Things do not improve. In fact, they get worse as we lose 5 of our next 7 and fall out of first place.
Brown aside (who ends up winning the monthly award), our pitching is in utter disarray, with our ERA blowing out almost a full point since the start of June. While he’s no worse than the others, Mirabal loses his rotation spot, with Webster McDonald given the chance to cement it.
The downtrend continues. We lose 4 straight at home to the Giants as we seem to have utterly forgotten how to win.
This is not simply a matter of metrics. While our ERA is ballooning, it is doing so from what was an unsustainably low level. Our hitting is still fine, with Walker and Waner continuing to go gangbusters. Our defence remains at the top of the class.
No, this – as the wags often say about insanity –
is all in our heads. We have, for the moment, stopped making the decisive plays at the crucial moments in games. The key hit. The routine out. The important pitch. One stat above all confirms this: we are an ugly 12-23 in one-run games.
I tinker with the lineup a wee bit, returning us to the combination that worked so well last season with a straight swap: Williams at cleanup, Beckwith at 5. I also replace Lundy with Toporcer at 2B. Dick just isn’t getting things done.
It is by no means crisis time. But it is crunch time. None of the other teams have made a strong move, leaving the division bunched and up for grabs. We simply need to get back to basics. Three extra-inning wins late in the month that form part of a yet-unbroken 6-game win string and restore us to the top of the standings are a promising sign we are already doing just that. The AL also looks set to go down to the wire.
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