Logan Webb is the man!

SF 2  SD 1

In my last post I said that “Webb can’t do it alone” but it seems he took exception to that tonight and damn well tried to do it all alone. Fortunately his fielders made the plays and the the lineup eked out the bare minimum of runs to edge the Padres. Webb gave up a run in the 1st on a dinker, a double, and a dunker, and it looked like Blake Snell and the Padres bullpen (and the Giants offensive ineptitude) would make the 1-0 lead stand. Webb kept throwing his nasty stuff and kept grinding out one scoreless frame after another and it finally paid off in the 8th. Marco Luciano, who had a great night, doubled after LaMonte Wade, Jr. walked with one out. Joc Pederson was walked to load the bases and Patrick Bailey forced out Wade at home. Is there any team in baseball lousier with the bases loaded than the Giants? Michael Conforto, however, knocked in two with an opposite-field hit to give the Giants (finally!!) the lead. In surprise but well-deserved move Kap eschewed his closer and sent out his ace to finish the job. Webb quickly got in trouble with back-to-back singles but once again Kap stuck with him and he got three ground balls from the next three hitters to complete the game and seal the win. One of the outs was a close play at home and I thought I was going to pass out from the tension. That was one of the best finishes we’ve seen in this agonizing, frustrating season.

We all know Webb is the star of the club and it’s great that he had one of his best performances at home in his penultimate start. It was also good to see young (22 years old) Luciano put his stamp on the game. He’s the 2024 shortstop at this point. Brandon Crawford is the greatest SS in SF history but I think we can all see that he’s at the end of his illustrious career. I hope he retires and gets a proper send-off in the final home series vs. LA this weekend.

Webb’s final line: 9 IP, 9 H (8 singles), 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 110 pitches (76 strikes), and 15 ground ball outs. He was masterful. I would like to note that Cy Young candidate Blake Snell (14-9, 2.25 ERA) threw 100 pitches in his six shutout innings. He leads all starters in walks with 99! I prefer Webb’s efficiency (only 31 free passes). Snell averages just under 5-2/3 IP per start (180/32 = 5.63); Webb almost an inning more (216/33 =  6.55).

Kyle Harrison, who looked a lot better in his last outing (and the team played one of their worst games of the season), gets the start tomorrow night (6:45 PT).

Go Giants!

–M.C.