San Francisco Giants

Offensive Struggles Lead to Split Series in LA





rd strike multiple times. The home plate umpire was very inconsistent with his balls and strikes. To start the at bat he was very generous, but once there was two strikes the strike zone got much smaller. The Giants offense has started at an amazingly sluggish pace. Our two runs this year have both came off of solo home runs by Panik. Saturday the Giants had 9 hits but were unable to get a run across against Maeda. Holland received no help from his defense as the Giants had 3 errors and McCutchen missed a fly ball to deep right field that he should have had. Holland’s line looks much worse than he pitched due to the defensive errors. He also should have gotten out of a couple of jams but was squeezed on the 3strike multiple times. The home plate umpire was very inconsistent with his balls and strikes. To start the at bat he was very generous, but once there was two strikes the strike zone got much smaller.





th. He was taken out after 5.1 innings responsible for 1 more runner that would come across as Josh Osich lost his streak of scoreless innings. The Giants over the course of Saturday and Sunday were a total of 0-17 with runners in scoring position. We have been one hit away from multiple big innings. Twice have we left the bases loaded and produced nothing. The good news is that Posey is finally in the hit column. He went 4-7 over the weekend. Panik continued his streak going 1-3 both nights. He is the only Giant to have hit in every game thus far. Our 3 big additions this year have so far not gotten going. Jackson, McCutchen and Longoria are a combined 2-43. Something needs to change there for us to drive in runs. They are the heart of the lineup and without them getting going we will continue to struggle. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt that the pressure of Dodger stadium got to them and they will come out swinging in the home opener today against Seattle. Sunday the Giants only put up 6 hits in 9 innings. Stratton started out strong allowing 1 run through 5 innings. He got into some trouble as he let another run in during the 6. He was taken out after 5.1 innings responsible for 1 more runner that would come across as Josh Osich lost his streak of scoreless innings. The Giants over the course of Saturday and Sunday were a total of 0-17 with runners in scoring position. We have been one hit away from multiple big innings. Twice have we left the bases loaded and produced nothing. The good news is that Posey is finally in the hit column. He went 4-7 over the weekend. Panik continued his streak going 1-3 both nights. He is the only Giant to have hit in every game thus far. Our 3 big additions this year have so far not gotten going. Jackson, McCutchen and Longoria are a combined 2-43. Something needs to change there for us to drive in runs. They are the heart of the lineup and without them getting going we will continue to struggle. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt that the pressure of Dodger stadium got to them and they will come out swinging in the home opener today against Seattle.





Neither team has many at bats against the opposing starter going into today. The most at bats come from Dee Gordon with 4 against Ty Blach from his time in the National League. He is 3-4 against Blach while the only other Mariners batter, Ryon Healy, is 0-3. Ty Blach looks to continue his dominance as he starts today due to the 4 man rotation. With the day off yesterday he will be pitching on normal rest allowing the Giants more time to plan who their 5 th starter will be. Blach will get to pitch the Season Opener and the Home Opener this year. He will have to keep the MLB batting average leader at bay as he faces Mitch Haniger who is hitting .625 to start this young season and Robinson Canó who is 3 rd with a .600 batting average. Dee Gordon is the next highest through the Mariners 3 games with a .333 average. The biggest surprise is that Gordon so far has not stolen a base. Over his 7 year career he has 278 stolen bases and has yet to attempt one this year.





On the mound for Seattle is Marco Gonzales, a lefty making his first start of the year. He is coming back from Tommy John surgery that stopped him from rising in the St. Louis rotation. He faced the Giants once with St. Louis in 2014 and lost. In 14 games started over his career he only has 1 quality start coming in 2014. He started 8 of 11 games he pitched in in 2017, with a 6.08 ERA and a 1-1 record. I hope to see the Giants get on him early as he only went 40 innings over 11 games last year. He allowed 59 hits in those 40 innings and 27 earned runs. I haven’t watched him pitch before or seen his stuff but with those stats it sounds like he is throwing beach balls. Even with AT&T Park being pitcher friendly we may see some offense come alive today, just what the doctor ordered for Jackson, McCutchen and Longoria.