Some like to smile in the face of their demise.
The long and arduous 2023 Giants season essentially came to a fitting end on Tuesday night, as the bats went silent in a 4-0 shutout loss to the Padres, eliminating San Francisco from playoff contention.
Still, reliever John Brebbia tried to bring some levity to the situation in the second inning, as he messed with Giants manager Gabe Kapler when leaving the mound after opening the game.
Despite getting eliminated from postseason contention, Kapler was smiling with reporters when recounting the incident.
“I knew it was coming, so he didn’t get to have as much fun as he thought he’d have out there,” Kapler said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “(Pitching coach Andrew Bailey) said, ‘Hey, just a heads up. If you go out there and take the ball from Brebbs, he’s not gonna give it to you, he’s gonna hide it.’ … I love Brebbs because he can bring levity to any moment. I think that’s a pretty healthy quality.”
Brebbia has been making fans laugh all season with his awkward and dry sense of humor and he kept up the schtick in his postgame interviews.
“It’s arbitrary to give up the baseball you’re currently holding, you’re just gonna do it anyways,” Brebbia said. “I thought that could keep me in there an extra couple hitters. To be honest, I really only remember the first thing I said. And it was, ‘Hey. No.’ I don’t think he heard it. So as he got closer, I said, ‘I don’t think this is a good idea.’ Then to be quite honest, I completely forget the rest.”
Well, at least someone is having fun.
The Giants (78-80) have now missed the playoffs in four out of five seasons since Farhan Zaidi and Kapler took over, and that 107-win season is looking like an aberration. Giants chairman Greg Johnson has said that Farhan and Kapler are coming back next season, but you have to wonder how long this regime can last in McCovey Cove.