Giants must rediscover their magic

SANFRANCISCO>> The Giants’ 2021 season has been magical. But if they have any magic stored away — ready to be used at a later date — they need to bust it out starting Wednesday.

There’s no kind way to put this: This Giants team is entering September on empty. They’re running on fumes.

Manager Gabe Kapler can say that his guys don’t get too high or too low — that’s true — but three straight losses to end August put the Giants at a season nadir before the biggest September in San Francisco in years.

The Giants’ lead in the National League West has disintegrated — what was not so long ago a five-game lead is now point-five. The Giants enter Wednesday tied in the win column with the Dodgers.

And while San Francisco has 30 games remaining and they’ll all count the same, with the way this team is playing at the moment, it seems imperative for the Giants to end their short slide before it becomes seasondefining.

The Giants have been the hunted for most of the season. They’ve grown used to the role. It looks good on them.

They do not want to switch roles and become the hunters in the final weeks of the campaign.

The old baseball saying is that momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher. That’s great news for the Giants, who will trot out Kevin Gausman on Wednesday night.

But starting pitching has been a big issue for the Giants, as of late — save for the muchneeded emergence of Logan Webb.

Meanwhile, in the last two games, they’ve gone up against two of the best starters in baseball in Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff. The Giants have been dominated at the plate, as one would expect.

That’s a tough break.

It’s even tougher when the Giants have been forced to go with a bullpen game and Johnny Cueto coming off an illness.

Two games don’t define anything, but they have highlighted parts of larger issues for the Giants.