There are things happening with the San Francisco Giants. It is always a perilous proposition to make definitive statements about the Giants, because they have so often come up short, and waded us all through lukewarm waters for most of the last half decade.
But the Giants found something over the last few games. They rode that 4-1 win over the Dodgers, anchored by a Logan Webb gem, into a battering of the Colorado Rockies. They scored 28 runs over a three-game sweep… in a series hosted in San Francisco. They are now 23-25, a half-game back in the way, way-too-early look at the NL Wild Card race.
Let’s not qualify this with any statements about how sorry the Rockies are, because this all happened at Oracle Park, and caveats about 14- and 10-run outbursts are in poor taste. The Giants spit in the face of their injury rash, and the young players they called up, in hopes for a spark, provided that in monumental fashion.
Luis Matos and Heliot Ramos were electric. Marco Luciano had a hit in all three games. The energy of those three permeated the lineup.
Matos and Ramos each went 1-for-4 with an RBI in that sweep-preventing third game against the Dodgers where Mike Yastrzremski’s two-run home run got the deserved glory.
Ramos walked twice without a hit in the first game against Colorado. But Matos raked, with a 3-for-5, 5-RBI day. This is the day it clicked for everyone. Every single starter reached base, and Blake Sabol was the only one besides Ramos not to get a hit. Luciano as did Jorge Soler, now in the leadoff spot. Thairo Estrada went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs.
The floodgates swung open further on Saturday. Soler went 3-for-5 with a couple RBIs in the leadoff spot. Estrada had a couple of his own, as did Ramos on a 2-for-5 day. But Matos, man. Matos went 3-for-5 with 6 RBIs, and was the main beneficiary of Matt Chapman going a perfect 4-for-4 with a walk. Oh, and Chapman also stole a base.
Sunday was a more buttoned-up, 4-1 win, but Chapman stayed hot, Lamonte Wade Jr. had a couple hits and an RBI, and Ramos hit a solo shot. Jordan Hicks battled through a pre-game vomit session to pitch well in five innings of one-run baseball despite lower-than-usual velocity.
The Giants will have to weather the storm of Paul Skenes on Thursday, but could be the day they add Blake Snell back to the rotation (Wednesday is the day he is expected to be back with the team). Snell threw nine no-hit innings over two games in Single-A ball with 17 strikeouts, including an immaculate inning. He looks a hell of a lot more like himself.
The question for the Giants, now, is will this last?
That is irrelevant. In a life full of fleeting moments, it only matters what you can hold in your palm and derive meaning from in those seconds before it slips away. And for these moments, the Giants are tangible. They are energetic, fun, and in sudden possession of the ability to hit the baseball. We should not let that slide through the cracks in our fingers unnoticed.
This team was a bowl of gluey, soggy oatmeal a few weeks ago; just a slop of room-temperature vibes and low-to-no entertainment value. They have redeemed that, if only for this moment, with a youth movement that is providing the thing fans have long clamored for: home-grown talent. And the talent they brought in over the summer is showing signs of life.
It’s here. Maybe it leads only to a slightly more exciting early summer. Maybe it leads to the playoffs. Maybe this is nothing.
But that these last four games have created an outlook in which optimism is the defining mood, is a triumph. To have done that following a spate of injuries, especially Jung Hoo Lee’s (the one that cuts deep), is no small feat.
It’s only about to get easier to pitch in Oracle Park, and if the Giants’ bats are remotely capable, this team has a chance to be competitive for the rest of the year. In the afternoon-nap-filled slog that is a baseball season, interesting is the hope. The Giants have made a brief, compelling case that they could be that.
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