Hoping to put the first two months of the season behind them, the San Francisco Giants cruised into the month of June with a blowout 10-0 road victory over the Phillies. Sadly, the post-game high fives and celebratory handshakes would be held to a minimum in June as well as the Giants followed up their 10-run shellacking in the city of Brotherly Love by dropping the next two games to the lowly Phillies who hadn't won a series in over a month. Though it doesn't get much worse than dropping a series to the worst team in all of baseball, it would be the beginning of another free-fall for Bruce Bochy's struggling ballclub.
After receiving a series-split in Milwaukee which saw each of the Giants and Brewers claim a pair of victories in their four-game set, the Giants would lose each of the next five series, including sweeps in three of those. Following a rare visit to AT&T Park by the first-place Minnesota Twins in which the Giants dropped the first two games of the series, San Francisco's offense would erupt for a season-high in hits (17) and runs (13) as they managed to salvage the series finale with a 13-8 victory. But any hopes of that being the starting point of something positive for the G-Men would go up in flames rather quickly as they were swept in back-to-back series by the Royals and Rockies. A trip to Atlanta would witness the Giants drop three of four before returning home where they were swept in three by the New York Mets, making it 12 losses in 13 games for the Giants. Just when all hope seemed to be lost, the Giants pulled a rabbit from their hat by stringing together not only their first winning-streak of the month, but also their first sweep of the season. Less than two weeks after being swept in Colorado, the Giants returned the favor by pulling out their brooms against the Rockies. In that series, the Giants bullpen would log 13 1/3 scoreless-innings, a far cry from anything we had seen this season up until then.
Following a day off, the Giants would hit the road for a series in Pittsburgh with the first of three games falling on the final day of June. Looking forward to turning the page to a new calendar month, the Giants made it four straight victories to close out June with a 13-5 drubbing of the Pirates. While the San Francisco offense would tie a season-high in runs, they would collect a new season-high in hits with 18, 10 of which coming from the top of the order as the first three batters (Span, Panik and Pence) combined to go 10-for-14 at the plate, along with seven RBIs and seven runs scored. The offensive outburst would be much appreciated by Johnny Cueto who started the game for the Giants and got off on the wrong foot, giving up his only 3 runs in the outing in the first inning. That aforementioned trio of Denard Span, Hunter Pence and Joe Panik would all finish the month of June swinging a hot stick, hitting well over .300 at the dish to help contribute to the Giants placing in the top 3 with the third best team batting average in all of June. And no one other than Andrew McCutchen (.411) of the Pirates would swing a hotter bat for the month than Span who was a scorching .374 at the plate in June. It would be a month of firsts for the Giants as a few players made franchise history and another made Major League history.
Adding to his red-hot month, Span also led the National League in hits for the month of June with 40 base knocks, becoming the first Giants player with a 40-hit June since Moises Alou in 2005. We would also see the first Korean player in Giants franchise history when third baseman Jae-Gyun Hwang made his Major League debut on June 28 against the Rockies. After turning down a big contract to play ball in his native South Korea to pursuit his dreams of playing in the Majors, Hwang turned some heads and showcased some power during Spring Training. That power would be witnessed immediately following his call-up from Triple-A Sacramento as he made quite the impression in his first game in a Giants uniform by connecting for a home run and driving in a pair of runs. At the age of 29 years and 335 days, he became the oldest Giants player to homer in his MLB debut since at least 1913, crushing a solo shot to left in his third at-bat. Giants pitchers would also get some love as starter Jeff Samardzija made the record books by becoming the first Major League pitcher since 1900 to record 50 or more strikeouts and 1 or fewer walks over a span of seven starts after compiling 10 K's and 0 walks in a win in Milwaukee. Not to be forgotten, an evening game in Denver on June 15 would witness the first 3-run homer of the season for the Giants, a forgotten art as the Giants finally shook off their reputation for only hitting solo dingers this year.
After giving us a glimpse of the future with the April call-up of 22-year old Christian Arroyo, the Giants' third baseman of the future was sent back down to the Minors after struggling mightily at the plate (.192 batting average). And soon after the demotion of Arroyo came the promotion of Austin Slater who has finally provided some decent production from the left field position for the Giants. Since being called up and making his Major League debut on June 2 in Philly, Slater has hit .338 in 23 games for the Giants, notching a pair of homers and 12 RBIs. With several failed experiments in left field already this year and the injury to Jarrett Parker who can't seem to produce in the Majors the same way he has in the Minors, the Giants just might have something in Slater if he can continue to produce. Despite finishing the month on a strong note with a 4-game winning-streak, their longest since winning five consecutive during the middle of May, the Giants compiled a record of 9-18 for the month of June and still sit in last place in the NL West at 31-51 on the season, 20-game below .500 for the first time since 2008. With less than two weeks until the All-Star break and baseball's trade deadline on the horizon, it'll be interesting to see just how long the Giants can ride this win-streak and just how busy they'll be in trade talks. While it's almost certain they'll be sellers this time around, there's no telling to what degree or who they'll field offers for. Follow me on Twitter: @FraserKnowsBest
Entering the month of May in a tie with the archrival Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in NL Western division, the San Francisco Giants managed to separate themselves from their division foes by catching fire and winning an MLB-best 21-games in May. With temperatures starting to heat up across the country, so has the Giants pitching staff, led by ace Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija. And though the Giants finished off the month of May strong, they did struggle early on before leap-frogging their way up the power rankings.
