Alex Cobb was sharp, but the Giants somehow still managed to appear lifeless in their 3-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night at Oracle Park.
San Francisco has lost each of the first three games of the four-game series, seven out of their last 10 games, and seven straight against their arch-rivals. Simply put, when it rains, it pours.
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Regardless of how well Cobb (L, 6 1/3 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K) pitched, even a few modest runs from the Dodgers just seemed like an insurmountable deficit for a struggling Giants offense.
Here are three observations from a loss that dropped the Giants to 51-54 on the season.
Over-matched, over-powered and lifeless
As exciting as the 2021 season was for fans of the historic Giants-Dodgers rivalry, this season has been nothing short of disappointing. With Wednesday's loss, the Giants have lost all seven games between the two teams since the All-Star break, falling to 3-9 on the season.
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It has become abundantly clear that the Dodgers are far and away a much superior team to the Giants. As of right now, they might as well be playing in completely different leagues.
Looking back on last season, the Giants' current roster (when healthy) isn't all that different than the one that won a franchise-best 107 games. What's become clear is that the magic that helped propel San Francisco to a division crown over the Dodgers just isn't there this season and it has created a stark contrast between the Giants' roster and that of the superstar-laden Dodgers.
Certainly, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and Co. will look to close that talent gap in the offseason.
Cobb as advertised
Wednesday night was another strong start for Cobb, who struck out eight batters over 6 1/3 innings of work, his second consecutive start with eight or more strikeouts after an 11-strikeout performance in last Friday's loss to the Chicago Cubs.
After allowing six earned runs in a start against the New York Mets on May 23, Cobb has allowed three or fewer runs in eight of his nine starts since, lowering his ERA from 6.25 to a respectable 3.97 after Wednesday's outing against the Dodgers.
Not only is Cobb happy to finally be contributing as a starter in the rotation, but he's pitching exactly how the Giants had hoped he would when they signed him to a two-year, $20 million contract in the offseason.
Off the interstate
Don't look now, but Joey Bart is starting to heat up. In fact, the rookie catcher finally has raised his average to .205 after a three-plus month journey on the interstate with batting averages that dipped as low as .153 at one point.
He followed his two-hit performance on Tuesday with a three-hit night on Wednesday, finally surpassing the Mendoza line.
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The Giants certainly aren't expecting high averages from Bart. In fact, the .237 clip he has posted over his last 30 games is the number we can expect to see from the 25-year-old -- along with an abundance of raw power.