re getting back on track and these kinds of games can definitely help you pick up the momentum and carry into the next games, next series and rest of the year,” said Brandon Belt, who homered in the seventh to get the Giants their initial run. “I’ve seen it happen in our World Series years. I saw it last year with Atlanta. You just get momentum and a lot of crazy stuff happens.

“We battled and didn’t give up the entire game,” Belt continued. “To come back in the last inning and to see the whole team clicking a little bit, that’s the kind of baseball we have to play to win ballgames.”

The Giants employed their bullpen from the start in this one with John Brebbia opening, then giving way to Sam Long. But Long labored, allowing five hits and two walks, enough to stake the D’Backs to a 3-0 lead in the third inning. But four more relievers followed Long, allowing just two hits, and halting Arizona’s afternoon on the scoreboard.

Meanwhile, Gabe Kapler turned to his pinch-hitting game in the eighth and it paid off with Flores’ homer to tie it and a Darin Ruf single to chase reliever Joe Mantiply. Yermin Mercedes struck out and Luis Gonzalez grounded into a double play to end the inning, but the four, consecutive pinch-hitters got the game tied, and set up the Giants for their winning rally in the ninth.

Belt singled to leadoff the ninth against Mark Melancon, then Thairo Estrada struck out. Mike Yastrzemski doubled, moving Belt to third. And after David Villar drew a walk to load the bases, Crawford delivered the walk-off single.

The Giants conclude their first half of the season prior to the All-Star break with four home games against the NL Central-leading Brewers with the hope they can move closer to the Phillies, Cardinals, but the Padres and Brewers as well. Speculation that the Giants will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline has begun, but the suspense dissipates without the wins. Right now, the Giants are maintaining that suspense and trying to put a rough month of June behind them. Getting back to their situational game might be the trick, it was just that a season ago.

“Everyone knows how we play and everyone on the bench is always ready,” Flores said. “I was ready since the fourth inning.”

Giants’ All-Star Carlos Rodon gets the start on Thursday night in a matchup against Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes.

Snatched By Snakes: Giants can’t rally late, lose to the D’Backs 4-3

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–When the losses pile up, they fall into categories. For the stumbling Giants, home losses by two runs or less are starting to multiply.

Monday’s opener with the Diamondbacks went to the snakes as they established an early 3-0 lead, and led 4-1 when they held the Giants off in the eighth and ninth, winning 4-3. In the process, Brandon Crawford failed to come up clutch, and Lamonte (Wade Jr.) didn’t do anything spine tingling in the late night. The Giants were 2 of 8 with runners in scoring position and left eight men on base.

The Giants have lost nine of 13, and they failed to win a third, consecutive game for the first time since June 14. And six of their last eight losses at home have been by two runs or less.

Alex Cobb had an uneven performance, pitching six innings, allowing three runs while walking four. Daulton Varsho’s hard hit single off the low wall in right field knocked in two runs in the third, and registered as the big blow against Cobb. The Giants off-season acquisition hasn’t won any of his last five starts, dating back to May 17.

Mauricio Llovera walked two batters in the eighth, and that set up Sergio Alcantara’s pinch-hit, RBI single that put the D’Backs up 4-0.

The Giants struck back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth, but blew a big occasion when Brandon Crawford grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end the inning. Wade got his opportunity with one out in the ninth and Thairo Estrada on first base, but the slugger fouled out near the third base bag.

The Giants (43-42) will have their 275-game streak of maintaining an above .500 record on the line on Tuesday. Logan Webb will face Arizona’s Dallas Kuechel in that one.

Quiet Baseball: A’s offense missing in 6-1 loss to the Astros

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By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND–Two things are cropping up with the A’s these days: the losses and the length in time of the losses.

Add it up, not good, and neither was the 6-1 loss to the Astros in which they barely registered offensively. Only three A’s came to bat with a runner in scoring position, and they drew just one walk, and left four men on base.

