The San Francisco Giants have been stuck in free fall for a long time now, but Monday night’s debacle was a new low in a season full of them.
The 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Dodgers encapsulated everything that has gone wrong for the Giants in 2016: anemic offense, questionable managerial decisions, poor luck and ultimately a blown lead in the 9th inning. It all seemed to be going so well too, before a completely avoidable incident occurred in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Madison Bumgarner looked to pick a fight with Yasiel Puig for reasons unknown.
“Bum doesn’t help the club doing this,” former Giants third base coach Tim Flannery said on Comcast SportsNet following the game. He’s right. Not only is it yet another case of Bumgarner going out of his way to start an altercation, the incident stands as the game’s defining moment, and set into motion a series of events that ultimately led to another heartbreaking defeat.
The first of those events, and easily the most crucial, was the pulling of Bumgarner for pinch hitter Conor Gillaspie in the 8th inning, something that has yet to be explained by anyone in a Giants uniform. Bumgarner, a man we’ve seen dominate teams with a pitch count well into the 100s, had thrown 97 pitches of one-hit ball when his night ended, the Giants leading 1-0 at the time.
Considering the bullpen’s consistent late-game meltdowns and with two playoff races at stake, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to sit back and let Bumgarner go the distance.
“We had a conversation,” is the non-answer Bruce Bochy gave when pressed on why he pulled the big left-hander. Bumgarner was slightly less vague, implying that he might’ve been tired, a completely fair reason, without really saying it outright.
“I mean you don’t ever want to come out of the game, but at the same time you’ve got to be smart about it,” Bumgarner said. “We have a lot of guys who have done really good in our bullpen. It just didn’t work out for us tonight.”
In addition to that not being true, at least recently, it’s another non-answer. Maybe Bumgarner was actually tired and asked Bochy to come out of the game. Maybe Bochy was afraid that the Dodgers would retaliate by throwing at him in his at bat the next inning, and perhaps that Bumgarner may be tempted to charge the mound should they do so. Maybe, Bochy thought Bumgarner had lost his head and no longer trusted him.
“That’s what we’re still trying to figure out,” CSN Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic said on SportsNet Central. “It’s as cryptic a postgame clubhouse as I’ve been in in five years doing this.”
What followed is a story Giants fans have seen far too often in 2016. Will Smith replaced Bumgarner in the eighth inning, getting two outs before giving up a single to Carlos Ruiz. Derek Law then replaced Smith, and threw a hanger that Howie Kendrick probably should’ve knocked out of the park, instead flying out to end the inning. Law started the ninth and promptly gave up a single to open the inning. Javier Lopez relieved Law and gave up another single. Then poor Hunter Strickland was summoned to clean up the mess, and for the fifth time this season, failed to do so, giving up an RBI single to Justin Turner that tied the game, followed by Adrian Gonzalez’ RBI double that won it for Los Angeles.
None of the four relievers looked all that good, which made Bochy’s decision to pull Bumgarner look even worse. The fairness of criticizing Bochy’s move is dependent on why exactly he made it. Until he is willing to give an answer, questioning it is appropriate.
As is always the case when mired in multiple playoff races, the loss hurt the Giants on two fronts. They now sit six games behind the Dodgers for the NL West lead, with five more to play against their rivals, in the season’s 12 remaining games. They fall a game behind the Mets for the top spot in the Wild Card and are tied with St. Louis for the second spot. Their loss on Sunday gave the Cardinals the edge in the season series, meaning if the season ended today, San Francisco would have to travel to Busch Stadium for a one-game playoff to determine who would face the Mets in another one-game playoff at Citi Field.
The Giants will try to right the ship Tuesday in another battle of aces, with Johnny Cueto (16-5, 2.86 ERA) taking the hill to face the Dodgers’ red-hot Rich Hill (12-4, 2.06 ERA). Blowing the series opener makes this a must-win as far as the division race is concerned, and back-to-back Cueto and Bumgarner losses would be a worrying sign for San Francisco’s already-diminishing playoff hopes altogether.
Maybe this is rock bottom and things will only improve after Monday night’s fiasco. It sure doesn’t seem like they can get any worse. The Giants better hope that’s the case, but with everything that’s gone on this season, it’s hard to imagine it wasn’t a representation of why the 2016 Giants just aren’t good enough to earn the right to play postseason baseball.