San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: Quick Sweep of Rockies
3 DOWN
1 – Lacking the Big Hit
The Giants played an excellent version of small ball, which has been their bread and butter for a long time now. They did the little things well, like moving a runner over with no one out and coming up with a sac fly or something of the sort. Still, they can’t seem to keep up with that big hit that breaks the game wide open.
On Tuesday, they had two on with one out in the second inning and didn’t score. In the eighth inning with the score tied, they stranded a runner on second with one out. It didn’t come back to hurt them, with Pence walking it off an inning later. On Wednesday, they left a runner on third with one out in the second, and stranded the bases loaded in the eighth with a chance to really break the game.
Fortunately, they overcame those deficiencies for a pair of wins, but there have been plenty of occasions this season where they couldn’t overcome. They need that big hit at some point, and if they are really serious about competing next season, they’ll have to fix it.
2 – Put It In Park
Left fielder Jarrett Parker came back off the disabled list red hot, but has cooled off considerably since. In two games against the Rockies, he was hitless in seven at-bats and there wasn’t a lot of hard contact to speak of. He’s hitting just .200 (6-30) in the month of September, although two of his hits were home runs.
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3 – More Off Days?
Off days are, of course, never a bad thing, but the Giants have had plenty in September. This week alone, they had the Monday before the Colorado series off and are off on the Thursday following it. It’s been a long season and the guys are certainly deserving of a break, but where were these off days when the Giants had a night game in Atlanta (a game that was delayed by rain, nonetheless) and had to fly back for a game in San Francisco the next day? Luckily, parts of the new CBO that go into effect next season should prevent that from happening again.