Dodgers’ Kershaw continues mastery of the Giants
LOS ANGELES >> The number 40 is mentioned 146 times in the Bible, usually to represent an extended time of struggle or trial or test of faith.
This is worth mentioning because Clayton Kershaw made his 40th career start against the Giants on Sunday. Keep your locusts. Kershaw’s overhand curve and deceptive delivery and 95 mph pointillism have plagued the Giants like nothing else over the years.
Only twice in Kershaw’s first 39 starts did a Giants player manage a three-hit game against him. By chance, they received two more such games on Sunday, from Hunter Pence and Mac Williamson. Yet they only managed one circumnavigation of the bases in a 3-1 loss at Dodger Stadium that pushed them back into sole possession of the major leagues’ worst record.
Williamson had a day to remember amid a frustrating season, and spoiled Kershaw’s shutout bid in the eighth inning with a 410-foot home run that clanked off the batter’s eye in center field.
“I’ve gotten limited atbats the last few weeks and I’m just trying to be a part of this and leave a good impression going into the offseason,” Williamson said.
In the end, though, the Giants lost another lowscoring game in a season series that has been full of them. Although a 38game chasm separates the Dodgers and Giants in the standings, they have appeared on relatively even ground when they met on the same field. The Giants went 8-11 in the series but eight of the games were decided by one run, and four went to extra innings.
They were the kind of games when a play here or there could have made all the difference.
The Giants aren’t making those plays this season. They did not make them on Sunday.
Third baseman Pablo Sandoval fumbled Chase Utley’s infield single in the fourth inning, and Yasmani Grandal followed with a two-run home run off Chris Stratton. The Dodgers had scored an earlier run when Williamson threw wide from left field to the plate and Curtis Granderson scored on a sacrifice fly.
There is no question the Giants have regressed defensively this season. But by how much?
“I just think we’re lacking in a lot of different areas,” catcher Buster Posey said. “You can’t pinpoint one thing. We’ve just got to get better in all areas.”
Last year, the Giants had three Gold Glove winners (second baseman Joe Panik, shortstop Brandon Crawford and Posey) and ranked third in the major leagues with 50 defensive runs saved, trailing only the Astros and Cubs. This season, they rank 25th out of 30 teams with minus-36 defensive runs saved.
Most of the damage has been done in the outfield, where the Giants do not look good by any measure. But even when you positionally adjust for defensive runs saved, the Giants have plummeted from 53.7 (second only to the Cubs) in 2016 to a very middleof-the-pack 1.1 this season.
There is no question that the Giants need more instant offense like Williamson’s home run, or any other kind of offense, if they hope to improve next season. But an improved defense might be the easiest and most reliable way to improve the returns from a pitching staff that is more or less going to return intact next season.
At least those pitchers are finishing with some momentum. Stratton wasn’t efficient but did his best to keep pace with Kershaw and Ty Blach, who hadn’t pitched in 13 days, followed with three shutout innings.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy praised the effort of both pitchers, who look to be contributors in some form on next year’s staff.
• The Giants received a gift out to end the fourth when Pence couldn’t come up with a foul fly down the right field line but the Giants won their replay challenge and umpires determined that a fan had interfered.
Maybe that play will help Pence’s Ultimate Zone Rating.
• The Giants are guaranteed a losing record against each of their four NL West opponents. They have assured a last-place finish for the first time since 2007.
At least they cannot be clinched upon twice in this final road trip. They’ll head to Arizona to begin a three-game series on Monday; the Diamondbacks popped their bottles on Sunday after clinching the top position in the NL wild-card game.
• With the Phillies’ victory, the Giants retook sole possession of the worst record in the major leagues, which would get them the top pick in the draft next June.
The Giants are 61-95. The Phillies and Detroit Tigers are one game better. The Chicago White Sox won and are 1½ games better than the Tigers. So it appears the Giants will have one of the top three picks for the first time since they took Matt Williams third overall in 1986.
If the Giants finish with the same record as the Phillies or Tigers, they would lose the draft tiebreaker based on having a better record than either team in 2016.
• A day after A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first Major League Baseball player to take a knee during the national anthem, no Giants or Dodgers uniformed personnel followed suit. Those players and coaches who were on the field for the anthem all stood.
The singer bungled a couple of the words.