Disappointing road trip leaves Giants facing huge deadline decisions

LOS ANGELES -- There are pivot points in every season, and on Thursday morning, the Giants were hopeful they had witnessed an important one the night before. 

Robbie Ray had nearly been knocked out in the first inning of his season debut. That would have not only wrecked the bullpen, it likely would have led to a third straight loss at Dodger Stadium, and extinguished the hope that the rotation could be dominant down the stretch. 

Some in the clubhouse had the same thought as they watched Ray's shaky first inning: "It's over." Ray, however, fought back. His debut ultimately was so dominant that the Giants felt they had finally grabbed a sliver of momentum.

"Because of where we are, that was a huge inning to get through," manager Bob Melvin said on Thursday morning. "And winning the game was obviously big for us, as well."

There is no avoiding where they are. The Giants try not to think about it, but they know the math. Just in case any don't, their president of baseball operations spelled it out for them on KNBR two weeks ago, saying it was time to show something or else he might sell.

For two weeks, Farhan Zaidi has been waiting for a sign. In the most unimaginable way, it seemed to be there on Thursday afternoon.

A shortstop who hit one homer in 155 at-bats before the Giants cut him loose took one of their best relievers deep, pushing his stunned former teammates to six games under .500 and handing them a 2-5 road trip at the worst possible time. 

Nick Ahmed's solo shot on his second day in Dodger Blue was the difference. When Shohei Ohtani, the biggest target of what the Giants felt could be a huge offseason, hit his own homer, the Dodgers had a 6-4 win. 

The Giants? 

Well, they have a lot of decisions to make. 

They have just four games until MLB's July 30 trade deadline, and they're set up well with the Colorado Rockies coming to town. But an organization probably should not make macro decisions based on four home games against a last-place team. If Zaidi was waiting to see something, the roster hasn't shown it. 

Zaidi said during that appearance on July 11 that the players would show the right direction. The Giants have lost six of 10 since. How does the clubhouse make the case before Tuesday's deadline that the group should be kept together?

"I'm a player here, I just work here," ace Logan Webb said. "I don't know what he's going to do. The only thing we can do is try to win, like we have. We'll try to do a better job of that, I guess."

Webb said the Giants are not feeling the pressure of what has been hanging over them for weeks. That pressure should be there, all the time, he pointed out. He also said the talent has been there all along. But something has been missing.

"I think we just haven't played that well, including myself," he said. "I haven't done great."

Ray set the Giants up to try and salvage a split behind their ace, but Webb was charged with four runs in five innings, pushing his total to 15 runs allowed over his last three starts. On the other side, the Giants repeatedly struck out when they got runners on against Clayton Kershaw, who was making his season debut. 

The Dodgers couldn't hold the lead they had built for their longtime ace, but Ahmed stunned Tyler Rogers in the eighth, driving a low sinker over the wall. Ohtani followed with a soaring solo shot. On vibes alone, the decision seems easy. 

Then, of course, there's the cold, hard math. The Giants are 5 1/2 games back of the final Wild Card spot. Only three teams in the NL have a worse record. But this is a decision with fascinating layers to it. 

If Zaidi feels comfortable that he'll be back next year, there seems little doubt that he should sell. He has the starting pitchers that this market is missing. He has relievers that could help any contender. He has multiple veterans -- LaMonte Wade Jr., Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski stand out -- who would carry varying levels of attraction to buyers. He could ship out some other pieces and clear at-bats for prospects like Marco Luciano and Luis Matos, or innings for young pitchers. 

But many within the organization sense that Zaidi is feeling the pressure to win this year. He put this team together knowing that the rotation would be as good as any in the second half, and it looks like that might be the case. 

The plan never was to be under .500 when they all got back to full strength, but the Giants are going to have a hard time giving up on a group led by Webb, Blake Snell and Ray, who threw five no-hit innings in his return. 

As players warmed up Thursday morning, a Dodgers coach came over to chat with some Giants and noted that the teams don't play again this season. "I'm glad we don't have to see that pitching again," he yelled. 

Nobody would want to see this rotation in October, but the Giants have a long, long way to go to get there. During the biggest road trip of their season, they proved wholly incapable of being able to find their way. 

Ray stopped the bleeding on Wednesday. A few hours later, pitching mistakes and far too many strikeouts kept the Giants from building on his start. 

"It's not good enough right now," Melvin said. "It's not what we expected. It's not what we wanted. We've got to go home and play better."