SAN FRANCISCO — Hector Borg, the Giants’ new third-base coach, might possess any number of hidden talents. In another life, perhaps he could’ve been the world’s greatest xylophonist or a nationally ranked Scrabble champion or chef up a Chimichurri flank steak capable of beating Bobby Flay.
Borg also could be the best third-base coach in the league. Here’s the problem after two games: There’s no way to know.
It doesn’t get more dispiriting than this: For the first time in the Giants’ 144-year franchise history, they’ve been shut out in consecutive games to start the season. Except wait, it does get more dispiriting. They followed up their 7-0, season-opening loss to the New York Yankees on Wednesday by scraping just one hit Friday afternoon in a feeble, 3-0 loss on the shores of McCovey Cove.
The Giants stood for introductions on the baseline, unfurled an enormous flag and trotted out all the pregame pomp on Friday while celebrating another “Opening Day,” under the rationale that Wednesday’s Netflix-produced season opener was a night game. If they really want, nothing is stopping them from calling Saturday’s series finale a season opener, too, if it can convince their bats to show up.
Aaron Judge hit a two-run home run against Robbie Ray and Giancarlo Stanton tagged José Buttó for a solo shot as the Yankees created all the offense they would need in the sixth inning. The middle of the Giants’ order tried to counterpunch but did little more than displace air — Nos. 3 and 4 batters Rafael Devers and Willy Adames went 0-for-7 with six strikeouts — while facing Cam Schlittler and a four-reliever crew that included former San Francisco closer Camilo Doval.
Someone should check on Borg and see if he needs a friend. The Giants have played two games and have advanced a runner to third base just twice — and the only reason Matt Chapman got that far, after drawing a ninth-inning walk Friday, was because the Yankees were indifferent to a pair of advancements. If not for Heliot Ramos’ two-out double in the second inning, the Giants might have been no-hit in San Francisco for the first time since the Florida Marlins’ Kevin Brown dominated them June 10, 1997, at Candlestick Park.
What’s a rookie manager like Tony Vitello to do? It’s too soon for wholesale lineup changes, although Vitello indicated that there would be a matchup-based tweak or two on Saturday. It’s too soon for a team meeting, too, lest you send the message to major-league players that they need their hand held to react like level-headed professionals to a poor start.
With little more than a 10-minute cooling-off period Friday afternoon, Vitello decided that the public message would be to hold himself accountable.
“I’d kind of put it on me a little bit,” Vitello said. “I got all fire and brimstone a few days ago and I think some good words were shared, but I also think as of right now it’s a little emotional in there and there are a lot of try-hards. … Maybe it stems from that conversation prior to the season or maybe it stems from all the Opening Day fanfare, being the home team, but regardless, everybody wants it to change.”
This is not the University of Tennessee, where two losses would count as nearly 4 percent of the season. Vitello acknowledged as much, saying he believed that players were focused on the long haul.
“But there’s also a pressing need in there for some feel-good and also to want to perform for the fans,” Vitello said. “I saw it on our guys’ faces and also in their hands when they’re squeezing the bat. So to be honest with you, I’d blame myself. Maybe it’s time to do what I can to maybe ease any tension in there so guys can be free and go out there and play. Because everybody on the field or in the stands know those guys can play that were in that lineup.”
Asked to clarify his “fire and brimstone” comment, Vitello said he might have overdone it in a team meeting prior to Wednesday’s opener.
“If anything, they’ve been in fifth gear and riding hot, maybe too much,” Vitello said. “Whether that weight falls on me or it’s more of a group effort, I think a relaxed version of this group probably makes the score and the outcome more competitive.
“All of us would not have predicted the last two days … but it’s baseball and we’ve seen two really good starters. At this point, emotions are a little too high and unfortunately this game is not like football. Baseball is more about intent than intensity. So in order for our guys to get their best intent, maybe it doesn’t need to be that fire-and-brimstone conversation I had with them three or four days ago, where they want to charge out of the locker room. (Don’t) have a football game or start a UFC fight or anything like that. Just go play ball. It starts with the leadership, so that’s why I say it’s up to me to point that out or help bring that along.”
The few players who remained in the Giants’ clubhouse a half-hour after the last out both appreciated and disagreed with Vitello’s sentiment.
“We’re all major-league players,” said Ray, an 11-year veteran. “We can handle the ups and downs. It’s one of those things that happened the first two games. It’s not ideal, but you’ve got 160 games left, so what are you gonna do with it?”
“I think we appreciate that sentiment, no doubt,” catcher Patrick Bailey said. “At the end of the day, we’re the ones with the bats and we’ve got to go up there and get the hits.”
Asked a follow-up question about pressing after two games, Bailey wore a bemused look.
“We play 162 games,” Bailey said. “Can you guys relax? I know you have to write your stories, but let’s relax a little bit, all right?”
If the starting catcher is telling beat reporters to relax, then there’s a good chance the manager doesn’t need to send the same message to his players. This pair of skunkings is probably more notable for the trivia it created than any referendum on the talent level of this lineup. The Giants’ 18 scoreless innings to start the season is their longest stretch since 1909 (when the New York Giants opened the season with a 13-inning shutout loss). The Giants also became the first major-league team to be held scoreless and limited to five hits or fewer over their first two games, according to the Associated Press.
Willy Adames went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in Friday’s 3-0 loss to the Yankees. (Darren Yamashita / Imagn Images)
Every member of the Giants’ lineup except leadoff hitter Luis Arraez struck out at least once. Chapman, who walked in the seventh and ninth, was the only Giant other than Ramos to reach base. Schlittler averaged 98.5 mph with a four-seam fastball he mostly used against left-handed hitters, he used a sinking, two-seam fastball against right-handed hitters, and mixed his cutter against both of them. He threw just 46 percent of his pitches in the strike zone, but the Giants chased 49 percent of his pitches out of the zone. The hitters were tentative on Automatic Ball-Strike challenges, too. Adames didn’t signal for a review when he struck out looking with a runner on base in the seventh.
“It’s never one thing (and) it depends what you want to pick apart,” Vitello said. “But I would say a few of those guys had some really short swings going on during spring training, and now it’s gotten a little bigger.”
The first two games have gone much better on the pitching side for everyone other than Opening Day starter Logan Webb. Every member of the bullpen has made an appearance and Stanton’s homer off Buttó was the only run allowed by five relievers on Friday.
Bailey offered high praise for Ray, saying the left-hander was “the best I’ve seen him since he’s been a Giant.” Ray rode his four-seam fastball and new changeup to an All-Star appearance last season, but he leaned most on his slider while winning the AL Cy Young Award with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021. Bailey said that version of the slider is back again.
“Hitters are reacting to it differently, the shape is different and I think he believes in it more,” Bailey said. “He’s always had the slider but I think it’s back to 2021.”
Among Ray’s finer moments was when he pitched around a charitably scored single that Adames bungled in the second inning. If anyone is in danger of pressing, it might be Adames, who hit .136 in spring training and undoubtedly wants to avoid last year’s glacial slump that stretched into June while he struggled to justify his seven-year, $182 million contract. Adames rallied in the second half last year and became the first Giant since Barry Bonds to hit 30 home runs in a season.
It’s how you finish that counts. But it’d be a good idea for the Giants to start sooner rather than later.
Borg’s arm could use the mobility work.