SF Giants Press Clips Thursday, 20, 2018

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1 SF Giants Press Clips Thursday, 20, 2018 San Francisco Chronicle Giants fail to sweep Padres; Belt likely done for 18 Henry Schulman SAN DIEGO -- Padres baserunners had a great chance to meet Giants rookie Aramis Garcia at first base. Garcia started all three games there. Brandon Belt kept hoping his right knee would allow him back into the lineup, but that probably won't happen over the final nine games. Before the Giants fell 8-4 Wednesday night, despite Garcia's third home run in 30 big-league atbats, manager Bruce Bochy said Belt has returned to the Bay Area, his 2018 season "more than likely" over. Belt will have the knee re-examined by team doctors Thursday and possibly undergo the surgery that he expected to have after the season. "He needs to get this thing taken care of," Bochy said. Belt's season would end with a.253 batting average, 14 homers and a.756 OPS, far from what he expected when he was hitting.309 and on pace for 34 homers before a June 1 emergency appendectomy. Wednesday's game turned on an eventful second inning, with Chris Stratton involved in all eight runs. Stratton, coming off a 114-pitch shutout of Colorado, created his own 3-0 lead with a basesloaded double off lefty Robbie Erlin, his first career extra-base hit. But the Padres stormed back for five in a 40-pitch bottom half, capped by Wil Myers' two-run homer. 1

2 Stratton needed Gorkys Hernandez's leaping catch at the center-field wall to retire Hunter Renfroe and get off the field, and he was done after three innings. "I don't know if running the bases there got him out of sync, but he couldn't hit his spots," Bochy said. Stratton felt he didn't have it even in an 11-pitch first. Garcia's eighth-inning homer against right-hander Craig Stammen, off the top of the right-field wall, was the Giants' 129th of the season, surpassing last year's last-in-the-majors total. Freddy Galvis ended all suspense with a three-run homer against Ray Black in the bottom half. The Giants failed in their bid to sweep a road series for the second time this year. After a day off they open a three-game series in St. Louis, where the Cardinals continue to fight for a wild card. San Francisco Chronicle Giants Madison Bumgarner wants to stay but knows decision isn t all his Henry Schulman SAN DIEGO As the Giants end another disappointing season and dive into what promises to be a turbulent winter, they finally need to address one of their most critical questions in perhaps decades, which has no easy answer: What are they going to do with pitcher Madison Bumgarner, one of the greatest players to wear their uniform and one of the greatest postseason pitchers in the game s history? In an interview before the Giants game against the Padres on Wednesday night, Bumgarner made his intentions clear. I d like to be here, he said. I guess it s a little early to talk about finishing my career, but I d like to be here my whole career. But that s not 100 percent in my control. The thought of Bumgarner wearing another uniform might be sacrilegious to the faithful, but with one option year left on the contract he signed when he was 22, the Giants need to address the possibility and Bumgarner knows it. 2

3 I know there are a lot of different ways they can go with it, he said. I don t know anything more than you do. I ll kind of see what happens and what their plans are. The possibilities are all over the board. The Giants could reward Bumgarner with a rich extension that a pitcher with his pedigree would seek when he reaches free agency for the first time. They could exercise his option for 2019 and let the season unfold, punting a decision until the July trade deadline or next offseason. Or, they could accelerate their rebuild after a second consecutive losing season by trading the 29-year-old left-hander now for younger players, a direction to which teams in the Giants position historically have turned. Bumgarner said he remains open to extension negotiations, but he and his representative have not heard from the club. Team officials are thought to be weighing a boatload of variables, particularly their chances of competing for a title next year and Bumgarner s relatively low 2019 salary ($12 million), versus the need to restock their farm system via trades and his expected performance as he moves into his 30s. With one World Series ring in hand, Bumgarner signed a six-year, $35 million contract before the 2012 season. At the time, it was the largest ever given to a player who had not reached two years of major-league service. With his 2018 and 2019 options, the contract will have paid him roughly $70 million. That made him significantly underpaid for a pitcher who helped the Giants win three World Series titles, including his historic performance in He threw five shutout innings of relief in Kansas City in Game 7 after going nine innings to win Game 5 three nights earlier. The Giants can take heart in one thing: Bumgarner does not expect them to pay him more than he deserves to compensate him for all he did while earning relatively little. I don t think you can expect somebody to pay you more than they think you re worth just because of something like that, he said. At the same time, guys are looking to get paid what they think they re worth compared to the market and how other players are getting paid. I signed that deal. They didn t know if I was going to outperform it or underperform it, and I didn t, either. I don t think anybody could expect that. I don t think that would be fair. 3

