Since last week’s stellar back-to-back pitching performances by Kyle Harrison and Alex Cobb, the Giants have gone into a tailspin by losing five of six and four in a row.
San Francisco’s offense continues to sputter on almost a daily basis, as the bats went quiet in a sweep against the San Diego Padres and could only muster two singles in a shutout against the Chicago Cubs Monday.
Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming joined 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” on Tuesday and said the whole lineup is to blame for the recent failures.
“At this point, it’s hard to single one guy out because they’re not scoring, period, right now,” Flemming told hosts Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. “In the past four games they’ve scored four runs total and had 42 strikeouts. Four runs and 42 strikeouts the last four games. They’re not hitting and they’re not hitting for power and they’re not putting the ball in play. That is a lethal combination. I don’t know how you explain it, I really don’t. The injuries for a while were the explanation, but they’re not anymore. They miss Conforto and he’s one of their better hitters, but they have plenty of established veteran guys with track records who are still in the lineup and healthy, and they’re not hitting at all.”
Flemming said frustrations are mounting for the Giants. Ace Logan Webb, for example, was on the wrong end of Monday’s shutout and is giving fans Matt Cain flashbacks with his routine lack of run support from teammates.
“It’s like a total system failure on the offensive side and it’s inexplicable to me,” Flemming said. “I don’t get it and I don’t know what buttons Gabe Kapler can push. I don’t know how you can flip the lineup order. But nobody’s hitting, so who cares? Like one guy basically for the last two months (Wilmer Flores) has been reasonably hot. I understand your frustration. We’re all frustrated. The team is really frustrated and I think the pitchers are getting more and more frustrated. And I don’t blame them.”
The Giants entered play Tuesday a game out of the final National League Wild Card spot. If the team misses the playoffs this season, it’d be the fourth time out of the past five seasons with the Farhan Zaidi/Gabe Kapler regime.
“You can’t have a year like this offensively and not rethink what you’re doing,” Flemming said. “Because nothing has worked.”
