San Francisco Giants Showing Signs of Life and a Comeback Season
By Keaton Moore
Needless to say, the San Francisco Giants fell into a hole to start 2017, but they are gradually starting to pull their way out of it.
As every fan knows, the major league baseball season is a long one. While many contending teams eagerly await October baseball, the San Francisco Giants are hoping to take advantage of the full 162-game schedule to work out of their weak start to the season.
Following their Opening Day loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Giants went 9-17 in the first month of the season. Thus far, they have spent all but one day in either fourth of fifth place in the NL West.
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However, since their 17-inning win against the Cincinnati Reds on May 12 the Giants are showing signs of a rebound. That victory sparked a five-game winning streak and although they are still fourth in the division and nine games out of first, the Giants (20-26) have won eight of their last 10 games.
Despite beginning the season with some serious offensive struggles, the Giants have averaged 3.7 runs over the last 10 games with back-to-back eight-run victories on May 14-15 and six-run games on May 19 and 22.
Leading the offense to rebounding success is Buster Posey. For the third straight year, Posey is putting up MVP-caliber numbers and Golden Glove-quality defense. Following his humble start to 2017, Posey is now batting .362 with six home runs in May, one of which walked the Giants off against the Reds in their marathon.
Producing similarly strong numbers in the month of May is
Eduardo Nunez. By batting .300 this month, Nunez owns a .272 batting average with two homers and 11 stolen bases. He managed to maintain his offensive numbers while adjusting to the outfield and is looking increasingly comfortable in left field.
This offensive surge is rewarding the quality starts of Matt Moore, Jeff Samardzija, who won his first game of the year on May 14, and Ty Blach, who is 2-1 in the month of May after taking over Madison Bumgarner’s spot in the rotation.
What’s Stopping Them?
Yet, the Giants’ narrow 6-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Monday screams an issue they need to resolve. It doesn’t take an avid fan to know that the bullpen needs to improve in order to turn the season around.
The Giants saw their relievers at their finest when they kept the Reds scoreless through the final nine innings of their 17-inning battle. However, that same bullpen nearly threw away their game against the Cubs when they surrendered four runs in the eighth inning on Monday.
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Following another three games at Wrigley Field, the Giants return home with hopes to build off their success against the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals.
In reality, to come back from nine games out of first place is highly improbable, but in baseball, the game is not over until the final out and the Giants are making strides to remain in contention.