:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63856101/godley.0.jpg)
In case you missed it, mixed news from the MRIs carried out on the arms of Arizona pitchers Zack Greinke and Taijuan Walker this afternoon. First, the good news: Greinke’s came back clean. He’s going to throw a bullpen session tomorrow, and if all goes well, could avoid a trip to the injured list. Now, the bad news: no such luck for Taijuan. He suffered a capsule sprain in his shoulder - at least it wasn’t the elbow which is recuperating from Tommy John surgery. He is going to be shut down for six weeks, so we’re not going to see him until into the second half of the season. Not ideal, but if that’s the worst thing which happens in his post-TJ rehab, we’ll take it.
Game of Thrones night at Chase Field, so your chance to pick up a bobblehead of a pitcher who performed so badly this season, his “starts” now last two innings, a change which the manager didn’t tell him about that beforehand. This may be an entirely appropriate metaphor for the current season of GoT, which has made a lot of people very annoyed. While I agree some of the writing has been lackluster, it was always going to be a challenge to tie up so many loose ends satisfactorily. Some of it has worked, some hasn’t, but we’ve been more than happy with the spectacle as it has unfolded. As audiences fracture, it may be the last “great” TV show, in the sense it has become a water-cooler topic.
Man, remember when the Giants were good? That whole “even-year” thing they had going on, winning three World Series in a five-year period? Now: not so much. Since the start of 2017, only the Marlins have won fewer games in the National League [over the same timeframe, the D-backs have won fourth-most, behind the Dodgers, Cubs and Brewers]. This year. they’re already 9.5 back, and interest is largely now focused on whether or not Madison Bumgarner gets dealt somewhere else at the trade deadline. If he goes, I can see the Giants challenging their wretched 2017, when they went 64-98, for their worst record since 1985. Be nice to help them down that route with three more defeats this weekend.