4 Before the 2016 season, the Diamondbacks gave Zack Greinke a six-year, $206 million deal when he was 32. Bumgarner is expected to seek at least that, but he would enter free agency at a time when teams are devaluing starters and reluctant to risk that type of money on pitchers. Bumgarner does not buy that, saying, I don t think starting pitching is any less important than it s ever been, he said. I don t think that will ever go away. He also remains skeptical that the market has changed, viewing last winter as an aberration as teams held back their spending to stay under the luxury-tax cap. Bumgarner is not the pitcher he once was. Though he carries a healthy ERA (3.14) into Friday night s start in St. Louis, he does not throw with the same velocity as he once did, and his peripherals stats that teams view as more predictive are trending in the wrong direction. He is putting runners on base at the highest rate of his career, and his fielding-independent pitching (an adjusted ERA based solely on walks, strikeouts and home runs), is also at a career high in his second straight injury-shortened season. The Giants must consider all of this ahead of their decision. His stature, history and doggedness on the mound certainly will play into it, too. Bumgarner has two starts left in He is not viewing them as anything like a Giants swan song because of the possibility that he could be traded. I hadn t really thought about it much, he said. I don t want to make decisions for them. I m not looking at it that way. I m a one-day-at-a-time kind of guy. San Jose Mercury News Stratton strikes first, Padres strike back as Giants fail to complete sweep Kerry Crowley SAN DIEGO With a violent swing of the bat, Giants pitcher Chris Stratton delivered the type of two-strike, two-out hit most of the club s position players have struggled to produce this season. Stratton s second-inning double cleared the bases as three of his teammates raced home to give the Giants the early lead. It was the perfect tone-setter for a team trying for a sweep. But Stratton soon found himself in a troubling situation, and he didn t escape it in an 8-4 Giants loss. 4

5 Those three runs weren t the only ones Stratton was responsible for in the inning. When he returned to the mound for the bottom half, Stratton surrendered five runs including a go-ahead two-run blast to Padres third baseman Wil Myers. ADVERTISING You ve just got to find a way, Stratton said. They cut the lead to 3-3 there and that s fine. You ve got a runner on first with one out, you ve got to get a double play there and I throw the worst pitch of the night to Myers. Stratton had never recorded an extra base hit until Wednesday, but he has suffered through his share of challenging innings this season. After a five-run first-inning against Arizona August 3 forced the Giants to send Stratton down to Triple-A, the right-hander ironed out his mechanics under the direction of roving instructor Ryan Vogelsong. Stratton returned to the majors with a newfound sense of confidence and impressive command that reached a peak in his last start, a two-hit shutout of the Colorado Rockies. Stratton s outing against the Padres Wednesday is an obvious valley. He was just missing his spots by a pretty good margin and that s unlike him, manager Bruce Bochy said. Especially with the way he s been throwing the ball. That caught up with him. The inconsistencies are frustrating for the starter and the franchise, particularly because Stratton is far from a lost cause. In his previous five starts, Stratton posted a 2.10 ERA and turned in four quality starts during a stretch that inspired confidence he may be able to hold down a spot in the club s 2019 rotation. But after lasting just three innings against the last-place Padres, Stratton could do himself a big favor by silencing San Diego s bats in what s expected to be his final start of the season next week at AT&T Park. You can always look back on today s game and figure out what you did wrong and try to improve on it, Stratton said. I just don t think my fastball command was very good today and two-strike pitches weren t very good. After four scoreless innings from the Giants bullpen, reliever Ray Black gave up a three-run homer on a 99-mile per hour fastball to Padres shortstop Freddy Galvis that put the game out of reach in the eighth. Pitching wasn t the only issue for the Giants Wednesday, as an offense that s functioned more 5

6 like a car leaking oil than well-oiled machine couldn t take advantage of several chances with runners in scoring position. The Giants went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position, failing to seize opportunities with less than two outs in the third and sixth innings. Shortstop Brandon Crawford finished 3-for-4 after reporting a sore left knee that s bothered him for much of the second half is feeling better, but Crawford could only do so much for an offense that s missed another Brandon hampered by a knee injury. Before Wednesday s game, Bochy announced first baseman Brandon Belt flew back to San Francisco to have his right knee evaluated by team doctors. Bochy said Belt s season is most likely over and that surgery could be imminent for a player who has suffered a series of unfortunate injuries throughout his career. He s going to get looked at by our docs and see where he s at with this knee, Bochy said. Obviously looking at surgery. We need to get this thing taken care of so that s why he s going back tonight. After tearing the meniscus in the same knee in 2015, Belt had his knee cleaned out in an operation at the end of the season. Rookie Aramis Garcia started in Belt s place and crushed an opposite field home run to cut a two-run deficit in half in the eighth inning, but the Giants couldn t complete another comeback at Petco Park. To go oppo here, that s impressive off a tough pitcher, Bochy said. He did a nice job for someone who doesn t have a lot of time there at first base. But he throws out some pretty good at-bats too and he looks comfortable up here. Garcia s homer was his third since the Giants called him up to replace catcher Buster Posey, who had season-ending hip surgery August 27. 6

7 San Jose Mercury News Brandon Belt s season most likely over, surgery probable Kerry Crowley SAN DIEGO The Giants will travel to St. Louis Thursday for the final road series of the season, but first baseman Brandon Belt won t be joining the club. Instead, Belt will fly home to San Francisco Wednesday evening to be evaluated by team doctors as another frustrating season comes to a close. A lingering right knee injury has kept Belt off the field for most of the past week and will likely sideline him for the Giants final 10 games. Manager Bruce Bochy announced Wednesday Belt s season is most likely over and that surgery is a strong possibility for the 30-year-old infielder. ADVERTISING He s going to get looked at by our docs and see where he s at with this knee, Bochy said. Obviously looking at surgery. We need to get this thing taken care of so that s why he s going back tonight. Belt hit.253 and smashed 14 home runs for the Giants this year, but his season was interrupted by a pair of disabled list stints that altered his timing and led to decreased production at the plate. Belt will have an MRI on his knee before doctors determine whether he ll need to have surgery. After tearing the meniscus in his right knee in 2015, Belt had his knee cleaned out in an operation at the end of the season. The Giants starting first baseman was on pace for a career year entering June, but an emergency appendectomy forced him to the disabled list for two weeks. Though he never quite regained his rhythm at the plate, Belt s season took another harsh turn when he hyperextended his knee running the bases in Seattle July 25. After returning to the lineup August 14, Belt hit.163 over a 27-game stretch in which he accounted for just three RBIs and 33 strikeouts. Reserve catcher Aramis Garcia will start in Belt s place Wednesday against the Padres and could earn more playing time at the position over the final days of the season. The Giants have also lost the majority of their other options at first base, as Pablo Sandoval, Ryder Jones and Buster Posey are all out for the year after undergoing season-ending surgeries. 7

