What we learned as Giants win finale to end with .500 record

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SAN FRANCISCO -- A mediocre season ended in an appropriate way for the Giants: With a .500 record. 

After dropping the first two games of this final series of the year, the Giants got to 81-81 by beating the Padres 8-1 at Petco Park. The next act for the Padres will be to fly to New York for the start of the postseason. For the Giants, all that's ahead is one of the most important offseasons in franchise history. 

They became just the eighth team in MLB history to follow a 100-plus win season with one that was at or below .500, but they at least ended on a high note. David Villar hit a couple of homers to lead Wednesday's offensive attack and the latest bullpen game resulted in just four hits allowed. 

Before we move on to Judge Szn, here are three more things to know: 

Stock Up

Nobody has helped their positioning more over the last month than Villar, who gave the Giants the lead with a two-run blast to left in the fourth inning and later added a solo shot that bounced off Jurickson Profar's glove and over the wall. The multi-homer game was Villar's second in the big leagues and gave him nine for his rookie season, including eight since Sept. 5.

Villar combined for 36 homers this season across two levels, with the other 27 coming in Triple-A. He provided all that power in just 136 games, and he'll now go into next spring fighting for an infield job.

Check That Box Off

LaMonte Wade Jr.'s left knee inflammation cost him 61 games this season and he never looked quite right physically, but he hit leadoff in the finale and had a strong game, ending a down year on a positive note. 

Wade had three singles, drove in a run and scored one. After the first single, he took off for second and slid in safely without a throw. The stolen base was his first of the season and came on his only attempt of 2022. 

History! 

When left-hander Andrew Vazquez took the mound in the bottom of the sixth, he became the 66th different player to appear in orange and black this season, extending the franchise record. The previous mark was 64 players used in 2019.

The Giants have had some fun with jersey numbers with all of these fresh faces, and Ford Proctor was given No. 65. But Vazquez wore 67 because 66 belongs to Jarlin Garcia. 

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Vazquez pitched well, striking out Profar and Juan Soto before getting Manny Machado to fly out to right field in a quick sixth. He came back out for the seventh and struck out two more while working around a walk.

The 29-year-old was wearing his fourth big league uniform after previously pitching for the Twins, Dodgers and Blue Jays. 

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