Category: San Francisco Giants

Going in Another Direction: Giants relieve GM Evans of his duties, lose quietly to the Padres

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — If the philosophy employed by GM Bobby Evans to construct the 2018 Giants is horribly out of step with current baseball thinking, we got one more reminder on Monday night at AT&T Park.

After Evans was relieved of his duties earlier on Monday, the Giants’ bats fell silent in a 5-0 loss to the Padres. Padres’ starter Bryan Mitchell completely shutdown the Giants’ offense a week after he allowed the Giants nine hits and four runs in a loss at San Diego in his previous start.

The Giants have lost 16 of 20 to fall a season-worst 13 games under .500. At the root of all the struggles is an offense that frequently can’t even manage a base hit; the Giants are hitting .222 as a team since the All-Star break, the lowest such mark for any team in baseball since 1974.

“We’ve got to get this offense fixed,” manager Bruce Bochy said afterwards.

The move to relieve Evans and retain Brian Sabean while reducing his responsibilities means the club will look outside the organization to find their philosophical leader for the first time in decades. That next GM/executive will have to fortify an offense without the likelihood a free agent hitter would chose San Francisco as his destination given the dramatic dropoff in offensive production recent transplants have experienced.

Against Mitchell on Monday, a Giants’ lineup of underperforming holdovers and prospects Chris Shaw and Aramis Garcia managed just six base hits and one double from Brandon Crawford. Only leadoff hitter Hunter Pence managed multiple hits as Mitchell dominated for 8 2/3 innings. Mitchell struck out seven, and induced numerous ground balls that kept the Giants from mounting a rally.

“A really impressive performance, I would have loved to see him finish it,” manager Andy Green said of Mitchell.

Derek Holland pitched well but was lit up by Jose Pirela’s lind drive homer that increased the Padres’ lead to 3-0 in the fourth.

Giants fire Bobby Evans after four seasons

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By: Mizuho Takagi

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants announced in a statement Monday that Senior Vice President and General Manager Bobby Evans would be removed from his general manager duties effective immediately. The team said Evans would be reassigned with responsibilities to be determined.

“I want to thank Bobby for his tireless work on behalf of the Giants. He played an important role in our team’s success throughout his tenure, which includes three World Series championships, four NL pennants and eight playoff appearances,” said Giants President and CEO Larry Bear in a statement.

The Giants will immediately begin a search for its next head of baseball operations.

“I take great pride in the long standing continuity of our baseball department. I want to express my thanks to Bobby for all he has given to the Giants over the past 25 years and for his countless contributions,” said Giants Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Brian Sabean in a statement. “I will be working closely with Larry as the organization finds its next leader of baseball operations.”

Evans first joined the Giants as a minor league administrative assistant in 1994 and later promoted to director of minor league operations in 1998,  and director of player personnel in 2005. He became vice president of baseball operations in 2009 and was named as general manager in April, 2015. Evans is signed through 2019.

The Giants opened their final homestand of 2018 and lost 5-0 to the Padres on Monday. The Giants are in fourth place of National League West Division with a 72-85 record in its second straight losing season.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Morris Phillips: Giants may be out, but haven’t given up; Get swept in St. Louis; Get ready for San Diego tonight

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@SFGiants file photo: Hunter Pence (left) sits with former coach Tim Flannery at Dodger Stadium during Flannery’s time with the team. Pence is expected to finish his tenure with the Giants this week.

On the Giants podcast with Morris:

#1 The Giants went through the motions in St. Louis and lost their 50th game on the road in a three-game sweep with the Cards.

#2 Manager Bruce Bochy said that St. Louis is a really balanced ball club with a tough lineup.

#3 The Cards executed all the reasons why they’re a wild card competitor. With what Bochy said, they have power, speed, and are good athletes.

#4 The 50-game road loss was a five-game improvement over last year’s loss total of 55.

#5 The Giants open a three-game series tonight against the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park. This most likely will be the final curtain for Giants’ Hunter Pence and Gregor Blanco as members of the team.

