It was another successful week for the San Francisco Giants. They won five of six contests at home and against their division (Arizona and Colorado). San Francisco had a couple of stars to help them along the way, and many of them are part-time players. For instance, Alex Dickerson went five for ten and had a home run with three RBI.

Other Giants contributed, such as LaMonte Wade Jr (.263) with two homers and three runs batted in. While Tommy La Stella has been hitting with a hot bat (.400) and two RBI. Brandon Crawford resigned, and it didn’t slow him down as he hit a home run with three RBI and batted .400 over the week.

Even though San Francisco was winning, they had a couple that was entirely too close. They had a walk-off against Arizona on Tuesday as Wade scored the winning run when the first baseman Christian Walker couldn’t handle Kris Bryant’s sharp ground ball.

The Giants also breathed a sigh of relief against the Colorado Rockies on “Orange Friday” as they came one run away from going into the bottom of the ninth after leading 5-4 going into the inning. Wilmer Flores hit a three-run homer, and Thairo Estrada added an RBI in the first. In his save appearance, Jake McGee couldn’t finish the game, and Zack Littell had to come in for his second save on the season.

Newcomer Bryant did not have a successful week at the plate. He batted only .238 and had the critical RBI that won the game for the Giants. However, he is formidable at the plate and can add value nearly anywhere on the field.

Notes:

Alex Wood won his 10th game on the season on Sunday and has 4.14 ERA.
Anthony DeSclafani won his 11th game and has a 3.29 ERA.
Logan Webb won his 6th and has a 2.96 ERA.
Jake McGee made his 25th save on Sunday.
Tyler Rodgers made his 21st hold on Sunday.

Transactions:

Per ESPN

August 15, 2021 Reinstated RHP Jay Jackson from the IL. Optioned LHP Sammy Long to Sacramento (Triple-A West). Recalled OF Luis Gonzalez from Sacramento and placed on the 60-day IL.

August 14, 2021 Recalled LHP Sammy Long From Sacramento (Triple-A West). Returned from rehab assignment and reinstated from 60-day IL. Optioned INF Thairo Estrada to Sacramento. Placed RHP Jay Jackson on the 10-day IL. Reinstated 3B Evan Longoria from the 60-day IL.

August 13, 2021 Agreed to terms with SS Brandon Crawford on a two-year contract. Reinstated RHP Anthony DeSclafani from the 10-day IL. Optioned RHP Camilo Doval to Sacramento (Triple-A West). Placed RHP Aaron Sanchez on unconditional release waivers.

August 12, 2021 Placed RHP Johnny Cueto on the 10-day IL, retroactive to August 9. Recalled INF Thairo Estrada from Sacramento (Triple-A West).

August 11, 2021 Claimed RF Luis Gonzalez off waivers from the Chicago White Sox. Recalled SS Thairo Estrada from Sacramento (Triple-A West).

August 10, 2021 Optioned RHP John Brebbia to Sacramento (Triple-A West). Recalled RHP Camilo Doval from Sacramento.

It’s time to preview the first National West matchup for the Giants this season as they head to San Diego after a frustrating 3 game series in Seattle where the Giants came away with just one win in three games. The most memorable loss was Opening Night when the Giants bullpen squandered a 5-run lead with less than two innings to go. Trying to put that in the rear-view-mirror, the Giants now head to San Diego to face one of the most exciting teams in the game, the Padres, who just won 3 out of 4 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

One thing the Giants can be excited about coming into this series are their bats. Although they were shut out in Game 3 of the Mariners series, nearly all of the Giants big bats showed up in the series including Buster Posey and Evan Longoria, who both homered twice and the amazing Donovan Solano, who is hitting .500 on the young season. Alex Dickerson crushed a home run in his first at bat of the season and overall, the offense was solid. As far as starting pitching, Kevin Gausman, who should make a start in this series, was dominant in Game 1 and certainly deserved the W. He’ll try to get one against the Pads in Game 5.

Game 1

Game occurs tonight and will feature Anthony DeSclafani for San Francisco, making his first regular season start for the Giants. He looked good in Spring Training, earning a 2.79 ERA in three starts, but all that is history now and he’ll look to bounce back after a tough 2020 with the Reds. He’ll be facing Adrian Morejon, a fantastic looking young pitcher who struck out 17 hitters in 14 Spring Training innings with an ERA of 3.21. With the lefty on the hill, we’re likely to see Darin Ruf or Austin Slater in there with Dickerson coming off the bench. Posey should be back in the lineup as well after two nights off.

