SAN FRANCISCO — Logan Webb hadn’t sat down to his bacon and eggs Wednesday morning in Miami when his manager came to him with a request. Bob Melvin wanted Webb to take out the lineup card for the pregame exchange with the umpiring crew.
Was it superstition? Was it payment for a wager? Was it because Webb’s beloved Sacramento Kings ended the Golden State Warriors’ season?
“No, he’s just one of our guys,” Melvin said. “Willie Mays took out the lineup card when he was the Giants’ captain. Sonny Gray used to take it out for me (in Oakland). I like our guys to take the lineup card out. And he’s one of our guys.”
Webb complied. The Giants won Wednesday afternoon to clinch their first series victory of the series. You know what this means. When the Giants began a 10-game homestand Thursday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Melvin sought out Webb again: “You’re taking the card out tonight.”
“What?” Webb said. “I’m starting today.”
“So finish up a couple minutes early in the bullpen,” Melvin said.
There are so many layers to building any workplace relationship. Here is one: understanding when your boss is just joking with you.
No, Melvin was not serious. No, Webb did not take out the lineup card Thursday night. No, the Giants didn’t lose their good mojo because of it. Webb is better at chewing through lineups anyway. That’s what he did through seven shutout innings, using his changeup and slider to induce 13 groundball outs while protecting a one-run lead. Wilmer Flores and Mike Yastrzemski each drove in two runs in the eighth and the Giants played near flawless defense to win 5-0 in their first meeting against a division rival that figures to be bunched with them in the NL West standings all season.
In the zone-a vs Arizona 👌 pic.twitter.com/EVpX8WYGNa
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) April 19, 2024
“That’s probably as good a game as we’ve played all year,” Melvin said. “That’s what we’ve been looking for. We have to sustain it. We got good starting pitching, got big hits, good relief pitching, played great defense, all of the above. And I think that’s the type of team we’re capable of (being).”
It’s the type of team that finally appears well constructed to leverage their ace’s best attributes. Shortstop Nick Ahmed, playing against his former team for the first time, switched his glove to the bare floors setting while sucking up grounders. Jung Hoo Lee ran down a deep drive on the track in center field to begin the sixth. Yastrzemski made a tumbling catch of a ball at his shoe tops behind Tyler Rogers in the eighth. Yastrzemski also made a low-key important play to help Webb get through a turbulent first inning without giving up a run. If not for Yastrzemski’s short-hop snag, Corbin Carroll’s single would’ve gone for an RBI double or triple.
“The defense in general was awesome,” Webb said. “Today’s a perfect example of the type of team we are.”
They had the right barware, the right garnish and a little offensive juice in the eighth. But there’s no confusion over who put the rum in the punch. Webb appears to have made a full recovery from an uneven spring (10.97 ERA) and an uncharacteristic start at Dodger Stadium on April 2 in which he abandoned his changeup and induced a grand total of one ball in play on the ground.
He induced 12 outs on the ground in each of his two previous starts. He was even better Monday night against a lineup that features plenty of athleticism and hitters who like to launch — with former Giant Joc Pederson now holding down a featured role as the designated hitter against right-handers. Smirks were exchanged when Webb retired Pederson three times, including a whistler back to the mound that Ahmed ranged to spear off one hop.
What most impresses Melvin about Webb is that he appears to be finding ways to improve even after coming off a career-best season and a runner-up finish for the Cy Young Award. Webb is establishing the inside part of the plate to right-handers better than he ever has. He has improved his times to the plate. He worked on his pickoff move and it resulted in tittering laughter from the crowd in the seventh when Christian Walker fell down after Webb caught him leaning off first base.
“And his slider is way better,” Melvin said of Webb’s sweeping third pitch, which he used to generate a handful of chase swings. “It’s a true three-pitch mix now.”
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Three-pitch mix? Let’s not be accused of four-seam erasure. Webb doesn’t throw his straight fastball often, even though there’s nothing that strokes his ego more than blowing a challenge heater at 92 mph past a major-league hitter. But it’s not a useless pitch, either. He used it above the zone to record a swinging strikeout of Ketel Marte in the third inning. He also threw it with a two-strike count to Carroll in the sixth. Carroll took the high pitch, but the four-seamer might have set up a frozen take on the called two-seamer that followed.
The Giants’ analytics team has informed Webb gently but insistently: His four-seamer is a bad pitch. His former pitching coach, Andrew Bailey, would roll his eyes when Webb recorded an out on a four-seamer, knowing it would make the battle all the more difficult to talk him out of throwing it. But Webb’s four-seamer is like having Bénédictine in your liquor cabinet. When used in moderation, and in the right context, it can be an essential ingredient. When Jace Peterson grounded out on the pitch in the fifth, it was the first time in four swings this season that an opposing hitter made contact against Webb’s four-seamer.
“Thank you for mentioning that,” Webb said, offering his fist to bump. “But it’s still my worst pitch.”
It’s stunning to go back through the Statcast data and realize that in 2019, when Webb made his eight-start debut in the major leagues, he was throwing that ineffective four-seamer 43.5 percent of the time. Opponents hit .339 against it. There might be no better recent example of a young starting pitcher continuing his development after graduating from the minor leagues. Although transitioning from a closer with a 104 mph fastball to a grounder-inducing starter, as Jordan Hicks is doing this season, certainly qualifies as well. Perhaps by the end of this season, rookie left-hander Kyle Harrison will have something totally different, forged against major-league competition, to pair with his top-rail fastball.
The Giants still haven’t gotten to flicker the new and improved LED lights at home. They’ve hit 17 home runs in 13 road games but none in seven home games. They couldn’t even create a club scene for closer Camilo Doval because a 1-0 game quickly turned into a non-save situation.
Not that Melvin was complaining. When Flores laced his bases-loaded pinch double, it was the first multiple-RBI hit by a Giant at home this season. A manager tends to look pretty smart when he pinch hits for his cleanup hitter (Michael Conforto) and the guy he chooses off the bench comes up with the big hit. But the only reason Flores was available was because Melvin didn’t use him to pinch hit for LaMonte Wade Jr. with two on and one out in the third inning, which might have been the play in past seasons after right-hander Ryne Nelson exited because of an elbow injury and the Diamondbacks replaced him with left-hander Logan Allen.
“LaMonte’s been taking great at-bats against righties and lefties,” Melvin said. “I felt confident LaMonte was going to get a run in in a situational at-bat. And the last thing I want to do is have a whole lineup of righties in the fourth inning.”
Wade contributed a sacrifice fly in the third. He also walked in an eighth-inning rally that Ahmed started with a double off the wall. And Flores was available late when the Giants needed him to be a difference maker.
The Giants haven’t put together a three-game winning streak yet. They’ll try to do it behind Blake Snell on Friday. You’d better believe it: Melvin already knows who will take out the lineup card.
“It’ll be Webby tomorrow,” Melvin said. “You’ll see.”
(Photo of Logan Webb pitching in the first inning Thursday against the Diamondbacks: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)