Morris does the Giants podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Cardinals break out the brooms following 9-2 rout of the Giants

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Photo credit: @Cardinals

By Jeremy Kahn

After starting the final road trip of the 2018 season with consecutive victories, the road trip ended up being a nightmare for the San Francisco Giants. In particular, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Yairo Munoz drove in the only run that Miles Mikolas would need with a single that scored Jedd Gyorko, as the Cardinals completed a three-sweep with a 9-2 victory over the Giants at Busch Stadium on Sunday.

Mikolas, who won for the 17th time on the season against just four losses, went seven innings, allowing just one run, walking a batter and striking out eight, as the Cards keep pace for the second Wild Card spot in the National League behind their division rival, the Milwaukee Brewers.

Not only did Mikolas come up big on the mound, but he helped himself out with a single to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning to score Harrison Bader.

The Cards broke the game wide open in the bottom of the sixth inning, as they scored five runs that got started when Bader hit into a fielders’ choice that scored Patrick Wisdom.

Munoz drove in his second run of the afternoon, as he singled to score Yadier Molina and then Andrew Suarez’s day ended and was replaced by Pierce Johnson, Jose Martinez doubled to score Bader and Munoz. Paul DeJong put the capper on the inning, as he singled to score Tyler O’Neill.

Brandon Crawford drove in the lone runs for the Giants in the top of the seventh inning, as he hit a two-run home run that also scored Evan Longoria.

Matt Carpenter hit a two-run home run for the Cards in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the finishing touches on the scoring.

Suarez went five innings, allowing two runs on six hits, walking one and struck out five and saw his record fall to 7-12 in his rookie season.

NOTES: Over their last 12 road games of the season, the Giants went 2-10, that included an 0-6 road trip when the Giants were swept by the Colorado Rockies and the Milwaukee Brewers.

In the month of September, the Giants are 4-16 in their 20 games during the month.

UP NEXT: The Giants return to AT&T Park to host the Padres for a three-game series starting Monday night at 7:15 pm PDT.

Derek Holland begins the Giants’ final homestand on Monday night, as he looks for his eighth win for the season, while the Padres will send Bryan Mitchell to the hill, as he searches for his second win of the season.

MLB The Show podcast with Daniel Dullum: A’s pennant plans for today; M’s again erased from postseason; Tribe pitchers combine for 200 K’s in a season; plus more

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Photo credit: @offclockpodcast

On the MLB The Show podcast with Daniel:

1 Pennant race status as of Sunday. The A’s magic number is 1

2 Mariners extend longest postseason drought in major North American sports to 17 years.

3 Indians’ first time in MLB to have four pitchers with 200 strikeouts in a single season.

4 Giants celebrate National Singles Day by hitting 10 singles.

Daniel does the MLB podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

O’Neill ends it with a walk-off to lift the Cardinals to a 5-4 win over the Giants

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Photo credit: taiwannews.com.tw

By Jeremy Kahn

Tyler O’Neill ended Saturday afternoon’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants with one swing of the bat.

O’Neill smashed a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, helping the Cardinals to their fifth win in their last six games with a 5-4 victory over the Giants at Busch Stadium.

Mark Melancon served up the O’Neill home run, as the Cards smacked their team record eighth walkoff home run of the season.

It was the ninth home run of the season for O’Neill, as they remain in the second spot for the National League Wild Card game and remain behind their division rival, the Milwaukee Brewers for the top spot.

The win by the Cards gave the victory to closer Carlos Martinez, who improved to 8-6 on the season, while Melancon drops to 0-3 for the Giants, who have dropped their last three games.

Adam Wainwright made just his third start of the season for the Cards, as he went 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits, walking no one and striking out six.

Things were looking good for the Giants, as they led the Cards 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Yadier Molina tied up the game with a two-run home run off of Giants starter Dereck Rodriguez.

Aramis Garcia came up with a big hit in the top of the seventh inning, as he gave the Giants a 3-2 lead. Garcia picked up four hits on the afternoon for the Giants.

Garcia went 4-for-4 on the afternoon, a career-high and Garcia now has hits in 10 out of his last 12 games.

Gregor Blanco extended the Giants lead up to 4-2, as he grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored Garcia.

Molina tied up the game with his 19th home run of the season off of Rodriguez, whose day ended following the Molina home run.

