San Francisco Giants Head East After Getting Swept

The last time the San Francisco Giants took the field was quite forgettable. Coming out of the all-star break, the Majors’ best team seemed to have a great matchup to continue their winning ways. Instead, they got swept by the San Diego Padres.

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To San Diego’s credit, the Padres have been playing well lately, driven by a combination of resurgent seasons by Melvin Upton and Wil Myers and an infusion of some youngsters into the lineup—we profiled the Padres’ Triple-A studs earlier in the season, identifying them as potential headaches for the Giants.

That said, the Giants came out flat Friday, they self-destructed Saturday by losing on a walk-off balk, and they were at risk of being no-hit Sunday by a journeyman pitcher (Edwin Jackson) who carried a 6.33 ERA the last time he was a full-time starter. And for the first time this season, Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto lost in consecutive games.

Despite getting swept in San Diego, the Giants still own the best record in the Major Leagues. And more importantly, they lead the Dodgers by 5.5 games in the National League West.

But now the Giants have to regroup on the East Coast, where they take on the American League’s two most storied franchises during two games against Boston and three against the Yankees. The Red Sox series is a possible World Series matchup, while the Giants’ time in New York should be a great opportunity to scout potential trade targets and engage the Yankees’ brass in discussions about such.

Jake Peavy starts tonight, which will be an emotional outing for him, since he is an emotional guy and he won a World Series title with the Red Sox in 2013 (before winning another one the next season with the Giants). He faces off against Rick Porcello, who has been Boston’s second-best starter this season.

Next: Looking Forward to Return of Injured Giants

Wednesday’s mound matchup will be particularly intriguing, with Matt Cain making a return from the disabled list to take on Drew Pomeranz, who will be making his Red Sox debut. It won’t be the Giants’ first taste of Pomeranz this season, of course; they have faced him three times already, before the Padres traded him to Boston last week. So the Giants need to be wary that the Padres don’t continue haunting them beyond this past Sunday.