Hey dudes.

Took me a while to check-in with Giants stuff, but between attending some games this home-stand myself, getting busted tires replaced, planning an impromptu Maui trip, and just enjoying the cool wave of daily baseball again, I got a little sidetracked.

But I’m back, and before we hit the weekend, let’s talk about those Giants, huh?

I know like most of you, opening night in Seattle was just brutal.

To have 2020 end the way it did, not being able to muster a single win against a Padre team that was literally resting their starters half the time and securing one of those 16 playoff spots, not seeing our beloved Giants live in action through any of it, and having to watch the Dodgers take home the Mickey Mouse ring, we were foaming at the mouth to see the orange and black surprise more people in the baseball world in 2021. But then the bullpen collapsed dramatically after the Giants slugged their way to a big lead, and as I always say, bad bullpen blow-ups like that one are a tell-tale sign of a bad team, as they usually involve guys who can’t throw strikes, errors, and just all around poor late-inning execution.

It really looked like we were in for a 90-100 loss season. Again.

But credit the Giants for marching into San Diego after dropping that opening series to a team they really shouldn’t have, and taking 2 of 3 from one the National League’s most lethal rosters.

And now after going 5-1 on the first home set to improve to 8-4, not to mention some favorable matchups due for the rest of April, some are speculating whether or not this Giants team can genuinely make some noise in a playoff hunt this season.

And I’m here to tell you all…

without hesitation…

with my WHOLE CHEST…

…

not to get your hopes up.

Look, the Giants have been a pleasant surprise, and deserve a case to be made for them.

So let’s do that.

The Giants are 8-4 while the team average is below .200. They’ve gotten some stellar starting pitching thus far from Johnny Cueto, Kevin Gausman minus the stinker Tuesday night, and Anthony Desclafani, a name I shamelessly admit I had to Google check, but am proud to say had right on first attempt. I’m even in on Aaron Sanchez, who the Giants took a flyer on in the offseason due to his injury history. I mean, before his health derailed him, this dude looked like the second coming in Toronto, and I can see the flashes. He’s been pulled early a lot in starts, which I’m curious as to why; I’d assume Gabe Kapler and co. don’t want to overexert him in his first full season back in terms of pitch count, or perhaps he still has some proving to do in their eyes.

Either way, if he and Disco can continue to be solid at the back end behind Gaus and Cueto, with Alex Wood coming Sunday, this team could have the most underrated, sleeper staff in baseball.

Circling back, this team is scoring runs with nearly all its key 2020 contributors scuffling. Aside from Evan Longoria, who’s completely turned back the clock to 2009 when he was the cream of the crop at 3rd base, nobody is really lighting it up. Mike Yastrzemski (also first try, but fact-checked), Alex Dickerson, Wilmer Flores, Austin Slater before Tuesday, and a few others are barely hitting their weight. But the home run ball and classic Giant timely hitting has them amongst the more productive offensive attacks thus far, if you again disregard that meager team batting average.

Mauricio Dubon has looked the most lost at the plate, but I’m not overly worried about that because, for one, I’m in the camp of people who are cool accepting he’s going to just be a super utility, timely hits guy. In other words, I truly was expecting quite little of him offensively. I was more-so into his improvements defensively, seeing if he could really nail down center field and the middle infield positions, where his athleticism and speed are most prominent. And so far he’s made dazzling plays at all those positions, and looked solid on the routine plays, so good on you, Dubbie.

Buster’s back in a big way, smashing dingers in the first two games and literally winning a game against the Rockies with his defense. But for him, I kind of expected what I usually get from him, in a good way. It’s well documented how visibly unwell he was in 2019, playing through that bad hip, barely fully following through on swings. As the years have gone by, Posey has always been good for a great average, especially for a catcher, and gold glove-like defense behind the dish. People’s beef with Buster these past few seasons was always that he wasn’t producing enough RBIs and extra-base hits, but to me that was always on the front office and coaching staff for being so bullheaded on batting him cleanup.

He hasn’t been that guy for some time now, which is fine when you factor in the fact that he’s still hitting for a high average. He’s still hitting plenty, he’s just not early 2010s Buster. The flaw was he was still stuck at cleanup, whether it was by Bochy loyalty or the front office not landing a big stick to cover for him. Now that the Giants are deeper offensively, Buster can be that sneaky dangerous guy in the 6th or 7th hole, or even be bumped up to the 5 hole against lefties if he gets overly-hot for a period of time. I am so glad to see Buster playing like his old self so far, and if this is indeed his swan song in SF, I’m glad he’s looking to go out like this.

I expected the usual from the Brandons as well. Crawford’s never hitting above .260 again, but he’ll be out there every night, and he’s always good for a few clutch hits here and there. So I’ve no beef with him.

Belt, however, the man I’ve been at ends with his entire career, will do what he always does, which I’ll lay out below:

1) He has his stretch of being so bad you’re literally packing his bags for him
2) He goes Thanos-mode for 3-week stretch
3) You have the “but what if he can do this all the time” talk with yourself and let him back into your life 4) He has a ticky tac, borderline phantom injury that puts him out for a month
5) He comes back
-a: if they’re in the hunt, he comes back cold as ice
-b: if they’re out of it, he rakes again
6) However 5 turns out, his production was meaningless and/or didn’t change the outcome of the season

And so far, both have been true once again, although Craw’s been more than good early.

