Giants vs. Padres, 9/26: The final Padresening of 2018

Don’t forget about the euphoria of last night’s game if this game doesn’t work out in the Giants’ favor. When the chips are down and you know that the table’s about to take you for all you’ve got, the only thing you can do is hold your head high (while you still have it) and remember the good times.

Madison Bumgarner hit a walk-off single. That happened! A 9-0 loss tonight doesn’t change that. A 30-0 3-game sweep by the Dodgers doesn’t change that. Hold on to the good. The bad will always be there (and for the Giants, will be there for many years to come), so just try to manage it.

Oh, it’s also Marvel Night at AT&T Park. What do you want to have happen in MARVEL’S AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR PART II?

Lineups:

Panik-Shaw-Garcia is your middle of the order tonight and I think that qualifies as a “wow, let’s just do whatever we feel like” construction. Not against it! We’re at the point in the season and point in the franchise’s bottoming out where it really doesn’t matter what the Giants do, so might as well do anything.

Only question is: why isn’t Panik playing first base? He’s a way better hitter there, and a first baseman is a far more traditional #3 hitter. Alas. Also, who cares?

Franmil Reyes accidentally letting that groundball hit his heel last night might’ve gotten him benched by Bruce Bochy were he on the Giants. Watching that replay, though, he was running hard enough and in position enough that it just looked like bad luck all the way around. He certainly looked like he thought he was going to outrun the ball before it got there, but he was wrong. He’s freakin’ talented and the Padres have four games remaining, so, it’s good to see them not bench him for “fundamentals” reasons.

Casey Kelly (0-2, 4.82 FIP) has pitched a grand total of two innings this month, spaced out considerably (September 4th and September 23rd). His previous two starts were against the Mets and Reds (16 hits in 10.1 innings). He has definitely been a dude on the roster this season, and I’m sure the Giants are hoping he can give them five innings so they don’t run through the bullpen ahead of this critical series against the Dodgers.

Luis Perdomo (1-6, 4.52 FIP) has spent a lot of the year in the minor leagues (only 41.2 innings at the major league level). Last year, he tormented the Giants to the tune of a 3.56 ERA in 30.1 innings (5 starts; 19 strikeouts to 6 walks). But that was a different Giants team — this group of mostly rookies and struggling veterans are not the same as the core group of offensive talent the team was banking on to get through a bad season, so maybe the Giants’ fortunes will be slightly different against this hard-movement-type pitcher. Or maybe it’ll be a lot like Monday night.