8 MLB.com Stratton struggles on mound, but has 3 RBIs Chris Haft SAN DIEGO -- Chris Stratton's performances often extend to wild extremes, which is a tendency that the Giants might want to address before the 2019 season begins. Stratton (10-10), the Giants' leading winner, almost surely will enter next year as a favorite to claim a spot in the season-opening starting rotation. That's the type of role that begs for consistency. This characteristic has eluded Stratton, as his performance in the Giants' 8-4 loss Wednesday night to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park indicated. View Full Game Coverage Stratton lasted three innings and allowed all of San Diego's runs while yielding six hits. His outing bore no resemblance to his previous start on Friday, when he humbled powerful Colorado by throwing a two-hit shutout. Wil Myers' two-run homer capped a five-run, second-inning outburst for the Padres, who watched Stratton victimize them in the top of the inning with a bases-loaded double. While Stratton had every reason to be proud of his three-run drive, he knew that his primary task involved stopping the Padres, not trying to match them hit for hit. A glance at several of Stratton's 2018 pitching lines reflected the manic swings in his results. Six times, he has yielded one or zero runs while pitching at least six innings. Contrasting that tidy collection was a quartet of messy starts from June 28 to Aug.3 in which Stratton posted a ERA and yielded 32 hits in 14 innings. All any manager wants is to know what he'll probably see when he assigns a start to an individual. But at the current rate, Giants skipper Bruce Bochy can't truly feel sure of which Stratton will emerge from outing to outing. 8

9 MLB.com Belt returning to SF, faces possible surgery Chris Haft SAN DIEGO -- Facing possible surgery on his right knee, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt was scheduled to return to San Francisco on Wednesday night to be examined by team doctors, manager Bruce Bochy said. Though Belt had expressed hopes of finishing the season on the active roster, Bochy said that any procedure the 30-year-old undergoes "most likely" would be season-ending. That means Belt could have surgery in the next several days, since the regular season ends Sept. 30. View Full Game Coverage Bochy said that Belt will undergo an MRI as well as the doctors' scrutiny, which will help determine his next step. Belt, who hasn't played since Friday against Colorado, is batting.253 with 14 home runs and 46 RBIs in 112 games. As usual, Belt has recorded a respectable OPS , trailing only Andrew McCutchen (.772) among Giants regulars. McCutchen was traded to the Yankees on Aug. 31. However, Belt appeared destined for greater feats until physical misfortune, a frequent companion during his Giants career, derailed him. Belt was batting.307 with 11 home runs, 31 RBIs and a.950 OPS in 53 games when appendicitis sidelined him on June 1. "He really was locked in," said Bochy, who lamented Belt's missed opportunity to have his best year. Belt also missed 17 games after he hyperextended his knee on July 25 at Seattle. He has been on the disabled list at least once in four of his eight big league seasons. 9

10 The Athletic Too little, too late: How the Giants offense fell victim to the fastball in 2018 Andrew Baggarly SAN DIEGO There is nothing terrorizing about the sight of Padres infielder Freddy Galvis in the batter s box. He is generously listed at 5-foot-10. He entered Wednesday night with a.238 average and.292 on-base percentage. His legs are as heavy, as you might expect them to be for a shortstop dragging into late September while having played in every single game for two consecutive seasons. But baseball has a way of surprising you. The gifts often come wrapped. Galvis was not responsible for the Giants 8-4 loss at Petco Park. When he hit his screaming, three-run home run off human grain silo Ray Black in the eighth inning, the Padres already led by a run. Galvis merely broke the game open. But he took the most important, most revelatory swing of the night. He so neatly demonstrated what it looks like to have the hands, wrists and talented reflexes to turn around a 99-mph fastball and transform it into three runs. Galvis isn t having a very good offensive season. But to hear the talk if you sit at the scout s table in the press dining room, he retains a reputation as a dangerous fastball hitter. He finds a way to be on time. Too often this season, the Giants have not been on time. In their subdued postgame clubhouse, the attendants packed up equipment for Thursday morning s flight to St. Louis. The rookies unwrapped the Fortnite costumes they would wear as part of their dress-up initiation for a night on the town here in San Diego. In the visiting manager s office, Bruce Bochy answered the last of the questions in his media session and let out a grumbled exhale. Sure, right-hander Chris Stratton unraveled on the mound in the second inning and that cost them the game. But Stratton also drove in three of the Giants four runs with a bases-clearing double. So this was as good a time as any to talk about an offense that has let them down all season. Well, probably as much as anything, and last year, too, our numbers against the fastball are not what they should have been, Bochy said. You know, it s hard to hit a well executed breaking ball or a changeup. You know that. But our numbers against the fastball that is something we need to improve. We re consistently late, I think, and granted, the guys on the mound today have good arms, good stuff. But it s a scenario we ve got to improve, whether it s your setup, getting ready sooner or shortening up if we have to. 10

