What an anticlimax to the road trip, kinda like seeing the partial nudity warning at the start of an episode of "NYPD Blue" only to find out it's Sipowicz getting naked.
The Giants stumbled through a series win in Pittsburgh then took the first two of a four-game set at Cincy. But as has been their modus operandi, the Giants can't stand too much of a good thing. What was a 4-1 trek had all the markings of the moment we'd look back to in October and say "this is when it started." Instead the Giants limp home with a 4-3 ledger ready to face an A's team that made them look strictly like the B-Team the last time they met.
The maddening inconsistency that has been the Giants for a decade continues. When they pitch, the don't hit. When they hit, they don't pitch. This is a team that still hasn't figured out that old mantras like "you win with pitching and defense" no longer apply. Teams that consistently compete for titles, and more imporatntly win them, don't rely on one facet of the game. Balance is the key to victory, and it you don't believe me then ask the Boston Red Sox, an organization that for years fielded slow-pitch softball teams trying to take advantage of that cozy rat trap called Fenway Park, then saw the light and decided adding some decent pitching might be a good idea. Two titles later....you get the picture.
When you're grasping at offensive straws, you'll have days where you hit, and the Giants have. You'll also have days, no matter how good your staff is, where everything the pitcher throws gets sent back at his face like he said something unseemly about the batter's lineage (your mother looks like Otis Nixon!). Balanced teams smooth those issues out. Hitters pick up pitchers, and vice versa.
With the Giants that doesn't happen often. Worse, the strain is showing on the pitchers. Nowhere is that more evident than with Tim Lincecum, who over the last three weeks has actually been the weakness of the staff (I exclude Wellemeyer because he's not a staff member so much as a staph infection). Yep, Timmy is the weak spot. An in related news, black is white, up is down, Tommy Lasorda is slim, and Brian Sabean is smart. It's dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!
But, enough of that. Just a few random thoughts from the four games in Cincy:
Okay, so next up it's the A's. Given recent history I won't ask for much, but scoring, oh, two runs over the next three days would be nice.
The Giants stumbled through a series win in Pittsburgh then took the first two of a four-game set at Cincy. But as has been their modus operandi, the Giants can't stand too much of a good thing. What was a 4-1 trek had all the markings of the moment we'd look back to in October and say "this is when it started." Instead the Giants limp home with a 4-3 ledger ready to face an A's team that made them look strictly like the B-Team the last time they met.
The maddening inconsistency that has been the Giants for a decade continues. When they pitch, the don't hit. When they hit, they don't pitch. This is a team that still hasn't figured out that old mantras like "you win with pitching and defense" no longer apply. Teams that consistently compete for titles, and more imporatntly win them, don't rely on one facet of the game. Balance is the key to victory, and it you don't believe me then ask the Boston Red Sox, an organization that for years fielded slow-pitch softball teams trying to take advantage of that cozy rat trap called Fenway Park, then saw the light and decided adding some decent pitching might be a good idea. Two titles later....you get the picture.
When you're grasping at offensive straws, you'll have days where you hit, and the Giants have. You'll also have days, no matter how good your staff is, where everything the pitcher throws gets sent back at his face like he said something unseemly about the batter's lineage (your mother looks like Otis Nixon!). Balanced teams smooth those issues out. Hitters pick up pitchers, and vice versa.
With the Giants that doesn't happen often. Worse, the strain is showing on the pitchers. Nowhere is that more evident than with Tim Lincecum, who over the last three weeks has actually been the weakness of the staff (I exclude Wellemeyer because he's not a staff member so much as a staph infection). Yep, Timmy is the weak spot. An in related news, black is white, up is down, Tommy Lasorda is slim, and Brian Sabean is smart. It's dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!
But, enough of that. Just a few random thoughts from the four games in Cincy:
- It's nice to see that Dusty Baker return to baseball after his star-making appearance at Enik in the "Land of the Lost" remake. Has there ever been a huiman being that looked more like a lizard than this guy?
- Is there a pitcher in baseball, including Ubaldo Jimenez, throwing better than Matt Cain right now? In his last 35 innings he's given up exactly ONE earned run. He's gone the route in three of his last four starts. Half the pitchers in the league couldn't beat those numbers if they were pitching to cadavers. And what if he gets even better? He's been in the bigs long enough that everyone is forgetting that he's only 25 -- younger actually than Lincecum. I've got socks that have been around longer.
- Bochy was a catcher, right? Then how is it he knows less about how to manage pitchers than anyone on the planet? Only he and Grady Little could this consistently remove a pitcher from the game one batter too late. I could see Zito was done. Jeez, Helen Keller could see Zito was done. It's like the drunk driving commercial, the one where they compare the girl with a slight buzz to the one who just took out two teeth with a beer bottle. It's easy to tell which one is wasted. By the time bochy noticed Zito was tanked, he'd not only taken out two teeth but he'd swallowed the bottle, chased it with a fifth of Jack and professed undying devotion to the ugliest chick in the room, only to discover said chick was, in fact, a dude. Friends don't let friends drive drunk, and good managers don't let leads get away by allowing tiring pitchers to get their brains bashed in, especially when they had a chance (and reason) to hit for him in the previous inning.
- The acquisition of Pat Burrell did, in fact, mean the departure (at least temporarily) of Brandon Medders. Much can be said about him clearing waivers en route to Fresno. Nobody wanted this guy? And I though I was the only one who felt that way. Funny that every GM in baseball has now had a shot at Medders, and only Satan said "I want him." Ever see a movie that was just bad? You gotta ask yourself: "What studio exec thought financing that piece of crap was a good idea?" It's what I asked when I saw Medders on the roster. Heck, it's what I said when I saw the opening day roster.
- DeRosa may be gone for the year. Renteria is missing significant time for the second straight year. Freddy Sanchez was damaged goods, both when the Giants broght him aboard and when they re-signed him. Anyone detect a trend here? Once Sabean gets canned, the first order of business is to replce the dudes in charge of physical evaluations. These guys would give Monty Stratton a clean bill of health.
- Just got distracted by a big wind. Oh, sorry, just another swing and miss from Aaron Rowand. I used to wait for commercials to run to the fridge or visit the can. Now I wait for Rowand's at-bats. Man, $12 million a year sure doesn't buy what it used to.
- Bigger disaster, BP or BS? You make the call.
- Thank you, Todd Wellemeyer, for finding a way to take yourself out of the game. Bochy is still waiting for a bearded old fart to decend from the mountains carrying stone tablets before he gets the message. Way to take one for the team. I was going to post his road ERA here, but my keyboard doesn't have the infinity symbol.
- What prize do the Giants get for breaking the single-season record for hitting into double plays? They've killed more rallies than Murder Incorporated. Three times Thursday with the bases loaded? There's gotta be at least a kewpie doll in this.
- I advocated trading Jonathan Sanchez in my last blog, noting every third start he went from Christy Matthewson to Christy Brinkley. I won't comment on which showed up on Wednesday, other than to say I really enjoyed the '79 SI swimsuit issue.
- I like Sandoval, a lot, but will someone please tell him that on 2-0 and 2-1 counts it's not advisable to swing at pitches best attacked with a nine-iron? And on that same subject, will someone tell Rowand that in those circumstnces it IS advisable for him to miss the team bus to the ballpark?
Okay, so next up it's the A's. Given recent history I won't ask for much, but scoring, oh, two runs over the next three days would be nice.
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