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Tony Vitello Has No Idea What He Is Doing With This Lineup, and Bryce Eldridge Batting Leadoff Is the Proof
Sixty different batting orders in seventy-seven games. Eight different leadoff hitters. And now the 21-year-old middle-of-the-order bat is hitting first. This is why they never get in a groove.
The Rundown
Five things49ersPurdy is throwing 70-yard touchdowns to receivers nobody has ever heard of, 24-of-28 over two practices
GiantsGiants 5, Tigers 2: Devers hit his 24th homer and nobody is talking about the year he is quietly having
A'sRed Sox 13, A's 1: fourteen strikeouts, two hits, and a ninth straight loss
49ers147 passes from history: Purdy's 104.0 career rating is about to be the best anyone has ever recorded
49ersThe defense finally punched back and Purdy beat them anyway: 12-of-17 on the most competitive day of camp
Latest Stories

Purdy Is Throwing 70-Yard Touchdowns to Guys You Have Never Heard Of, and It Is Getting Ridiculous
A pair of 70-yard scores, a deep touchdown to a receiver who signed less than 24 hours earlier, and 24-of-28 over two practices, with five receivers hurt.

Giants 5, Tigers 2: Devers Hit His 24th and Nobody Is Talking About the Year He Is Quietly Having
Two-run shot in the first, Adames went deep in the fifth, Jung Hoo Lee cleared the bases in the second. Devers has 24 homers, 27 doubles and 64 RBI and it has gone almost unmentioned.

Red Sox 13, A's 1: Fourteen Strikeouts, Two Hits, and a Ninth Straight Loss
Payton Tolle struck out 14 in six innings without a walk. Oakland had two hits all night. Boston had fifteen. The streak is nine and the record is 45-71.

Brock Purdy Is 147 Passes From Being the Most Efficient Quarterback in NFL History. Nobody Wants to Say It Out Loud.
A 104.0 career passer rating against an all-time record of 102.2, and he is 147 attempts, five games, from qualifying. The last pick in the draft is about to own the record book.

They Finally Gave Brock Purdy a Fight. He Won It Going Away.
The most competitive practice of camp, picks, punch-outs, a defense that finally punched back, and Purdy went 12-of-17 on 32 team snaps throwing to guys signed off the street.

The Giants Got Marcelo Mayer for a Reliever Who Walks Everybody. Explain That One, Boston.
The fourth overall pick in 2021, twenty-three years old, five years of control, for Erik Miller, a middle reliever who walked sixteen percent of the hitters he faced. On paper this is a robbery.

Brock Purdy Is Carving Up Training Camp. Twenty Guys Watched Him Do It From the Sideline.
13-of-14 in team drills, three straight red zone touchdowns and a Dougie in the end zone. On the same field, twenty players were unavailable. Both things are true.

Rangers 6, Giants 0: Eleven Left On Base, Zero for Eight With Runners in Scoring Position
Shut out by a pitcher making his first start since September 2024. Eleven runners stranded. Nineteen games under .500 for the first time all season.

Reds 3, A's 2: Nine Strikeouts, 87 Pitches, and Kotsay Went to the Bullpen Anyway
Jacob Lopez had solved the Reds. He came out in a tie game. Two singles and a sacrifice fly later it was over. Seventh straight loss, 45-69.

Four Signings in a Week: Okoronkwo, Irwin, Deguara, Hodge, and a Roster Held Together With Tape
A Super Bowl edge rusher off a torn triceps, a Stanford kid coming home, a blocking tight end and a Pro Bowl gunner. Every move makes sense. Needing all four in August is the problem.

The 49ers Signed KhaDarel Hodge, and That Tells You Everything About This Receiver Room
A 31-year-old Pro Bowl gunner with three catches last season and Raheem Morris ties. Fine player, no complaints. But it is August fifth and we are already signing bodies.

Tony Vitello Has No Idea What He Is Doing With This Lineup, and Bryce Eldridge Batting Leadoff Is the Proof
Sixty different batting orders in seventy-seven games. Eight different leadoff hitters. And now the 21-year-old middle-of-the-order bat is hitting first. This is why they never get in a groove.

Rangers 5, Giants 4: Vitello Sat Eldridge, Eldridge Tied It Off the Bench, and They Lost Anyway
Bryce Eldridge never started, then tied the game with a pinch-hit two-run single in the ninth. Ezequiel Duran's second double of the night dropped on the warning track and Texas walked it off. 48-66.

