SF Giants Press Clips Monday, July 31, 2017
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SF Giants Press Clips Monday, July 31, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle Giants blow leads in ninth and 11th, lose on rookie’s first hit Henry Schulman LOS ANGELES — As baseball’s trade deadline arrives Monday, all who have witnessed the Giants crumble through their season from hell wonder whom the front office might acquire to fix this. Madison Bumgarner does not want to hear it, does not want to believe the team that dressed in deadly silence after the worst of their 66 losses Sunday night cannot help itself. “Anytime you’re winning as a team it’s obviously good for everything,” Bumgarner said after the 3-2, 11- inning loss to the Dodgers. “It’s funny how that solves all kinds of problems. It’s easy to point fingers and say what’s got to be done to improve the team. All we’ve got to do is win and that goes away.” The trick is knowing how to win. The Giants don’t, while the Dodgers don’t know how to lose. They overcame one-run Giants leads in the ninth and 11th innings to move a staggering 34½ games ahead of the Giants. It’s the Giants largest deficit since the final day of the 1946 season and a half-game worse than where they were the day they lost their 100th game to end 1985. In a Midas-touch season, the Dodgers figured to deal Sam Dyson his first blown save with the Giants, which was not entirely his fault. Also a sign of Midas’ handiwork, they won for the 39th time in their last 45 games when catcher Kyle Farmer, in his first moment as a major-league player, lined a two-run double to right with one out in the 11th off Albert Suarez to bring Corey Seager and Justin Turner home with the tying and winning runs. In a move no manager makes lightly, Bruce Bochy ordered Turner intentionally walked as the potential winning run so Suarez could face a kid in his big-league debut rather than the National League batting leader. Joe Panik had given the Giants their second lead, at 2-1, with an RBI single in the top half. Dodger Stadium shook from the madness in the stands after Farmer’s hit moments later ended a three-game sweep. Given the standings, it would be fair to assume the Dodgers obliterated the Giants all weekend. In fact, they outscored San Francisco 11-7. But the only three leads the Giants took disappeared in short order. “We need to find a way to finish games out, get leads, more offense, putting runs on the board, defense, pitching,” Panik said after the Giants hit into six double plays, five on the ground. Panik surmised the rivalry heightens the Giants’ fight. But what about the 50 games they have left against everyone else? Don’t the Giants need to come out with the same fight? “We better,” Panik said. “We’re blessed to be playing in the major leagues. Everyone in here has to bring that energy and that resilience for us to come back.” Not come back in the standings, but back from baseball’s graveyard. Bumgarner did his part in a start he wanted, because it was the Dodgers. He pitched his best game of the year, pre- or post-bike crash, blanking the Dodgers with seven strikeouts in seven innings. Conor Gillaspie batted for Jae-Gyun Hwang in the eighth and homered for the game’s first run. Dyson started the ninth by getting pinch-hitter Chase Utley to hit a soft bouncer to third. Gillaspie crow- hopped before his throw, making it late. Utley stole second and scored on Yasiel Puig’s single to tie the game 1-1. Dyson did some sorcery to prevent the Dodgers from winning right there, getting Cody Bellinger to fly out with the bases loaded and two outs. Two months remain, too soon for players to start dreaming of their winter vacation. They have to play to win as if the Dodgers aren’t 34½ games ahead. “To be this far back is not what you hoped for,” Panik said. “The way you cope is going out the next day and giving all you’ve got because there are 24 other guys giving everything they’ve got, a coaching staff doing everything to prepare us and fans who have been so supportive.” San Francisco Chronicle Giants could have a quiet trade deadline Henry Schulman LOS ANGELES - Eduardo Nuñez played his second game with the Red Sox on Saturday night and hit two home runs in a 9-8 victory against the Royals, which ended on his RBI groundball. As a Giant, Nuñez hit just eight homers in 484 at-bats with the Giants. "We've got to let Carl (Kochan), our strength coach