For the better part of the decade, there’s been a certain aura around AT&T Park when Madison Bumgarner starts.
It’s the same type of energy that surrounded Tim Lincecum at the height of his career, and Barry Bonds in late-game at-bats.
When Bumgarner pitches, there’s a few less fans scrolling through their phones and a few more opposing hitters replacing broken bats. It’s a distinctive feeling, and for years, that feeling has been accompanied by a Giants’ win.
The modern Giants were built on pitching and defense, and in many ways, those teams stood on Bumgarner’s shoulders. Fortunately for San Francisco, his shoulders are broad enough to support an entire city.
But this season, there’s been something missing, and it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s gone.
Even though a shoulder injury wiped out nearly three months of his season, Bumgarner has still made six starts on behalf of the Giants this season. And six starts into the year, the team’s ace remains winless.
While his ERA is a tick higher –it sits at 3.57 after Thursday’s loss– his run support is also a tick lower. In six starts, the Giants have scored just 12 runs for their star lefty, and after a 5-2 loss to San Diego, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy admitted that’s crushing.
“I think that’s (lack of run support) the biggest issue,” Bochy said. “First game he had a win and we let it get away late. Kansas City, he lost 1-0. The last two games, they’ve been decent starts, actually pretty good starts, it’s just lack of run support.”
In each of Bumgarner’s last two outings, he’s been matched up with Padres’ righty Jhoulys Chacin, a fine pitcher who just happens to turn into an All-Star when he pitches against the Giants. After throwing six innings and earning the win on Thursday, Bochy compared Chacin to one of the game’s elites.
“Chacin has been tough on us, we just have a hard time with him and I’m not just talking this year,” Bochy said. “He has a long history of pitching very well against us, probably next to (Clayton) Kershaw, I don’t know who’s tougher on us.”
In three games against San Francisco this year, Chacin is 2-0 and the Padres have collected three wins. Meanwhile, Bumgarner has faced the Padres in three of his six outings, and he’s yet to figure out San Diego’s lineup. But in an odd twist, neither have most of the other Giants’ pitchers, as San Francisco is now 3-7 in 10 contests against their fourth-place foes.
In fact, dating back to last year’s All-Star break, the Padres have won 15 of their last 20 against the Giants, a bizarre turn that explains so much, yet so little at the same time.
For a San Diego team that came into the season expecting to finish in last place in the National League West, it’s hardly frustrating to know the Giants darted into the division cellar and then hid the key.
The Giants remain hopeful, confident even, that they’ll turn the corner, but right now, they’re in a circular cycle of losing, and there’s no jagged edge in sight.
“I don’t know what the numbers are,” Bumgarner said after the game. “We’re just not winning ballgames right now. There’s no magic solution to it. We just got to start playing better.”
For San Francisco to rediscover the secret recipe that made the Giants an entertaining, and more importantly, a winning ballclub, within the next year, the team needs its swagger back.
That starts with supporting Bumgarner, and it continues with beating San Diego. Right now, San Francisco can do neither, and that’s just an oddity no one has an explanation for.