Good morning, baseball fans!

Every few weeks, I like to check in with San Francisco Giants fans to see how everyone is feeling about where the team is at right now.

I have to say, I’m a bit more cautious in the cautious optimism I expressed in our last check-in. They’ve essentially been playing .500 baseball for the month of May.

This is being written before Tuesday’s game against the Detroit Tigers, but if they end up losing that game, then they will not only be evenly split at 12 wins and losses for the month of May, but they will also be split 4-4 for series wins and losses.

That’s a lot less exciting than being in first place (as they briefly were the last time we did one of these), and a lot more like the .500 baseball we’ve come to know and expect from this team over the majority of the last decade.

That said, as of the time I’m writing this, they still find themselves competitive in the National League West, with the Los Angeles Dodgers being in first place and having just a two-game lead on both the Giants and San Diego Padres.

So things aren’t really that bad.

Additionally, they did what they needed to do in May for the most part. In the series they really needed to take advantage of (against the Colorado Rockies, Athletics, and Washington Nationals) they did just that, winning all three with a sweep of the A’s to boot.

Unfortunately, they also got swept by the Minnesota Twins and lost a series to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Those series and many of the individual losses within feel very much like they could (if not should) have been wins because of how close they were.

And now we come to the crux of the issue.

They need to score more runs when it counts. I know, genius-level analysis right there, but it’s true. They’ve been within two runs of winning in eight of their losses this month, and within only one run in five of those. Clutch hitting isn’t necessarily a science, but it is absolutely noticeable in its absence.

Moving forward, the Giants will have a few formidable foes in the month of June (including their first series against the Dodgers of the year). But they will also have plenty of opportunities to pick up games against struggling teams, with series against the Miami Marlins (twice), Rockies, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox.

So I think I will retain my cautious optimism and hope for a better showing in June.

How are you feeling about the season so far?