Results tagged ‘ Barry Zito ’

Lincecum Fails to Deliver But Surprisingly, Garko Does

     I’ll be the first to admit it.  I’m not a fan of Ryan Garko and when the Giants traded for him in their search for a big bat, I warned you fans about what you were getting.  For those too lazy to click and refresh their memory, I can sum it up with one word — overrated.  To me, Garko was one of those lumbering first basemen that had all sorts of potential but failed to live up to the hype.  He was always second or third on the depth chart in Cleveland and never found any type of a groove to keep him playing regularly.  Was he an upgrade over Travis Ishikawa?  Probably.  But he certainly wasn’t the big bat that Giants fans so desperately coveted.

     Which, I guess, makes today all the more sweeter for him.  Since coming over in the trade, the best thing that’s been said about Garko is that he hits the ball really hard — right on the screws, it’s been said.  Sadly though, each and every one of those really hard hits found their way into an opposing fielders glove.  If you got extra points for hitting right at an infielder, then Garko would be the league leader.

     Before last night’s game, Garko was hitting .208 as a Giant with zero home runs and 4 RBI.  He had a 5 game hit streak at the beginning of August, but that was about it.  No clutch hitting, no protection for Bengie Molina, no threatening presence from the batter’s box.  In a nutshell, he’s been virtually worthless.

     Today, he gets to wake up and see his name splattered on the internet and in newspapers referring to him as a late inning hero in last night’s 10 inning 8-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.  On a night when Tim Lincecum failed to dominate in his usual fashion, Garko delivered at the plate to bail him out.

     With the Giants down 5-2 in the 6th inning and in the midst of a rally, Garko delivered a two run single to center that tied the game.  Then, in the 10th, with Pablo Sandoval and Randy Winn on base, Garko again delivered with a 2 run double that put the Giants up 7-5.  He later cam around to score the team’s 8th run on a Juan Uribe sacrifice fly.  All in all, he finished the night 2 for 5 with a run scored an 4 RBI — doubling his RBI total for his time spent with the team.

     But just like with Lincecum and his off the wall 5 earned runs in 6 innings, I am not going to suddenly change my opinion based on one night in hitter friendly Great American Ball Park.  Lincecum will likely bounce back and return to his dominant ways.  Garko?  Well, we’ll see.  While I don’t think last night’s performance will suddenly turn him into the player Giants fans thought they were getting, there’s definitely the possibility that this was the spark he needed to get himself going.  Baseball is a game filled with streaks, so maybe…just maybe…this could be the start of one for him.  Then again, maybe the old “sun shining on a dog’s *** atleast once” adage can be used here.

     We’ll see how things continue to develop and save our judgements ’til after.  For now though, let’s just keep our focus and take it one game at a time.  We’ve got an interesting matchup tonight as Barry Zito takes the hill against Bronson Arroyo.  While Zito dominated the Reds when they were in China Basin, his success at Great American is almost non-existent.  Arroyo, on the other hand, not only pitches well at home, but he’s got a 3.86 ERA against the Giants over the last 3 years.  It might not be the most dominany number, but with the Giants offense, it coul deasily be good enough. 

     Unless Garko has something to say about it…

Looking Ahead…

     Without getting into too much detail about my disappointments with the recent 3 game set against the Dodgers, I’ll just say this…

     We’re not going anywhere unless our bats heat up and the back end of our rotation stabilizes.  We can’t sit and lament over missed calls and poor officiating because, as our friend Mark stated in his last comment,  “…a few bad calls aren’t going to wipe out 9 runs by the Dodgers and give us the 7 we need to even tie them.”  Yes, we got robbed a few times.  Yes, Tim Lincecum should have been rewarded with the win rather than be forced off the mound and left shouting at the 1st base umpire.  But the Dodgers took two of three from us fair and square and they did it with better hitting and better pitching.

     So where do we go from here?  Do we sit and continue to whine and make excuses for every addition to the loss column or do we plow ahead and fight to stay in this playoff chase?  Do we take up the fight today or do we disappear into nothingness, succumbing to our 23-32 road record?

     Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but my choice is to stand and fight.  We’ve got a 4 game set that starts tonight against the Mets and a 3 game set against the Reds after that.  Those two teams, neither of which is a playoff contender have a combined record of 103-125.  Surely we can beat them, can’t we?  Now I know we’ve had stretched in our schedule like this before, but with it being mid-August, the need to win these series against inferior clubs becomes more and more imperative.  We have to remain focused on the task at hand and win ourselves atleast 5 of these next 7 before strolling into Colorado for an all-important, must-win series against the Rockies.

     Barry Zito and his 3-1, 2.32 ERA second half stat line needs to maintain that level as he takes the mound for the first game today.  He needs to make a statement.  The Giants need to make a statement.  I’m much more confident with Matt Cain on the hill tomorrow, but we need to go in tonight and take this first game with authority.  We need Zito to go a strong 7 innings and we need some major improvements with the bats.  I’m calling out each and every one of the hitters to step up this series and prove their mettle.  Pablo Sandoval can’t do it on his own.  Ryan Garko needs to prove why we traded for him in the first place and the supporting cast, guys like Edgar Renteria, Nate Schierholtz, and Aaron Rowand for example, needs to take their game to another level.  Playing the way they’re playing right now will land us nothing more than a third place division finish and a boatload of “what ifs” and “if only’s”.

     I don’t want to come off as a cheerleader for the Giants, but I really do like this club’s chances….if…

     If they can start to hit better.  If they can be more patient at the plate.  If they can get some decent starts out of the back end of the rotation.  If they can play smarter defense.  If they can play with the swagger that so many championship caliber teams have.

     It’s a lot of “ifs”, I know.  But none of them are an impossibility.  These next 7 games are going to show us a lot here.  If we walk tall and then come at the Rockies hard, then I don’t see us being outlasted by any of the other contenders.  If we crumble, well….I guess all of you old and bitter, glass is half empty Giants fans can say that you were right.

     I’ll take Option A please.   

      

Giants Fans Feeling the Frustration

     As good as this Giants team may be, in comparison to its predecessors over the past 3 or 4 years, the fans aren’t buying that this could be their year anymore.  There was immense hope at the start of the season as the pitching staff was one of the best in the majors with a 1-2 punch that was probably top 3 in all of baseball.  But then the team revealed it’s shortcomings in the hitting department and the fans cried for some help.  It wasn’t panic back then…say sometime around late May, but there was a glaring need and GM Brian Sabean must have had his phone ringing off the hook and his email box full with derision from angry fans.

     But the Giants stayed the course and played well enough to land themselves in the lead for the Wild Card, although no one really took it seriously since that Wild Card watch was being done in late June, still with more than half a season to go.  But the fans stood by, some still calling for a bat, and watched as their team went on a decent mid-season run.

     Then came the trade deadline.  Sabean supposedly fixed the hitting with the additions of Ryan Garko and Freddy Sanchez, but while that was going on, he [Sabean] missed the fact that his suddenly formidable pitching staff was now a shell of itself.  Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are still leading the charge, but with the inconsistency of Jonathan Sanchez, Barry Zito being, well, Barry Zito, the probable season ending injury to Randy Johnson (they say a September return but I don’t buy it), and the lack of a 5th starter, suddenly the Giants rotation is in trouble. 

     Sure, with Cain and Lincecum, we’re tough in a short series, but how will we even get to a short series in October when we can’t pitch out of August and September?  Now couple that with the fact that our hitting still seems to stink and where are we left?  I know you can’t win ‘em all, but right now the Giants have dropped 4 of their last five, are sitting 7 1/2 games behind the Dodgers and are now a full game behind the Rockies for the Wild Card spot with Florida, Chicago and Atlanta right on their heels.  If the Giants aren’t careful, they could soon find themselves buried in the standings with no hope of crawling back to the top.

       I’ve spoken to a number of hardcore Giants fans and I can just see the frustration in their faces as their seemingly interminable season comes to a collapsing halt with each game they drop, whether it’s to the Dodgers, the Rockies, or even the Reds.  I don’t want to say that they’re giving up, but that bandwagon that was full in May now resembles the mass exodus you see on a sinking ship.  The crowds are thinner at the ball park and those that used to hang around watching games at the bars are happier to sit at home and not put themselves through the angst they are feeling.

