In Sunny San Francisco—
The Ms drop their second consecutive series of the season Sunday despite a heroic catch by Victor Robles in the 9th.
Vic’s Webgem worthy display of athleticism promptly devolved into collective worry as his warped body awkwardly worked its way out of the webbing of the right field foul net.
Robles (27), who ~for the sake of theatrics~ routinely embellishes situations that may or may not have actually caused him serious physical harm immediately prompted those I was watching with, and perhaps others who are familiar with his shenanigans, to reactively gasp “he’s okay…” — After a beat, it was immediately evident that he was not.
As play stopped tied 4-4 in the bottom of the 9th, his outfield office-mates rushed to check on him before he was ultimately carted off the diamond gingerly holding his left wrist and obviously in a lot of pain. After the game a nervously mumbling Dan Wilson mentioned that it may actually be his shoulder under concern and that we’d know more tomorrow after further imaging.
The next pitch Wilmer Flores singled into shallow right field to walk-it-off for the Giants.
In a game where it felt like we desperately needed a win— after an 11th inning heart breaker on Friday and a Robbie Ray revenge L Saturday, a game where Cal & Julio both went deep early to give Woo some rare room to work with against his childhood team— all we were left with was insult to injury.
So what happens now?
I’ll keep my thoughts fairly short tonight— partly because it’s hard to be motivated to write about this team right now, and partly because I want to save some bullets for a column in the works for next week. So, three things right now:
1. I could be wrong, but it seems like Vic is going to be out for an extended period of time. All signs point to Dom Canzone taking his place in right field for the time being. I like Dom, I hope he can show some consistency while he gets another shot to shine. Against opposing lefty starters my guess would be that D-Mo gets the nod in the OF and we cross our fingers that Polanco’s arm doesn’t disintegrate.
2. We come home tomorrow to play series against division rivals Houston and Texas. The old adage is that there aren’t any must win games/series in April but it sure does feel like if we can’t scrape at least one series win and avoid a sweep in the other, then I’ll be eating my bat tape as mentioned in Thursday’s post.
3. Okay, bear with me. I have an overwhelmingly emotional take right now and it’s about Dan Wilson. Personally, I’ve never been one to point fingers at managers. It’s a tough job— they aren’t the ones swinging at balls in the dirt or deciding who gets paid or not paid in the offseason. But for the love of god, Dan, PLEASE get more angry.
During Friday’s frustrating 11th inning loss, anyone who watched until the end noticed Carlos Vargas getting inexcusably squeezed on pivotal ball and strike calls when it mattered most. Vargas who was visibly fuming at home plate ump Sean Barber appeared to be on an island as Dan remained steadfast in his frustratingly unwavering calmness.
Arguing balls and strikes is almost always going to get a manager tossed, but I think that is exactly what the team needed in that moment. We need some fire! Dan needs to be a part of that. Hell, let’s get another 2022 Winker-esque brawl going— it seemed to work last time.
Cheers,
Noah
Terrace Club Blues 