Monday BP, 7/2/18

There are no obvious parallels between this Giants team and the ones from “the good years”... except the last time the Giants were exactly 45-40 was in 2010. They got there on July 8th (a Thursday) with a 9-3 win over the Brewers in Milwaukee to complete a 4-game sweep.

That series followed the infamous Rockies series that ended with a 15-inning loss thanks in part to Bruce Bochy pinch-running for Buster Posey with Eli Whiteside in the top of the 8th inning. Eli Whiteside had three at bats in the game.

None of these nuggets demonstrate a true parallel, but there are certainly vague similarities. Of course, that 2010 team had stellar pitching all season long. The Giants just had an historic turnaround from May to June in terms of their pitching ERA, but I’m still not going to say that Bumgarner-Stratton-Suarez-Rodriguez-Holland is on par with Lincecum-Cain-Sanchez-Bumgarner-Zito.

Just... you know... throwing it out there that the Giants have been here before.

Of course, that 2010 team went 47-30 the rest of the way. The pitching staff had a 3.26 ERA over the remaining 693.1 innings with an ERA- of 83, meaning they were 17% better than the league average. Offensively, their second half wRC+ of 97 (it was 98 in the first half) really shows why we were all biting our nails or living our lives on the edge of a breakdown while watching the team because for the second consecutive season, they could pitch like an all-time great team, but they couldn’t hit better than a team from the Dead Ball era.

The 2018 team’s pitching has a 103 ERA- in the first half (the 2010 team’s first half was 91!), but that shows a huge improvement in just a month. Their May ERA- was 140 (40% worse than league average) and it was 70 in June. By comparison, the 2010 team had a 71 ERA- in March/April and a 50 in September. That’s how you finish strong.

Offensively, the 2018 team has a 99 wRC+ through 85 games — again, not exactly the same as the 2010 team, but... you know... just throwing it out there...