Getting funky in here

Smell-wise, not music wide. Also, the smell is a metaphor.

The Giants are in a funk. They can’t hit, their baserunning is terrible, and after losing 5 of 6 to the Marlins and White Sox, two of the worst teams in the league, they immediately dropped their first game in Arizona. They played 27 games in the month of June and scored more than 5 runs in exactly 6 of them, and three of those were in Colorado against the Rockies, so they don’t really count.

So in non-Coors Field games, the Giants scored at least 6 runs just 3 times in 24 tries last month, once each against the Padres, Dodgers, and Red Sox. Judging by their first game in Arizona, they’re not exactly getting better. So what’s the fix? Well, it’s simple, and I’ll tell you after the jump.

There isn’t one.

Social media is abuzz with the possibility of firing Pat Burrell, and firing Pat Burrell will not fix this offense. Pat Burrell also does not seem to be helping the hitters, but that may be a structural flaw in the idea of attributing all hitting success and failure to the hitting coach, instead of a personal flaw with him. The same goes to getting rid of Damon Minor and Oscar Bernard, both assistant hitting coaches on the 2025 Giants, and both not likely to be the problem here.

This stretch of the doldrums — of that pervasive listlessness which surrounds the Giants — is what we’re all up against. I know I’ve been feeling it during just about every Giants game over the last week — they go down 2-0 and it feels pointless to even follow it on my phone, much less watch it on TV.

Generally speaking, the move here is to argue that the Giants need a jolt to wake them up and get them going again. But the Giants already got that jolt. Rafael Devers was supposed to tide the team over until Matt Chapman gets back, and while Devers hasn’t been an actively bad hitter as a Giant — before last night’s 4-strikeout game he had been a slightly above league average hitter, though oh boy was he not fun to watch last night — he also hasn’t been actively good, and he hasn’t provided that energy that the team needs.

Is this an adjustment period? Is this a lingering effect from the injury he’s been playing through? Have the Giants simply ruined him, like they ruin player after player, leaving them empty shells waiting for death? Well, I hope it’s not the last one, because that contract goes for a while, but it’s interesting how Devers embodies the negative vibes that are currently infesting the team like termites in dry rot.

The most important thing to remember, though, is that this will pass. At some point, whether it be next week, next month, or next year (hopefully it will be sooner than next year), the Giants will turn things around and look like a competent major league team that deserves to take the field. They will stop making so many baserunning goofs and start getting on base and hitting for power. It will be fine.

Please remember, this is a long season and games and series exactly like this test everyone. Just about every team has to go through this at some point, and just about every fanbase starts to lose its shit because their team is staggeringly mortal. The Giants are not special in this regard. Hell, they haven’t even been apocalyptically bad at scoring runs this month, with multiple teams behind them in most offensive categories.

But they are frustrating and annoying, and every time something good happens to them, they do two bad things just so no one gets cocky. Brett Wisely can get hits, but when he does, he immediately gets himself thrown out on the basepath. Again, though, this is remarkably common among baseball teams. Go to any Yankees fan’s social media, and you’ll see page after page of anger at Anthony Volpe for doing whatever he did or not doing whatever he didn’t do — I don’t know the details and I’m not interested in them.

One day, this will all resolve. It will all fade, and none of it will be the story of the 2025 Giants. But for now, man, is this narrative strong. Just remember, the Giants will get through this. You will get through this. It can’t be like this forever. Hopefully, the change starts tonight.