The giant among Giants
Dodgers 4, Giants 0
The Giant Killer of all Giant Killers retired last year, and I couldn’t have been happier.
Nobody owned the Giants like Clayton Kershaw did. Not Goldschmidt, not Arenado, not even Scott Hairston.
Kershaw threw 411 2/3 innings against the Giants over 18 years and posted a 2.10 ERA. So long, farewell. See you never.
Problem is, someone filled his shoes. Problem is, he’s even better—and not just with a bat in his hands.
Shohei Ohtani stepped into Wednesday with a 0.43 ERA against the Giants … and still managed to lower it.
He fired seven shutout innings to bring that number down to 0.32 across five starts.
Even Kershaw couldn’t do that. He labored through his first five outings against the Giants, limping to a 1.50 ERA.
Imagine longing for the days of Kershaw. The Giants definitely don’t, unless the real Giant Killer is on the mound.
Up next: Landen Roupp (5-3, 3.09 ERA) leads the Giants into the series finale as they try to take three of four. Emmet Sheehan (2-1, 4.79 ERA) stands on the other side. First pitch at 7:10 pm.
Excellent capture of Kershaw, Ohtani.
Giants are just the 10th team to start the season 0-3, scoring 1 or fewer runs, swept by the Yankees. None of the previous teams made playoffs. Smart beat writers, columnists and fans noted the Brewers started 2025 swept by the Yankees. The Brewers scored more runs.
I’m terrible at math and I ramble but I moved the Giants out of playoff contention when they won the Nationals series, losing 3-0 in the rubber match. Unless Giants catch lightning in the bottle, all the underlying metrics show otherwise.
Every NL Central team is above .500 and the scuffling NL East teams look stronger than the Giants. D-Backs are resilient.
More notably than Ohtani imho is the Giants were shut out for the 8th time; 9 in 1976.
When Posey panicked (again) sending Bailey packing, I wondered if the Giants would reach 70 wins. Maybe this will age horribly, but I do not think “a college coach with no professional baseball experience prior to this season” is an issue managing the Giants 1/2 billion: Adames, Devers, Chapman. Giants had same issues with a 3x MoY with decades of pro experience. Chapman ran into an out vs the Dodgers. Adames made a mistake that helped cost a win in a 1-run loss vs the Dodgers. Bailey and Chapman had a mixup in LA. Devers swung for the fences and struck out vs taking a walk, sac fly or hit under Melvin.
“Posey has publicly stated his distain for fraternization between opponents,” than he should never have signed Adames or Arráez. Posey is erratic in his decision-making process. If Flau’jee Johnson becomes a star, it will not be a “permanent stain” on the Valkyries decision-making process. Future success is driven more on having a clear Identity vs making decisions based on what fans, beat writers, columnists want: Melvin, Posey, long-term contracts to stars, lineup card changes, Eldridge, catchers.
Connor… Connor? We haven’t heard from you in a while although not much can be said right now. Are you lost somewhere in this wasteland of Giants baseball?