San Francisco Giants week in review: A walkoff, a demotion, and a guy who tried to climb a wall with his face

It’s March 1. There’s a knock on your door. You open it, and it’s a wild-haired man in a white lab coat. “The Giants will be 1 1/2  games away from the wild-card spot on Aug. 11. They have the same number of wins as the Braves, one of the teams they’re chasing,” he says before running away and jumping into a DeLorean that speeds away at 88 mph.

You have a lot of other questions. Is this the year the Giants have a 30-homer hitter? Should I draft Corbin Carroll with the second overall pick in my fantasy draft, or should I just stick with Mookie Betts? How’s the presidential race going? Can you tell me the exact number of three-pointers in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, and maybe a couple other tidbits to use in a parlay?

But you’re stuck with just this one piece of information. You’re a little annoyed that the Giants are out of postseason position, but at least they’re in a race. And if they’re tied with the Braves in wins, that must mean they’re winning a ton of games. You should definitely draft Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. in your fantasy league.

You’re probably fine with this update from the future. It could have been much, much worse. And, boy, it sure felt like it just a couple weeks ago. After a string of series wins and generally pleasing play, though, the Giants have you not unbelieving. They might not win the World Series, but you might actually care about games in September. If you can grab one end of the goalpost, I can help you carry it, but that result sounds fantastic to me.

Last week was a big help. Here’s some of how it happened.

Something about walk-offs goes here

The Giants had another walk-off win last week, bringing their season total to nine, which is tied with the most in baseball. Let’s update the leaderboard and see where this team ranks in franchise history.

Most walk-offs since moving to San Francisco

1. 1985 – 15
2. (t) 1958 – 13
2. (t) 2003 – 13
4. (t) 2011 – 12
4. (t) 2013 – 12
6. (t) 1961 – 11
6. (t) 1967 – 11
6. (t) 1973 – 11
6. (t) 1978 – 11
6. (t) 1987 – 11
6. (t) 1990 – 11
6. (t) 2002 – 11
13. (t) 1964 – 10
13. (t) 1982 – 10
13. (t) 1995 – 10
13. (t) 2018 – 10

The 2024 Giants still have a long way to go. There are 22 home games left, which means at their current pace, they might get three more, which would vault them into the top five.

Mostly, though, that list is a way to remind everyone that walk-offs are fun and joyous and one of the best treats that baseball offers on a semi-regular basis, but they don’t tell you anything about the quality of the team. The 1985 Giants were the worst team in franchise history. The 1958 Giants were the first San Francisco team, and they were pretty good. The 2003 team won exactly 100 games, which was the most in baseball. The 2011 team scored about 100 runs, give or take, which wasn’t the most in baseball. Walk-offs are about timing, not talent.

The average Giants team has about eight walk-offs per season, so this year’s team is already ahead of the pace. And it means nothing. Sure is fun, though. My recommendation is that they should keep doing it.

That’s Chappy

On Friday night, a fan jumped on the field and engaged Michael Conforto in a fairly spirited conversation before trying to escape over the left-field fence. His plan didn’t work. Here’s a still from the video:

By my calculation, this person got about one box of cereal (1 BOC) off the ground. It was a revolting display of athleticism that negated every single one of the 126 medals the United States won in the 2024 Summer Olympics. This country is now medal-less because of his actions. I hope he’s happy.

The Giants — nay, the country — needed a palate cleanser. Matt Chapman, please save us all.

In retrospect, I should have had a “Matt Chapman play of the week” section in every one of these. Every danged week, the guy does something absurd defensively. The best (and nerdiest) way to describe how good he is at third base is to mention his batting average (.249) and his on-base percentage (.338), then list the top 10 NL players by WAR, according to Baseball-Reference:

1. Ketel Marte, 6.1 WAR
2. Shohei Ohtani, 5.8
3. Matt Chapman, 5.5
4. Francisco Lindor, 4.7
5. Elly De La Cruz, 4.1
6. Freddie Freeman, 4.0
7. (t) Brice Turang, 3.9
7. (t) Mookie Betts, 3.9
9. (t) Masyn Winn, 3.8
9. (t) Marcell Ozuna, 3.8

If a player is hitting .249 with a .338 OBP, and he’s the third-best player in the NL (or eighth-best, if you’re a FanGraphs type), he’s either on pace for 50 home runs, or he’s a defensive deity. An absolute freak. Someone you’ll mention to a grandkid when you have no teeth, and the grandkid will think you’re strange, but you know what? They’re the strange one. Because Chapman’s defense is just that good.

