San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Panik’s Solid Day, Terrible Officiating
On this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss Panik possibly turning a corner, and one really bad call in particular.
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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. On Saturday, the Giants beat the Orioles, 6-2, evening their three-game series at one win apiece. Madison Bumgarner (11-7) earned his first post-All-Star break win, while Kevin Gausman (3-10) walked a career-high six batters en route to a loss. Santiago Casilla threw one pitch to end the game and collect his 27th save.
The Los Angeles Dodgers also won on Saturday, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-4. The Giants’ lead in the National League West remains razor-thin, staying at one game. The Colorado Rockies are 10 games back in third place.
Here’s what went on Saturday.
1 – Panik Puts Together His Best Game Since Return
In a little over two weeks into his return from the disabled list, Giants’ second baseman Joe Panik was slashing .130/.241/.130 entering Saturday’s game. But he had shown signs that things were starting to turn around for him. He had collected hits in two straight games before Saturday, and he had more walks (seven) than strikeouts (four) since his return. Game two against the Orioles was Panik’s best post-concussion game yet.
Panik collected three hits against Baltimore pitching, including a pair of ground-rule doubles to go with an infield single. His first double split the gap in left-center field, a staple in Panik’s arsenal the past two seasons, and may have been aided by a tough sun that blinded left fielder Nolan Reimold. Panik walked in his second at-bat, but followed up with his second double, which he crushed into triple’s alley. He singled in the eighth inning, giving him his first three hit game since June 15th.
Panik still couldn’t quite catch that big break that was missing for the Giants, however. Both of his doubles came with a runner on first base, and had they not bounced up and over the wall, easily would have scored a run and may have resulted in a triple. Luckily for Panik and the Giants, Denard Span picked him up.
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With two outs in the second inning, Span slapped a single up the middle, scoring a pair of runs to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. With two outs in the sixth inning, Span slashed a single through the gap between first base and second base, scoring another pair of runs to make it 4-0 in San Francisco’s favor. Those four hits, Panik’s doubles and Span’s singles, were missing for the Giants for a long time, but came back around on Saturday. Hopefully they stick around for a few days.
2 – Fix Replay Reviews, Please
In the sixth inning, Orioles’ leadoff hitter Adam Jones squared around to bunt against Bumgarner. The ball came off the bat, but also hit Jones’ fingers before rolling out to the pitcher, resulting in a simple 1-3 groundout. But as Jones had his fingers looked at by trainers, replays showed that the ball actually hit Jones in the leg before going out into the field of play, which should have been a dead ball.
That play isn’t reviewable, but that didn’t stop the umpire crew from calling into New York for a rules check. All in all, from the bunt to the official call of out after the review, it took five minutes and eight seconds to end up at the same call that was initially made on the field. The wrong call. That has to be fixed.
Why is that play non-reviewable? The ball clearly hit Jones’ leg after it was bunted, and it should have been dead. The bat was taken out of Jones’ hand by a bad call, and the Orioles couldn’t even challenge the play. There is no reason for that. If MLB instituted replay reviews to get calls right, they should have it to get every call right when a team has a challenge to use. This call in particular was “NFL catch rules” level of bad.
Umpiring seems to be at an all-time worst this season. Strike zones continue to get worse with every passing day, and the replay reviews system is still clearly flawed. Something has to give.
Next: Giants Morning Minute: Cain's Rough Day
And that will do it for this edition of the Giants Morning Minute. Up next, the Giants and Orioles finish of their series with a day game. Johnny Cueto toes the rubber against Wade Miley, a trade deadline acquisition from Baltimore.