With baseball’s worst record since the All-Star break, the Giants now find themselves in second place for the first time in 97 days. From the bullpen to the starting rotation to the lineup, each part of the team has struggled for stretches.
After Tuesday night’s loss, in which Derek Law gave up a home run in the eighth inning to Pittsburgh’s Jung Ho Kang, the Giants now find themselves trailing the Dodgers by a half game in the NL West.
Manager Bruce Bochy talked about the struggling bullpen before Wednesday’s series finale and mentioned he and other coaches have met with some of the relievers during this touch stretch.
“We’ve talked to a few guys and had some bullpen meetings,” Bochy said. “The most important thing is to keep our heads high and be out here ready to go every day. We are a very good ball club. It’s going to be a good race.”
For the Giants to stay in the race, they’ll need to avoid the injury bug after Hunter Pence and Joe Panik have already missed significant action with a torn hamstring and concussion, respectively. Now the concern is with catcher Buster Posey, who returned to the lineup after two days off Tuesday, but was clearly wincing when swinging the bat and running the bases. Although Posey is not feeling 100 percent, he is in Wednesday’s lineup.
“(Posey) says he feels good catching but he can feel it running a little bit,” Bochy said. “ He’s gotten orders to take it easy.”
Bochy added he doesn’t believe this is something that will linger with Posey and should wear off soon.
The New York Mets come to town for a four-game weekend series before the Giants head down to Los Angeles for a quick three-game road trip against the division rivals. A big reason the Giants made the trade to get pitcher Matt Moore was because the Dodgers have struggled against lefties this season. As of now, Moore’s spot in the rotation does not come up in the series against LA, but Bochy and the Giants have not ruled out altering the order to get the lefty a start when they play the Dodgers.