know that," manager Bruce Bochy joked. The Giants had hoped the Nuñez deal would be just the start, but it could be the end, at least before Monday's 1 p.m. nonwaiver trade deadline. Throughout the day Sunday the Giants did not appear close to any deals. Last-minute trades happen. The Giants already finished their leg work on potential acquisitions in the majors and minors, so they could swing a deal quickly if one arose. But the Giants' problem is two-fold: a lot more sellers than buyers (with the Twins joining the sellers list Friday) and a market focused on front-end starters and back-end relievers. Johnny Cueto might have been part of the former, along with Oakland's Sonny Gray and Texas' Yu Darvish, had he not developed lingering blisters. In the bullpen, Sam Dyson has made himself attractive with his shutdown work for the Giants, but there were no indications the Giants were shopping him. One source suggested the Giants bullpen will remain intact Monday. But nobody can predict how things will swing in the final hours if teams that lose out on closers turn pivot to setup men (such as Hunter Strickland) as secondary targets. If the Giants want to swing a bigger trade that helps reshape their roster for 2018 and beyond, they might need to wait until the winter, when far more teams are involved. Taxi squad: The Giants brought Triple-A catcher Tim Federowicz and infielder/outfielder Ryder Jones to Los Angeles in case they needed to place Nick Hundley (concussion symptoms) or Brandon Belt (wrist sprain) on the DL. But Hundley passed a concussion protocol and Belt reported enough improvement in his wrist to get back into the lineup Sunday. Jones got hot in Sacramento after he was optioned. He got hit on his right hand in his first game back, missed two games, then went 13-for-33 in his next eight. He hit one homer Friday night and two more Saturday. Bochy said Jones will get more big-league at-bats this year, if not this week. The 23-year-old has been playing right field for the Rivercats, a new position. "It's the same as left, just a different angle," Jones said. "I've felt pretty comfortable in the outfield of late, for sure." Sorrow: First-base coach Jose Alguacil is in mourning after his 88-year-old grandmother died in Venezuela on Saturday. He told a harrowing tale Sunday. Unrest in the streets tied to a national election prevented the funeral home from coming to get his grandmother from his mother's house. Alguacil would have gone to Venezuela to be with his mom, but he just mailed his passport back to get it renewed. He wants to bring his mom on the United States, but getting a visa will be difficult in the current climate. New guy: Shaun Anderson, one of the pitchers acquired in the Nuñez deal, made his San Jose Giants debut on Friday and allowed five runs (three earned) in 5 1/3 innings. He retired 10 of his first 11 hitters, the other reaching on an error, before the fourth inning got away from him. ... Mark Melancon is expected to pitch the first inning for Sacramento on Sunday evening in his first rehab game. The New Orleans starter is former Giant Mike Kickham. ... ESPN is considering another Dodgers-Giants game in Los Angeles for “Sunday Night Baseball.” It would be Sept. 24. Sunday’s game: Madison Bumgarner seeks his first win at Dodger Stadium since April, 2015. Yasiel Puig is hitting eighth for the Dodgers. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. San Jose Mercury News Giants stunned by Dodgers rookie making his debut in 11-inning loss Andrew Baggarly LOS ANGELES – Losing Madison Bumgarner for three months didn’t wreck the Giants’ season on its own. Their organizational steering was so badly bent out of alignment before Bumgarner flew off his dirt bike in April. But Bumgarner’s separated shoulder made it that much harder for the Giants to correct course. It made it harder for them to take the field with an ornery confidence. It made it easier to accept what was happening to them, instead of calf-roping their self-doubts and tying them down. Bumgarner is back now, and it was no coincidence that the Giants moved him up to start Sunday’s 3-2, 11-inning stunner of a loss at Dodger Stadium. Their ownership insists they will try to contend in 2018, and symbolically and psychologically, that battle must begin now. The Giants stood 33 ½ games out when they took the field. The deeper the hole you’re in, the sooner you should think about starting to dig.