SAN FRANCISCO — Nobody on the National League’s worst team has had a worse week than Matt Chapman. To his credit, the veteran third baseman and leader in the Giants clubhouse stood at his locker and answered every question in a lengthy session Monday afternoon.
The latest incident in a stretch to forget came in the ninth inning of Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Mets, when the typically savvy base runner made an inexcusable mistake and ran into the first out.
Chapman took responsibility with reporters and in a private conversation with manager Tony Vitello. There was no missed or misinterpreted sign. No stat-padding or situational ignorance.
“If I could do it over again, I would not elect to steal that base,” Chapman said. “I was paying attention. I just kind of made a bad decision there. If he was long to the plate and I steal second base, then maybe we’re not talking about it, but I did and I got thrown out and it looks really ugly, on top of how things went yesterday and kind of transpired toward the end of the game.”
Trailing 5-2 against Mets closer Devin Williams, Chapman represented a meaningless run but could have been the start of a rally. Instead, it was snuffed out as quickly as it began.
After reaching first to lead off the ninth, Chapman saw Williams was taking his time getting the ball to the plate. The Giants had already grounded into one double play, and Chapman saw an opportunity to potentially avoid another. Only it turned into another kind of rally killer.
“I just picked a really bad time to do it,” Chapman said. “Because he was really slow to the plate, and then when I stole, he sped up a bit and that looks really bad when you get thrown out making an out at second base, killing our rally. … I know that’s completely my fault.”
The display of personal accountability was especially important for Chapman, given his finger-pointing back-and-forth with Casey Schmitt that was captured on camera in San Diego.
Even if only in terms of optics, it was a tad awkward that, in the aftermath of chiding his teammate for not catching a throw, the Gold Glove third baseman has made an uncharacteristic three errors in the five games since. Add on top his base running mistake, and it was hardly a banner week for one of the most respected players in the clubhouse.
“Yeah, it doesn’t look great when things like that happen and things get sloppy,” Chapman said. “But it’s not something that this team is thinking about or I’m thinking about. It’s just something that happened and we’ve moved on.”
It’s been a frustrating start to the season for just about all involved.
According to manager Tony Vitello, Chapman’s frustrations boiling over on the mound in San Diego was only one of three similar incidents that have taken place.
The other two occurred behind closed doors and were only revealed by the manager, who put a positive spin on it, confirming that each happened before their three wins.
“I think our best games have come when our guys have let loose a little bit – and coaches too – said what they think, do what they think is the right thing in the moment and go out there and just play,” he said. “As opposed to being a little too careful. I’d rather those moments come up than not.”
Vitello didn’t divulge too many other details besides describing the interactions as “minor” compared to the one between Chapman and Schmitt and that “cuss words (were) involved.” He confirmed that different team members spoke up each time.
“Our guys did a good job of turning it into a real positive in a couple different ways,” Vitello said. “The three times that I can remember that that’s occurred, it’s kind of brought our team closer together or it’s gotten our team to play more free.”
San Francisco’s 3-7 start has been the worst in the NL, and worse yet, has included a 1-6 record in front of its home fans — outscored 24-5 over their final three losses to the Mets.
Chapman is responsible for three of the Giants’ eight errors, tied for the fifth-most in the majors. They’ve been held to three or fewer runs in eight of their 10 games, averaging a league-worst 2.6 per game. And his gaffe on the bases even drew the ire of Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen, who said the play “cap[ped] off a horrible, no good, awful week for Matt Chapman.”
“It just hasn’t clicked yet,” Chapman said. “It sucks when it looks like it’s sloppy baseball and we’re making some sloppy mistakes that kind of shot us in the foot a little bit last year and was one of the reasons why we weren’t able to finish as strong.
“But I don’t think it’s going to be something that’s the story of our season, by any means.”
