Week 4 look back

Well, uh, here we are again.

Record: 2-3

Man, things were looking so good after Toronto, weren’t they? The Giants had won two games there, and with just one win against the Yankees, could secure a winning week. Sure, the Giants are bad and the Yankees are good, but on the other hand, the Yankees were down an entire starting lineup’s worth of position players, and the Giants were fully healthy. If they couldn’t take one single game under those circumstances, especially with their ace, Madison Bumgarner, starting on Friday night, then they really deserved every bit of the scorn that Bryan throws their way.

Giants pitching embarrassed itself against the Yankees, and while the offense’s overall numbers were fine, in all three games they didn’t start seriously hitting until the Yankees had already given themselves an insurmountable lead. For a Giants fan, it was a terrible, worthless series, here only to convince you that this team has no chance of being good this year. For Yankees fans, it was awfully fun! It’s about time Yankees fans see something go their way.

Most memorable thing that happened: Gary Sanchez hit a home run to the left field concourse

At some point, this segment will involve a positive play for the Giants.

That day is not today.

Best win: April 24, 4-0 over the Blue Jays

You know that feeling when you’re playing some video game where you are just on fire, like you’re playing a racing game and you take a huge lead over the computer, and you can’t even see another car on your little minimap or whatever, and then suddenly they’re right behind you? It’s called catch-up logic, and the idea is that without that thrill of maybe losing, you’ll get bored and complacent. You need the excitement, and if the computer has to cheat to do it, well, whatever, you’ll be fine.

I hate catch-up logic. I’m a sucker for games where I take a huge lead and dominate and no one can touch me. Feels great, like I earned my rest. So, thank you to Drew Pomeranz, Reyes Moronta, and Trevor Gott for never being threatened by the Blue Jays. I appreciate it a lot.

Worst loss: April 28, 11-5 to the Yankees

You could make an argument for Friday’s game, the Bumgarner start, as Madison Bumgarner throwing well and getting traded for good prospects later in the year is more important to the Giants’ future than any individual game. But that was really just a garden variety bad game. You could make an argument for Saturday’s game, the Holland start, where Gary Sanchez hit a booming grand slam, and then the Giants wasted a late comeback attempt. But no, again, that wasn’t the biggest rub-your-nose-in-it game of the weekend.

No, that honor goes to yesterday’s snoozer. The Giants were immediately faced with a 2-0 deficit, and then the next inning it was 4-0, and then the next inning it was 6-0. It all came against Dereck Rodriguez too, one of the few young players currently on the team who’s had major league success in the past. Not only was this game bad, but it also was reminding us that this whole year is going to be bad, and probably next year too and then the one after that.

After the Yankees’ home run barrage, Worst Loss could also have gone to The Idea That The Problem Is The Ballpark. Or, thinking outside the box a little bit, Worst Loss could have gone to Heliot Ramos’s knee. Lotta options here! Probably a bad thing that there are so many options.

MVP: Drew Pomeranz

There were actually guys on the offensive side who had nice weeks. Brandon Belt and Pablo Sandoval, for example, both hit very well. But the answer here has to be Pomeranz, who the Giants signed over the offseason as a lottery ticket, and on Wednesday gave the first signs that the ticket might pay off. He went 6 innings against the Blue Jays, giving up just two hits and two walks, striking out five, and not allowing a run. It was an encouraging start for the lefty, and one that can give us optimism for the year to come. Unlike, you know, everything else.

LVP: Gerardo Parra

In 16 PAs, Parra hit .133/.188/.133 and also provided below average defense and also is old and on a one year contract and not part of the Giants’ future and also gets consistent playing time even though he hasn’t been even a decent major league player since 2015. Since then, he was one of the worst players in the majors in 2016, a backup-quality outfielder in 2017, exactly replacement level in 2018, and is now below replacement again. I don’t know why he’s on this team.

Takeaway:

Losing three uncompetitive games to a team that’s been devastated by injuries kinda sucks a lot and the Giants shouldn’t do it.