This offense is beginning to give me the fits. For the fifth straight game, our offense didn't have an answer to a starting pitcher, again with a five plus ERA. Granted, this was Kyle Hendricks, who owns us, but he was at 2-5 this season with the high ERA. Have no fear, struggling pitchers, the San Diego Popguns are here. Hendricks was yanked in the sixth, but I'm guessing it was really to make sure he left on a high note following his struggles this season. By then, he already had a 5-0 lead. Should have left him in there, Skip.
Our popguns turned to howitzers once Hendricks was gone. For the second straight night, we destroyed their bullpen. Luke Voit, until now a big black hole in the cleanup spot, finally gave us the big hits we needed. He hit a two-run jack to get us on the board, then a three-run double to give us a lead we wouldn't relinquish. I think people really want to see Voit succeed in San Diego. Maybe he put too much pressure on himself with Tatis out of the lineup. Granted, this isn't the New York Yankees type of pressure, but we are contenders, and you will need to perform to stay on the roster.
One thing that might have fueled our comeback was Wilson Contreras' second homer in the bottom of the third inning. I think he might have chirped a little too loud, which might have ticked off our guys a bit. That does take cajones to start talking in the third inning. Granted, a three-run deficit is usually a death sentence for this offense, but you still have to play the game. Grish was the leadoff batter, giving Profar a rest, and he did horribly against Hendrick with two K's in three AB's. In his defense, he did have a 10 pitch at bat to lead off the game with, which is a manager's dream. Three more hits for Cron...he is now the sparkplug with Manny cooling off. Two hits each from Alfaro, Kim and Mazara.
From Manaea, we needed a quality outing and didn't get it. Four innings, eight hits, five runs, plus two dingers. This must have been the first time since Oakland that he's pitched under six innings. That means our bullpen, now well rested, had to perform, and they did. Two zeroes by newcomer Kyle Tyler, two more by Crismatt, one by Ray Kerr.
This was our biggest comeback of the year, but we also need to put it in perspective. We need to start putting quality AB's against starting pitchers, or the late innings won't matter against the Dodgers or Giants. We teed off against a bad bullpen--no more, no less. If we can't score runs against average pitchers, what are we going to do against Scherzer or Gonsolin or DeGrom? Not raining on anybody's parade, but to win a pennant, we need more balance.
The talk of the town was Atlanta's 13th consecutive victory, but this, too, is a little inflated. Their opponents were the Pirates, the Rockies, the A's, and the Nationals...that's a lot of fluff. They have one more game with the Nats, three games with the Cubs, then seven games against the Giants and Dodgers. Enjoy, world champs.
With a victory in the first two games of this series, this means we need to split the remaining two games to meet our (actually my) objective of winning this series. Losing more games against sub .500 teams won't cut it at this juncture.
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