11 Bochy knows the numbers. The Giants.410 slugging percentage against fastballs is the worst in the major leagues. And the league s average fastball velocity is only going up and up and up. They have only one player on the active roster significantly outperforming the league s slugging average of.440 on fastballs, and that is utilityman Alen Hanson (.642). Only three others have slugged more than 20 points above average on fastballs Andrew McCutchen (.483), Pablo Sandoval (.476) and Steven Duggar (.459) and they were either traded or sustained seasonending injuries. Galvis did something Wednesday night that no Giants hitter has done in more than two seasons. Brandon Crawford was their last player to homer on a 98 mph-plus fastball, in August 2016 (against the Braves Mike Foltynewicz). The Giants have just two extra-base hits this season against 98-plus heaters, and those came in the same home series against the Mets less than three weeks ago. Joe Panik doubled off Zack Wheeler and Hanson tripled off Noah Syndergaard. The Giants are even worse on changeups, ranking last in the majors with a.314 slugging percentage and 29th with a.203 average. It makes sense when you think about it: if you must constantly cheat and start your bat early so you aren t late on fastballs, then you ll be hopelessly out in front when the pitcher pulls the string with a well-disguised changeup. Hitting the fastball has become a sorting hat. While this game will always reward pitching and run prevention, it s the lineups that hit the fastball that most often go on to contend and achieve. The others find themselves caught in between, a tick late and a tick late and a tick late until a glance at the standings informs them that it s all too late. Bochy praised the effort and attitude of first-year hitting coaches Alonzo Powell and Rick Schu, saying they have remained positive and diligent while making themselves available for extra work whenever requested or required. It s been a tough job for them because we ve had to change the lineup so much, Bochy said. They take it hard when we get shut down. If anything, I ve talked to them about sometimes backing off. The tendency is to spend more time on it. That can be the hardest thing for them, to realize less is more, because they spend a lot of time and effort trying to get this offense on track. The Giants went into the season with a philosophy to be more aggressive, even in selected twostrike counts, and especially on the road where exit velocity stands a better chance of clearing a fence. It hasn t worked out, and while injuries provide some absolution, they don t tell the whole story. Instead of doing more damage, the Giants watched the strikeouts pile up. Their strikeout rate is the seventh worst in the major leagues, which looks bad on its own but becomes abhorrent when you factor in their major league-worst home run rate. 11

12 Their spacious home dimensions will suppress their power numbers, of course, but AT&T Park is the least of their concerns. That s because they are scoring more runs at home (4.1) than on the road (3.5), they have a higher OPS at home (.694) than on the road (.658), and even the homer discrepancy (57 at home, 70 on the road) isn t so out of whack. That is the part that most confounds Bochy: Why has this team not hit more on the road? Why were they 1-8 at Coors Field, and why did they go 1-9 there last season? Why were they swept while averaging two runs a game against incendiary pitching in Cincinnati s bandbox? Why couldn t their lineup break out in three losses at Milwaukee? How come they strolled into Philadelphia in May, when most of their lineup was still fresh and intact, and lost all four games while obliterating their franchise record for a series by striking out 55 times? It doesn t make any sense, Bochy said. Especially in hitter s ballparks. Coors, Cincinnati. I can t make sense of it, to be honest. It really surprises me. In these parks, we just got shut down. Sure, you ll be comfortable at your home park because you know the background and you know how it plays. But on the road, confidence should go up. You shouldn t hesitate to try to pull the ball. You know you ll get rewarded. The pressure should be off. If the Giants tried to swing for the fences more often on the road, the strategy backfired. Dig deeper into the home/road splits and one other discrepancy glows off the screen: their road strikeout rate is out of control. The league is averaging four at-bats per strikeout. The Giants at home have been a smidge better, averaging 4.05 at-bats per strikeout. On the road, it s 3.62 at-bats per strikeout. That s nearer to the worst overall mark in the major leagues (the White Sox, at 3.5 AB/K). Plate discipline isn t to blame. The Giants chase rate is near the league average. It s their whiff rate on pitches in the zone that is most alarming. They are failing to make contact 15.7 percent of the time on swings against pitches in the zone, which ranks as the fifth worst contact rate in the majors. It s as if the Giants were determined to leap headfirst into this new era of launch angle and two-strike hacks, but simply didn t have the talent to make it work. They tried desperately to be trendier, but they didn t have the wardrobe to pull it off. If all these cracks existed, the injuries turned the fissures into fault lines. The Giants offense wasn t terrible in the first two months of the season, when their pitching was still catching its breath with Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija on the disabled list. They averaged 4.07 runs and a.711 OPS in the first half. They are averaging 3.25 runs and a.608 OPS in the second half. The offense is dysfunctional now. At least for two months, it was marginal. You know the litany of injuries, so there s no sense going through them. But even some players who stayed on the field have been compromised at the plate. Crawford, who has avoided the disabled list, recently acknowledged that his recurring left knee inflammation took his hitting legs out from under him. Panik and Brandon Belt weren t the same after returning from their four combined DL stints. (Belt returned to San Francisco on Wednesday to get another MRI on 12

