Giants vs. Phillies, 8/8

Ah! So! Jay Bruce has finally returned from the oblique injury that’s sidelined him since July 16th. That’s about 22 days out despite a 10-day IL stint. 22 days is actually about the standard recovery window, and if that’s any indication of what’s in store for Alex Dickerson — and that would be the best case scenario, given his injury history — then we’re looking at August 21st-23rd as a possible return, provided he finally picks up a bat in the next week or so.

Anyway, Bruce is here and in the lineup tonight. Since being acquired from the Mariners, he’s hit 10 home runs in 33 game. He also has a 7:1 strikeouts to walk ratio (21 strikeouts, 3 walks) to go with a .273 on base. There’s plenty more to worry about in the Phillies’ lineup, but even with a .221/.303/.529 line against lefties this year, keep that .529 slugging percentage in the back of your mind as he faces Madison Bumgarner.

The Giants need a lock down start from their ace against the Phillies ace to keep their 1% playoff odds alive and Jay Bruce coming back after a long IL stint to smack a dinger against a lefty would surely ignite a team that’s still trying to come together and go on a big run.

Also, Aaron Nola is just really, really good, so, as best as Bumgarner can do to keep the Phillies off the board, the better off the dead Giants offense will be.

CF — Roman Quinn
1B — Rhys Hoskins
RF — Bryce Harper
SS — Jean Segura
LF — Jay Bruce
2B — Scott Kingery
3B — Sean Rodriguez
C — Andrew Knapp
SP — Aaron Nola

Roman Quinn homered off of Sam Selman a week ago, and since then, he’s hit .438/.471/.625 in 17 plate appearance with another home run. He also pitched two innings against the White Sox the night after the Giants left town (a run on three hits with three walks).

The other guys:

1B — Brandon Belt
RF — Mike Yastrzemski
C — Buster Posey
LF — Stephen Vogt
3B — Evan Longoria
2B — Scooter Gennett
CF — Kevin Pillar
SS — Brandon Crawford
SP — Madison Bumgarner

Tonight will be Bumgarner’s 280th game (277th start) of the regular season. He’s 116-90 with a 3.10 ERA, 15 complete games, and six shutouts. As bad as his 2019 ERA of 3.92 looks, he’s managed to get that FIP down to 3.82, which would be his lowest since 2016, when he had a 3.24 FIP. Not great, not terrible (27th-best among all qualified starters).

Oh! Forgot! We’re on YouTube night.