[Giants]

Watched a bit of Blake Snell vs the Dodgers. Unhittable. So he goes further than ever, 7 2/3. Oh my! goes the Padre staff, pitch count! Padres piss away the game late, very late (16 innings).

You must have LOVED the Giants game last night when Mets manager Luis Rojas pulled starting pitcher Taijuan Walker after two weak bloop hits.  Next batter doubled to win the game for the Giants.

Rojas is justifiably getting slammed by the NY press.

2014 NLDS Game 4 Matt Williams 
2020 World Series Game 6 Kevin Cash

The two best recent examples of managers making an obvious mistake (no hindsight required, it was so evident at the moment) by pulling the starting pitcher.

2016 NLDS, Bochy pulling Moore in ninth inning in Game 4 (in best of 5 series).  Just effing brutal!

BTW, it wasn't even two hits last night when manager pulled the starter.  It was an error by 3B, and then a flare that the RF could have had (and maybe should have had - though CF and 2B didn't help out much).  That managerial decision quite likely led to Giants victory.  Crawford hit game-winning (ultimately) 2-run double on the first pitch thrown by the lefty reliever.

Honestly, it's Ws like last night (a lot of luck involved) that fuel the belief that "the Giants can't keep this up."  The Giants had 4 measly hits, yet scored 3 runs and won 3-2 (even though Mets had 10+(?) hits).  But we'll see.  The Padres did the Gyros no favors last night.

To the contrary, it is wins like last night, along with the two v. Oakland last weekend, several improbable wins v. LA earlier in the season, and some weird finishes v. Mil. and Arizona that cause me to think, hmmmm, maybe there is more to this season than we think.  I am not a believer in mysticism but I do believe that confidence in yourself and your teammates to succeed in critical moments of a game is a powerful tool.

[Giants]

Watched a bit of Blake Snell vs the Dodgers. Unhittable. So he goes further than ever, 7 2/3. Oh my! goes the Padre staff, pitch count! Padres piss away the game late, very late (16 innings).

You must have LOVED the Giants game last night when Mets manager Luis Rojas pulled starting pitcher Taijuan Walker after two weak bloop hits.  Next batter doubled to win the game for the Giants.

Rojas is justifiably getting slammed by the NY press.

2014 NLDS Game 4 Matt Williams 
2020 World Series Game 6 Kevin Cash

The two best recent examples of managers making an obvious mistake (no hindsight required, it was so evident at the moment) by pulling the starting pitcher.

2016 NLDS, Bochy pulling Moore in ninth inning in Game 4 (in best of 5 series).  Just effing brutal!

BTW, it wasn't even two hits last night when manager pulled the starter.  It was an error by 3B, and then a flare that the RF could have had (and maybe should have had - though CF and 2B didn't help out much).  That managerial decision quite likely led to Giants victory.  Crawford hit game-winning (ultimately) 2-run double on the first pitch thrown by the lefty reliever.

Honestly, it's Ws like last night (a lot of luck involved) that fuel the belief that "the Giants can't keep this up."  The Giants had 4 measly hits, yet scored 3 runs and won 3-2 (even though Mets had 10+(?) hits).  But we'll see.  The Padres did the Gyros no favors last night.

To the contrary, it is wins like last night, along with the two v. Oakland last weekend, several improbable wins v. LA earlier in the season, and some weird finishes v. Mil. and Arizona that cause me to think, hmmmm, maybe there is more to this season than we think.  I am not a believer in mysticism but I do believe that confidence in yourself and your teammates to succeed in critical moments of a game is a powerful tool.