13 his inflamed knee; his season is likely over, with arthroscopic surgery in his near future.) Buster Posey leaned heavily on his elite hand-eye coordination, using an all-arms swing to scrape hits until it became obvious that playing through hip discomfort was doing the franchise no favors in the near or long term. They don t feel sorry for you in the major leagues, Powell said. It s always going to be a nextman-up thing, and I m very happy with the young guys who have come up and contributed. It s frustrating because for a while, we got things going when everyone was healthy. But the guys have played hard. They haven t quit. They re giving us their best effort on a daily basis. I joke with my friends at home: a hitting coach is a thankless job. When guys play great, you ve got great players. When they don t play great, the hitting coach doesn t know anything. But myself, Schu, we feel we ve given guys the right information and guys have done their best to compete and make things happen. Going forward, hopefully we can get our main guys back healthy. With as many injuries as we ve had, we stayed in this thing, for the most part, till September. It s hard to ask more than that. It s hard for Powell to feel too discouraged after the way his tenure as the Giants hitting coach began. It wasn t more than a few weeks after accepting the job that he received a diagnosis of prostate cancer. Although initial scans appeared to show the disease had spread, the scare was temporary. He underwent surgery and did not require chemotherapy. By the end of spring training, he was throwing batting practice again. All his scans and checkpoints have come back clean. Believe me, I m very, very thankful, said Powell, a San Francisco native. I came through it relatively well. Personally, I feel well. It s good being home. I get to see family, friends, and my wife, Jana, got to spend the majority of the season with me. That part was great. Obviously, you want to see the team do better and win, so you re a little bit frustrated. But I come to work with a smile on my face and work hard. This is a first-class organization and I m happy to be here and hope I can be here for a long time. There were smaller successes. Gorkys Hernández went from zero home runs to 15. Hanson made an impact at the plate, even if he hasn t found a place to stand in the field yet. Duggar adjusted so well to big-league pitching prior to his shoulder injury that his 41-game audition probably inspired sufficient confidence to secure the Opening Day job in center field next season. Rookie catcher Aramís García hit his third homer Wednesday night; he stands to pick up much of the playing time at first base in Belt s absence. And some good things are happening now with Chris Shaw, who began his career 1 for 22 with 13 strikeouts before making a timing adjustment following a session with Powell and Schu. We talked about finding a way to get on time, and I used to start my leg kick really early, Shaw said. Now I m lifting my front foot when the pitcher lifts. It helps with everything. It slows everything down. 13

14 Shaw is 7 for 13 in his last four games. He hit a pair of doubles here in Monday s victory. He drove in the tying and go-ahead runs as the Giants rallied to win Tuesday night. And his lone hit Wednesday might have been the second most revelatory swing of the night. It was a single off a 98.7-mph fastball from Robert Stock. To his pull side. Absolutely, that s big for me, Shaw said. It tells me my timing is where it needs to be. When you have good timing, hitting becomes reactionary. It just happens on its own. You re able to trust you ll be on time and in a good position to hit. That is the message Powell is telling his hitters in individual sessions on this road trip. The game now is, How hard can I hit the ball and how often can I put the ball in play, Powell said. That s the key to being a successful major-league hitter. These guys are professionals here. They care. I m very happy the guys didn t mail it in. They re out there competing every day. Sometimes you look at from afar and it s, Oh, the Giants are throwing in the towel. On our end, from a coaching staff, no, guys are giving us 100 percent attention, working hard in the cage, working hard on the field. Unfortunately, you ll have a year where things don t go right. Or two. And it will be strike three for a lot of folks if the Giants cannot hit the fastball any better in NBCsportsbayarea.com Giants see plenty of positives from two rookies against rebuilding Padres Alex Pavlovic SAN DIEGO Petco Park has been a house of horrors during much of the last two seasons, but for two Giants rookies, the first visit here was a positive one. Left fielder Chris Shaw reached base seven times in the three-game series, continuing a mini surge. First baseman Aramis Garcia hit a solo homer in Wednesday s 8-4 loss to the Padres, his third in 30 big league at-bats. Those would have been positive developments at any time of the year, but against the rebuilding Padres, they perhaps gave the Giants a bit more hope going forward. For two consecutive seasons, they have finished behind the Dodgers, Rockies and Diamondbacks. The Dodgers look poised for a sixth consecutive NL West crown and have the farm system and financial power to keep a contender on the field for years to come, but the 14

15 other two will face difficult decisions in future winters as Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and other contributors hit free agency. The general consensus around the game, though, is that the NL West won t necessarily get weaker. The Padres are viewed as having the best farm system in baseball, and they could become interesting as soon as next season. The Giants got their first look at the latest star Padres prospect, catcher Francisco Mejia. The 22-year-old didn t do much damage against Giants pitching, but he has three homers in his first month in the big leagues and is touted as a future star. Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego s top prospect, is injured but should be up early next season. Luis Urias, also listed on the top 30 on many prospect lists, came up this month but was injured and didn t face the Giants. Those are three of nine Padres prospects listed on many top 100 charts. This is a group that appears at least a year away, mostly because the pitching depth the Padres have is at the lower levels of the minors. But at some point, likely 2020, the Giants will have another significant road bump in the division, and they ll need their own youth to compete. Joey Bart, Heliot Ramos and others should be here or getting close in a couple of years, but the class that went through Triple-A this season is the first line of defense. The Giants would have loved to watch Steven Duggar patrol the massive center field here for three days, but Shaw and Garcia did just fine with their own defensive challenges. If a fan had not interfered Tuesday, Shaw likely would have robbed Franmil Reyes, another young Padre, of a two-run shot. Garcia saved Evan Longoria from an error Wednesday with a nifty scoop. He did a nice job, didn t he? manager Bruce Bochy said of his catcher-turned-first baseman. To go oppo here, that s impressive off a tough pitcher. He did a nice job for someone who doesn t have a lot of experience at first base. He threw out pretty good at-bats, too. He looks comfortable. Both Shaw and Garcia do at the moment, and while they re almost certainly ticketed for Triple- A at the start of next season, they re showing that they re capable of contributing at this level, a nice boost late in a lost year. The Padres are coming, and the Giants will need their own young standouts to avoid getting passed. NBCsportsbayarea.com Giants fail to sweep Padres after Chris Stratton's strange second inning Alex Pavlovic 15