     It’s a tough thing, to be a fan of a team like the Giants.  The rollercoaster ride of emotions you’re on has so many highs and lows that nausea is the only consistent thing you have.  Your hitters aren’t hitting, your pitchers are barely pitching, and you’ve got the obnoxious hordes from SoCal chirping in your ear in your own backyard right now.  If there’s any hope to salvaging this potential dream season (really hard to even type that with a traight face),then the players are going to need to step up their game and give the fans what they need and deserve.  If not, then it’s going to be awfully quiet at AT&T Park in September, and with that, we all lose.

     Lincecum takes on the Dodgers in about 45 minutes, so with any luck, we’ll start to right the ship today and not let the Dodgers walk all over us anymore. 

    

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program

     So a week away from baseball seems like an eternity here for me.  After a week long vacation — not a single game seen, not a single boxscore read — I’m trying to get back into the swingh of things and figure out what’s going on with our Giants.  I see an interesting thing here and there, but for the most part it looks like the status quo.

     The first thing I did was check the overall standings and found that while we sit a game behind the Rockies for the Wild Card, we seem to have inched a little closer to those SoCal boys in blue.  What a string of bad games for them, I suppose, as the Giants seemed to only play .500 ball this past week against the Astros and Reds.  So for that, let’s give it up to the Braves and Brewers for taking 5 of 7 from the Dodgers last week to keep us in the running.

     So then I checked the players’ stats for the last week to see who was pulling their weight and who was in need of a swift kick in the butt, and I must say, I was rather surprised with some of the numbers.  It looks like Bengie Molina has turned things around this past week as he hit .409 with 3 dingers and 8 RBI, Eugenio Velez continues to perform well, although I think I saw him fumbling around defensively on the 3 AM SportsCenter the other night, Freddy Sanchez seems to still be enjoying his new home, and Pablo Sandoval continues to rake.

     Sadly, though, there are still some guys in there that aren’t playing as well as we’d hope.  Edgar Renteria isn’t even hitting his weight this past week, let alone, pulling it, Aaron Rowand is floundering in mediocrity and is banged up yet again, and Ryan Garko, acquired for his bat, seems to have left it behind in Cleveland or something.  I’m not sure how it’s happened, but, once again, our 1 through 4 hitters remain solid while 5-9 are becoming as close to guaranteed outs as you can get.

     As for our pitching, I just don’t know how it’s going to hold.  Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain remain a formidable 1-2 punch, despite Cain taking a bit of a beating this past week.  But Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez still remain inconsistent question marks as our 3rd and 4th starters and how long are we going with Joe Martinez as our 5th guy in the rotation?  Now I know that Sanchez has been solid here in the second half, but how many of you are confident that he’ll keep it up?  How many of you think we’ll get more good starts than bad out of Zito?  In a short series, we certainly have an edge going with Lincecum and Cain, but the problem is getting to that short series.  We’re definitely going to need more consistency out of the back end of our rotation if we’re going to surge ahead of the Rockies and the rest of the teams vying for the Wild Card.

     As for our bullpen, while it still remains one of our strongest assets, it looks like they struggled a bit over the past week.  As a matter of fact, it looks like Merkin Valdez and Justin Miller are the only guys to have not given up runs in the last 7 games.  That’s not a promising fact, but not something I’m too concerned about.  The boys in the pen are the least of my concern.

     Now I know that this is just a cursory glance, but it seems like we’re still experiencing the same issues as before I left.  I’ll have a better look starting tonight when we go up against the Dodgers and hopefully even the series, but as it stands right now, we need a bigger push from our supporting cast.  The stars can’t do it all by themselves.

      We’ll be back to more in-depth coverage as the week continues…    

Upswing Looks Promising, But Still Plenty More To Go

     I figured I’d save most of my chatter until after the trade deadline passes.  With the acquisition of Ryan Garko and the rumors swirling about picking up Pirates 2B Freddy Sanchez, a two time batting champion, I’d wait to see ho weverything unfolds before fully passing judgement on Brian Sabean’s better late than never attitude.  Garko fills a bit of a hole at first, although I’m not totally sold on him, and there are two other glaring holes that need work.  Sanchez would take care of one of them.

     The other pressing need seems to be left field.  While Nate Schierholtz is a solid band-aid for the situation, he’s not the solution.  And Fred Lewis, come on….don’t get me started.  Did you happen to see that misplay off the wall last night?  A corner outfielder that can catch and has some good pop in his bat would be ideal.