Reds 5, A's 4: They Led in the Eighth and Lost on Wild Pitches. Plural.
The tying run and the winning run both scored without Cincinnati putting a ball in play. J.T. Ginn's six-inning return from the blister, wasted. 45-68, and 0-5 since the deadline weekend began.

Padres 5, Giants 4: Swept in San Diego, and the Deadline Is Tomorrow
Landen Roupp walked four in a four-run second, the Giants cut it to one three separate times and never got even, and San Francisco left Petco Park 0-3. They are 47-65 and 21-37 on the road.

Tigers 11, A's 0: Swept, Shut Out, and Outscored 32-7 in Three Days
Gage Jump walked six and did not finish the fourth, Detroit added four in the eighth, and a position player pitched the ninth. Five straight losses, 45-67, and a weekend they were outscored 32-7.

Padres 6, Giants 5: Basabe Tied It Off a 103-MPH Fastball, and the Ninth Threw It Away
A guy playing his third game of the season drove in four, the Giants tied it in the eighth against a man throwing 103, and then gave it right back. 47-64, and 21-36 on the road.

Monday's Deadline Is the Only Interesting Thing Left About This Season
Forty-seven and sixty-four. Ramos on the block, Lee reportedly staying, Arraez and Ray on expiring deals. If Posey does not tear it down Monday, he never will.

Padres 7, Giants 0: Two Hits. Two. That Is the Whole Night.
Carson Whisenhunt could not get out of the fourth and the lineup managed two hits in nine innings. The good feeling from Thursday lasted exactly a day.

Ricky Pearsall Is Out for the Year, and This Kid Just Cannot Catch a Break
Season-ending IR, PCL surgery in the next couple of weeks, and a six-to-12-month road back. Pearsall still has not gotten one clean, healthy run at his career.

Kyle Shanahan Update: He's Turning the Corner, and Camp Is Feeling It
Pads are on, practices are getting physical, and the coach is closer to being fully back in the middle of it, less than three weeks removed from a serious car accident.

De'Zhaun Stribling Keeps Balling Out in Camp, and a Starting Job Is Starting to Look Inevitable
The rookie wide receiver isn't flashing for a day anymore, he's stacking good day after good day with Brock Purdy. At this rate, a Week 1 starting job looks like the floor, not the ceiling.

Deebo Samuel Is Coming Home: 49ers Bring Him Back on a One-Year, $7 Million Deal
A low-risk, high-reward reunion. Seven million dollars buys back one of the most uniquely dangerous weapons Kyle Shanahan's offense has ever had, on a roster that no longer needs him to be the whole answer.

Dre Greenlaw Hit Too Hard on Day One of Pads, and Christian McCaffrey Still Calls Him His Favorite Player
Greenlaw came out flying on the first padded practice of camp, and McCaffrey wasn't thrilled to be on the wrong end of it. He's also said Greenlaw is his favorite player in the league. That's what real veteran leadership looks like.

Athletics 4, Red Sox 3: Brian Serven's Homer Holds Up, Tommy White Goes 4-for-4
Gage Jump goes six scoreless, Serven's two-run homer breaks it open, White goes 4-for-4, and Hogan Harris survives a two-run ninth. A's improve to 45-62.

Brewers 8, Giants 2: Landen Roupp Never Found It, Bryce Eldridge's Homer Was the Only Answer
Roupp can't escape the fourth, Logan Henderson is nearly untouchable, and Milwaukee piles up 13 hits. Eldridge's eighth-inning homer is the only answer. Giants fall to 45-62.

Giants 3, Brewers 0: Tyler Mahle and Grant McCray Shut the Best Team in Baseball Down
Tyler Mahle throws six shutout innings, Grant McCray's two-run homer does the rest, and the Giants blank the 66-win Brewers at Oracle Park. Giants improve to 45-61.

Red Sox 4, Athletics 2: Ceddanne Rafaela's First Career Slam Beats a Costly No-Hit Bid
Jack Perkins carries a one-hit bid into the sixth before Rafaela's grand slam breaks it open. Soderstrom and Heim homer in the loss. A's fall to 44-61.

The Front Office Keeps Failing Steph Curry, and "He Could Leave" Doesn't Sound Crazy Anymore
Wasted draft capital, half-measure trades, and a supporting cast that keeps aging out from under him. For the first time, imagining Steph somewhere else doesn't feel absurd.