16 SAN DIEGO This was not your normal Giants-Padres game. It wasn't a good night for the visiting team, either. The Giants gave up a pair of big homers and lost 8-4 at Petco Park. Giants starting pitcher Chris Stratton allowed five early runs and the Padres put it away when Freddy Galvis crushed a Ray Black fastball for a three-run homer in the eighth. The Giants failed to get a sweep after two good performances here the first two nights. Before they head to St. Louis, here s what else you need to know about the last night in the Gaslamp District The second inning was a strange one for Stratton. He picked up his first career extra-base hit in the top of the inning, lining a double over right fielder Franmil Reyes to clear the loaded bases. But in the bottom of the inning, the wheels came off. Stratton allowed five hits, with much of the damage coming on a homer by Wil Myers. Gorkys Hernandez got him out of the inning with a leaping catch at the wall. Giants rookie catcher Aramis Garcia went the opposite way in the eighth and dropped a fly ball right on the padding of the fence for his third homer. Garcia has been a bit of a standout defensively, too. He impressed while catching, and he had a nice scoop at first Wednesday to keep an error off Evan Longoria s line. With Brandon Belt out for the year, Garcia should see daily at-bats the rest of the way. Chris Shaw, Giants rookie left fielder, continued his breakthrough at the plate. He drew a walk in his second plate appearance against lefty starter Robbie Erlin and then pulled a single to right on a 98.7 mph from right-handed reliever Robert Stock. Shaw reached base multiple times in every game this series. Giants rookie infielder Abiatal Avelino got his third big league at-bat. He grounded out to short as a pinch-hitter in the fourth inning. NBCsportsbayarea.com Brandon Belt's season 'more than likely' over due to knee injury Alex Pavlovic SAN DIEGO A season that was so promising at the start is likely over. Giants first baseman Brandon Belt flew back to San Francisco on Wednesday night and manager Bruce Bochy said Belt more than likely has played his last game. Belt is expected to have surgery on his right knee. Belt has been playing through the injury much of the second half, and in recent days has been 16

17 unavailable even as a pinch-hitter. He was out of the lineup the previous four days and the team decided he should go back home to see doctors. Belt was batting.307 on June 1 with 11 homers, 31 RBI and a.950 OPS. Emergency appendix surgery set him back and he injured the knee which has already been cleaned out once in his career in July while reaching first base in Seattle. Belt was never the same after the knee injury and will finish the year with a.757 OPS, 14 homers and 46 RBI. He was just 4-for-32 in September with 16 strikeouts and was in and out of the lineup because of the knee pain. [RELATED: Giants odds to sign Harper] Bochy said it s a disappointing end for a season that looked like it would be a career year. I m sure he sees it that way, too, he said. He really was locked in and doing some really good things and the injuries caught up to him. He was on pace to hit 30-plus homers and drive in close to 90 runs. I know he s disappointed he couldn t stay healthy and stay out on the field. You re dealing with a knee and your stride, it affected him and sent him in that funk he got in. The Press Democrat Giants, Chris Stratton roughed up by Padres Jay Paris SAN DIEGO Wil Myers and Freddy Galvis homered, Robbie Erlin pitched five solid innings and the San Diego Padres beat the Giants 8-4 on Wednesday night to avoid a three-game sweep. Myers two-run homer highlighted a five-run second inning. Galvis added a three-run shot in the eighth as San Diego won for the second time in 10 meetings against San Francisco. Erlin (4-7) beat the Giants for the first time and snapped a career-high four-start losing streak. The left-hander allowed three runs on five hits, with two walks and three strikeouts. His last victory came against the Rockies on Aug

