Alex Dickerson didn’t need to be asked if he believed in the Giants. He wasn’t questioned about the playoffs.
It was a tone of nonchalance that volunteered the Giants have far bigger goals than reaching .500.
“It’s important to be able to win these close ones because down the line, the postseason, these are the ones you tend to get more often,” the Giants outfielder said after scoring the 10th-inning walk-off run in a 1-0 win over the Mets on Friday.
These games, specifically, do not come often, Dickerson chugging around the bases when Pablo Sandoval’s two-out fly ball to left was dropped by Dominic Smith. The Giants did not harp on the accidental nature of the win, but Dickerson did look ahead to how they can continue to build on a 14-of-16 run that has brought them to 49-49 and has them talking playoffs.
“You definitely take a peek at [the standings],” said the pinch-hitter who walked in his sole at-bat “… Just gonna keep riding this out. You strive to play games in October, that’s what we’re aiming to do.”
Dickerson echoed the sentiments Madison Bumgarner defiantly offered a night earlier, as the Giants are sending messages, on the field and off, to the front office that this team is legitimate. Finds such as Dickerson and developments by contributors like Friday’s starting pitcher, Tyler Beede, have breathed new life into a team that was starting to resemble a corpse.
Beede was tremendous in the best outing of his career, outlasting Jacob deGrom in an eight-inning, no-run masterpiece. He’s attacking the strike zone and watching the Giants transform.
“We feel like we’re one of the best teams in baseball right now, the way that we’re playing,” said the right-hander, whose previous career high was seven innings. “And that’s kind of the confidence that you see in the lineup, in the pitching staff, in the bullpen, the way we’re playing on defense.
“You can even sense it in the crowd. You show up and it’s jam-packed.”
The Giants hammered the Rockies in a four-game sweep, scoring 40 runs in the series. They’ve edged Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom by scoring four runs in 26 innings. They can win games a lot of different ways right now.
And they are two games back of a playoff spot.
“[.500 is] not a number we’re trying to accomplish,” Bruce Bochy said. “But considering where we’re at, pretty amazing what these guys have done. Climb back to .500, climb back to contention for this wild card. It’s been exciting.”