The Giants took the rubber game of a three game set with the Cubs with a 13th inning walk-off hit by Buster Posey. This was the second walk-off in the series and the eighth walk-off of the year, which leads all of baseball.

Chad and Eric chat about the current homestand, Crawford and Posey's selections to the All-Star game, the timely pitching of Dereck Rodriguez and Suarez, the return of Johnny Cueto, the trade of Gearrin and Jackson, more trade rumors and more!

Friend of the show Ryan Leong passed along this youtube video, it's a good watch. "The Giants Story, A Tale Of Two Cities" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDNdb2xHxCI

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The surging Giants just completed a 3 game sweep of the division-leading Diamondbacks in Arizona behind timely hitting and phenomenal pitching from their staff. All told, the Giants have won 10 of their last 12 and find themselves only 2 1/2 back of Arizona in a virtual tie with the Dodgers. After the final 3 games on this road trip in Colorado, the Giants return home once again for 10 games before the All-Star break. The Giants currently have the best home record in the NL, so home cooking should be good to close out the first half.

Eric and Chad discuss the latest successful homestand, walk-offs by Pence and Crawford, incredible pitching from their rookies and Bumgarner, and how the Giants will handle both Samardzija and Cueto coming back to the rotation, given the great performances from Suarez and Rodriguez. In fact, the Giants are 8-2 in their last 10 combined starts (2.62 ERA).

We also talk about who's hot and not, this date in Giants history, and the All-Star game vote here in Episode #146 of the TortureCast, the podcast by and for fans of the San Francisco Giants.

We've had a string of real-life incidents get in the way of recording the last 3+ weeks, including Memorial Day, the death of Chad's dog, Eric's car breaking down, and a hair appointment (long story). Alas, Eric and Chad get back together to talk about what we've missed and where the Giants are. They are .500, 4 games back, and quite frankly, in a position to win the west, now that they have MadBum, Panik, Williamson, Hanson, Melancon and others back on the roster. That said, they're missing Strickland to a self-inflicted hand injury, and Longoria also breaking the same 5th metacarpal that both Strickland and Bum broke. It's like whack-a-mole with injuries this year. Get one back, another one goes down.

They've won 3 in a row, 4 of their last 5, and Bum had a classic dominant performance last night against the Padres. This is the point. The Giants can't keep giving away games. Just one or two games a month equates to 6-12 for the year, which can make the difference in a season. The Astros won like 13 in a row, including many close games that they didn't give up. That's the mark of a championship team, like the Giants were for their 3 World Series rings.

Eric and Chad talk about who their pick for team MVP is so far this season, drafting Joey Bart, who's hot and who's not, injuries and more in this packed episode #145 of the TortureCast!

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Brandon Belt was just named NL player of the week. Belt hit .444 with 5 HRs for the week, and is now in the top 5 of most offensive categories in the NL and is an MVP candidate at this point. So, suck it, Belt haters.

Brandon Crawford has raised his average from .189 on May 1 to .302 by hitting well over .500 in the month of May. He credits his turnaround to Panda and Blanco, who noted that he used to have his hands set a little higher, just mere inches. Low and behold he checked the video and fixed it.

MadBum has three rehab starts coming up, Mac Williamson will be back soon, and the Giants might be running into a buzzsaw of a road trip, facing Houston, Chicago Cubs, and Colorado. This might be a tough road trip to survive.

The offensive explosion this month has compensated for the horrendous starting pitching, which has plummeted the Giants to 12th in the NL in ERA at 4.33. That said, the entire NL West is struggling, and the Diamondbacks have opened the door for almost any team to take command. The Giants are in 3rd, just 2 games back at 24-24, but the Dodgers have won 4 in a row and are just 3 games back of the Giants.

This is anyone's race!

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How could losing 6 out of 7 be worse? Well, if the rest of the NL West played well, that's how. The Giants, coming off a sweep of Atlanta, were only 4 games back of division-leading Arizona. Although they went on to lose 6 out of 7 this week, they find themselves only 4.5 games out. Arizona got swept, LA got swept, Colorado didn't play very well. So, at 20-21, the Giants return home to face the Reds in a critical series to stay in the hunt until MadBum and Cueto can return to aid this team.

Chad and Eric talk about the starting staff that just got absolutely wrecked in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and their astronomically high strikeout ratio.

Fellow fans, there are silver linings to everything, and this podcast has a very thick lining.

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The Giants are hotlanta right now after sweeping the young, first place Braves to start off their 10 game road trip. The Giants have won 4 in a row, 5 series in a row, 7 of 8, and 11 of 14. Their record stands at 19-15, 4 games back of the division-leading Diamondbacks. Chad and Eric discuss their .417 average with runners in scoring position over the weekend, the great pitching, Johnny Cueto's elbow, kicking the tires on Matt Harvey, who's hot and not, injuries and more. We like to record when the Giants are good! Thanks for all of your great comments and support!

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The Giants wrapped up the week with a 5-2 record as a part of a 7-3 homestand, propelling them above .500 for the first time this season.

Chad and Eric talk about the hot offense, Panda's perfect inning, who's hot and who's not, and injuries. Speaking of which, we might be saddled with bad news regarding Johnny Cueto. Although he's seeking second opinions about his UCL, it could mean Tommy John surgery.

The Giants are off for a 10 game road trip, and have 18 road games in May, vs. 7 at home. Could be a tough month for the Giants, or it could be an opportunity for the offense to continue heating up in these small ballparks.

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Just to be clear, we do not hate Brandon Belt, but we know that many Giants' fans do, and we are perplexed. Chad and Eric talk about that along with the week in review, who's hot or not, a little lineup reconstruction, the return of the Mac, and much more.

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This is a week that you just wanna punch right in the face and forget about. It was a rough weekend bender, at best. Giants go 2-5, but the worst of it coming on the backend, losing three straight to the lowly Padres. Eric noted that after the Giants went 9-0 against San Diego in the first half of 2016, they are 10-23 since, and haven't won a series against them during that time. 

The Giants continue to have the worst batting average with runners in scoring position, a lowly .158, despite their overall team average at .244, which is 8th in MLB. 

Struggling players include Beede (sent down, Cueto up), Pence, Belt, Dyson and Osich, versus the relatively few hot players (Posey, Crawford, Stratton).

We also talk about two SJ Giant teammates who hit for the cycle it the SAME game, then later that week, hit walk off homers each in back to back games! We review the injury report and bitch about Melancon. Overall, not a chipper episode, but a meaty one.

This, and so much more in episode #139 of the TortureCast!

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Although it's been a week since we last recorded, the Giants only played 4 games, thanks to off days and a rainout. They went 2-2 last week, splitting 2 game series each with the Mariners and Dodgers, but the Dodgers series was dramatic! The Giants blew a lead late to force extra innings, and actually went down 5-4 in the 14th before Andrew McCutchen launched the most memorable hit of this young season, a 3 run homer to win the game. He also went 6-7, the first time a SF Giant had 6 hits at home...ever! They also exploded for 10 runs in game 2 vs. the Mariners.

Chad and Eric discuss these four games, significant at bats, who's hot and who's not, and preview the upcoming week.

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