The sheen has worn off Bob Melvin. It's been a miserable stretch for the skipper and his coaches, punctuated by misplays in the field and chaos on the bases. His contract is guaranteed through next season, but that doesn't mean much. If Buster Posey wants a new manager, he'll get one.
Until then, it's the BoMel Show. And he put on a good one in the late innings on Wednesday afternoon.
Down a run in the eighth inning, Melvin swapped catchers and sent Patrick Bailey to the plate. He blooped a single and scored the tying run.
With the go-ahead run on base in the ninth, the skipper pinch-hit Dom Smith. He fell behind 0-2 before yanking a cutter down the line to plate Jung Hoo Lee. Bailey followed with another hit to score Smith, and just like that The Replacements had flipped the game in three at-bats.
A manager is only as good as his players make him look. Melvin's players haven't done enough for him in 277 games—or maybe Melvin has done enough for his players. You can pick your side. On Wednesday, at least, you didn’t have to.
Up next: The Giants are off today before kicking off a nine-game homestand against the Nationals, Padres, and Rays. No probable starter yet for Friday, it’ll probably be (Kai-Wei) Teng Time. First pitch at 7:15 pm.
Kinda NOT great, Bob. Three sloppy issues in Pirates series which has plagued them in series losses. Amazing how sloppiness is ignored in series wins. In the Mets series win, a Mets announcer said the Giants were “waving the white flag” when they didn’t bring the infield in, run scores. Brutal, but true. Who is to blame? Melvin and his coaches? Chapman and Adames, the clubhouse leaders, who should be quarterbacking the infield? Both? Too many mental mistakes but Giants win back to back series so we’ll excuse them or else we’ll be “nitpicking.” When Jon Miller raised some of these issues last year Baggs scolded an Athletic subscriber for mentioning Miller’s pregame interview with Melvin. Baggs forgave Melvin for being testy with the HoF announcer saying it’s unfair to “nitpick” Melvin after winning a must win game. BS