     With Randy Johnson out for even longer with a rotator cuff issue, I also think we need to add another arm, but that’s another argument for another day.

     I’m going to wait.  I’m going to give Sabean until the Friday deadline before I throw him to the wolves….and trust me….those wolves are hungry.  But for now, I’m going to sit and appreciate what we have right now.

     We’ve moved back into a tie with the Rockies for the Wild Card spot and remain 8 games behind the Dodgers.  We’ve been taking care of business with the Pirates in town while the Dodgers and Rockies seem to be struggling with the Cardinals and Mets respectively.  The bounces are going our way, the front of our rotation has been amazing (wow, did Tim Lincecum look great the other night), and the enigmatic Barry Zito still seems to have a bit of gas left in the tank.  It looks like Pablo Sandoval has gotten back on track and we’re doing some great things on the field.

      All in all, we seem to have fixed what was plaguing us at the start of the second half and we’re again looking forward to as possible playoff berth.  The path ahead will be a rocky one, but with the right pieces in place….and I hope Sabean gets them….I think we can get there.

     We’re just about to start the final game of the Pirates series, and then it’s a crucial 4 game series against the Phillies.  It should be an exciting weekend, so enjoy and I’ll be back soon.

 

   

Second Half Starts Tonight With the Pirates

     Well all right, folks.  Here we go.  The All Star Break is finally finished, thankfully, and it’s time to get back to business.  The Giants are sitting 6 1/2 games behind the Dodgers right now (thank you, Houston) and are 1 1/2 games ahead of Colorado for the top spot in the Wild Card race.  Our time is now.

     The second half for the Giants kicks off this evening with a 3 game set against the NL Central punching bags known as the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Now I definitely don’t think we should take them, or any other bottom feeder, for granted, but this is a series we need to not only win, but sweep, if we’re going to show the rest of the league that we’re here and we mean business.  That’s one of the main keys to success.  You need to win the games you’re “supposed” to win, and a series versus a 38-50 team is one that we’re supposed to win.

     For now, we just need to concentrate on baseball.  We’re going to have to push aside any feelings about whether or not we need another bat (we do) or whether or not we need to promote another young arm (we do).  The team can’t think about that.  They need to just go out and play their ***** off.  We know what we need.  We now just need to leave that in Brian Sabean’s hands and hope that he does the right thing.  If he needs some help, he knows where to find me and I have a barrell full of suggestions.

     The issue at hand today is the Pirates.  They’re a young, inexperienced team built on speed and very little power these days.  They have some decent potential in kids like Nyjer Morgan and Andrew McCutchen, and first baseman Adam LaRoche always seems to turn it up a notch in the second half, but beyond that, I don’t see much.

     Their pitching is as suspect as the hitting most of the times.  We’ll be seeeing Paul Maholm, Charlie Morton and Zach Duke who combine for a 15-14 record and an ERA that hovers somewhere in the mid to low 4′s.  Not the worst in the world, but certainly not the best, and nowhere near the upper echelon.  As a matter of fact, the Pirates team ERA of 4.33 ranks 11th out of 16 NL teams.

     To counter, we’re going with Tim Lincecum in the opener tonight, followed up by Barry “The Enigma” Zito and then Matt Cain.  I like the idea of Cain getting the extra day of rest as no one is really sure just how hurt his arm/elbow may be.  Regardless, I’d take a banged up Cain over most of the shlubs we see in the NL anyway.

     After that, it’s 4 games in Atlanta and 3 games in Colorado before we come back home to take on….what?  The Pirates again???  Oh baby!!  This is a golden opportunity for the Giants to string together a good number of victories.  Let’s hope they can do it!

     The action starts at 4:05 PM today, so get ready!!

     Go Giants!!

At Least With Lincecum on the Hill All Worries are Forgotten

     When the season started, the Giants were advertised as a team built on pitching.  The small ball would suffice for our offense, but the pitching was our strength.  Now while that, technically, still rings true, our pitching is going through a bit of a rough patch right now, and the All Star Break can’t come soon enough.  Yes, we’re winning games, but we are, by no means, racing to the mid-point of the season like a juggernaut hell bent on winning a title.