Vimael Machin’s first Major League home run in the eighth was the highlight, and the whole thing was a rap in two hours, 39 minutes as the A’s saw a steady diet of strikes from three Houston pitchers and did little with them. The A’s have dropped nine of 13, and they haven’t exactly extended themselves in a majority of the losses.

But that’s A’s baseball these days, including the steady performance of their starters. Cole Irvin pitched six innings, allowing five hits and no walks, which looked good and was good, it just came without assistance, outside catcher Stephen Vogt.

“Little bit more curveball usage than I’ve had all season,” Irvin said of his afternoon. “Made my fastball look a little bit harder. Didn’t have good command of it early but it got better. I really wasn’t thinking too much out there. Vogter was calling a great game.”

In the absence of Yordan Alvarez, the impressive home run hitting first baseman for the Astros, who was both named to the All-Star team and placed on the injured list on Sunday, Kory Lee did his thing with three hits and three RBI. Lee, a 2019 first round pick from Cal, was feeling it, not so much from friends in attendance, but the Coliseum’s reputation for zaniness. Not a linear connection, but it worked as Lee put the Astros up 2-0 in the fifth, and doubled home two runs in the seventh for a 4-0 lead.

It’s crazy, being in Oakland,” Lee said. “The people here, the fans are really special so it was nice to get a little taste of home and do my thing here. It was a good day.”

It was a good day for Dusty Baker, who saw his club increase its AL West lead to 12 games and get five All-Star roster spots. And he didn’t get kicked out. In fact, Baker did little besides adjust his wristbands in the dugout, as opposed to getting ejected arguing calls as he did on Saturday.

“We got some timely hitting from some guys who played pretty good fundamental ball. Got ‘em over and got ’em in,” Baker said. “Korey Lee had a big day in front of all his folks. He put on a good display.”

GAME NOTES: The A’s have scored one run or no runs in 32 games thus far with little success (1-31). They entered Sunday’s game with a .209 batting average as a team and went 5 for 31 in the loss. The lowest team batting average over a full season since 1900 is .211 by the Chicago White Sox in 1910.

The A’s recalled Domingo Tapia from AAA Las Vegas and optioned Zach Logue, who started Saturday’s game.

The A’s open a three-game set in Arlington, Texas on Monday. Adrian Martinez and the Rangers’ Spencer Howard are the announced starters for Monday at 5:05pm.

Tough Loss, Scary Collision: Giants fall in San Diego, 2-1 as Padres’ Profar suffers head, neck injury

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By Morris Phillips

Two hits don’t usually get a team on the scoreboard and into extra innings. Those two knocks, one a two-out, ninth inning RBI single from Brandon Crawford and an extremely timely stolen base from Austin Slater did just that on Thursday for the Giants.

Unfortunately, it didn’t get them much more as the visitors fell 2-1 at San Diego’s Petco Park to the Padres.

Jorge Alfaro’s bases loaded base hit in the 10th inning won it for the Padres, who had lost eight of ten coming in and were just as desperate as their opponent. The Giants, have lost seven of eight after they interrupted their losing spell with a come from behind win at Arizona on Wednesday.

Jurickson Profar was involved in a scary, outfield collision with C.J. Abrams in the fifth inning in which his neck and head were put into a precarious position from the impact of Abrams’ leg. After a few minutes, Profar attempted to exit on his own power only to collapse on the field.

The Giants continued to shake things up with their personnel as Jose Alvarez was placed on the injured list due to swelling in his elbow. Zack Littell was recalled to take Alvarez’ place on the active roster. David Villar saw his rapid ascent through the minors peak with his placement in the starting lineup, at third base in place of the injured Evan Longoria.

Mauricio Llovera had a big moment in the ninth inning, plying his trade out of the bullpen against Manny Machado, Nomar Mazara and pinch-hitter Ha-Seong Park. Llovera struck out three, with the dangerous Machado and Park dispatched after swinging at sliders. Mazara took his looking as the slider froze him.

San Diego’s Joe Musgrove and Logan Webb locked into a spirited pitching duel with Musgrove allowing just one hit, and Webb flawless with the exception of a home run allowed to Machado. Webb pitched eight innings, and Musgrove seven, only to see Crawford send the game into extras and leave both starters with no-decisions.

