So Bruce Bochy cancels batting practice and everything turns around for the San Francisco Giants.
Okay, maybe it’s not as simple as that. After all, it’s not that uncommon for players to skip BP periodically throughout the season. Maybe these two games would’ve happened anyway, and this is all just an interesting coincidence that makes for a fun story.
Regardless, one thing is certain: the Giants believe something has changed, and that’s all that matters.
“There’s definitely been a different feel around the team the last couple of days,” Buster Posey told CSNBayArea’s Amy Guiterrez after Friday night’s 8-2 win over St. Louis. “Sometimes you can’t put your finger on it, but there seems to be a really good energy in the dugout.”
The energy seems to be pretty good out on the field too, which is a complete 180° from how the team looked in a sleepy 3-1 loss to San Diego two games ago. Posey looks to be the most rejuvenated of the bunch, going 7-for-9 in the first two games against St. Louis after entering the series going 11 of his previous 57.
Posey seemed to get another extra boost on Friday, after hitting his first home run in over two months, the longest drought of his career. Posey’s jovial demeanor was on display afterwards, with the invariably stoic catcher performing a solo celebration in the dugout while his teammates gave him the silent treatment, then finding the television camera to give a goofy smile and thumbs up. He even joked in the clubhouse afterwards when explaining what has changed over the last two days.
“It’s one of the intangibles of baseball, sometimes you can’t put your finger on it why, but there seems to be a really good energy in the dugout….I sound like Hunter Pence right now,” Posey told reporters at AT&T Park.
This all couldn’t be happening at a better time for Posey and his teammates. Not only are the Giants working toward securing a wild card spot while putting a serious dent in the Cardinals’ hopes of doing the same, but they are also setting themselves up for a three-game series with the Dodgers in Los Angeles starting Monday that could shake things up atop the NL West should the Giants stay hot.
That’s a big if, and two wins in a row is barely a streak, even if any sort of short term success feels like much more than that in what has been such a dismal second half. It should be noted that St. Louis is also playing their part in this. Yadier Molina’s error in the third inning last night opened the doors for the six run rally that ultimately decided the game. The Giants are on the upswing at the best time, while the Cardinals are swooning at the worst.
What’s especially encouraging for the Giants is that both wins over St. Louis have been complete performances, with the pitching staff allowing only four runs in two games to an offense with the fourth best OPS in baseball. Part of that is the avoidance of save situations, something that has been the Giants’ Achilles heel all season. Good hitting helps pitching, and when the pitching is stellar as well, like Johnny Cueto on Thursday and the Giants bullpen on Friday, you’ll start to see a team that looks more and more like the one that had the best record in the major leagues at the All Star break.
The key for the Giants now is to keep this going, something they should be able to do on Saturday against St. Louis starting pitcher Mike Leake (9-10 4.60 ERA) who’s having the worst season of his career. On the bump for San Francisco will be Jeff Samardzija (11-10 4.07 ERA), who’s been inconsistent in his own right, but has tons of experience pitching against St. Louis during his years in Chicago.
What we know for certain is that the Giants will again not be holding batting practice tomorrow, with players expected to report at 4 pm for the 6:05 pm first pitch.
“Having an extra hour or two at home with the family, it’s definitely helping out,” Brandon Belt told reporters after the game.
That does seem to be the case, and if this turnaround ends up being the catalyst for another postseason run, it may go down as one of Bochy’s best decisions.