Giants wrap up solid first homestand

With four of the six games to kick off the season being decided by 2 or less runs, it's been a familiar start to 2022 for Giants' fans.

I just wanted to give a little assessment of the overall home stand. Everything went pretty well and the big offensive explosion on Tuesday night I think alleviated some of the worry about the teams inability to string together hits and keep rally's alive. They're not always going to be able to hit three home runs a night. They have to really cash in on those opportunities with runners in scoring position and they were able to do that enough to go 4-2 on the homestand. And we can't forget, this team is still missing 1/3 of their regular starting lineup, so things should only get better when the reinforcements return.

We also can't overlook the fact that they've faced 6 straight very strong pitchers to start this season. The Marlins threw three guys at them who are all top of rotation talents and it didn't get easier with the Padres. Them being able to get to Yu Darvish like they did on Tuesday and knock him out in the 2nd inning should definitely breed some confidence though.

I wrote in our previous post how impressed I was with Joey Bart that first series, both behind the plate and with the bat in his hands. He had a little bit of a rough ending to the homestand as he went 0-3 with three punch-outs. The strikeout rate is something he's going to have to work on, but fortunately for him he's mixing in some walks with those k's. Plus, when he is making contact, it's loud contact. Even in a full stadium on TV you can hear the difference with balls he's squaring up compared to other guys and it's impressive. He's still got some learning to do but he's definitely on the right track.

Same can be said for Heliot Ramos. His first big league stint was a quick one, but he got a lot of good experience and collected a couple hits. With the Giants heading into a stretch vs. right-handed pitching and Kapler sticking with his platoon-heavy approach, Ramos would find himself on the bench a lot over the next week-plus. Might as well have him playing everyday in Sacramento. I personally would have liked to see him get a little more of a run vs. right-handers but I understand the logic in what they're doing with him.

Luke Williams also has come up and opened some eyes with the at-bats he's taken early on. It was his clutch 2-out, 2-RBI double off Sean Manaea which was the difference in the game Wednesday. He came up with a big RBI in the finale against Miami as well and seems to have shown a knack for hitting in the clutch. 

The pitching was terrific this home stand though, especially the starters, and ultimately that's why they head to Cleveland at 4-2. They didn't have much offense on Wednesday but Logan Webb made it stand with his second consecutive solid outing to kick off his '22. I was perhaps most impressed with Alex Cobb on Tuesday though. This dude is filthy. I'd seen him pitch before but I don't remember him having the pop and movement like he had vs. the Padres. I'm surprised they were able to generate anything off him. If the Giants are going to get that kind of production and that kind of stuff from their fifth starter, this rotation is definitely going to be one of the premiere ones in all of baseball.

Camilo Doval ran into some trouble in that finale, but he showed why the Giants have so much confidence in him getting Matt Beaty to strike out with the bases loaded to end things. I have no concerns about him I think he's only going to get better the more he's in those situations. I still would ideally like to see the Giants add one more veteran late-relief option to get more of a bullpen dynamic that the Dodgers had last year but I know that's easier said than done.

Other than that things went pretty smoothly. Pretty much exactly as you would have drawn it up. No, they didn't go 6-0 to start like we all would have hoped but they won the close games and they showed that their offense is coming around. LaMonte Wade and Tommy La Stella seem like they're still a ways off. Both are resuming baseball activities this week, however. They'll both probably get a few games in Sacramento before joining the Giants so earliest on both would probably be end of next week if all goes well.