After salvaging the third and final game of a three-game series against the reigning NL Champion New York Mets to begin the month, the Giants took two of three on the road in Cincinnati, including a Game 1 match-up which featured Giants newcomer Johnny Cueto toeing off against his former ball club. Though he wouldn't get the win and would be touched up for a season-high 6 earned runs in the outing, the Giants reigned victorious, 9-6. Next up, San Francisco would return home for a 4-game set against the Colorado Rockies where they would receive a rude awakening. A week after allowing the Mets to pile on a franchise-record 12 runs in a single inning, Giants pitching would be snake bitten for a second time as the Rockies set a club record by scoring 13 runs in a single inning. Colorado would go on to pummel the Giants, 17-7, tying a record for the most runs scored by an opposing team in the 17-year history of AT&T Park. Ultimately splitting the four-game series against the Rockies, the Toronto Blue Jays were next in line to pay the Giants a visit, taking the first two games before dropping the series finale as the Giants won in walk-off fashion thanks to a bases-loaded walk to Buster Posey in the 13th inning.
The walk-off win would be the start of an 8-game winning-streak for San Francisco as they pulled off back to back road sweeps against the Arizona Diamondbacks (4-games) and San Diego Padres (3-games), as the Giants completed their first undefeated road trip of 7 games or more since 1913. Also, the 4-game sweep of the D-Backs would be the first by the Giants in Arizona since 2010. In the first two games in San Diego, Bumgarner and Cueto registered back to back complete games with each pitcher allowing only one run. It would mark the first time the Giants have had consecutive complete-game wins by starting pitchers versus the same opponent since August of 1995 (Mark Leiter & Terry Mulholland). Following their successful road trip, the Giants would return home to face off against the Chicago Cubs and reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Arrietta who had not lost an outing in over 20 consecutive starts. And while the Giants were unable to find an answer for Chicago's ace as San Francisco had their 8-game winning streak snapped, they did bounce back by taking the series victory, winning two of three before pulling off another three-game sweep of the Padres. During their 8-game win-streak, the Giants never scored more than 5 runs as the starting rotation carried the load by logging a 1.34 ERA in 60 2/3 innings and limiting opposing hitters to a .189 batting average.
After struggling for much of the season and looking like a ghost of his former self, former ace and workhorse Matt Cain finally began to turn the corner and find his groove after stringing together three straight solid starts as he logged both his first win in nearly a year (6 innings, 1 earned run against the Cubs), ending a dry spell of 8 straight losing decisions, the longest streak by a Giants pitcher in three years, and his first hit in over two years (a 2-run double off of Jon Lester). But just when the Giants began getting steady production and gaining faith in their fifth starter, Cain was forced to hit the 15-day disabled-list after straining his hamstring in the second inning of a road outing against the Rockies which resulted in him being replaced in the rotation by rookie Albert Suarez. The Giants would eventually go on to lose the game before taking the next two in Denver, including a 10-5 victory in the second game of the series in which Buster Posey connected for a pair of 3-run home runs to tie a personal-best 6 RBI. The Giants rallied from a 5-4 deficit in the 8th by scoring six runs on eight hits in the frame, the most hits in a single inning by the Giants since August of 2012 against the Padres. The sizzling offense would continue on into the following day for the Giants as they tallied 8 doubles in the series finale, matching the most two-baggers in a game during the San Francisco era as they went on to win, 8-3.
