Time For the Giants to Panic Over a June Swoon?
By Jason Burke
Sergio Romo, Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports
Nope.
Let’s go back in time. The year is 2010, the month is June, and it is presumably as warm as San Francisco gets. The Giants went 13-14 that month, finishing June off by going 1-7, including losing 2 of 3 to the Astros. While the Astros weren’t quite losing 100+ games in those days, they still finished 10 games under .500. 2010 saw the Giants bring the World Series trophy to San Francisco for the first time ever. Let’s not panic just yet.
Coming in to this past week, the Giants had won 5 in a row, and 14 of 17. Their 1-6 record this week means that they’re now playing .500 ball this month. You can call that a swoon if you’d like, but playing .700 ball like they were was unsustainable. A minor losing streak was bound to happen.
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Sergio Romo struggled on Friday, and was tagged with the loss on Saturday, but the latter wasn’t necessarily his fault. Angel Pagan took a terrible route on the ball that wound up being an inside-the-park HR. Granted if Pagan fields the ball cleanly, the game would have been tied, and Romo would have received the blown save. The Giants could have still left the 9th with a tie. Romo will be fine.
The schedule for the coming week includes 2 against the White Sox and 3 against the Diamondbacks, with both series on the road. The White Sox have lost 4 in a row. While their offense ranks 7th in baseball in runs scored, their pitching staff ranks 28th in runs allowed. The Giants’ ranks in those categories are 4th in RA and 8th in RS.
Sox ace Chris Sale will take the mound in the series finale, and he has been filthy. His 5-1 record doesn’t match the season he is having. Sale has an ERA below 2, at 1.97, and his WHIP is an astound 0.67. Sale’s win total should be much higher than it is. Luckily for the Giants, he will be opposed by Tim Hudson. Huddy has be equally as impressive, with a 1.81 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP. The first team to score may be the winner (and the only team to score).
The Diamondbacks are playing .500 baseball this month, which for them is a surge this season. The stat that works in the Giants’ favor is Arizona’s home record. They sit at just 12-24 in games played in the desert. Even tampa Bay, baseball’s worst team this season has a better mark at 14-20.
All in all, I see the Giants at worst going 3-2 this week with the tough Sale matchup being a toss-up, and divisional series always being tough to sweep.
The Giants still have the best record in baseball. Until that changes, and they no longer have the lead in the division, then all is well in San Francisco.