Several Giants hitters had rough nights, most notably Wilmer Flores, hitting third in the order, and going 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in big situations. Despite managing just two hits, the Giants went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left nine baserunners stranded.

In his six, Major League seasons, Joe Musgrove has never been this good. Not even close. In this one, he struck out six and lowered his ERA to 2.09. Taylor Rogers, brother to the Giants’ Tyler, allowed the base hit to Crawford and the Giants’ only run.

The Giants will see former Ray Blake Snell in a starting role on Friday for San Diego, but manager Gabe Kapler has not announced a starter as of yet.

Broken Record: A’s fall to the Mariners 2-1, again, and lose Montas in the first inning

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By Morris Phillips

Frankie Montas didn’t seem concerned about his shoulder injury, but it’s likely he has some other concerns.

Like his future in Oakland with the A’s.

Montas threw just 13 pitches in the A’s loss to the Mariners in Seattle at which point the alarming news from the radar gun forced manager Mark Kotsay’s hand.

“He had some tightness in the back of his shoulder and just didn’t feel like he could get fully extended. In that situation we are going to err on the side of caution,” Kotsay said of the readings from the radar gun that showed Montas well off the usual speed on his fastball. “We’ll just go day to day from here.”

I don’t have any concern,” Montas said. “I don’t think it’s anything bad, just probably some inflammation. Didn’t have enough time to recover (after his last start).”

Montas’ importance as a trade piece at the upcoming trade deadline has been well documented. But in that atmosphere, the 29-year old has been the A’s most impressive performer, more often than not keeping the A’s in a tight ballgame whether the offense responds to support him or not.

On Sunday at T-Mobile Park, the offense again was absent. The A’s lost 2-1 for the second, consecutive day and they now stand 1-29 in games they score one run or less. With an offense that feeble the home run Montas allowed to Julio Rodriguez on the first pitch Montas threw put the A’s under tremendous pressure.

Rodriguez backed it up in the sixth with an RBI double that gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead. The A’s response–Elvis Andrus’ homer in the seventh–wasn’t enough as the A’s fell for the 25th time in their last 31 games, putting them on track to have their worst season record in over 100 years dating back to their Philadelphia days.

Robbie Ray pitched into the seventh inning and struck out 12 Athletics, energizing manager Scott Servais, who has seen his squad surge from a sluggish start to the season with wins in 10 of 13 games.

“Riding the Robbie Ray train is what we do, and what we will continue to do because he is really good and he is fun to watch,” Servais said.

“My four-seam (fastball) and my slider have been really good but that two-seamer throws a wrinkle into it and allows (the other two pitches) to be that much better,” Ray said.

If the A’s had a “star” on Sunday it was Austin Pruitt, who replaced Montas and retired 13 consecutive batters.

The A’s open a six-game home stand against Toronto on the 4th of July with Cole Irvin, winless in his last eight starts, facing the dynamic Alex Manoah, who has a 9-2 record.

Wade, Webb and Doval: Is this the trio that becomes cornerstones for the Giants’ future?

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Evan Longoria admitted he’s considered retirement at the conclusion of this season in an article published in the San Francisco Chronicle Thursday. Longoria said he discussed the subject last season with Buster Posey, who did retire. Brandon Belt is the captain, but for how much longer?

Brandon Crawford, who has had a remarkably injury-free career is on the injured list, giving the rest of the Giants a sense of what it’s like without his leadership on a daily basis.

This era of Giants is transitioning. Joey Bart has stepped in for Posey, although his still rough edges landed him back in Triple A Sacramento recently. So who’s next? Maybe the trio of 2021 standouts who were prominent and integral to the Giants’ effort in last season’s epic Game 5 against the Dodgers: Lamonte Wade Jr., Logan Webb and Camilo Doval.

