It’s been a rough start for the Giants at Oracle Park this season. San Francisco has lost three of their first four games of the season’s initial homestand. Monday night was particularly bad, and saw the Giants outscored by the Dodgers 9-1, while also being outnumbered in the stands.
Adding insult to injury, the Giants were again unable to score during a bases-loaded situation with no outs.
The entire ordeal has KNBR’s Adam Copeland beside himself.
“Last night was one of my least favorite nights ever spent at Oracle Park,” Copeland said on Tuesday’s episode of Tolbert & Copes. “Didn’t feel like it was a home game, felt like there were more Dodger fans, didn’t have anything to cheer for, and I was there first to nine. I stayed the whole time and I’ll be there again, but I’ll need something more.”
“Twice in three days now, the Giants have gone bases loaded, nobody out and could not muster a run,” Copes continued. “There was a minor league team that got no hit. They got no hit and they scored seven runs this weekend.
“Giants couldn’t get one run in with the bases loaded in two of three days. I don’t give a damn if every guy in the lineup can hit a home run if you can’t hit a fly ball or a ground ball or squeeze one across when you’ve got nobody out. That was really, really, really tough to watch last night.”
It’s a bad start to the season that followed an awful offseason, one in which SF failed to land a superstar in spectacular fashion. That combined with last season’s disappointing 81-81 campaign has fans frustrated, and has Copes questioning why ownership is publicly committing to Farhan Zaidi for the future, like chairman Greg Johnson did in an Athletic article earlier this month.
“This is where my problem is with the front office already saying Farhan [Zaidi], not only are we going to pick up his option that nobody was aware of, which, it’s fine,” Copeland said. “I don’t need to know everybody’s contract details… but then when Greg Johnson comes out and says we are absolutely, unequivocally picking up Farhan’s contract. And then he says, ‘And I probably shouldn’t say this publicly, we plan to extend him if possible. We want him back. We think he’s the guy for this job.’
“What I will say, is they’ve done nothing to this point — not for lack of effort — but nothing, to establish a sustainable product that will keep me and you and generations after this coming back to the ballpark. Who on the team is there to invest in, as a fan, that you want to buy their jersey?
“Fans here are smart enough to know, and this is the issue we’re having. I have always prided myself on the Giants having a smart fanbase, that you knew what was going on in the game, that we didn’t need the names on the back of the jerseys. Now you need the names just so we know who’s coming to the yard.
“Who are the best signings that Farhan has made since he’s been here? Kevin Gausman? Gone. Carlos Rodón? Gone. And my fear is the third best is going to be Michael Conforto this year, who looks like he’s healthy and is going to be a weapon and an asset for them. Excited he’s going to be back in the lineup… but what’s going on with the lack of incentive deals for that player to earn that opt out? Why don’t we give a guy the option to play for as long as he can, or to get on the field as long as he can, hit some production incentives, then the opt-out becomes his.”
The Giants are 4-16 in their last 20 games against the Dodgers. The difference in the directions the two teams are going has led to Giants fans being overwhelmed in the stands, and an underwhelming product on the field.
“It’s been not fun to go to the ballpark because of games like this and against a rival, you’ve got to give us something,” Copeland concluded. “You got to give us a reason to get excited about going up to play the Dodgers. I’m going out tonight and I’m not anticipating a competitive matchup… it just doesn’t feel like they’re playing in the same universe right now.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Tolbert & Copes weekdays from 2 – 6 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.