As we approach the business end of the season, San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler and players are starting to feel the heat. The Giants are now nine games behind the rival San Diego Padres for a Wild Card spot. At a critical stage of the season, the team has not performed and has lost ground to their National League competitors.
Although the team won 3-2 against the Atlanta Braves last night, not everything is peachy in San Francisco. The organization started the season in promising fashion but has slipped lately. They are 5-5 in their last 10 games and have had difficulty finding any consistency. Fans have reached their boiling point and are now pointing the finger squarely at the management.
An incident in the eighth inning of Monday night's game magnified the team's troubles. Manager Gabe Kapler and relief pitcher Zach Little appeared to have a dispute on the mound. The body language was confrontational and created a tense situation in the dugout.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are inching their way into the playoffs, but the Giants seem to be going backward.
After the quarrel, the manager and pitcher went into the tunnel together to discuss the matter further.
Gabe Kapler seems to have lost the respect of his players. His decisions during the season have been mind-boggling, and many believe he is responsible for the mismanagement of this lineup.
Gabe Kapler has a mediocre .531 win percentage in his managerial career and has never won a playoff series
It seems likely the Giants will miss the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons, and fans are now questioning Gabe Kapler's managerial abilities. The former MLB outfielder is yet to prove himself as a top-tier manager.
During his two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, Kapler had a mediocre 161-163 record and never reached the playoffs. Since his move to the Giants, he has an improved 204-159 record but has not delivered in the postseason.
Fans are now calling for changes to the regime. Farhan Zaidi, President of Baseball Operations for the Giants, is also under heavy scrutiny. The Giants were expected to make some big moves during the August trade deadline but once again failed to deliver.
The Giants face two more difficult games versus the Braves followed by a three-game series versus the NL West's first-place Dodgers. The team is five games below .500 (68-73) with only 21 games remaining. They will need to go on a hot-streak if they hope to have any chance of securing a Wild Card sport in the National League.