There's Something Eerily Familiar......

Rewind this blog 24 hours. I take back everything I said. Another Giants debacle, and my two favorite targets were planted firmly at Ground Zero.

When I referenced “nails on a chalk board,” this is the kind of game I meant. I saw the offense I expected this year, and worse, the Renteria I expected this year. What an abysmal performance.

Why is it that every time there’s Class A foul-up, Edgar Rent-a-Wreck is right in the middle of it? I thought the stone hands routine was gone when Pedro Feliz left the building, but clearly I was wrong.

There are a lot of errors that can be made on a diamond. Balls take bad hops. They get wind blown. They get lost in the sun or lights. But when all you’re asked to do is glove a routine throw that hits you in the freaking glove and you fall apart like wet cardboard in a monsoon, well, you officially suck.

Double plays are becoming a recurring theme. The Giants hit into far too many, and they can’t turn them when they need to. Add that to wholesale missed offensive opportunities and this 6-5 loss to Pittsburgh is one that should be placed in a time capsule – then promptly dumped in to the deepest part of the sea.

Again, the only part of the “pitching and defense” Giants that lived up to billing was the offense, which by its omission from that description clearly can’t be counted on. Two on, no one out. Runner at third and two out. Those are situations where any competent offense simply HAS to score. The Giants failed, and failed miserably. And when at one point you’ve set the table only to see your 3-4-5 fail to so much as get the ball out of the infield, there are no excuses.

Nice little rally in the ninth, but once again it was too little and too late. With a man on and up three, Dotel feels comfortable with a 3-2 challenge. He doesn’t make the same choice with the game on the line. When it mattered, the top of the order went in order – with Renteria not even coming close when presented with an opportunity for redemption. At least Panda hit the ball hard.

Did I mention pitching? Brandon Medders would be a joke but there’s no punch line, only frustration. He didn’t get the loss but absolutely deserved it, once again proving he’s worthy of every evil thing I ever thought, felt, said, typed or transmitted via osmosis. Guys like Pucetas and Hinshaw don’t make the squad but this serial arsonist gets to wear the orange and black? The only explanation for his roster spot is some kind of blackmail. His only value is as a BP hurler. Unfortunately he keeps throwing it for the opposition.

I also have to slap Affeldt on the wrist. Giants hurlers had retired 13 straight when he issued the four-pitch walk to McCutcheon that set that fiasco up. Then, after seeing Renteria soil the sheets, he served up a flat slider for the RBI single that surrendered the lead. Renteria and Medders are the goats, but Affeldt was an accomplice.

The Giants aren’t going to win them all, but the losses should never be this Elephant Man ugly. There are certain tasks you expect professional athletes – guys who get paid for their physical skill – to make. When they don’t, they’ve done a disservice to the fans, their teammates, and the entire organization. Jeez, the last two innings of that game were a disservice to Abner Doubleday.

The Giants still lead the division. On this night they looked like a team that didn’t plan to stay there long.