18 Four Padres relievers allowed one run over the final four innings as San Diego ended its sixgame homestand at 2-4. Chris Stratton (10-10), who was coming off his first career shutout, was gone after three innings. Soon after putting the Giants ahead with a three-run double, Stratton, who was trying to beat the Padres for the second time this season, was replaced after surrendering five runs on six hits and a walk. Rookie Armies Garcia s third homer in eight starts pulled the Giants within 5-4 in the eighth. Garcia has hit safely in nine of his first 10 career games. The Padres batted around in the second inning to go ahead 5-3. The big blow was Myers 11th homer this season, which landed in the Padres bullpen in left-center. Before Myers went deep, Franmil Reyes extended his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games with a single, Cory Spangenberg and Freddy Galvis produced RBI singles and Manuel Margot added a run with a sacrifice fly. Stratton helped himself with a two-out, bases-loaded double in the second. The first extra-base hit of his career put the Giants ahead 3-0. Trainer's room Giants: 1B Brandon Belt (knee) returned to San Francisco to be evaluated by team doctors, with a strong possibility that he will undergo season-ending surgery. KNBR.com Chris Stratton clears the bases with first career double Jacob Hutchinson Sometimes, you have to help yourself out. On Wednesday night, Chris Stratton did just that. With two outs and the bases loaded, Stratton stepped to the plate and shot a bases-clearing double into the right-center field gap to give the Giants a 3-0 lead in the second inning over the San Diego Padres. The Giants led off the inning with a pair of singles from Nick Hundley and Brandon Crawford, but a strikeout from Aramis Garcia and fly out from Chris Shaw left Gorkys Hernandez up with two outs. Hernandez drew a walk from Padres starting pitcher Robbie Erlin, who clearly preferred to take on Stratton rather than Hernandez. The decision immediately came back to bite Erlin, as Stratton ripped his first career double. His start comes on the heels of his first career complete-game shutout, which came in a 2-0 win 18

19 against the then first-place Colorado Rockies September 14. He has a 2.10 ERA in his last five starts. KNBR.com Stratton drives in three, gives up five as Giants lose to Padres Jacob Hutchinson If all you saw of Wednesday night s game were the second and eighth innings, you saw just about all there was to see. Eight of the 12 runs scored in the Giants 8-4 loss to the San Diego Padres came in the second, with starting pitcher Chris Stratton involved in all eight of them. The other four came in the eighth. After tonight, Stratton will probably be fine with not hitting for extra-bases. In the top of the second, with two outs and the bases loaded, he shot a double into the right-center field gap to clear the bases, giving the Giants a 3-0 lead. But in the bottom half of the second, Stratton was rocked by the San Diego Padres. He opened the inning by committing the cardinal sin of a leadoff walk. Stratton has shown the ability to work through traffic and recover from mistakes, but he did not display that ability tonight. Instead, Stratton allowed three straight singles, the last two of which drove in a pair of runs. After the last single, Manuel Margot tied the game at 3-3 with a sacrifice fly. He picked up a sacrifice bunt from Padres starter Robbie Erlin for the second out of the inning, but the onslaught picked up again after that. Wil Myers came up next and tagged Stratton for a two-run shot to secure a 5-3 Padres lead, and Stratton allowed a single to follow. There was nearly more damage done, as Hunter Renfroe scorched a ball to deep center field next. It forced Gorkys Hernandez to make a leaping catch at the wall to end the inning, but unlike last night, there was no blue t-shirted fan to interrupt the catch at the wall. Giants broadcaster and former starting pitcher Mike Krukow said a double like Stratton s often gets a pitcher out of their normal rhythm. It gives you a shot of adrenaline, Krukow said. The game went just like a spike of adrenaline did. It shot up for the eight-run second inning, then disappeared. But it returned in the eighth inning. 19

20 With two outs and the Giants in desperate need of some sort of offensive shot in the arm, Aramis Garcia shot an impossibly difficult home run ball to right field, cutting the deficit to 5-4. It was Garcia s third home run since arriving in the majors, making him 10-for-30 with five RBIs. But, as was the case in the second inning, the Padres raised the Giants scoring efforts with their own. Ray Black slotted in for Ty Blach after a leadoff single. Black walked his first batter and struck out his next before facing Freddy Galvis. He managed a strike after three straight balls, leaving the count at 3-1. On the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Galvis hit a monster home run to left field, leaving Black to turn and stare toward the ground. It gave the Padres an 8-4 lead that the Giants failed to respond to in the eighth. Despite the loss, the Giants took the series 2-1 over the Padres. The team will stay the night in San Diego before flying to Saint Louis tomorrow for a three-game series against the Cardinals that starts on Thursday. KNBR.com Brandon Belt to get second MRI, Bochy says his season likely over Jacob Hutchinson For the past week, Brandon Belt has been openly nursing a knee injury that will likely require surgery. Belt said his intentions were to play through it and finish the season, but he had to be pulled from a game September 14, with Bochy commenting afterwards that he was concerned there. It has been a somewhat confusing situation for Belt to try play through, with surgery seemingly necessary and 10 games left in a lost season. He hasn t played since the 14th. Today, Bruce Bochy gave what seems to be a final update on Belt. According to Andrew Baggarly, Bochy said Belt is on his way back to San Francisco, with his season likely over. Brandon Belt is heading back to San Francisco. He ll get another MRI on his ailing knee. Could have surgery soon. His season is likely over, Bruce Bochy said. 4:16 PM - Sep 19, 2018 Twitter Ads info and privacy 20

