Giants turning to unusual methods to jump-start offense

Entering Saturday's game against the Texas Rangers, the Giants were tied with the bottom-feeding Oakland Athletics for the fewest runs scored in MLB (141) since June 22. Over the previous 39 games, San Francisco had produced an anemic .204 batting average and just 31 home runs, according to a report from Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.

The power outage has come at an inopportune time for manager Gabe Kapler's club, as they have fallen out of the NL West race and are now trying desperately to stay afloat in a crowded wild-card race. The Giants (63-55) enter Monday holding the second wild-card spot but are just 1 1/2 games ahead of the Miami Marlins (62-57), two games up on the Chicago Cubs (61-57) and Cincinnati Reds (62-58) and four games clear of the Arizona Diamondbacks (59-59).

So, per Slusser's report, assistant hitting coaches Dustin Lind and Pedro Guerrero "burned some actual bats from the extra pile" on Friday night. According to hitting coach Justin Viele, they set "a couple on fire."

"But on Saturday, the aroma wasn’t Louisville Slugger, it was sage and palo santo; both are used in spiritual and healing practices to dispel negativity and promote good fortune. Viele had stopped by a store in the Haight and came prepared," Slusser wrote.

Viele told Slusser that the sage was "huge" and "probably seven to eight inches and it was thick."

According to the report, the hitting coach occasionally likes "diving into astrology."

"I love every single one of those guys. You know, I just want to see them do well, that’s why I do it," Viele said. "Maybe it’s silly, but I try to find things that might resonate -- like today I put a Japanese proverb up on the board: ‘When it rains, the ground hardens.’ It just seemed like a very fitting thing. But I like to use some things that are maybe more upbeat, less about the job sometimes -- let’s try to treat this as just like we’re playing a baseball game.”