Wade, who faced Max Scherzer in a pinch-hitting role in the ninth inning of that playoff game, and sent a shot just right of home run territory for a foul ball, was a good college player, and a mid-round pick for the Twins. After two stints with their big club that weren’t awe inspiring, he was dealt to the Giants.

The marriage was made in heaven: Wade thrived as a regular against left-handed pitching, putting up 18 home runs and 15 doubles in 299 at-bats in that role. His numbers after the seventh inning were even more scintillating, earning him the nickname “Late Night Lamonte.” Now 28, and after missing 60 games so far this season to various injuries, is he still the “it” guy? If so, his career in San Francisco could be lengthy.

Doval was signed as a free agent by the Giants in 2015… as a shortstop. Now, seven years later, Doval is the hard-throwing closer who continues to grow more comfortable in his role with each appearance. In 2021, Doval finished 5-1 with 37 strikeouts in 27 innings, and that earned him a pivotal role in Game 5 in a matchup with Los Angeles’ Cody Bellinger in which he allowed the game-winning hit to the Dodgers’ slugger in the ninth inning.

Doval isn’t arbitration eligible until 2025, making his situation too favorable to the Giants to do anything but keep in the role he occupies now. Also, Doval continues to improve his slider, the compliment to his near-100mph fastballs.

Webb has been with the Giants since 2014, when he was a fourth round selection in the MLB Draft. Since then, he’s been a steady riser and came into this season as the Giants’ number one starter after he became just the third Giant to throw 7 2/3 innings scoreless and strike out 10 batters. His fastball and slider combo from the same arm slot continue to fool batters this season, as his 7-2 record could be even better if it weren’t for some hiccups after Webb has departed a couple of his starts.

The Giants have Webb under control until 2026 and probably will welcome the arbitration process to determine how much their young star gets paid until then.

What’s interesting about this Giants’ trio is none of the three come with much fanfare. Those that do–Heliot Ramos, Bart and Marco Luciano–still could surpass these three or equal them in a formidable sextet down the line. The reality is, the aformentioned trio is a little bit older than Ramos, Bart and Luciano and they’ve arrived quickly with assurance. Regardless of who outdoes who going forward, this group collectively bode well for the organization’s future.

The Giants open a three-game set with the White Sox at Oracle Park on Friday night with Alex Cobb and Chicago’s Lance Lynn the announced starters.

Rally Wreckers: Giants do the same stuff in latest loss, 3-2 to the visiting Tigers

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–If the Giants were to find a way not to win a third, consecutive series, this wasn’t the way.

More of the same. When the Giants’ offense fails to get the key hit, and knock in some runs, they often lose. Wednesday afternoon’s loss to the Tigers, 3-2, was just another example in a less than lengthy stretch of games.

“I think it’s as simple as getting one more big at-bat,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “We’ve talked about that for a while now.”

The Giants rallied in the third–leading 1-0, then loading the bases with one out–but came up empty. In the seventh–now trailing 3-1–the Giants had the same, advantageous setup, but scored just once, on Mike Yastrzemski’s fielder’s choice ground ball. A run in each inning, and the hosts are likely winners, and building on a 41-33 record. Instead, they’re stuck in a 3-6 stretch against beatable opponents.

The Giants finished 2 of 9 with runners in scoring position, intriguing, in that the two successes were from guys that could pick it up and change things. Evan Longoria homered in the first inning, and his infield single loaded the bases in the third. Lamonte Wade Jr. returned to action–after missing 61 of the first 73 games–and singled in the seventh. Wade was put in a tough spot, hitting against a tough lefty Gregory Soto in the ninth, when the Giants normally would have pinch-hit, but at that point in the game on Wednesday, Kapler had expended all his hitting options.

Alex Wood–who started, and gave up the decisive two-run homer to Detroit’s Eric Haase in the sixth–best expressed the agony of his own shortcomings and the teams saying “these are the days that are just extremely frustrating. I felt really good. I thought it was the best my slider’s been in a long time, if not (this entire season). So to have that (home run) happen at the end really sucked, to be honest. Just really frustrating.”

