Giants have nothing to lose, and Tony Vitello wants to see them play like it

KANSAS CITY — For too much of this season, in manager Tony Vitello’s eyes, the Giants have been playing as if they have “everything to lose.” He’d like to see more of the opposite.“And that’s understandable,” Vitello said.“It’s one of the most, if not the most, proud organizations in the MLB.

We’ve got a lot of talent on the roster.But I think somewhere along the line, we were a little late to the party on flipping that switch a little bit.”At this point, 18 games below .500 (42-60) and 22 ½ back of the Dodgers, you could say Vitello’s squad has nothing left to lose.

And never has that mindset been more evident than the past two times a Giants player has taken off from first base attempting to swipe second.Bryce Eldridge and Daniel Susac made it safely, just as the Giants’ previous 10 base stealers had before them.San Francisco is 12-for-12 on steals in 16 games in July, already matching its most in one month with still more than a week of games left to play.It might be too late for it to matter, but it’s never too late to improve an area that has been a problem, especially if it can carry over into next season.

Even with their recent uptick, the Giants still only have six more stolen bases (39) than the league’s least successful running team, the Tigers (33).Dating back to 2022, no team has been less aggressive on the basepaths. “We’ve tried to be more aggressive,” Vitello said.

With calls from the dugout, “We’ve tried to be a little bit more ambitious about initiating just a straight steal.”But in the case of Eldridge and Susac, neither of whom would call themselves particularly fleet-footed, the steals weren’t a product of a call from the coaching staff.Both players possess sprint speeds in the bottom 40% of big leaguers, among the four-slowest Giants.But each of them took off on his own.Eldridge didn’t even need to get his uniform dirty to notch his first career stolen base.“He was basically just giving it...