It is June 13, and the San Francisco Giants currently have a winning streak.
They’ve won two games in a row, which means a win tomorrow would result in this streak being tied for their longest of the season.
The Giants have played 66 games, and this is their sixth winning streak of the year. That is not a good number, unless you’re winning so much that you rarely have losses to break up the winning streaks. The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors, for instance, also had only six winning streaks through 66 games, but that was a tiny bit different.
We here at McCovey Chronicles like to rank things. It’s what we do. For instance, earlier today TJ ranked the most “dad” players in the Giants clubhouse. Because, why not?
I like ranking things because it makes something fun out of something not fun.
Example:
Not fun: The Giants having only six winning streaks, and none longer than three games.
Fun: Ranking those futile winning streaks!
Cool. With that established, let’s rank them, from the worst winning streak to the best least worst winning streak.
6. June 11 - present
Games won: 2 (vs. Padres x2)
Runs scored: 10
Runs allowed: 7
Here’s hoping that, if I run out of article ideas so quickly that I’m forced to write Version 2.0 of this one in a week, that this streak is #1 instead of #6. That’s the one thing this streak really has going for it: Right now it’s not a streak, it’s an opportunity.
Yeesh, sorry. That was a horrendous line. But the point is, the streak could be three tomorrow, and it could be five by the weekendend.
Or, of course, it could die a quick death at two, and be remembered (or forgot) as a relatively uneventful series wherein the Giants simply played better than a mediocre team. There really isn’t much special here.
5. May 18-19
Games won: 2 (@ Diamondbacks x2)
Runs scored: 11
Runs allowed: 7
Remember that thing I said a paragraph ago, about a win streak dying a quick death at two, and being remembered (or forgot) as a relatively uneventful series wherein the Giants simply played better than a mediocre team?
Yeah, that’s what happened here. But it was on the road, and featured pinch-hit home runs by Pablo Sandoval in both games.
4. April 21-24
Games won: 3 (@ Pirates, @ Blue Jays x2)
Runs scored: 14
Runs allowed: 8
Good baseball! That’s what transpired in this series. After starting the road trip 1-4, the Giants came up big at the end of the streak, and salvaged a .500 trip across the east coast.
In the first game, Buster Posey broke his extremely long home run drought. In the second, the Giants had an illegal four home runs (shhh, don’t tell the league that they did that!). In the third, Drew Pomeranz somehow pitched six scoreless innings and the Giants combined to throw a two-hit shutout.
Also of note: The Giants had off days book-ending the Toronto series, which means they went a season-best five straight days without losing a baseball game. Wow! Talk about a depressing silver lining.
3. May 1-3
Games won: 2 (vs. Dodgers, @ Reds)
Runs scored: 14
Runs allowed: 12
Winning two games by a total of two runs isn’t really a sign that you’re playing good baseball. Still, this was a rather exciting series. First, Buster Posey walked off the Los Angeles Dodgers with a ninth inning single that scored Steven Duggar.
Then, two days later, they won an extra-innings game that featured a comeback from an 8-0 deficit.
Was it pretty? Hell no. Was it entertaining? Hell yes.
2. April 11-13
Games won: 3 (vs. Rockies x3)
Runs scored: 9
Runs allowed: 4
After starting the season 4-9, the Giants gave fans one brief glimpse of being a good baseball team. They opened up a four-game series with Jeff Samardzija pitching seven innings and striking out seven, en route to a shutout victory. Then, when challenged in the second game, they showed impressive mental and physical fortitude in an 18-inning victory. In the third game Madison Bumgarner went seven strong innings, the bullpen did their thing, and the Giants won easily.
It was honest to goodness good baseball, and the Giants looked like a team that would at least hang around the .500 mark.
We’re grading this on that, not on what immediately followed
1. June 1-4
Games won: 3 (@ Orioles x2, @ Mets)
Runs scored: 25
Runs allowed: 6
I was on vacation literally from June 1 until June 4. Whether you choose to thank me for this streak, or blame me for it ending, I think we can all agree on one thing: It was pretty rude of the Giants.
The competition wasn’t great, but who cares? When you outscore your opponents by 19 runs over a three-game span, on the road, it looks good. It always looks good.
There was a six-run tenth inning. There was Bruce Bochy’s 1,000th career win with the Giants. There was Samardzija, Bumgarner, and Shaun Anderson combining for 19 innings of six-run ball, and a clean sheet by the bullpen.
By this point in the season, it had become clear that the Giants aren’t good. But damned if it wasn’t fun to pretend they were for a few days.
Or I imagine it would have been, if I’d been able to watch it.