“It starts with our staff. Webby and ‘Los have put up their lines. The rest of us have to step our s— up,” Wood said, applauding his staff mates Logan Webb and Carlos Rodón. “Start having the lines match up with how we’re feeling and putting up some zeroes and finishing some starts with zero or one run on the board. A lot of those one-run games are on us.”

There’s some truth to Wood saying this is not all on the offense. And, once again, this is a team with a winning record and a clear-path to the newly, expanded playoffs. But off a 107-win campaign, something missing or somethings are missing. To Wood’s point, the Giants ERA of 3.99 puts them just above the league average. Last season, their staff had a National League top-three ERA virtually the entire season. Defensively, the Giants have committed 41 errors, also a league average number, but reflective of how poor the defense has been, the Giants defensive efficiency, as defined by baseball-reference.com is in the bottom four in all of baseball. What’s that last bit really mean? The Giants could suffer even worse defensively going forward, so far, they’ve made defensive mistakes, but in a lot of cases, not suffered run scored against them.

The Giants open a three-game set with the White Sox on Friday at Oracle Park. Lance Lynn of Chicago and Alex Cobb will get the starting assignments.

Giants At The Breaking Point: Poor play of late could send the 2022 season spiraling out of control

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO–Not only did the Giants perform terribly on Sunday, they did so in embarrassing fashion.

That’s not a good combination.

Innings that spiraled out of control from a pitching standpoint, to lack of hustle and professionalism, the Giants did a little of everything in falling behind 7-0 and losing 10-3 to the NL Central-last Reds.

“I don’t feel the need to call any one individual out. We had a few mental lapses,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “We just have to do a better job of concentrating, particularly when games are starting to move fast and seemingly spinning a little out of control.”

When you’re coming off a 107-win division title, you won’t look the same. So many things went right for the Giants last season, it may take years to equal all that good fortune. But right now the Giants are struggling defensively, getting one too many disastrous, pitching performances and not hitting anywhere near what they were a year ago.

What stands out even more is the Giants aren’t bad, in fact they’re just outside of postseason position. But they’ve been less than competitive against good teams, and just plain mediocre against bad teams. Right now, the latter sticks out because the Giants have a favorable schedule in terms of opponents, but they haven’t done anything to take advantage of it.

“I just don’t think it matters the fact that it was the Reds or any other team. If we play good baseball, we beat good teams,” Kapler said when asked why the team struggled so in losing twice in a home series to Cincinnati.

Brandon Crawford was placed on the injured list (for only the third time in his career) after a collision in Atlanta last week, and his return–based on his play–seemed premature. Crawford’s defense suffered Friday and he was given Sunday off. Now, the banged-up shortstop will get at least nine days to recover.

Anthony DeSclafani started Sunday, recorded eight outs, then the proverbial roof caved in during the third inning with two outs and a runner on. The next six batters racked up five hits and a walk, and DeSclafani, just off the injured list, departed trailing 6-0. DeSclafani won 10 of his 13 decisions before the 2021 All-Star break, and hasn’t done much since outside sign a three-year deal to return. After missing the last 60 days, he’s 0-2 with a 9.95 ERA.

Evan Longoria homered on Friday and Saturday, but those came after a 19-game stretch in which the third baseman had just three extra-base hits and none of three home runs.

Luis Gonzales was going gangbusters then his back tightened and he landed on the injured list. Gonzales should return this week, but now that he’s assumed such an important role, can he keep it up?

Throughout the roster, stories like these four are present, bringing into question what the team’s ceiling is this season? The trade deadline should yield some needed additions, but will transpire before that. The Giants have dropped six of eight, and the Dodgers and Padres aren’t likely to wait much longer before they play better and force the Giants to give up on their hopes of repeating as division champions.

On Tuesday, the Giants open a two-game set with the Tigers and starting pitcher Tarik Skubal, who was outstanding in May (five starts, 1.45 ERA), and just the opposite so far in June (five starts, 5.86 ERA). Carlos Rodon pitches for the Giants after he suffered a hard-luck loss in Atlanta last week.