TRUE MEANING
Bochy leads the charge as Giants play their way into postseason contention
SAN FRANCISCO >> During his first offseason as Giants president of baseball operations, Farhan Zaidi was quite careful when choosing ways to describe his vision for the franchise.
When asked to offer a bigpicture goal for the 2019 season, Zaidi often said he wanted the Giants to play “meaningful” baseball as deep into the season as they could.
Zaidi’s predecessors never shied away from explaining the team’s annual goal was to “contend” for a playoff spot, but competing for a postseason berth felt rather unrealistic given the Giants’ massive struggles over the last two seasons.
Meaningful is a word that can be easily manipulated to fit a variety of scenarios. A team filled with rookies trying to seize playing time for future seasons is playing meaningful games. A game started by Madison Bumgarner, regardless of what time of year it takes place, is meaningful to Giants fans.
Meaningful can be stretched in dozens of ways, but there is no mistaking a contender.
Contenders must win and in the month of July, that’s exactly what the Giants are doing.
After winning 16 of their last 19 games and climbing above .500 for the first time this season on Monday, there’s no question the Giants have emerged as legitimate contenders in the National League wild-card race.
“It’s exciting,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “These guys are used to playing in tight ballgames and they’ve done a great job of finding a way to win them.”
In Bochy’s 25th and final season as a major league manager, the Giants have shocked the rest of the league with a meteoric rise thanks in large part to their leader’s magic touch.
Zaidi said during spring training the Giants would need one of the league’s best bullpens to have a chance in the National League, and he built a unit that Bochy has maximized. The average ERA for a major league reliever in 2019 is 4.49, a number that would be worse if not for the success the Giants have enjoyed. Six of Bochy’s bullpen regulars have posted ERAs under 4.00, with the four best having marks under 3.00.
Closer Will Smith owns a 2.55 ERA with 24 saves in 26 chances, but he’s not the only pitcher capable of earning outs in the ninth inning. With Smith unavailable on Monday after pitching six times in the last 10 days, Bochy had three relievers down in the bullpen during a Giants rally in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The manager was prepared for anything and when Austin Slater tied the game at 4-4 with an RBI double, rookie Sam Coonrod sat down while veteran Sam Dyson started getting loose. Lefty Tony Watson was warm and ready to go, but it was Dyson who entered and secured his first save since April 13.
“We have a lot of guys who have closed before and are used to being out there in leverage situations,” Bochy said. “That allows you to rest a Will Smith there.”
Watson and Dyson have typically served as the Giants’ set-up men for Smith, but Reyes Moronta, Trevor Gott and Mark Melancon have all proved capable of filling those roles when called upon.
In the Giants’ three extra-inning walk-off wins over the Mets last week, the bullpen combined to shut out New York for seven innings on Thursday, two innings on Friday and seven more innings on Sunday.
The Giants’ 23-10 record in one-run games is the best in the majors and a testament to their stable of quality arms, but it’s also a reflection of a manager who is a master at creating matchup issues for opponents.
Even when the Giants are trailing in middle and late innings, the team has developed a confidence it can still win close games because the relievers will keep the game within reach and the offense will take advantage of an opposing bullpen that typically can’t measure up.
“It’s been like that all year and it’s been fun to watch all year,” starter Shaun Anderson said of the bullpen. “It’s been fun to watch our team swing the bat like they have and it’s a great thing to see. You see it in the clubhouse and in the dugout.”
Zaidi and Bochy wouldn’t admit that contending was more of a dream than a reality, but the Giants’ last three weeks have played out like a fairytale. The Giants can still use the word meaningful to describe the type of games they hope to play over the final two months, but it’s largely been replaced by more significant verbiage.
There’s a third month the Giants are now talking about beyond August and September, and playing games at that time of year is no longer unreasonable.