Angels 4, Giants 3: Mike Trout Ruins the Sweep, Whisenhunt Gets Rocked
Trout goes 4-for-4 with two homers off him, Arraez's two-run ninth falls one out short, and the Giants fall to 44-61 after taking the first two of the series.

Twins 11, Athletics 8: Down 7-0 Before Springs Left Hurt, and the Hole Was Just Too Deep
Jeffrey Springs exits early with an apparent injury, Kurtz's three-run homer sparks a real comeback, but it falls short. A's drop the rubber match, fall to 44-60.

Giants 7, Angels 6 (F/10): Devers Does It Twice, and the Bullpen Nearly Ruins It Again
A first-inning homer, a tenth-inning walk-off single, and a blown two-run lead in between. Giants snap a five-game skid and move to 43-60.

A's 2, Twins 0: Jacob Lopez Deals, Four Relievers Slam the Door
One hit allowed in five innings from Lopez, one more in four from the bullpen. Butler and Soderstrom drove in the only runs the A's needed. A's improve to 44-59.

Diamondbacks 15, A's 5: The Fifth Inning Went On Long Enough To Grow a Beard
Five Arizona home runs, seventeen hits, a seven-run fifth, and a reliever who gave up eight earned runs while recording two outs.

Royals 3, Giants 2: We Are Now Losing the Quiet Ones Too
Five hits, one inning of offense, a bullpen inning that undid it, and a fourth straight loss. Tyler Mahle is 2-9 and the Giants are 42-59.

The A's Stole One Back in the Ninth and Then Walked It Away in the Tenth
Jacob Wilson's two-out homer tied it, Jonah Heim's sac fly put the A's ahead in the tenth, and Luis Medina walked the bases loaded with nobody out. Arizona 6, A's 5.

103 Wins and Nothing to Show For It: The 1993 Giants and the Race That Forced Baseball to Invent the Wild Card
Bonds won the MVP, the Giants won 103 games, and Atlanta won 104. Then October 3 in Dodger Stadium. Baseball voted in the Wild Card that same September, one year too late.

Bryce Eldridge Keeps Impressing, and He Is the Only Future This Giants Team Has
A 21-year-old hitting .275 with a .368 on-base percentage, a .490 slug, 10 homers and 30 walks in 57 games. He is not a prospect anymore, he is the franchise.

Brandon Aiyuk Has Gone Full Antonio Brown, and It's Hard to Watch
Aiyuk once looked like one of the 49ers' cleanest success stories. Since the Super Bowl loss to Kansas City, the story has turned into something much stranger.

Jerry Rice Says This Is the Year the 49ers Break the Super Bowl Drought
"I think this is the year for the Niners." The GOAT called his shot at Lake Tahoe, and the roster backs him up.

The Giants Bullpen Finally Held One
Erik Miller slammed the door in a 3-1 win, and for once the ninth inning was boring.

I Told You the A's Were a Mirage
Nine straight losses, 9-1 to the White Sox, a 7.09 ERA. This was always coming.

Vitello Was Not Ready, and He Told Us So Himself
"I can't talk down to these guys anymore" was the sound of a man discovering the depth of the water.

Raiders 2026: Kubiak, Cousins, and a Rookie Named Mendoza Try to Fix a 3-14 Mess
A Bay Area take on the reset in the desert: new coach, a bridge quarterback, the No. 1 overall pick, Ashton Jeanty, and the meat grinder that is the AFC West.

Tyler Mahle Finally Won a Game
Seven strong innings for his first win since April 22, and a three-run Schmitt homer made it count.

The Warriors Are Out of Easy Answers
The hardest questions of the Curry era all arrived at once, and nobody has a good one.

The A's Play in Sacramento Now
And that is the whole ugly story, told by somebody who watched it happen.
You look at the personnel, it doesn't make sense. You look at the way we played some days, it doesn't make sense, but it's baseball.Tony Vitello on the Giants' first half · Read the breakdown
Pick Your Poison
49ers
Five Super Bowls, one long drought, and a roster that might finally be whole.
Warriors
Four titles, 73-9, and the hardest questions of the Curry era.
Giants
Even-year magic, a 42-56 present, and a reset coming August 3.
Athletics
Playing in Sacramento, still ours, and the kids just won 15-1.
Sharks
Celebrini arrived and the rebuild finally has a pulse.



