One of the game's most storied and historic franchises is coming to town, for just the fifth time in their 141 year history.
The Giants last visited in April 2019, and took both games from the Jays on that occasion, beating Trent Thornton and Clay Buchholz. The two teams split a pair at Oracle Park a few weeks later, with Thornton picking up the Jays victory. (Ah, 2019 when Trent Thornton led the staff in Starts, Innings, Ks, and Wins.) Prior to that, they came here in 2013 only to lose both games as the Jays scored in double digits twice - R.A. Dickey beat Barry Zito and the next day 39 year old Ramon Ortiz tossed seven very good innings to record his last win in the majors. The Jays took two of three in 2010, when the Giants came by in the midst of their championship run, and it was way back in 2002 when the Giants made their first visit to Toronto. The Giants knocked Esteban Loaiza out in the fourth, the Jays did likewise to Kirk Reuter in their half and hung on to win 6-5 and give Corey Thurman the first of his three major league wins. The Giants knocked four homers off Brandon Lyon to win the next day, and in the finale Livan Hernandez beat Roy Halladay. Barry Bonds, in his only career visit here, went 4-10 in the series (with 5 BB, 3 of them intentional) and homered off Cliff Politte in his final Toronto at bat.
The Giants have been a rather unpredictable outfit in recent years. Two years ago, you will recall, they won 107 games. No one saw that coming - they'd just posted four consecutive losing seasons. Their best players that season - catcher Buster Posey, infielders Brandon Belt, Evan Longoria, and Brandon Crawford - were already on the wrong side of 30. So Posey retired, and Belt and Crawford saw their production fall sharply back to earth while Longoria missed almost half the season with injuries. The Giants expected Joey Bart to slide into Posey's spot behind the plate. Which he did, but he hit .215, which won't make anyone forget Buster Posey. And so they slipped back to 81-81.
So this winter they waved good bye to Belt and Longoria, who departed in free agency. They were all set to replace Crawford at short with Carlos Correa. That part didn't work out, as you may have heard. And it turns out that Brandon Crawford at age 36 is no better than he was at age 35, which wasn't very good at all. But J.D. Davis has been able to replace Longoria's bat, even if he doesn't provide the same kind of defense at third base, and he turns out to be much better at staying in the lineup. And LaMonte Ward has quite unexpectedly been the team's best hitter while replacing Belt at first base. Ward's been very much the same kind of hitter Belt was for them. He's not a big power source, but he hits lots of line drives and takes a goodly number of walks. It's just that he's never played this well before.
The Giants began the year with Bart and veteran Roberto Perez behind the plate. Perez quickly went down for the season after rotator cuff surgery, and Bart went on the IL a month ago. And when he was ready to return, they optioned him to Sacramento. Because Patrick Bailey, whom the Giants drafted 13th overall in 2020, has taken the job and run with it. In his first 29 games in the majors, he's hitting .323/.352/.535, which is certainly unexpected - he had never played above A ball before this season. Somehow, I don't expect this to continue, but in the meantime the Giants are letting the good times roll.
The Giants took a chance on a couple of often injured outfielders this winter. Michael Conforto has been adequate, I suppose - not the hitter he was with the Mets a few years ago, but there's quite a bit of rust that needs to be shaken off. Mitch Haniger hasn't worked out so well. Two years ago, he hit 39 HRs for the Mariners. Last year he missed more than 100 games. This year, he was hitting poorly (.230/.281/.372) before a Jack Flaherty fastball fractured his arm and put him on the shelf for the next couple of months. Centre fielder Mike Yastrzemski is also on the IL with a strained hammy. Mike Yaz made his ML debut just days after after the Giants last played in Toronto. So. seeing as how he'll miss this series, that means the last Yastrzemski to play here was his grandfather Carl, way back on 30 August 1983. The original Yaz had two hits and a walk against Dave Stieb that Tuesday evening. He'd celebrated his 44th birthday a week earlier.
Besides Belt and Longoria, the Giants also lost LH starter Carlos Rodon as a free agent - they'd signed Rodon in the first place to replace Kevin Gausman, who had departed to Toronto as a free agent the year before. The Giants gave two pitchers identical contracts - two years, $25 million, player may opt out after Year One - hoping one of them could fill the spot. Neither has. Both Ross Stripling and Sean Manaea have pitched pretty badly for the Giants so far. (On the other hand, Rodon hasn't pitched at all for the Yankees.)
Stripling may have thought his swingman days were behind him when he signed his shiny new contract. If so, he thought wrong. He started and lost the Giants' third game of the season. He spent the next three weeks in the pen, making three relief appearances. Then he started three games, only one of which was any good. Back to the pen, for a couple of outings of long relief before going on the IL about a month ago. He's back now, and was loosening up in the bullpen yesterday but didn't get into the game. Manaea was coming off a dismal year in San Diego, and he's been just as dismal for the Giants, and after posting a 7.54 ERA in six starts was banished to the bullpen.
Anthony DeSciafani is back in the rotation after missing much of 2022, but he doesn't look like quite the same pitcher who was so good in 2021 (he looks more like the guy he was in Cincinnati.) Their best starters have been Logan Webb and veteran Alex Cobb, currently on the IL and expected to be out for another week or with an oblique strain. We'll see Webb on Wednesday, and if you like seeing batters hit the ball on the ground, he's your man. This year Webb has induced more ground balls than any pitcher in the majors (last year he was second.) He doesn't walk many people, and like most sinker ballers, it's difficult to hit the ball over the fence against him. As always, if you don't give up walks or homers, you can afford to give up more hits than the other pitchers - except Webb doesn't even do that. The guy is really good.
And the team is pretty good as well. They're cruising along at 44-34, which would land them in the post-season with the second NL Wild Card - and their division is still quite tight, with the top three teams within three games of each other.
Matchups
Tues 27 June - Walker (2-0, 1.89) vs Gausman (7-3, 3.10)
Wed 28 June - Wood (2-2, 5.17) vs Bassitt (7-5, 4.32)
Thu 29 June - Webb (7-6, 3.16) vs Berrios (8-5, 3.60)
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