As the Major League Baseball season nears its halfway mark, the San Francisco Giants are one of the best teams in the big leagues, that much is clear.
But that doesn’t mean the Giants are the only big dog on the block. There are a bevy of other contenders for the National League crown. And when San Francisco has a chance to push runs across home plate against such a team, it simply must do a better job — especially considering how two losses to the rival Dodgers went down on Monday and Tuesday.
The Giants failed to get a single, solitary clutch hit (with runners in scoring position) against Los Angeles over the two-game series sweep. On Monday, they were 0-for-13 and on Tuesday, 0-for-6.
Kapler knows that won’t cut it against any team, let alone the formidable Dodgers.
“No real explanation other than we’re going to have to do a better job against the best teams in baseball, including the Dodgers, in those big spots.”–Gabe Kapler
San Francisco Chronicle
If the two-game series sweep wasn’t humbling enough for the Giants, the words of their skipper hammer the point home. San Francisco’s record is impressive, and their stellar performance over the season feels more real now that the season is nearly halfway finished — but that doesn’t mean much when runners are on base and it’s time to get a big hit, especially against the rival Dodgers.
Thankfully for Kapler, he’s got some wiggle room. His club still sits atop the NL West by 1.5 games as of Wednesday. Over the long MLB season, the failure against the Dodgers was likely just a small blip on the radar. It’s certainly Kapler’s job to make sure of that — and it doesn’t hurt to remind his club that there are plenty of other high-performing clubs to contend with, especially in their own division.
Bay Area Sports Hub 