21 Belt had an MRI on the right knee the same one that he suffered a bone bruise in earlier this season, which put him on the disabled list for a few weeks on September 14, but the results came back negative, showing that Belt was just dealing with inflammation. He is scheduled to have another MRI before he likely receives surgery. Sfbay.com Padres spoil Giants sweep in tale of two innings Eli Walsh The Giants played nine innings in Wednesday s 8-4 loss, but they probably only needed to play two. Chris Statton (L, 10-10, 4.88 ERA) entered Wednesday coming off a two-hit shutout. He tallied a clean, 14-pitch first inning before finding a bat in his hands in the Giants half of the second. Singles by Nick Hundley and Brandon Crawfordand a walk by Chris Shaw loaded the bases with two outs for Stratton, who owned a career batting average of.125. Stratton, of course, roped a double into the right-center field gap off Padres starter Robbie Erlin (W, 4-7, 4.33 ERA) to clear the bases. It was the first extra-base hit of Stratton s career, and skyrocketed his career RBI total from two to five. In the ensuing half inning, Stratton faced four batters and allowed two runs before he recorded an out, a sacrifice fly that tied the game. A sacrifice bunt from Erlin handed Stratton the second out. The Giants right-hander got within a strike of ending the inning before third baseman Wil Myers muscled a 3-2 pitch 419 feet into the Padres bullpen for a two-run homer, giving the Padres a 5-3 lead. Manager Bruce Bochy said Stratton just got out of sync. (He) couldn t get the ball where he wanted. It started with a walk and the he was just missing his spots by a pretty good margin, that s unlike him. Especially with the way he s been throwing the ball. The way he s been throwing the ball, you like that lead early in the game but he just couldn t get on track that second inning. Stratton said he never felt as good as he did in his last start despite the clean first frame: Baseball s a game of some highs and some lows. I just think that today was a little out of whack altogether. I know I had a first inning but I still didn t feel on like I was the previous game. When you get three runs early there, you got to find a way to get it done and that s something I got to get better at. Stratton lasted only three innings and Erlin only five, but the only runs they allowed came in the span of about 30 minutes. The Padres and Giants bullpens matched zeros until the eighth inning, when first baseman Aramis Garcia drove his third career homer over the right field 21

22 fence to pull the Giants within a run. Bochy said of Garcia: I think he did a nice job, didn t he? To go oppo here, that s impressive off a tough pitcher. He did a nice job for someone who doesn t have a lot of time there at first base. But he had some pretty good at-bats too. He looks comfortable up here. But once again, the Padres answered back louder. In the bottom half of the eighth, Eric Hosmer singled and Franmil Reyes walked ahead of Freddy Galvis. With one out, Galvis got a 99 mph fastball from Giants reliever Ray Black and turned it into a 388-foot, three-run home run, putting the Giants away for good. Padres reliever Phil Maton worked around a walk to Gregor Blanco to toss a scoreless ninth inning and officially dash the Giants plans to sweep. Stratton s final start of the season is likely to come against the Padres in San Francisco next week and he said he plans to use Wednesday s game as a motivator: You always look back on today s game and figure out what you did wrong and try to improve on it. I just don t think my fastball command was very good today and two-strike pitches weren t very good. Sometimes it s going to be there and sometimes it s not so you got to battle with what you got. UP NEXT The Giants conclude their last road trip of 2018 with three games against the St. Louis Cardinals, beginning with Madison Bumgarner (6-6, 3.14 ERA) and John Gant (7-6, 3.53 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. PDT. NOTES Brandon Crawford notched three hits for the first time since June 26. After mentioning Monday that his knee has bothered him for much of the last two months, it must be feeling better now. The home run Black allowed is his fourth in 21 innings of work. Brandon Belt s season is likely over as he heads back to San Francisco to have an MRI on his knee. Bochy said surgery is a possibility. Belt s knee issue means that Garcia and Austin Slater will share first base duties for the Giants nine remaining games. ESPN.com Why aren t the Dodgers even better? Sam Miller The first few months of 2013 were an embarrassing time for the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the first full year under their new ownership, the first year they were spending more than any 22

23 other team in the National League. And at the end of June they were in last place. "Smart beats rich, period," the club's president and CEO, Stan Kasten, told me at the time. "We're going to be a rich team. Now it's up to us to do smart things. If you're smart and rich, you're going to have an advantage." The Dodgers have been extraordinarily rich. They have had the league's highest attendance each season since then, and they have spent a lot of money. Since the 2013 season, they've spent $1.4 billion on payroll. Other teams that have spent $1.4 billion on payroll: the Brewers, the A's and the Rays, put together. EDITOR'S PICKS Inside Matt Kemp's long journey back home After three years away from LA, Matt Kemp is determined to make the most of his second stint with the team that made him a star. 'He's addicted to winning': Clayton Kershaw's battle to remain elite While his fastball trends down and his age ticks up, the Dodgers' ace is still driven to dominate every single day -- no matter what it takes. When using the on-deck circle makes absolutely no sense Even in situations in which batters have no chance whatsoever of coming to the plate, many of them still stand in the on-deck circle. Baseball is nuts. They have similarly spent on everything beneficial that isn't payroll. They poached Andrew Friedman, their president of baseball operations, for what was reportedly the sport's highest executive salary -- and then let Friedman surround himself with high-profile executives. They've invested on big items and small, on traditional expenses and unique ones: more scouts, more statistical analysts, more injury-prevention data, deluxe Dominican facilities, a sustainable garden (for player meals), an academy just for pinch runners and a startup-incubation program. They aren't just rich and smart; they use their richness to get even smarter, which is pretty wise. Baseball is a game, and all games are designed to be competitive. The Dodgers should be terrifying to the game designers: a team starts out with far more resources than everybody else and is also at least as smart, if not smarter, than everybody else. If you tried this in Monopoly -- gave the better player a lot more money at the start of the game -- it would be a catastrophe. If baseball worked like other games, the Dodgers would have ruined it by now. But they haven't turned baseball into a farce. They might still miss the playoffs this year. They have won fewer games than the Brewers and the A's and have the same number of wins as the 23