Thursday BP, 5/31

I’ve been partially sidelined the past day and a half because of a severe eye problem and as scary as the possibility of blindness is, it’s not nearly as scary as paying full price for Giants tickets. Thankfully, our good friends at StubHub can get you cheap tickets for this next home stand and beyond! Friday night’s game against the Phillies is also Autism Awareness Night, so consider heading out to AT&T Park for a good cause that needs only your attention and not a quality start.

Medical issues aside, from what I can see, not only can you find a good deal on tickets through our partner, but you might actually be able to see a somewhat competitive team at AT&T Park, too. The Giants are... you know, they’ve got their strengths and they’ve got their weaknesses. For instance, they can’t pitch, but they can hit! They’re not good defensively, but they are very good at making roster moves. They can’t win, but they’re strong when it comes to losing.

My new favorite game to play is looking at their month by month record going back to 2016. It feels... despairing. But in a fun way.

2016
APRIL 12-13
MAY 21-8
JUNE 17-10
JULY 11-13
AUGUST 11-16
SEPT. 13-15
OCTOBER 2-0

2017
APRIL 9-17
MAY 13-16
JUNE 9-18
JULY 9-16
AUGUST 13-16
SEPT. 10-15
OCTOBER 1-0

2018
MARCH 2-1
APRIL 13-13
MAY 11-16

Maybe this May would’ve worked out differently had Johnny Cueto’s elbow cooperated and the bullpen mounds at AT&T Park hadn’t viciously assaulted Mac Williamson, but here we are: another losing month for our favorite team. They’ll need to actually have a winning month in June for the rest of this season to matter. What’s that you say?

Hey Blind Bryan, even if the Giants stink it up in June, you can’t lose hope, because there will still be half a season left! You stupid idiot!

Well, excuse me, but if the Giants just play .500, they will still be beneath .500 overall heading into July, and with several teams to overcome already, there’s no sense thinking that compressing the time remaining to leap over those other teams will improve the odds.

To their credit, the Giants are going to attack the month with a flurry of roster moves, just as they’ve attacked every week of the season thus far. Only, instead of a day of Tyler Beede here or an accidental call-up of Austin Slater there, it’ll be Madison Bumgarner, Joe Panik, and the most expensive closer in Giants’ history, Mark Melancon. That’s not nothing; it’s an artillery upgrade over what they’ve been shelling baseball with up to this point.

But ultimately, I just can’t stop thinking about “Don’t mistake activity for achievement.” On some level, the idea of the taxi squad sounds fine for a team with depth. Paradoxically, a team with depth probably doesn’t need a taxi squad. I’m sure the Giants would like a healthy, settled roster full of talented players, too.