Giants 5, Cubs 4: This bullpen is terrible. Get rid of them. I’m always serious.

I think I’ve seen this movie before
And I didn’t like the ending – Taylor Swift

SAN FRANCISCO — It’s almost like Craig Counsell is making fun of the front office. “Look at those horrible painkillers you gave me,” Counsell appears to say to Jed Hoyer. “I’m going to keep using them until you give me guys who can get hitters out.”

Something like that is going through my mind, at least, if it’s not going through Counsell’s after another breathtaking bullpen collapse that resulted in a 5-4 Giants win over the Cubs, literally a walk-off because Drew Smyly walked in the game-winning drive. .

Yes, we’ve seen this movie before. Just last week, in fact.

But it wasn’t just the bullpen failing. It was the Cubs’ lack of hitting with runners in scoring position. This game shouldn’t have even been close, the Cubs left 12 men on base and even though they had four hits with RISP, it was 4 for goodness sake, they had so many opportunities and so many complete failures. .

Sigh. Let’s start with the beginning.

As usual, the Cubs failed to score in the first inning. I suggested a roster shakeup, but Counsell doesn’t seem to want to do that either.

Fortunately, Justin Steele was really on his game. He allowed a first-inning single to Heliot Ramos, but that was the Giants’ only base runner through four innings.

The Cubs took the lead in the fourth inning. Cody Bellinger and Christopher Morel singled and Ian Happ walked to load the bases with no outs. The Fangraphs Point Expectation Matrix indicates that on average, teams should score at least two points in this situation.

The Cubs didn’t do that. Dansby Swanson flew to right and the runners held.

Michael Busch beat this dribbler up the court and it was 1-0 (VIDEO).

These are still bases loaded with one out. The run expectancy matrix is ​​about 1.5 runs on average in this situation.

But the Cubs didn’t score again. Tomas Nido struck out and Pete Crow-Armstrong grounded out, and that was that.

The Cubs extended the lead in the fifth, and it was a great inning. Nico Hoerner led off with a walk and Seiya Suzuki moved him to third.

Another Cody Bellinger single made it 2-0 (VIDEO).

Suzuki took second, where a wild pitch advanced the finalists, and Christopher Morel walked to load the bases.

Happ batted down a double-play relay and it was 3-0 Cubs (VIDEO).

Then Swanson doubled Bellinger and it was 4-0 (VIDEO).

There are still runners in second and third here with just one out. The Giants brought in Spencer Howard, who the Cubs hit pretty hard at Wrigley Field last week.

Howard struck out Busch and Nido to end the inning. That’s more Cubs stuck in scoring position, if you’re keeping track.

Matt Chapman singled out Steele in the bottom of the inning and it’s now 4-1. In the top of the sixth, PCA led off with a triple into the deepest part of Oracle Park and you could tell he was thinking at least “an inside-the-park home run,” but even with his speed, that was not possible. Nico had an infield hit but PCA had to hold on to third place.

First and third, no one absent, race expectancy of 1.798, or almost two races.

You know by the final score that the actual runs scored by the Cubs here were zero after Suzuki appeared and Bellinger and Morel retired.

Then the wheels started to fall off. Nick Ahmed, who is 34 and hadn’t hit a home run in over a year…hit Steele to make it 4-2. But again, Steele recovered and didn’t allow a runner to advance to first until a one-out double in the eighth…a ball Suzuki should have caught.

Steele had a nice outing, the two home runs aside, he struck out nine and threw the fourth most pitches of his career, 106. That included 81 strikeouts, which is impressive. Here are his nine strikeouts (VIDEO).

Learn more about Steele’s release (VIDEO).

Tyson Miller replaced Steele and retired the next two batters without incident. But the Cubs failed to get a runner past first base in the final three innings.

We are now in the bottom of the ninth and the Cubs are still up by two runs. Miller had only thrown eight pitches (six strikes). Why not leave him outside, Craig?

But the Cubs manager didn’t do it. He called on Colten Brewer. Chapman hit a fly to center that even the speedy PCA couldn’t catch, the ball going in and out of his glove. Thairo Estrada beat out a bunt for a single, with Chapman taking third.

A sacrifice fly made the score 4-3. OK, now there’s one out and a runner on first. The run expectancy is only .489 — the Cubs should win this game!

Drew Smyly was summoned. Of course, the Giants counter with right-handed hitters. Coming into this match, Smyly was actually a little better against RHB. But he allowed a single to Patrick Bailey that put runners on first and second. A walk to Ahmed loaded the bases and another sac fly tied the game 4-4, with the other runners advancing as well. So at least maybe this game can have some extras?

The Cubs chose to intentionally walk Ramos, but Smyly couldn’t throw a strike to Wilmer Flores, a walk followed and the Giants won.

I’m just going to repost what I wrote last week:

There are four relievers in Iowa who are on the 40-man roster and have options: Daniel Palencia, Porter Hodge, Ethan Roberts and Michael Arias. Jorge Lopez just signed to a minor league, he’s been reasonably effective the last few years, why not give him a try? Eliminate the relievers who can’t break out in the big leagues and bring in one or more of these guys. I mean, How much worse could it be?

Monday evening we realized how much worse the situation could be. Another song comes to mind:

Well, I was disgusted
Now I’m trying to have fun — Elvis Costello

If you can stomach it, here’s a minute of Craig Counsell’s post-game comments (VIDEO).

And it was another bullpen game for the Giants, who are short a starting group and may have to throw yet ANOTHER bullpen game on Tuesday.

The Giants held a pregame ceremony to honor Willie Mays as it was their first home game following Mays’ passing last week at the age of 93. Both teams lined up along the baseline before the game to honor the Giants superstar:

Al Yellon

So it was fittingly the 24th of the month, and as you can see, all the Giants players and coaches wore Mays’ number 24 to honor him. The game was not an enjoyable one, however, at least from the Cubs’ point of view. I’m just going to repost this, again, from last week’s debacle:

I’m tired of watching this bad baseball and so are you. Jed Hoyer, you have been warned. Make changes. NOW.

This time, though, it wasn’t just the bullpen, it was all 12 men left on base. Again, this game shouldn’t have even been close.

Kyle Hendricks will start for the Cubs on Tuesday night in the second of this four-game series. As noted above, the Giants do not have a starter listed and this could be another bullpen game for them. Game time is again at 8:45 p.m. CT and television coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network (and MLB Network outside of the Cubs and Giants market territories).