The San Francisco Giants are down bad.
SF dropped their fifth straight game on Monday — all to losing teams — their ninth defeat in 11 games. Again poor defense did them in, with the Giants committing two errors along with a few other questionable defensive plays.
But during this stretch just about everything has been the problem. In games where the pitching staff does their job, the offense can’t seem to muster enough runs. In games where the offense shows up, they seem to get outscored. Even when the Giants keep it close it’s not enough. Six of their losses during this stretch have been by two runs or less.
The built up frustration was enough for Carlos Rodon — the losing pitcher in Monday’s 8-3 defeat — to call out the team for a lack of energy.
“I think something needs to change,” Rodón said postgame. “I think we’re playing really bad baseball. You could say as much as you want, you know, but until we physically do something and make a change, I don’t think we’re going to see any results.”
What needs to change?
“I don’t know man, play with a little more fire.”
Playing with fire isn’t typically a problem for Rodon, who is known for being fairly demonstrative on the mound. He hinted that more of that from his teammates might help right now.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Rodón said. “I think all of us would like to play better and see different results. Sometimes I tend to voice some frustration and sometimes we need it and sometimes we don’t, but I think right now, something has to change.”