Another way to appreciate Chapman’s defense is to hear the opposing announcers describe it:

“Chapman! Maaaaan.”

Yeah, that’s about right. If you’re a completionist, note that Mike Krukow simply offered a “My lord” for his commentary. Both descriptions work perfectly.

Two strikes, two outs, too bad

Two outs. A two-strike count. Another strike, and your team wins. They probably will. But occasionally they’ll screw something up. Last week, the Giants’ closer screwed something up, and it changed the entire bullpen hierarchy.

Camilo Doval is in the minor leagues right now because he couldn’t get that final strike. The Giants had been in and out of rain delays for five-plus hours when Doval came in for the save on Thursday. The team was gassed. The broadcasters were gassed. Paunchy middle-aged sportswriters watching the game from home were gassed. There was still a long flight home, and there wasn’t a scheduled day off to look forward to. It was one of the worst blown saves I can ever remember, in terms of disappointment and overall context. Oh, to have a recording of the Giants’ dugout when the ball went over the fence.

Because I’m a masochist and a degenerate, I looked for other one-strike-away situations like this, where the win was sooooo close, and all the pitcher had to do was throw something that wasn’t that pitch.

The bad news is that pitch-by-pitch data isn’t exactly reliable before the ’90s, so we can’t do a search that goes back to 1958 or even further into the New York era. The good news is that keeping it recent makes it so that I can remember all of these blown saves, and they still make me a little nauseous. Hopefully, you’re just as lucky.

Pick the one that made you the most despondent! I’m going Benítez because I love the classics, plus it was the sound of a window slamming shut.

Anyway, if you’re wondering if this happens often, there’s your answer. Not really.

A quick ranking of Marco Luciano’s at-bats last week

1. Flyout to the right-center warning track
2. Opposite-field flyout on a good swing, but off the end of the bat
3. Lazy fly ball to center
4. Called strike three (down the middle, clearly looking for a breaking ball)

In other news, Marco Luciano had four at-bats last week. They all came in last Monday’s game. Which seems odd.

Luis Matos had seven hits in 17 at-bats in the minors last week, including a double and two homers. If we’re pretending this is like a JRPG, Matos got way more XP, even though his grinding was done in an easier dungeon.

It’s not time to staple pictures of Luciano to telephone poles, but maybe make a quick template of a poster on your computer, just in case.

Home Run of the Week

First, we’ll start with a compilation of all the homers the Giants have hit during the current homestand:

One of these weeks, there won’t be a home run, and that’ll get awkward. Luckily, the Giants hit a bunch in Washington, and it was hard to pick just one. Again, we’re searching for aesthetic qualities, not the most helpful or well-timed home runs. There were a lot of pretty homers among the seven they hit last week, but there wasn’t a traditionally gorgeous home run, so the selection is even more subjective than usual.

Give me Heliot over the bullpen, then.

Ramos didn’t just pull an outside pitch for a homer; he absolutely smoked it, and it would have been a home run at all 30 parks. I intentionally used a clip from the Nationals’ broadcast because their play-by-play announcer, Bob Carpenter, is incredible at calling opponent home runs. Here’s all of them from last week; listen for yourself. It’s maybe not the niche he would have chosen to dominate, but it’s still worth pointing out.

(Also, Kevin Frandsen is the Nationals’ color commentator, joining shortly after F.P. Santangelo left. Brett Wisely should probably hire a vocal coach for his post-playing career.)

(Top photo of Mark Canha (second from right) and company celebrating a walk-off win against the Tigers: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)