More Giants Struggles in Up & Down May

Following their dreadful month of April, the early part of May appeared to be a step in the right direction for the San Francisco Giants as they took two of three on the road against the archrival Dodgers in their first trip to Los Angeles this season. With one of those wins being a 4-3 victory against Dodger ace Clayton Kershaw in the series-opener, a 4-1 win in the rubber-match would help the Giants bookend the series with victories as the Giants claimed only their second series win of the season and their first on the road. The win would also be victory No. 1,800 in the illustrious career of manager Bruce Bochy, allowing him to etch his name into the record books as being only the ninth skipper in Major League history to reach that feat along with three World Series titles. And the other eight before him are all in the Hall of Fame, a place the 62-year old Bochy will likely join them someday.

With many great seasons under his belt, 2017 doesn't appear to be one of them as the rest of the road trip was one Bochy would rather forget about. With three games down along this road trip and six more to go, the Giants would pay a trip to Cincinnati where the Reds swept a three game series in which the Giants were outscored 31 to 5. As if the Giants couldn't wait to get out of the Queen City any faster, the team bus would break down on the way to the airport, adding insult to injury. It would likely be a bad omen of things to come as their next series against the New York Mets wasn't a whole lot better. After dropping the first two games at Citi Field, the Giants headed to the ninth inning in the series finale on the verge of being swept. Trailing 3-2 and set to face one of the league's best closers in Jaurys Familia, the Giants managed to pull a rabbit from their hat, rallying for 4 runs including a bases-clearing double by rookie Christian Arroyo to put the Giants ahead, 6-3. But the Mets wouldn't go down without a fight as the Giants would suffer a scare of their own, giving up a pair of runs before escaping with the 6-5 win. The comeback victory would snap a streak of 134 consecutive losses when trailing heading into the 9th inning.

Finishing the road trip 3-6, it was the first inning that proved to be trouble for the Giants in all six of their games in Cincy and New York which saw Giants starting pitchers allow at least one run in the opening inning, including a pair of 2- run first innings, one 3-run first inning and one 4-run first inning. One guy who didn't wanna leave New York's Citi Field was one Buster Posey who homered in three consecutive games for the third time in his career and the first time since June 2014. A return to AT&T Park for a 7-game homestand against the Reds and Dodgers would begin and end with losses, but would ultimately be a success as the Giants managed to win a pair of series consecutively for the first time in 2017, highlighted by a season-high 5-game winning streak after taking 3 of 4 from the Reds and 2 of 3 from Los Angeles. During their win streak, Giants pitching would allow a total of 11 runs, a night and day difference from the 3-game series at Cincinnati alone. The homestand would also feature the second longest game in AT&T Park history -- a 17-inning marathon that ended on a walk-off blast by Posey to beat the Reds, 3-2. It would be the third walk-off home run of Posey's career and his fourth homer in five games.

San Francisco's winning ways would continue in the first part of their following road trip as the Giants took 2 of 3 from the St. Louis Cardinals. Playing their best ball yet, a 6-4 win to open a 4-game series against the reigning World Champion Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field would give the Giants 9 wins in 12 games. Unfortunately, they would follow that up with four straight losses including each of the next three at Wrigley and the first of three at home against the Braves. Prior to a 2-run homer by outfielder Mac Williamson in the ninth inning of a 5-4 loss to the Cubs, the Giants stringed together a streak of 19 consecutive solo home runs, falling two shy of tying their own Major League record set in 2011. After winning the next two games against Atlanta, the Giants would host a 3-game series against the red-hot Washington Nationals who entered the series 30-19 and eight games ahead of first place in the NL East. As if the Giants didn't already have their hands full with one of the top teams in the National League, a benches-clearing brawl some three years in the making would take center stage in the series-opener.

Giants reliever Hunter Strickland who was taken deep not once but twice by Nats outfielder Bryce Harper in the 2014 NLDS where the two exchanged staredowns and a few words as Harper made it back to the dugout, made it very clear that he hadn't forgotten about Harper showing him up, despite the Giants eventually winning that series and going on to win their third World Series title in five years. And in their first meeting since then, Strickland would greet Harper with a 98mph fastball to the hip that Harper took exception to and charged the mound. With both players landing a punch before being separated or in Strickland's case carried off the field against his will by his own teammates, we would be treated to our first "basebrawl" of the 2017 MLB season. The fight would land both players suspensions as Strickland was hit with a 6-game suspension and Harper was hit with a 3-game suspension after having his initial suspension of 4-games reduced. Oddly enough, the two guys that would receive more damage than either Strickland or Harper were Jeff Samardzija and Michael Morse who collided head first when trying to get in between the fracas. While Samardzija would be fine enough to pitch the next game, Morse wouldn't be so lucky as he showed up to the park the following day showing concussion-like symptoms which ultimately landed him on the 7-day disabled-list.

In what's been another rough year for the Giants bullpen, Strickland has been one of the few bright spots and owns a team-leading 1.45 ERA in 22 appearances (18.2 innings pitched). By completing the three-game sweep, Washington would eventually get the last laugh as the Giants fell to 13-16 in the month of May and 22-33 overall. In need of a miracle to help turn things around fast, the Giants are tied for last in the division with the Padres and are dead last in the league in runs score per game. Given their struggles and the unlikelihood that they'll be able to overcome their early slumber, it's worth wondering whether or not the Giants will be sellers at the July 31 trade deadline, something Giants fans have been used to being on the opposite end of since 2009. With such names as All-Star pitcher Johnny Cueto who's eligible to opt out of his contract at the end of the season as well as infielders Joe Panik and Brandon Belt ringing out the top of the list of players who the Giants could certainly field offers for if a playoff contender comes calling, the faces on this Giants ball club could look much different come August if the struggle continues. And with 15 of their next 20 games on the road to kickoff the month of June, let's just hope the team bus can survive without breaking down this time around.

Noteworthy: Matt Cain became the 12th pitcher in Giants franchise history to log 2,000 innings with the club, tying them with the Braves and Cubs for the most pitchers all-time with at least 2,000 innings pitched.


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