LOS ANGELES — Barry Bonds turned 58 on Sunday.
The last time the Giants got swept in a four-game series by the Dodgers, he was hitting third — between John Patterson and Glenallen Hill — as a 30-year-old.
The Giants got out-hit, out-slammed, out-ran, out-coached and out-classed this weekend. None of the games were lopsided, but the Dodgers never ceded control. In the finale, Los Angeles swatted two Giants comebacks in a 7-4win for their first four-game sweep of the Giants since 1995.
For failing the litmus test of a series, the Giants (48-47) get to be 16.5 games out of first and fading from wild card contention as the Aug. 2 trade deadline approaches.
“Not good enough,” SFG manager Gabe Kapler said when asked about the sweep. “Really frustrating. Level of play that is just not going to be acceptable for us. No other way to classify it.”
Three singles from the All-Star trio Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman gave the Dodgers a first-inning lead, but Alex Cobb stranded the bases loaded to keep the team’s buses parked.
The Giants also stranded the bases loaded in the next inning, with Joey Bart striking out on a classic Clayton Kershaw hook in the dirt. But then San Francisco took the lead with a two-run third.
Darin Ruf drew a two-out walk. Yermín Mercedes drove his second double off Kershaw into left field. Thairo Estrada plated them both with a single. They were the first earned runs the Giants have scored against a Dodger starter this weekend.
San Francisco’s lead didn’t even last the full inning, though, as Jake Lamb and Gavin Lux drilled back-to-back hits to knot the score. During the equalizing sequence, umpires stopped play to make Alex Cobb wipe down his hands with a towel.
Then Lux scored from first on a Max Muncy double. Muncy rounded third on a Trayce Thompson single. It was a two-out Dodger rally in a weekend full of them.
But it wasn’t a grave-digging burst. The Giants still had a rally in them.
Wilmer Flores pulled a double off Clayton Kershaw — the third SF double off the starter — in the fifth. Then Darin Ruf uncorked his 11th home run of the season to tie the game.
Ruf beat a Kershaw slider for his fourth dinger in the past six games. It tied the series finale and sent Kershaw to the showers.
Sunday was just the sixth time Kershaw has allowed at least four runs against the Giants in 54 career starts in the rivalry.
Cobb outlasted the future Hall of Famer by dancing around trouble and getting stronger as the game progressed. He needed only six pitches to get through the fourth and 12 in the fifth. Dominic Leone won a battle with Betts to finish Cobb’s work in the sixth.
The two comebacks put the Giants in position to avoid a sweep. But the Dodgers’ order is unrelenting.
LA rang up three in the seventh off Leone and Tyler Rogers. Mercedes stumbled over a Freeman double in the corner. Jake Lamb drilled a double off Rogers into the right field corner. Thompson found a gap, inspiring his brother Klay to dance and throw up the “LA” sign with his fingers in the front row.
The Mercedes misplay was a microcosm of San Francisco’s defense in 2022: misplaced, plodding, and ugly.
“This is what happens,” Kapler said. “When you lose four. You come to Dodger Stadium, get swept and you really just get your ass kicked. Something that I said in the past, but perfectly appropriate and applicable here — not making enough pitches, not making enough plays, not getting enough big hits. And the other team doing more of that than you. Was the defense not at our best? Sure. But there’s other things you could easily point to, micro-moments throughout the series. We just didn’t get the job done.”
This weekend, like the National League West, was all LA. The Dodgers are now 17-2 in July and coasting for their ninth division title in the past 10 seasons.
When posed with big-picture questions, Logan Webb often calmly states “we’ll be alright.” The 25-year-old has the confidence and maturity of a veteran ace. But there hasn’t been much evidence this weekend to support his optimism.
The Giants, luckily for them, don’t need to be better than the Dodgers — although they still have 10 games remaining against their rivals. They need to be better than the Phillies and Cardinals to claim a wild card spot.
But both St. Louis and Philadelphia have played better baseball than the Giants. Given the trade deadline is now a week away and the Giants remain outside of the playoff picture, is there additional pressure to perform before Aug. 2?
“Not really,” Kapler said Saturday.
“Having been on some teams over the years, and been a part of a team over the years both on the front office side, on the playing side, even on the managing side — you know if you’re sitting in striking distance of that wild card, all it takes is one good streak of quality play and you might be up by three or four games. And that can happen in a matter of three weeks. So the answer to that question is no. And I want us to continue to compete our asses off and work to prepare every single day like we’re going to be in the postseason.”
The Giants didn’t get swept in Chavez Ravine because they didn’t compete. They came back from 5-0 Thursday. Held a 1-1 tie late Friday. Brought the game-winning run to the plate in the ninth Saturday. Fought back again in the finale.
They just didn’t have the talent. Injuries to Tommy La Stella, Brandon Crawford, Evan Longoria and Curt Casali sting — both from a top-line and depth perspective. But the Giants still don’t have a Mookie Betts or a Trea Turner or a Freddie Freeman.
Getting those types of players isn’t easy. But the Giants, despite Kapler’s lack of concern, may have to prove to the front office that it’s even worth trying to get a midseason star.