With the month of May coming to a close, the Giants would make their final trip to Atlanta's Turner Field to take on the Braves who will be playing their home games in a new ballpark located in Cobb County come 2017. After dropping the first of four games by a final of 5-3, the Giants answered with a 4-0 shutout victory in a game started by pitcher Jake Peavy who celebrated his 35th birthday by tossing 7-shutout innings of 1-hit ball before the bullpen did the rest. Peavy and company held the Braves to just one hit for only the fifth time since Turner Field opened in 1997. As for the offense, Peavy also collected a hit and scored on an RBI triple by outfielder Denard Span who tallied three hits in the win and is beginning to heat up, having collected hits in 10 of his last 23 at-bats. The Giants finished the month of May winning 16 of their last 19 games while posting an overall record of 21-8 and are now 12 games over the .500 mark, having already surpassed their season-high of 11 games over .500 a season ago. Bruce Bochy's ball club currently stands 4.5 games above the Dodgers for first place at 33-21 on the year, good enough for the second best record in the National League behind only the Chicago Cubs (35-15) and third overall after the Boston Red Sox (32-20).
Highlighting San Francisco's dominance in May was the efforts by the Giants pitching staff led by Bumgarner who went 4-0 with an ERA of 1.05. But it would be Cueto who amassed an ERA of 2.08 in May and was awarded NL Player of the Week honors for the second time of his career and his first since August of 2014 after allowing only 1 earned run and 8 hits in his 15 innings of work against the Padres and Rockies. With only two complete games in all of last season, Cueto has already surpassed that total with three this year. His dominance against division foes has been exceptionally well as his 2.35 career ERA against Colorado is the lowest among active pitchers with at least 10 starts against the Rockies. And then there's the three straight complete games he's tossed against the Padres this season, a feat that hasn't been done in a single-season since Felix Hernandez did it against New York Yankees in 2009. Samardzija also finished with a strong month of May despite a hiccup in his last outing in Atlanta, compiling an ERA of 2.08 in six May outings. Cain and Peavy didn't share the same kind of dominance as their peers, but did pitch to the tone of a much better May than April as they both saw their ERA's nearly cut in half.
With the Giants kicking off the month of June by finishing the second half of their 10-game road trip with two more games in Atlanta before a 3-game set in St. Louis, the team will enjoy a day off before returning home to host the Boston Red Sox for a pair of games before welcoming the Dodgers and Brewers for three games each. The Rays, Pirates, Phillies and Athletics will round out the remaining list of opponents for Giants as they look to continue their winning ways on into June. GO GIANTS!
With the temperatures starting to heat up and baseball's Spring Training officially underway, it's time to dust off those ball caps and mark our calendars for Opening Day. And with it being another even year, who could be more excited for baseball than Giants fans? In what he's calling possibly the greatest starting rotation assembled during his tenure with the ball club, Giants skipper Bruce Bochy has to like his team's chances at making it yet another successful even numbered year.
With pitching being the formula in all three of the Giants' World Series runs, the team's front-office once again focused on making starting pitching a priority over the offseason. While it was the division-rival Arizona Diamondbacks who won the sweepstakes for the top free-agent on the market in Zack Greinke, the Giants went with the adage that two is better than one, signing two of the top five pitchers available in righties Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto. Samardzija was first to land with the G-Men after their failed attempt to add Greinke, making the former star receiver for the Notre Dame football team seem like a consolation prize, agreeing to a 5-year, $90 Million dollar deal. He would be joined by the coveted arm of Johnny Cueto just days later, who inked a 6-year, $130 Million dollar contract. The tandem of Cueto and Samardzija helps stabilize a Giants pitching staff that outside of ace Madison Bumgarner and rookie Chris Heston who showed flashes of brilliance, struggled mightily all season in 2015.
Samardzija struggled in his first full season in the American League last year while with the Chicago White Sox where he finished with an 11-13 record and an ERA of 4.96 in 32 starts. Having coined the nickname "Shark", AL hitters took a bite out of Samardzija in 2015 as he surrendered a league-high 29 home runs and allowed the most hits (228) and earned runs (118). All of which are numbers Samardzija should definitely rebound from in 2016 by simply playing his home games at the pitcher-friendly confines of AT&T Park alone. Not to mention he'll have one of the better pitch-framing catchers behind the dish in Buster Posey and a much improved defense fielding behind him to go along with the teachings of veteran pitching coach Dave Righetti. Since making the switch from a reliever to a starter in 2012, the 31-year old Samardzija has tossed the 10th-most innings in baseball with 822 and is one of only three pitchers to log at least 210 innings in each of his last three seasons, joining Max Scherzer and R.A. Dickey.
As for Cueto who turned down a deal worth a reported 6-year, $120 Million from the Diamondbacks earlier in the off-season which resulted in them breaking the bank for Greinke, the Dominican-born hurler lands with another team quite familiar with winning championships after helping the Kansas City Royals claim their first World Series title in over 30 years. The Giants are just happy he's on the same squad now as Cueto joins a team he's dominated throughout his career, having posted a 3-1 record and an ERA of 2.08 in six regular season starts against them. Also, his 1.69 ERA at AT&T Park is the best of any ballpark in which he's made multiple starts. Cueto's 2015 campaign was a tale of two halves which ultimately ended in him winning a World Series ring. After enduring a tremendous first half of the season with the Cincinnati Reds before landing in Kansas City at the trade deadline where he saw small sample sizes of success but mainly struggled and was unable to duplicate the kind of production and effectiveness he had in Cincy, Cueto came through and delivered when it mattered most -- during the postseason.
