si
The San Francisco Giants dont have time to dwell on the past and certainly not on their most recent pelting issued by the Colorado Rockies.
This team has to focus on the future, and that starts with Robbie Ray taking the mound on Independence Day.
Robbie Ray Gives Giants Chance to Reset The veteran left-hander has been hot over the last month, and the Giants need him to be the stop point after they were handed an embarrassing loss.
Over his last six starts, Ray has allowed just seven earned runs over more than 39 innings.
He has put together one dominant start after another.
In four of those starts, Ray went deep into the game, and most impressively, in his last two starts he went for eight innings apiece.
If San Francisco is looking for someone to prevent a slide, it starts tonight with Ray.
Then again, pitching is just one piece of the equation.
The Lineup Has to Hold Up Its End Looking across the lineup, it is hard to make the argument that the talent isnt there.
Its there.
Tony Vitello only made minimal adjustments to the lineup for Saturdays matchup: - RF Heliot Ramos - 2B Luis Arraez (L) - 3B Casey Schmitt - 1B Rafael Devers (L) - CF Jung Hoo Lee (L) - SS Willy Adames - DH Bryce Eldridge (L) - LF Victor Bericoto - C Eric Haase Luis Arraez continues to hit above .320 while he sets the table at the top.
Jung Hoo Lee is batting .319 and just remains consistent day after day.
Rafael Devers and Casey Schmitt are tied for the team lead in home runs with 16.
Bryce Eldridge is producing a strong .829 OPS in his rookie year.
On paper, this group should be able to produce runs, but they havent.
On Friday, reality caught up with paper, and everything snowballed into a mess.
Logan Webb walked into Coors Field coming off an incredible month of June, when he even earned the National League Pitcher of the Month title.
Maybe that was an albatross because when he took the mound in Denver, he did not look like a standout.
He surrendered seven runs in just three innings.
The Rockies Jake McCarthy had his way with him with a leadoff home run.
It all went downhill from there.
The bullpen was forced into extra work, and the offense sure couldnt climb back.
Now the challenge begins to make sure that Friday is just one bad night that doesnt carry over and Saturday is a new day with another chance to turn things around.
The Giants come into game two of the series sitting at 36-51, a monumental 21 games behind the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.
They are 11 games out of the Wild Card spots.
At this point, if the goal is still to find a way to the playoffs, then every single game matters.
With this mentality, the series wins or losses will take care of themselves.
They need every game.
This makes Rays start that much more important.
The ace has the chance to set the tone of the game from the first pitch.
He is capable of doing so.
The hitters need to back up their ace and match his level every step of the way.
The memory from Friday wont fade fast, but it might serve as motivation to find the talent everyone knows they have.
Laura Lambert resides in Wiggins, Colo.
with her husband, Ricky and two sons, Brayden and Boedy.
She attended the University of Northern Colorado while studying economics.
She is an accomplished rodeo athlete and barrel horse trainer along with being a life-long sports fan.
Over the years, Laura has been active in journalism in a variety of roles.
While continuing to cover western sports and country music, she is currently enjoying expanding her reach into multiple sports including MLB, NHL, and WNBA.
Laura covers the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Colorado Rockies, Toronto Blue Jays, Miami Marlins and Rodeo for On SI.
You can reach her at [email protected].