     We definitely have our moments, but let’s take a look at what we’ve got.  There’s Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain leading the way, but in the wake of the Randy Johnson injury, where are we at?  You’ve got the enigmatic and untrustworthy Barry Zito, rookie Ryan Sadowski who despite giving up his first couple of runs on a moderately well pitched game insists he threw the ball well, and then there’s good ol’ Jonathan Sanchez picking up the rear.  Suddenly the rotation doesn’t sound so formidable, does it?

     As we all witnessed last night, when Lincecum is on the mound, there’s a different feeling in the air.  And why shouldn’t there be?  He’s a Cy Young Award winning pitcher and is putting up numbers right now that scream “repeat!”  My apologies to Cain, but yes, little Timmy will most certainly have stronger numbers by year’s end. 

     But when Tim hits the mound, there’s an air of confidence that permeates throughout the ball park.  There’s a general calm on the field with the players, and the fans are out there spewing Lincecum facts as if they all just got off work at the Elias Sports Bureau.  It’s never good to expect to win a game, but when he’s out there throwing, it’s hard not to assume victory.

     Cain has finally reached that level we all knew he would eventually achieve.  He’s finally getting some run support and that is obviously boosting his confidence.  The numbers he’s throwing out there right now are fantastic and he is very deservedly heading to the All Star Game this year.

     But then there’s the rest, and frankly, I’m a bit concerned.  Johnson has been, pretty much, exactly what I thought he would be — a moderate middle to back of the rotation guy, but with an amazing amount of experience and knowledge to lay at the feet of our top young stars.  He doesn’t have the heat he once brought to the table and his transition from intimidating force to crafty veteran has definitely had some bumps int he road.  But for all intents and purposes, he’s doing his job, and the complaints can be held to a minimum.

     Even his current injury isn’t all that bad.  Not that it’s ever a good time to get injured, but if you’re going to do it, the All Star Break is the most opportune time.  If the current prognosis is correct, then it looks like the Unit will only miss one post-All Star Break start and we can expect him back in no time.  Believe me, if that turns out to be the case, then count your blessings.

     Then things get a little murky after that.  Zito has been baseball’s equivalent to Jekyll & Hyde this year, and sadly is still not someone you can count on in a pinch.  One day he’s throwing shutout ball through 8 and the next he’s giving up 5 runs in 4 innings.  It might be a little more tolerable if the Giants were plating an average of 7 runs per game, but they’re not, making it very difficult to get pumped up for a Zito start.

     Sadowski has been a nice surprise these past 2 weeks.  As Scott Ostler stated in the San Francisco Chronicle the other day, the kid (well, 6 year minor league veteran) came from out of nowhere and wasn’t on a single “expert’s” radar this season.  With all the hype that Tim Alderson and Madison Bumgarner get, Sadowski was near invisible until he was brought up.

     But as Ostler also points out, a guy like Sadowski can leave just as quickly as he arrived.  The first two starts were rock solid, but once teams get a better look at you;  once scouting reports gets a little more in depth, it gets a little harder to fool those big bad major league hitters.  And that’s really what started happening in his last start. 

     He lasted 5 innings his third time around, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits with 4 Ks.  The Giants weren’t playing the most spectacular defense, but that shouldn’t have too strong an effect on a major league starter.  But it did to Sadowski who was visibly nerve-wracked on the hill that night.  The Marlins started getting a little more patient at the plate, taking Sadowski much deeper into counts and you could see that it wasn’t going to be his night.  He threw 91 pitches through his 5 innings, and actually walked 4 batters.  His post-game comments gave an air of confidence and he said that he threw the ball real well despite the outcome, but those of us that watch the game of baseball know that it could get worse before it gets better.

     And then that leaves Sanchez.  I don’t even know what to say anymore.  Truth is, I’m hoping that he comes out like an animal and pitches lights out for his next couple of starts.  Not because I like him or because I think he’ll help the Giants, but because I want him to boost his lousy trade value.  My expectations are definitely low, but if he can just eke out a couple of good starts, then maybe the White Sox will give more thought to dealing us Jermaine Dye for Sanchez and the defensively challenged Fred Lewis.

