GIANT STEPS San Fran puts sorry start in past with torrid surge
THE GIANTS are having an odd season. Well, maybe that is the wrong way to put it with this organization. Because if it is an odd year numerically, that must mean San Francisco is in a oneyear hibernation until it wins another championship in 2016.
In this case, odd means peculiar, not 1357, etc. Odd as in the Giants were so miserable three weeks into March that their venerable manager, Bruce Bochy, felt the need to chastise the defending champs about rancid play — in the Cactus League.
The misery carried into April, an eightgame losing streak leaving San Francisco at 39. They were not hitting or pitching or very healthy, and the general view was the karma that infused the Giants in the evenyear title seasons of 2010, 2012 and 2014 was absent. Scouts saw too much age, too little power and perhaps too much wear and tear on an older pitching staff — much of which had been through an October or two or three of heavy usage in recent years.
“An eightgame losing streak like that does make you reflect and make you wonder if you can recover from it,” San Francisco general manager Bobby Evans said in a phone interview.
The answer was, yes. The Giants of this era have shown a knack for winning, even if it is not always easy to define how they do it. This season, they survived playing without right fielder/iron man/inspirational leader Hunter Pence until last week, further degrading their already dubious righty power. They have gotten a miserable showing from Casey McGehee, the thirdbase replacement for Pablo Sandoval. And they have yet to get an inning from Matt Cain, while Jake Peavy has made just two starts.
Yet, in an NL West in which the Dodgers’ financefueled star power made them clear favorites and the Padres’ offseason rampup made them a perceived playoff challenger, the Giants have rebounded from the poor spring and 39 start to remind us all that they are champions: going 209 (secondbest in the NL in that time). That includes a 72 mark against Los Angeles, in cluding a threegame sweep, concluded Thursday with a 40 win, in which they did not allow the Dodgers to score. That left the Giants second in the West, 1 ¹/₂ games behind the Dodgers.
Is this sustainable? After all, the Giants led the NL West until early August in 2011 before stumbling late despite trying to compensate for the loss of Buster Posey (to that horrific homeplate collision) with Carlos Beltran (who came from the Mets for Zack Wheeler). In 2013, the Giants opened 3734 and were just 1 ¹/₂ games out in the NL West before collapsing, mainly due to a docile offense. So will there be another oddyear fade?
Evans said he understood the question, but that the Giants do not believe in such oddeven quirks — only in themselves. Their beenthere, pouredchampagne confidence is part of the aretheyadynasty success. So is Bochy’s masterful manipulation of his bullpen, which has continued this season (underappreciated closer Santiago Casilla has a 2.07 ERA in 304 appearances since 2010).
Evans insists World Series hero Madison Bumgarner (52, 2.84 after Thursday’s win) is showing no ill effects from throwing 270 innings between the regular season and playoffs last year. Tim Lincecum, who has not been a consistently good starter since 2011, has streamlined his delivery to get more direct to the plate and is 42 with a 2.08 ERA. Unheralded prospect Chris Heston (33, 3.72) has been a blessing with Cain and Peavy down. A positive return from Cain really would boost the rotation.
Evans said Posey’s offense is so good that his stellar work with the staff goes overlooked. First baseman Brandon Belt and shortstop Brandon Crawford have graduated to another level as hitters, St. John’s alumnus Joe Panik is doing for a full season what he did as a midseason rookie callup last year — performing precociously well — and with igniter Angel Pagan healthy and Pence back, the offense has perked up.
So after the horrid spring and poor start, the Giants are doing something familiar — winning — even if the year is odd.