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Thanks, Alex Pavlovic, for being the first beat writer I saw to post today’s lineup:
Same soup? Sure, why not: Blanco CF, McCutchen RF, Posey C, Belt 1B, Longoria 3B, Crawford SS, Hanson 2B, Jackson CF, Samardzija RHP
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) May 12, 2018
I’m certain he meant to write that Blanco will be the left fielder today, but what do I know about the Giants at this point?
And thanks to a Mason Wittner, I was able to pull the Pirates’ lineup:
Tonight’s lineup for the Pirates. pic.twitter.com/43w1X1Dicy
— Mason Wittner (@mason_wittner) May 12, 2018
I’ve gotta say: I prefer the Pirates’ official-looking home lineup card that gets posted to the Word Doc printout we get for the Giants. I might even prefer this to the video board in the Giants’ clubhouse. Maybe I’m just old fashioned... or I grow weary of looking at screens everywhere.
But back to Pavlovic. As he pointed out this morning:
This week hasn't been all bad. The Giants have played basically the worst baseball imaginable for the past five days and lost very little ground in the NL West: pic.twitter.com/4qmjqtrzhd
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) May 12, 2018
That’s right. As bad as it’s going for the Giants right now, calling up Austin Slater and Steven Duggar could still keep them in a playoff hunt they’re somehow still in. Oh, what’s that? I’m advocating for something when I should just be reporting? Okay, fine.
The Giants are still... in a mix. There’s still time for them to do something about it. 5-game losing streaks aren’t usually all that debilitating for a decent team, but the Giants are losing these games in characteristically awful fashion, so, it’s hard not to look at a 5-game sample like this one and compare it to the 234-game sample (July 2016-October 2017) we had heading into this season. I’m not saying I’m right, I’m just saying it’s hard not to compare!
All things considered, I think the Giants should try to win today.