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Hit by pitch
What you're looking at is baseball Morse code for SOS. It's also the 25-pitch account of Hayden Birdsong's start Monday night in which he faced six batters and retired none of them. In his last four starts (13 innings) he's walked 17 and allowed 16 earned runs. Ouch.
Birdsong should come out of the rotation temporarily, but as we just touched on in this space, there aren't any viable replacements. The two best options are now employed by the Boston Red Sox.
Pitching depth is only one of the Giants' problems right now. The team has lost six in a row and while there's never a good time to do that, a week or so from the trade deadline isn't necessarily a bad time. It's possible—likely, even—that this stretch dissuades Buster Posey from improving the roster.
And you know he wants to strengthen it. He wants to make the deadline deal that signals We Believe In You to the clubhouse. But the Giants have no one to blame but themselves.
Up next: The Giants will try to win a ballgame with Landon Roupp (6-6, 3.27 ERA) on the mound against Davis Daniel (0-0, 1.80), who’s making his eighth career start. First pitch at 4:15 pm.
Blame the players? Melvin has a better Giants roster on paper. Melvin’s best team on paper: 2023 Padres. It’s not the players, or the front office. It’s not about the wins / losses.