Rodriguez went six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out two and he will make one start next weekend against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park.

This was the first time since his second major league start against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on June 9 that Rodriguez allowed three or more earned runs in the same game. Rodriguez went 15 consecutive games without allowing three runs or fewer.

Joe Panik picked up three hits and drove in a run for the Giants.

NOTES: Garcia is the first Giants rookie since Austin Slater on June 15, 2017 against the Colorado Rockies on June 18, 2017, to have a four-hit game in his rookie season.

The four-hit game by Garcia came one day after the rookie struck out four times in the same game. Garcia is the first to accomplish this feat since Hunter Pence did it from July 22-24, 2015 and only the second Giants player to do it since 1913, this according to STATS, LLC.

Garcia is only the fifth rookie in major league history to strikeouts four times in a game, and then four hits in the game. He joins Andre Ethier of the Dodgers in 2006, Travis Hafner of the Cleveland Indians in 2003. Roberto Meija of the Colorado Rockies and Craig Paquette of the Oakland A’s also in 1993.

Panik made his professional debut at first base, as he started the game at first base and it was the first time that Panik started there on the minor league or the Major League level.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Cards wrap up their series Sunday at 11:15 am PDT.

Andrew Suarez puts an end to the road trip and the Giants 2018 road schedule, as he takes the Busch Stadium mound for the first time in his Major League career, while Mike Mikolas takes the mound for the Cards.

Adams hits a big home run; Cardinals beat Giants 5-3

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Photo credit: @Cardinals

By Jeremy Kahn

Matt Adams hit a big home run for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2014 National League Championship Series, and he came up with a big hit in the opener of their three-game series against the San Francisco Giants.

Adams, who hit a home run off of Hunter Strickland in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 2 of the 2014 NLCS hit a two-run, pinch-hit double off of Tony Watson in the bottom of the eighth inning, as the Cardinals defeated the Giants 5-3 at Busch Stadium.

Harrison Bader got the eighth inning rally started with a two-out walk off of Mark Melancon, then Yairo Munoz singled before Melancon was replaced by Watson, who gave up the two-run double to Adams.

Reliever John Brebbia struck out the side in the top of the eighth inning to pick up his fifth win of the season for the Cards, while Carlos Martinez, who was celebrating his 27th birthday notched his fourth save in as many opportunities.

Marcell Ozuna drove in the first run of the game for the Cardinals, as he singled to drive in Matt Carpenter in the bottom of the first inning.

Chris Shaw tied up the game in the top of the third inning, as he drew a walk against Cards starter John Gant to score Evan Longoria.

It was a big night for Longoria, who went 3-for-5 on the evening for the Giants, who have lost 14 out of their 18 games, including a season-long 11-game losing streak.

Gant did not get of the third inning, as he went just 2.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking three and striking out three and threw 67 pitches in those 2.2 innings.

Kolten Wong gave the Cards the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he singled off of Madison Bumgarner to score Bader.

Wong came up with his second hit and second run batted in in as many innings, as he singled off of Bumgarner in the bottom of the sixth inning to score Jedd Gyorko.

Bumgarner pitched six innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, walking one and striking out five.

The Giants tied up the game in the top of the seventh inning, as Gregor Blanco singled to score Austin Slater and then Longoria tied up the game with a ground ball to first base that scored Alen Hanson.

NOTES: Brandon Belt is done for the season, as he underwent surgery to clean up his torn meniscus and cartilage damage in his right knee. This was the second surgery of the season for Belt, who underwent an emergency appendectomy on June 2 after he left the game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Belt should be ready when the team meets again in Scottsdale, Ariz. in February at their Spring Training Complex.

This season, Belt hit .253 with 14 home runs and 46 RBIs for the Giants.

UP NEXT: The Giants and Cards continue their series with game two Saturday at 10:05 am PDT.

Dereck Rodriguez goes for his seventh win of the season, as he takes the mound against Adam Wainwright, who looks for his third win of the season for the Cards. Wainwright is 6-7 against the Giants in his career, while Rodriguez will face the Cards for the second time in his career. Rodriguez faced the Cards on July 6, where he did not fare in the decision of a 3-2 Giants victory.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca: Giants take two out of three from Padres; MadBum says he wants to stay in S.F.