     It’s definitely going to be interesting to see how things start to unfold.  I’m not really sure how the organization is thinking about the second half and it’s pitching prospects, but lately, it seems to me that, besides that big bat we’ve all been screaming for since day one, it looks like we may need a little help on the back end starter situation.  I’m all for giving the youngsters a shot, but when it comes down to the end and we’re fighting for the Wild Card (or, God willing, the division) we may need to bolster our 4th or 5th starter’s spot with a veteran.  We don’t need an ace….we’ve got 2 already….but someone that can give us a little more consistency than what we’ve got.

     We’ve got game 2 of the Padres series starting tonight and it would be nice to finish out the first half on a high note.   Sanchez takes his turn tonight so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  It’d be nice to see a good game out of him, but that holding of the breath thing is probably a bit too extreme. 

A Sweep by the Halos Increases Doubt

     As I said in my last entry, the concepts of false hope and blind faith are waning and reality is starting to set in.  I think.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not giving up on the Giants this year, but my standards are starting to get lower and lower as the season goes on.  Where was that fire we saw when we were coming from behind to beat the Dodgers?  Where’s the moxie from the team that just finished off a three game sweep of our cross bay rivals?

     We saw a little bit during the first game against the Angels when we spotted them an 8-0 lead and then lost 9-7 after a failed comeback.  The 8-0 part was dismal, but atleast we showed some gusto when we were trying to get back into the game.  I’d rather try and come up short than roll over and die.

     Which is exactly what we did in the second game of the series.  Just like Barry Zito the night before, Jonathan Sanchez came out and showed us just how inconsistent he can be.  Not a good quality in a guy you’re hoping to shop around the league.  He never made it out of the 4th inning and in doing so, gave up 10 hits and put the Giants in a 7-0 hole before you even got back from the hot dog line at the concession stand.

     But unlike the night before, the Giants had nothing left in the tank.  On a night celebrating Irish Heritage Night, visiting rookie pitcher Sean O’Sullivan embarrassed the home team, holding them to 1 run on 5 hits through 7 innings of play.  Four of those hits came from Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval, the ”hero from the day before, and the lone RBI came from Nate Schierholtz who may not be much, but atleast he’s better than what we’ve got right now.

     The Giants could be in more trouble than I thought.  We’re a club built on strong pitching, but when that fails us, what do we have?  Molina and Sandoval can’t do it alone, and this mish-mash of players we’ve got can’t compete right now.  While I like the demotion of Emmanuel Burriss, is Matt Downs really the answer?  Is he any different from Kevin Frandsen, a guy who’s been unable to crack the starting lineup for three years now?

     And even when our pitching doesn’t fail us, what are our bats doing to take the wind out of the oppositions sails?  When a team is being held down by our starter, i.e. Tim Lincecum yesterday, our bats need to come in an step on the opposition’s throat.  The mentality of a team losing a 3-1 game is way different than a team losing an 8-1 game.

     Take a look at yesterday.  Would the Angels have fought back so hard had they been down by 7 runs in the 8th?  Probably not.  Would Bruce Bochy have come to little Timmy and said, “Great job kid.  Let’s let the pen mop up the end of this one.”?  Probably so.  But because our bats did nothing to contribute, Bochy felt his best chance to win was to squeeze out every last drop of blood that little Timmy could give him.  Frustrating indeed.

     Well, our bats better start to wake up and sooner rather than later.  We’ve got a tough offensive club in Texas coming in after today’s off day, and we have to expect that they’re going to plate quite a few runs.  Their pitching has been solid this season, but nothing that’s unhittable.  They definitely lack any form of an “ace” by MLB standards, but right now they own the ninth best ERA in the majors.  We’re definitely going to have to work hard to succeed.

     For right now, I’m going to continue my faith in the Giants.  It’s by no means blind, but faith nonetheless.  I don’t want to have to lower my expectations, but the more I talk to the die hard Giants fans, the more I may have to.  I’m starting to feel your pain folks.  Let’s hope the team starts to remedy it.  

Reality Check

     And just like that, reality sets in…

     After a moderately successful road trip and a resounding three game weep of the Oakland A’s, the Giants were victimized by an old foe with a familiar face.  Taking the mound for the Giants last night was the Barry Zito that San Franciscans have come to know over the last 2+years;  not the Bary Zito they’ve enjoyed in 2009.  This Barry, instead of holding the opposition down or at the least keeping his team in the game, left to the resonant jeers of the crowd in the 4th inning after giving up 7 runs on 10 hits and left the Giants in a near insurmountable hole less than halfway through the game.