Last season against Morejon, the Giants were 5 for 17 with a home run and 7 strikeouts. He didn’t walk a single Giant. The home run was hit by a guy who should be in the lineup tonight, Mauricio Dubon. who is 2 for 2 in his career against Morejon. The only other Giants who had some success against Morejon was Yastrzemski, who was 2 for 3 and Donovan Solano, who was 1 for 1. Yaz is actually 3 for 4 in his career against Morejon.

As for Desclafani, with the exception of a home run by Tatis Jr., he dominated the Padres in April of 2019, throwing 6 strong innings with 6 strikeouts, allowing just 2 hits, one of them being that home run and the other a single by Machado. In his career, Machado is 1-for-6 against DeSclafani. Most of the lineup, in fact, have poor career stats against him such as Wil Myers, who is 1-for-11.

Based on the relatively small historical sample sizes, the Giants should feel good about their chances in Game 1. With a lot of strong righties like Posey, Slater, Dubon and Solano in there and Yastrzemski, who has hit Morejon very well, there’s a good chance the Giants get on the board quickly. If Desclafani pitches anything like he did against San Diego in 2019, well things might be similar to Game 1 of the Seattle series except hopefully this time, the bullpen can hang on. I’ll say the Giants take Game 1 of the series by the final score of 7-4.

PREDICTION: GIANTS WIN 7-4

Game 2

In game 2, the Padres will throw out of their prized acquisitions this offseason and it’s Yu Darvish taking the hill against Aaron Sanchez. Darvish has already made his Padres debut and he wasn’t great, pitching 4 2/3rds innings with 6 strikeouts and 4 runs allowed. Against most of the Giants, he’s been pretty good but Alex Dickerson and Mike Yastrzemski are a combined 5 for 10 against him each with a home run. Dickerson will definitely be in the lineup against the righty. Evan Longoria has the biggest sample against Darvish with 21 career at bats and just 4 hits for a .191 average although he went deep one time. This is obviously going to be a tough game of the offense and I can see Darvish having a big bounceback game after the tough debut.

However, Aaron Sanchez has also had success against some of the Padres, such as Manny Machado, who has a career .171 average in 35 at bats against Sanchez. However, most of their best young players like Tatis Jr, Grisham and Cronenworth will be facing Sanchez for the first time. Sanchez wasn’t too great in Spring Training and I can definitely see the Padres making hard contact against him, but at the same time, he’s just 28 and as a former first round pick, obviously has good stuff and the potential to go out there and have a great game. I’ll say the Giants do score a few runs off Darvish and the bullpen but that this time the Padres edge it out by a score of 5-4.

PREDICTION: PADRES WIN 5-4

Game 3

In one of the most exciting matchups of the series, the Giants will send out Kevin Gausman again, who as I mentioned looked fantastic in the Opening Night matchup against Seattle. The Padres will have former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell on the hill. Snell, as a career Ray, will be facing most of these Giants for the first time although the only guy with more than 3 at bats against him, Wilmer Flores, is 3 for 5 with a double and could find his way into the Starting Lineup. In his first start his year, he didn’t give up a run in 4 2/3rds. He’ll look to go deeper than that on Wednesday.

Gausman has had limited success against most of the Padres lineup but most of the samples are very small. Nevertheless, based on what we saw last Thursday, hopes are high for Gausman to follow-up with another dominant outing. This could easily be a pitching duel and I’ll predict it goes that way, with the game staying tight until the late innings. Unfortunately, the Padres will gain an edge when the game gets to the bullpen and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants are unable to hang on to any lead they main gain. Unless Gausman can go at least 7+ innings deep, I’m giving the edge to the Padres in this one. I’ll say they take it by a score of 4-2.

PREDICTION: PADRES WIN 4-2

So, that’s a look at the first National League West series for the Giants this year. The Padres are clearly an up and coming team with a lot of strength and I feel that one win in this series, while obviously disappointing, wouldn’t be the end of the world. Especially since the Giants seem to always play well against the rival Dodgers. Their best chances at wins are in Games 1 and 3, and I think there is more than good chance they could take both of them, but I’m going to be honest in my prediction while staying hopeful. Let’s go Giants!

SF Giants Keep Rollin'!! Week In Review (8/9/21-8/15/21)

NL WEST Showdown: San Francisco Giants vs San Diego Padres SERIES PREVIEW (4/5/2021-4/7/2021)