And so begins the final stretch

Sep 27, 2022 - 5:02 AM

The San Francisco Giants have nine games left. And if they win six of those nine games, they’ll finish the season with a .500 record, which ... hooray, I guess!

I dunno. There’s not much left for the Giants to play for. Evaluations have already been made. At this point we’re looking for some moral victories, and some good old fashioned entertainment. Because even in down years, baseball is beautiful and watching the Giants win games is fun.

So beat the Colorado Rockies, Giants. You just did so in four straight games ... what’s three more?

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Series details

Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Colorado Rockies
Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California
When: Tuesday (6:45 p.m. PT), Wednesday (6:45 p.m. PT), and Thursday (6:45 p.m. PT)
National broadcasts: None

Projected starters
Tuesday: Logan Webb vs. German Marquez
Wednesday: TBD vs. José Ureña
Thursday: Carlos Rodón vs. Ryan Feltner

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Where they stand

Giants

Record: 75-78, 3rd in the NL West
Run differential: +8, 8th in the NL
Postseason standing: Not technically out of it!
Momentum: 1-game winning streak, 6-4 in their last 10 games

Rockies

Record: 65-88, 5th in the NL West
Run differential: -158, 13th in the NL
Postseason standing: Eliminated
Momentum: 2-game losing streak, 3-7 in their last 10 games

Season series: Giants lead 11-5

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Three Giants to watch

Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images

Carlos Rodón: This is the penultimate start of Rodón’s season, which means it is quite possibly the penultimate start of Rodón’s Giants tenure. I’m not looking for anything in particular, I just wanna watch the dude pitch. He may not be as beloved as homegrown talent Logan Webb. He may not be the franchise icon that Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain were. But his regular season — he leads the Majors in both fWAR and FIP — is the best we’ve seen from a Giant since Tim Lincecum’s Cy Young seasons.

Brandon Crawford: Crawford’s had a quiet season after his explosive 2021, but he’s been subtly putting together a helluva end to it. He’s been turning back the clock with defensive highlight after defensive highlight the last few games, and has a respectable .702 OPS since returning from injury in early August. Seeing him keep it going to end the season, and carry some momentum into 2023, would be a joy.

David Villar: Villar is perhaps the only Giants position player who is currently auditioning for a role. There have been some lumps — he already has 53 strikeouts in just 161 j plate appearances — but there have also been some highlights, as he’s bash seven dingers. He’s fun and intriguing to watch.

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Three Rockies to watch

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

José Ureña: The Giants may have swept the Rockies the last time out, but it wasn’t without the best efforts of Ureña, who limited the Giants to two runs in 5.2 innings, while striking out six batters. San Francisco will hopefully have picked up some things from that start to use in this series, and they’ll have opportunities, as Ureña’s first campaign with the Rockies has gone rather dreadfully: he has a 5.51 ERA, a 4.61 FIP, and just 50 strikeouts to 34 walks in 78.1 innings.

German Marquez: Like Ureña, Marquez is having a rough year, as the former All-Star has a 5.15 ERA, a 4.77 FIP, and 136 strikeouts to 59 walks in 169.2 innings. But unlike Ureña, Marquez’s struggles were on display last week against the Giants, as San Francisco got nine hits off of him in five innings, scoring four runs (three earned).

Charlie Blackmon: I am truly shocked that, between playing four games at Coors Field and the constant broadcaster curse, the Giants managed to escape Denver without allowing a home run to Blackmon. I’m sure the broadcasters will, justifiably, mention the tidbit a lot this series: the lefty slugger hasn’t hit a home run since July 27, and he’s been healthy the whole time. That’s 45 straight games without a homer for someone who has more than 200 of them in his career.

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Prediction time!

What’ll it be, folks?