Posey and Crawford lead the Giants past the Diamondbacks 7-2

The San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday by a convincing 7-2 score to sweep a two-game streak. The concept of a two-game series is offensive, so let’s forget that part and just think about the sweep. The scans are good.

It was not an interesting game. Note that I said “interesting” and not “pleasant”. It was definitely an enjoyable game. It was a very enjoyable game, assuming you rooted for the Giants.

It just wasn’t interesting.

They took the lead and held the lead, except for a very early hiccup. They rarely seemed in danger of regurgitating their hard-earned lead, and even when they did, it wasn’t particularly worrying. They did not allow any staging.

Here, look at the probability of winning graph:

Forget that blip in the fourth round that contradicts the narrative I’m running with. No one believes this shot. Fake news blip.

The Giants won in large part because they hit more home runs (4) than they allowed (0). This has been a solid equation for them that they have used over and over again to achieve the best baseball record.

So let’s take a look at those home runs, because they were really beautiful, each one of them.

No wait. Let’s take a look at the runs before the home runs, because they were so beautiful, every one of them.

The Giants scored in the first inning, thanks to a brace from Brandon Crawford.

We’re 50 games away from the finish line, which means fears that Crawford has an extreme second-half regression that nullifies his stellar first half are fading by the day. You like to see it.

The Diamondbacks recovered that race, so the Giants countered in the second with a single RBI from… Kevin Gausman.

Gausman had two hits. Two hits! When was the last time a Giants pitcher had two hits? I’m not going to answer that question, as it’s not interesting enough to watch, so mumble something about Madison Bumgarner and we’ll all move on.

OK, now we can talk about this quartet of long balls.

It was Buster Posey in the third round. Remember what I said about Crawford and the regression? Same thing with Posey. Every day – and every home run – brings us closer to who he is and the season he is experiencing.

And Oracle Park’s oppo tacos by right-handed hitters will be never get old. Unless they’re hit by non-Giant hitters. Then, they age quickly.

A round later it was LaMonte Wade Jr., with one of my favorite styles of home run: the off-the-outfielder dinger.

Baseball is so often a battle between the pitcher and the batter. As a batter, you can disrespect the pitcher by spitting on his pitches and pulling on his hangers. But you can’t disrespect position players so often. I savor the moments when they arrive.

Look how crazy Ketel Marte is! You would also be angry if you were wasting energy running and jumping for a team that has 45 games under 0.500.

The Giants added one in the seventh when Crawford landed his third hit of the day, giving him a shy triple of the cycle. Remember my blurb on Crawford that I asked you to remember when you were talking about Posey? You can bring it up again here. We’re over two-thirds of the season and Crawford has the best batting average, base percentage and stroke percentage of his career, and it’s not even close.

And finally it was Alex Dickerson, who put the icing on the dinger sundae with a ball in the water, where it belongs.

I probably shouldn’t end this article without mentioning the Giants’ box, which pitched four scoreless innings with just three baserunners allowed. The Giants seem to know what they were doing trading for Tony Watson, who was brilliant.

The only downside of the day was that the Los Angeles Dodgers won, so the Giants didn’t gain ground. And if you feel like it’s a theme, well … you don’t imagine things.

Since the All-Star break, the Giants and Dodgers have played the same day – but not against each other – 16 times. Here’s how those days went:

July 16: Both win
July 17: Giants lose, Dodgers win
July 18: Both lose
July 23: Both lose
July 24: Giants lose, Dodgers win
July 25: Both win
July 30: Both lose
July 31 : Both win
1st of August : Both win
August 3: Both lose
August 4: Both win
August 6: Both lose
August 7: Both win
August 8: Both win
August 10: Both win
August 11: Both win

And if you think that’s frustrating … try to be the team that’s four games behind, instead of four more.

But I don’t recommend it.