     Is this it, Giants fans?  Is this what I’ve been missing this whole time?  Is this the way your cookie crumbles in the Bay Area?  Just when you think your team, that in reality is built on mediocrity, is ready to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make a competitive run, their true colors rear their ugly heads and the team just fizzles out.  Has this eluded me all this time?

     As a NY Jets fan in football, you’d think I would recognize the tell tale signs.  Just like the Jets who had a strong offense and no defense sucked me in last year, the Giants seemingly have done the same here.  Strong pitching and no offense, a few flashes of brilliance, tough games being won….these are all things that can fool anyone with hope.

     Maybe that’s where my problem lies.  Hope.  It’s a little worse than blind faith, because I can’t really plead ignorance.  With blind faith, I don’t recognize the Giants shortcomings.  The bad part about hope is that I recognize our weaknesses, but have some crazy sense that we can overcome them. 

     I know it’s just one game.  And I understand that we can’t expect Barry to be the pitcher he once was back in the days of Oaktown’s Big Three.  It’s just that I’m finally seeing the pattern.  I see the way the team rouses expectations and gives hope to its fans only to pull the proverbial rug right out from under us.  It’s like someone offering you a lick of their ice cream cone and pulling it away at the last minute.  It’s your buddy offering you a ride and then speeding up the car a bit each time you reach for the door handle.  Frustrating is the best way to define it.

     Now sure, there were some bright spots about last night’s game as Bengie Molina cracked 2 HR and both Andres Torres and Nate Schierholtz were, again, money off the bench.  But I’m not going to get caught up in that today.  Small flashes of offensive brilliance aren’t going to cut it for me right now.  Had they come back all they way, then maybe.  But for now, the Giants have lost my trust.  We’ll see how they fare the rest of the week, but today I wear my Giants hat with reservations, not pride.   

Almost Home

     I’m still trying to get into the swing of things again, so bear with me please.

 

     In the grand scheme of things, a 10 game road trip doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but it really is kind of a big deal.  It can be extremely cumbersome.  Sure, hotels are much more comfortable these days and players are equipped with PSPs, iPods and other electronic gadgets to keep themselves busy, but there’s really nothing like being home and sleeping in your own bed.  It just makes you feel more settled.  You know what I’m talking about.  It’s great to go away on vacation for 10 days, but that first night’s sleep back in your own bed?  Mmmmmm.  So good.  And that’s after a vacation.  Now imagine it after a 10 day work trip.

     I say this really just to point out how impressive a 6-3 (hopefully 7-3 after today) record looks after a 10 game road trip.  The Giants have been playing some rock solid ball on the road and it should be noted…especially after that first road trip of the season where they went 0-6. 

     Sure, some people will point out that the competition wasn’t all that difficult.  Washington, Florida and Arizona are all bottom feeders in the NL and these are games the Giants should win.  That is definitely true.  But let’s be realistic here.  These are all still major league teams and just like the old football adage, “any given sunday”, there are no gimmes in baseball.

     The Giants have been playing great baseball lately, and after yesterday are only 7 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.  Not an insurmountable number, by any means.  While the Dodgers are good, they’re certainly not unbeatable.  And as for long term in the season, I’m sorry, but guys like Eric Milton and Jeff Weaver certainly aren’t going to cut it.  Not to mention injuries to Hiroki Kuroda and the inconsistency of Clayton Kershaw.

     As a baseball fantatic and impartial observer, I truly believe the Giants have a chance to compete this year.  A big bat puts on a whole other level.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to go off on that tirade again right now.  I’m just saying that today we’re good, and tomorrow with a some help we could be great.

     As for last night’s game, what can I say?  Every starter except for Andres Torres – 10 hits in total.  Bengie Molina had a multi-hit game with a 2 run shot, Aaron Rowand continued to excel in the leadoff spot, Barry Zito was decent enough to keep us in the lead, and the bullpen shut the D-Backs down to seal the victory.  Like I said before, just some rock solid baseball.

     Let’s hope we can finish off Arizona today and enjoy our homecoming as we prepare to take on the AL bottom feeders from across the bay this weekend.  Enjoy! 

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