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Photo credit @hardball247: Madison Bumgarner San Francisco pitcher has lost some off his fast ball and velocity but wants to continue with the Giants for the 2019 season

On the Giants podcast with Michael:

#1 The Giants took the first two games of the series against the San Diego Padres, but dropped game three on Thursday with a 8-4 loss. Starter Chris Stratton dropped his record to 10-10.

#2 The Giants are looking at some of their young prospects to fill in potential open positions when spring training begins. There will most likely be new faces in the Giants’ lineup.

#3 Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner says he wants to stay in San Francisco. He’s in the last year of his six-year, $35 million deal.

#4 Giants first baseman Brandon Belt will have knee surgery and is done for 2018. Belt was hitting over .300 before he had to have appendectomy surgery on June 1st.

#5 The Giants open up a three-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards are chasing for the top spot in the National League Wild Card. The top three teams in the NL Central–Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, and the Cards–are all vying for the NL Division title.

Michael does the Giants podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Giants to face Cardinals; could play spoiler in St. Louis

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Photo credit: @SFGiants

By Jeremy Harness

The San Francisco Giants are fresh off of taking two of three games from the San Diego Padres, but they have a new challenge on their hands as they head into the weekend.

They will now travel to St. Louis for a three-game series with the Cardinals, a series that starts Friday night at Busch Stadium.

Unlike the Giants, the Cards definitely have something to play for at this time of the year.

St. Louis currently holds an 84-69 record and currently hold the second wild card spot in the National League. If the playoffs started today, the Cards would travel to Milwaukee for a one-game elimination against the Brewers, who they trail by three games.

The National League Central crown is not completely out of the question, but chances become dimmer as the games go by. The division-leading Cubs are 5 1/2 games ahead of the Cardinals and only 2 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Brewers.

However, the Cards’ playoff spot is far from guaranteed. In fact, they only sit a game and a half in front of the Colorado Rockies for the last playoff spot.

For the Cards, the mission to stay in the postseason race continues Friday night against the Giants. Madison Bumgarner (6-6, 3.14 ERA) will take the ball for the Giants on Friday against Cards righty John Gant (7-6, 3.53 ERA).

Gant has won four of his last six decisions, but he got shelled in his last outing. He surrendered six runs on six hits, including a pair of damaging home runs, in only 4 1/3 innings as the Cards were routed by the Dodgers, 17-4.

Giants rookie Dereck Rodriguez (6-4, 2.30 ERA) will go Saturday afternoon against Cards veteran righty Adam Wainwright (2-3, 3.72 ERA).

Giants’ Andrew Suarez (7-11, 4.24 ERA) will hope to start turning things around on Sunday as he takes the mound against Cards righty Miles Mikolas (16-4, 3.01 ERA), who has won five of his last six decisions, including each of his last three.

San Francisco Giants podcast with Michael Duca and Morris Phillips: Belt sent back to S.F.–done for season as knee surgery needed; Giants headed for St. Louis

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

On the Giants podcast with Michael and Morris:

The Giants, at the rate that they’re playing, would settle for 81-81 right now and that’s who they are right now, but what people forget is they lost 98 games last year. Even if they wind up losing 84 this year, that’s a 14-game improvement, and if you project that forward, if they can do that again next year, they can get 92 wins.

It’s interesting the Giants were looking for a lot of improvement that was the whole impetus of keeping the whole ball club together and of course they come up 14, 15 games better, which is what most teams will do, but it’s not going to get them in the playoffs.

The Giants kept the folder of contracts together. The team was never together. They had their projected starting eight-plus their Opening Day starter for one game all year this year. It just never pulled together, as health was an issue.

The Giants announced that the first baseman Brandon Belt is done for the season and is headed back to San Francisco from San Diego and that’s from the knee that’s going to require surgery in the offseason. The Giants hope to play spoiler in St. Louis starting with a Friday night game to open a three-game series with the Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

Michael and Morris perform their broadcast duties on the Giants podcasts last one of the season coming next week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com