Boasting a career record of 96-70 with a 3.30 ERA, Cueto has done especially well against NL West opponents, having posted a stellar 2.87 ERA against them. Since 2010, Cueto's ERA of 2.87 ranks third among MLB starters who've pitched a minimum of 900 innings, behind only Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright. The Giants will hope to see more of the Johnny Cueto that dominated the first half of 2015 but know they've got another workhorse on their hands as he trails only David Price and his new teammate Madison Bumgarner in innings pitched over the past two seasons with a whopping 480 2/3 innings (regular and postseason) to his credit. While the Giants became the first team in MLB history to sign two pitchers to free-agent contracts worth at least $90 Million in the same offseason, they also made a non-pitcher signing that fans are equally as excited about. Serving as the icing on the cake, the Giants put the finishing touches on their busy offseason with the acquisition of outfielder Denard Span who agreed to a 3-year, $31 Million dollar pact.
A true lead-off hitter who puts the ball in play and seldom strikes out, Span is coming off a 2015 season plagued by various injuries, most notably a hip ailment which required surgery and limited him to just 61 games. When healthy, however, Span has proven just how valuable he can be, both at the plate and in the field, having become a fixture on the highlight reel by making spectacular plays with his glove and even leading the National League in hits in 2014 with 184. Expected to shift to left field when not manning center field in place of fellow outfielder Angel Pagan who's been battling injuries of his own over the past several seasons, he should fit right at home with his newest ball club. A healthy season from Span who will now patrol the vast outfield of AT&T Park and even better -- hit in a yard that has plenty of gaps and dimensions that could cater nicely to his hitting ability (he's led each the AL in 2009 and NL in 2013 in triples), could play a vital role in San Francisco's 2016 success. Despite finishing 84-78 in 2015, eight games behind the division-winning L.A. Dodgers, the Giants did finish the year with a +69 run differential and were tops in the NL in batting average, thanks in large part to their All-Star shortstop Brandon Crawford. After slugging a team-high 21 home runs a season ago and winning a Gold Glove Award, the Giants rewarded their homegrown shortstop to a six-year, $75 Million dollar contract extension for the cherry on top of what was a successful offseason for the team that plays in the city by the bay.
No hot plate for Span - Earlier this week, wrapping up the last of their spring training games in the Grapefruit League held in Florida, the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees took the field in front of a sold out crowd at the Yankees spring training facility. In only the first at-bat of the ballgame, a player would steal the spotlight and make headlines throughout the world of sports...But not in the way he would've hoped. Fresh off a brand new five-year, $16.5 million dollar deal, Twins outfielder Denard Span led off the game. After a full count, Span took a swing at a pitch, fouling a ball off his bat and into the stands, striking a woman in the chest.
With his mother in attendance, he prepared for the worst. After a loud shriek and aw from the crowd, Span ran over near the third base dugout where his mother and other family members were sitting. It wasn't long before Span had realized the ball in which he hit, struck his own mother in the chest, causing her to leave the stands and receive medical attention. With his mother being looked at, Span returned to the plate to finish the at-bat. Still in shock of what happened, Denard ended up striking-out and returning to the dugout. With the incident still on his mind and a full game left to play, Span decided it would be better to call it a day. While heading to the locker room and worrying about his mother's health, little did he know she would make a return to her seat just a few innings later unharmed. In fact, Wanda Wilson [Denard's mother] was upset her son didn't finish the game, when being asked what she thought of the incident.
Since the accident took place, Span has lobbied for extended netting to protect fans down both the first and third base lines near the dugout. Over the years we've seen balls, bats and even players fly into the stands harming fans of all ages. I think it's only a matter of time before they put some kind of fiberglass barrier around the ballpark to ensure the safety of fans, similar to those in hockey. As for Denard, it must of been one tough spoonful to swallow, knowing you just hit your mother, the woman that brought you into this world with a foul ball. I'm guessing Span has seen 'Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins' quite a few times? Regardless, I doubt Denard will be getting any of mom's famous home cookin' any time soon! I wouldn't be surprised if Span was grounded either or possibly sent to time out.Then again, there's always the approach my parents took -- the good 'ol belt to ass method or as my mom called it a whoopin with the belt!
Here's the video highlight of the Span's at-bat, via ESPN:
