Sunday, April 30, 2017

Giants Open 2017 Season with Historically Bad April

Struggling out the gate - With the month of April coming to a close and a month of baseball already in the books, Giants fans are more than glad that May is peeking its face as the team has gotten off to a forgetful start to begin their 2017 campaign. And anything that can go wrong for San Francisco, pretty much has. With injuries to several key players in the early going, none was greater than that of Giants ace Madison Bumgarner who hurt himself in a dirt bike accident during the Giants' off-day in Denver. The 4-time All-Star and former World Series MVP suffered bruised ribs and an AC sprain in his left throwing shoulder which sent him on his first career stint to the disabled-list, costing him to miss three months as he's not expected to return until July's All-Star break. As if the team wasn't already struggling with their most reliable pitcher on the field, losing Bumgarner for any chunk of the season is a huge blow that they could ill-afford in hopes of making it back to the postseason.

At the time of Bumgarner's accident, he had suffered from poor run support as the Giants offense would score a whopping 7 runs in his four starts, two of those runs Bumgarner would drive in himself in Arizona when he became the first pitcher in Major League history to belt a pair of Opening Day home runs. But even before the injury to Bumgarner, an injury to their most reliable hitter in Buster Posey would leave a sour taste in the mouth of Giants fans as he took a Taijuan Walker fastball to the head in his first at-bat of the Giants home-opener, also against Arizona. While the former National League MVP would appear to be fine, Giants skipper Bruce Bochy chose not to take any chances with his All-Star catcher as he was placed on the 7-day disabled-list with a concussion. In his first game back, Posey would shake off the cobwebs by collecting three hits in five at-bats in a 2-1 win in Kansas City where the Giants made their first appearance since their thrilling Game 7 victory to win the 2014 World Series.
Bumgarner's injury would prove to be a bad omen as their trip to Colorado would only get worse. Not only would they get swept for the first time this year in the three-game series against the Rockies, but Johnny Cueto who entered his fourth start of the season with the lowest ERA of all-time (2.43) at Coors Field would be welcomed rather rudely in his first visit to the mile high city of 2017. Not only would Cueto suffer the loss by allowing a season-high 6 earned runs in 5 innings pitched, but in his 10th season in the Majors, he would also surrender the first Grand Slam of his career. And with the Giants outfield already struggling to produce at the plate, they would leave Coors Field with another player lost to the disabled-list.

Other notable injuries would be suffered by left fielder Jarrett Parker and center fielder Denard Span, both of whom hurt themselves while crashing into the outfield wall. While Parker suffered a broken clavicle which will sideline him for 8 weeks, Span was sent on the DL with a shoulder sprain. With the injuries in the outfield coupled with minimal production from left fielder Chris Marrero, the Giants were forced to make several call-ups from the Minors including Drew Stubbs and Michael Morse. As for the infield, injuries sustained by Aaron Hill and Brandon Crawford would result in the call-up of the Giants' No. 2 ranked prospect Christian Arroyo. The 21-year old rookie who was lighting up the Minors at Triple-A Sacramento at the time of his promotion to the big club, would provide a nice jolt of offense in his first week. After going 0-for-4 in his debut, Arroyo would collect his first Major League hit the following day against some guy named Clayton Kershaw. The following day he would connect for his first career home run in a walk-off victory over the Giants' bitter rival Los Angeles Dodgers. He would add another homer in San Francisco's following series against San Diego. Though he's hitting only .207 in 29 at-bats thus far, Arroyo figures to be a bright spot and the future of the Giants for many years to come.
But perhaps the Giants biggest surprise individually is none other than pitcher Matt Cain. In what's been a rough patch over the last three seasons for the former ace of the staff, Cain has experienced a resurgence thus far. Despite allowing 4 runs in his first start of the season, Cain has registered four consecutive strong outings in which he's allowed one run or fewer and has a 2-0 record and an ERA of 2.30 to show for it. After being plagued by injuries in each of the past three seasons and mechanical issues to boot, Cain has easily been San Francisco's best pitcher through the first month. As for pitcher Ty Blach who was moved from the bullpen to the starting rotation following the injury to Bumgarner, the Giants lefty has filled the void rather nicely in his first two starts by pitching a combined 12 innings and allowing only two earned runs. And though his last outing would be one of his best yet, his 7 shutout innings of 3 hit ball would be all but forgotten thanks to another meltdown by the Giants bullpen. In San Francisco's series-finale against the Padres and in their final game of April, the Giants took a 2-run lead into the ninth inning where closer Mark Melancon would blow his second save of the season in a 5-2 loss in extra innings, derailing Blach's hopes of notching his second career win.

The deflating loss would be San Francisco's 17th of the season as they finished out the month April with a record of 9-17. The dreadful month would mark their first 17-loss April in modern baseball history and their worst winning percentage in April since 1983. With a sub par bullpen being their biggest weakness a season ago, 2017 hasn't been much different thus far as the bullpen carries with them an ERA of 5.04 into the month of May. Though it's still way too early to write anyone off just yet, including the Giants, it hasn't been a pretty start to the season as their only series victory came in the home-opening series against the Diamondbacks (April 10-12). And with the month of May beginning with a nine-game road trip including the first three games at Dodger Stadium, things can get ugly quick if the G-Men are unable to turn things around right away. Despite their ugly start, the Giants have now sold out over 500 consecutive home games at AT&T Park, setting a new National League record. With that being said, here's to hoping those fans have much more to cheer about in May.


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