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. Love Belt, but still. I just canNOT physically or emotionally play his game anymore. But GOD he plays first like a magician, and he is one of the lasting remaining relics of the World Series runs, so I that counts for something I guess.

But to digress, the Giants are winning games with half its lineup largely slumping, a trend we know won’t continue based on the history their personnel. So we can pretty confidently say there’s more to come.

With that, we know they’re going to hit, but can they pitch?

Obviously this is likely the highest of highs for them, and there will be rough patches, especially with Johnny hitting the IL. I know Logan Webb was the club’s best starter in spring, but he’s got to really show me something to change my mind on his potential.

He’s a local kid, and when I first saw him in 2019 come out to Mac Dre at Oracle, I was ready to cheer for him for the next decade. But I’m just not sold. Guys are going through the motions in spring training for the most part, tweaking their swings and saving energy for the regular season. You face a lot of minor leaguers and guys who’s names you’ll forget as soon as their AB is over. He’s in trouble every inning, most of the time via the walk, and you’re lucky if he gets through 5 at all, let alone with a lead.

But he’ll have his shot to turn me into a believer while Cueto nurses his injury.

Other than that, the staff up to this point is spoken for.

The bullpen is great, if you literally only look at what Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee have done so far.

The two aforementioned relievers have been dynamite. Rogers really made Cincy look bad in his appearances this past series, and McGee’s ingenious “only fastballs” approach has lead to a league leading 6 saves for him.

But the rest of these schmucks look pretty dismal.

The Giants were already left-handed heavy to begin with, and the only one I trust is McGee. Wandy Peralta is okay, especially in comparison to the others. Caleb Baragar hasn’t gotten a ton of run yet, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. But again, if it’s not McGee, I’m sweatin’.

That leaves the two righties, Rogers and Matt Wisler. Wisler just hasn’t been good. Like at all. He was lights out for Minnesota in the few games he got into, but he hasn’t had any success prior to those couple games the rest of his career. And having two righties in the pen is already a stretch, let alone only being able to rely on one is a recipe for disaster.

Complete side note, Sergio Romo, who will rightfully live in Giant lore forever, hasn’t been great for Oakland so far. The A’s have a never-ending magic well of stellar arms they dig into once or twice a year, and I’m anticipating it not working out. Giants have two literal right handers, and Farhan Zaidi has taken flyers on former Giant deities in the past (Sandoval, Pence). Bold prediction that would barely effect the club if it even happened, but I’m calling a Romo homecoming, especially if Wisler is let go like I think he’ll be eventually.

But back to business. The pitching staff as a whole, in contrast to the offense, has been firing on almost all cylinders, but likely won’t sustain this level of success across the board. But again, they more than have the capacity to contend.

So…

With a lineup poised to do even more damage in the future, and a staff that’s capable of out-performing the scouting reports, why don’t you think they can contend, Mat?

Well, my response should come as no surprise:
those damn Dodgers.

The reigning champs are 11-2 with Cody Bellinger on the IL and Mookie Betts missing a little under half the games thus far. Corey Seager is playing like the guy we want Scott Harris and Farhan to offer every penny they have to in the offseason, alongside the usual suspects of Muncy, Turner, Taylor, and others also bopping. And their starting staff, that definitely didn’t need anymore help but signed the reigning Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer anyway, is the video game rotation we thought it would be.

The Giants are a respectable 8-4, with the one blemish coming on opening night. Say everything went perfect and they were actually 9-3. They’re still behind a Dodger team that’s two best hitters have missed significant time. The talent gap just isn’t doable, guys.

Same goes for San Diego, Tatis or no Tatis. SD’s got another lineup of All-Star sluggers and a pitching staff that ranks among the best in all of baseball. These two teams, as we know, loaded the deck. It’s their time in the West. We had ours.

With the division out of the question, that leaves the Wild Card, which is back down to just 2 teams this year.

The entire NL Central hasn’t hit its stride yet, but it’s going to be the Cardinals division to lose, per the norm, with Milwaukee and Chicago trialing close behind, both of whom are definitely winning more games than San Francisco. I’m out on Cincy every year like I always was on Colorado pre-Arenado trade no matter what; you can cram your lineup with offensive juggernauts till you’re blue in the face, but nobody goes anywhere with 1 or no good starters and crappy bullpens.

The NL East is more of the same. I can’t tell you who’s going to win it between Philly, Atlanta, or the Mets if they’re staff can hold up, but I know that no matter who it is, the others are unfortunately better than the Giants. Miami was fun last year, but the rebuild will be real in a full season, and the Nats still somehow feel like they’re in their World Series hangover from 2 years ago. But they did beat the cheaters, so they can keep slouching till 2030 for all I care.

So to my loyal, optimistic Giants fans giddy with excitement, enjoy it. This is what’s great about sports, and baseball in particular: early in the season, teams surprise you with hot starts and dare you to hop on the wagon. And again, literally everything I laid out could fall flat.

The Dodgers could be derailed by some untimely injuries. The Padres could be the Padres and ruin another super team. The rest of the National League could underperform juuust enough for us to sneak in. Hell, Logan Webb could win the damn Cy Young. Who knows?!

And that’s why we love sports.

Either way, I’m rockin’ with the orange and black every step.

Cheers.