The 29-21 Giants are starting an eastern swing, visiting Washington, Detroit, and after an off-day, Miami. Apparently, they can ask the schedulers for three city road trips to minimize the number of very long flights. The 23-27 Nationals, who have won 4 straight, are first,
• Friday, 3:45, Landen Roupp (2-3, 4/11) vs. LHP MacKenzie Gore (2-4, 3.67)
• Saturday, 1:05, TBD vs. RHP Jake Irvin (3-1, 3.88)
• Sunday, 10:35, Robbie Ray (6-0, 2.67) vs. RHP Michael Soroka (1-2, 5.95)
We will be watching with interest who gets the start in Verlander’s slot, as he has now gone onto the IL with a strained pectoral. Will Carson Whisenhunt make his MLB debut? Whisenhunt went 7 innings for the Cats in a brilliant start on the 18th, two hits, a walk, and an unearned run. Will Kyle Harrison come out of the bullpen? Harrison appeared for 1.1 innings on the 20th, giving up a solo homer. Or they could recall someone like Tristan Beck, Mason Black, or Keaton Winn, who are already on the 40-man? Although that would be a fairly boring choice.
Over the last two weeks, the Giants have played rather lackadaisical baseball: swept by the Twins, lost the Snakes series 1-2, swept the A’s, lost the Royals series 1-2. It would behoove them to play very well against the Nationals, for the Tigers are the best team in baseball.
OK, the format police say the next paragraph should be manager Dave Martinez’ favorite starting team, with RBI:
🌸 1B Nathaniel Lowe (34), 2B Luis Garcia (19), SS CJ Abrams (19), 3B Jose Tena (9)
🌸 RF Robert Hassell (0), CF Jacob Young (6), LF James Wood (33, 12 HR)
🌸 C Keibert Ruiz (20), DH Josh Bell (15)
🌸 rotation: Gore, Irvin, Soroka, Mitchell Parker (4-3, 4.39), Trevor Williams (2-5, 6.39)
🌸 closer Kyle Finnegan, setups Jorge Lopez and Jose Ferrer
There are no ex-Giants on this team, since Derek Law and Paul DeJong are out injured. Darren Baker, now 26 years old, is on the 40-man, and played in 9 games this year, but he’s presently with the AAA Rochester team. The team promoted Hassell only a couple of days ago, to replace injured OF Dylan Crews.
Amidst an extreme paucity of runs in the Royals series, it seems Jung Hoo Lee was the best hitter. He was 1-4 with an RBI in each game. The bat in today’s picture finds baseball more often than not. Wisely, Lee has worked on his friendship with Mike Yastrzemski, and together they cover a lot of outfield grass. Lee is also an intelligent baserunner, and mark my words, JHL will be at the 2025 All Star Game. He is a great teammate, and if it weren’t for Wilmer Flores, you’d also be anticipating a Willie Mac Award! Well, we will see. We fans are fortunate to see him play every day.
