Series Preview: SF Giants vs. Athletics - sell the team, John
The SF Giants are set to take on the Oakland A's in San Francisco, but now more than ever, there will be no acrimony between these two fanbases. The A's have been systematically gutted by an ownership group dead-set on leaving town, producing a team on pace for 117 losses. Even in the "Hang in There!" era, things were never this bleak in San Francisco.
The A's faithful, though, are doing everything they can to will the team into staying. Two Oakland fan organizations, the Oakland 68's and the Last Dive Bar, are partnering with each other - and Giants fans - to stage the Unite the Bay event, encouraging both cities and both organizations to keep the cross-town rivalry intact. For Giants fans who want to support the cause without donning Oakland's kelly green, the 68's are even giving away black-and-white "SELL" t-shirts and Unite the Bay posters at South Beach Park ahead of Tuesday's game. It should be an excellent chance for Bay Area residents to come together and make their voices heard.
Hopefully, the energy will be high no matter what the outcome of this two-game set. That would be a considerable boon for the Giants, who enter the series riding a season-high 6-game losing streak. The G-men have posted an underwhelming 8-11 record in July, and what's worse, they've done so against perhaps the softest part of their schedule all year. The opponents they faced combined to go 27-43 in their ten games before facing the Giants (a .385 overall record), which would be worse than any NL team up to this point. Remove the sole makeup game against the Tigers, and that record drops to 21-39 (.350). These are games the Giants should be crushing, and yet, they're barely outperforming the Rockies.
It's not hard to see why. The Giants are hitting .202 as a team in July, with an OPS of just .619. Both figures would place the entire Giants' lineup as 144th out of 147 qualified MLB hitters this year. No team has hit worse in any full month than San Francisco has over the past three and a half weeks. Combine that with a pitching staff that's taken a big step backwards (4.58 team ERA, 19th/30 in July), and they seem lucky to have stolen as many wins as they have thus far this month.
The bright side? They're not the only contending team that's struggled this month. The Diamondbacks have fared even worse, going 5-13 around the All-Star Break, and the Tampa Bay Rays - boasting the best record in baseball going into July - are a dismal 4-13 on the month. The Giants, like these teams, are a good ballclub. A setback like this isn't necessarily going to sink them, and the August 1 trade deadline offers a chance to reinvigorate the clubhouse.
But only one team hoists a trophy at the end of the season, and the Giants don't want to find themselves sitting on the sidelines in October, kicking themselves for squandering this chance. The 'Battle of the Bay' trophy may not mean much in the grand scheme of things, especially given the political turmoil happening across town, but it might be one piece of hardware the Giants have to go all-out for.
Series Details
Who: SF Giants vs. Oakland Athletics
Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California
When: July 25-26, Tuesday (6:45 PM) and Wednesday (6:45 PM). All times Pacific.
Giants' current streak: L6, 4-6 in last 10. 54-47 overall, t-2nd place in NL West (4.0 GB)
A's current streak: L1, 3-7 in last 10. 28-74 overall, 5th place in AL West
Projected starters
Tuesday: Alex Cobb (6-3, 3.15 ERA) vs. Ken Waldichuk* (2-6, 6.75 ERA)
Wednesday: Alex Wood* (4-4, 4.99 ERA) vs. Hogan Harris* (2-4, 6.11 ERA)
*Indicates LHP
**Indicates opener
How to watch, listen
- SF Giants broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area, KNBR 680/1510 AM
- Opposing broadcast: NBC Sports California, A's Cast, 960 AM/103.7 HD2, KIQI 1010
- National broadcasts: none
