Stumbling into the Showdown

There they were, in living 58-inch plasma-infused color. Four nuns in full regalia sitting in the upper deck at Chase Field. The image brought only one thought to mind.

"We haven't got a prayer."

The Giants had a devil of a time with Arizona hurler Daniel Hudson, then fared no better against the D-backs train wreck of a bullpen in a 3-1 loss than dropped them two games back of suddenly upright San Diego. As has been the case all year, the Giants failed to display a killer instinct when faced with the prospect of a series sweep, instead acting as though the flight to San Diego for this weekend's crucial showdown left Phoenix Sky Harbor in about 20 minutes after first pitch.

For the umpeenth time this season it was Barry Zito who fell victim to non support. Zito hasn't won on the road since May 5 and had posted an ERA above nine in his last 10 appearances, but this wasn't his fault. To be sure, the run he allowed in the second was self inflicted but at the rate things are going, the Giants could get a no-hitter from their starter and lose. That's not hyperpole. Remember, they were a lone safety away from accomplishing exactly that earlier this year.

Once again the offense disappeared in the presence of quality opposition. Hudson was shaky early, throwing 55 pitches in his first three innings. Then the Giants than went back to their "schlock and ahhh" attack and let him escapce with a succession of single-digit pitch frames. Sad.

The sticks were certainly no help for Zito. Yes, the second-inning run was 100 percent his fault. Two walks to start the inning are the baseball equivalent of drinking nitroglycerin while playing jump rope, and the two-out hit cashed it in. Still, Zito deserved a better fate. Amidst all the talk about his struggles and even some calls for his next start to be skipped, he held up his end of the bargain. Unfortunately, the rest of the team was on an extended mental excursion to the some place tropical.

Damn those two-out hits. Get 'em and you win. Don't and you lose. The D-backs got a pair, including the obligatory add-on run in the eighth versus the always-scary San Francisco pen. The G-men didn't. And so it goes.

No question the Giants offense lacked spirit. Freddy Sanchez's first-inning solo blast was the lone highlight as the swing-at-anything-remotely-close-to-the-vicinity-of-the-zip-code-containing-home-plate attack made it's 456th apperance of the season. Hard to contribute any thoughtful analysis (I can only ride that scooter so long) other than to ask why, at this stage of the season, Melonhead would ever field a line-up without Pat Burrell.

Burrell isn't a savior by any means, but he's the one hitter in the line-up who gives a professional AB every time. Match-ups aside, the Burrell approach would have been imminently more palatable compared to the ninth-inning strokes by Edgar Rentawreck and Juan Uribe, who both flailed away at tosses that posed more threat to earthworms and inattentive dugout occupants than to the strike zone.

Ah, Bruce Bochy. Gotta love a guy who sees the tying run at third with two out in the seventh and opts for a pinch hitter who is two for his last 27. Travis Ishikawa's dribbler to end the frame was both anticlimactic and predictable. Could Burrell have been used there? He was available, sitting in favor of Cody Ross, whose accidental swing produced the weak tapper that provided a fitting conclusion to this sordid affair.

I also found it interesting that Bochy opted to pinch run for the Panda after his lead-off single yet waited an out before taking the leg irons off of Darren Ford. A runner at second with none out is a potential rally. With one out, well, you've set the stage for that wonderous Ishikawa moment. If you've made the decision to replace a bat for speed, you'd better make that move pay off, especially when you can anticipate that spot in the line-up rolling around again. Renteria or Sandoval in the ninth? Hmmn. Edgar could have salvaged that brain fart by delivering a hit, but he's already had his timely safety for September. His insistence on swinging at crap didn't polish that turd of a decision one iota.

One more shot at Botch-y, who you may have guessed isn't exactly my favorite manager. Heck, Charlie Fox would get more popularity votes in my house. Note his postgame comment: "We took a series here. We did in L.A., too. That's what you're trying to do."

Uh, Bruce. While you took that series in Arizona, you LOST ground on the Padres -- largely due to The Hated Dodgers again failing to contribute anything useful or meaningful to the universe. During those two series, taking two of three made up exactly one game in the standings. JUST winning series ain't gonna feed the bulldog here. When you have a chance to step on someone's throat, as the Giants had with the D-backs, you gotta cash it in.

Here's how important that one game is. The Giants now must sweep San Diego to leave Hairball Park with the divisional lead. Taking three of four manages only a deadlock. Anything less is counterproductive to the cause and does nothing more than get the Giants a step closer to Game 162 while booking reservations for October fishing trips -- probably to the same unspecified remote location (was Dick Cheney there?) into which the offense now disappears periodically. That's a tall order against a team that you've beaten exactly twice -- both times in extra frames -- in 11 tries.

Hey, winning series is impressive. If the Giants "win" each set that's 13-6 the rest of the way. Of course, the Padres play 21 games in that same span and could drop nine of them and maintain their lead. Meanwhile, in case you missed it, Colorado isn't going away. The Rockies will be motivated, and they get the Orange and Black at Beer Swill Stadium in the Giants' road finale. Two games doesn't sound like a lot, but the hole in which the Giants find themselves is still rather considerable.

As far as San Francisco is concered, the playoffs start tonight. They're Karl Wallenda, and any slip now is likley fatal.

Andrew Baggarly noted in this morning's San Jose Mercury News, the Giants believe they're the better team despite their record against the Padres. Time to prove it, starting tonight.

Since there will already be plenty of Padres on hand...no nuns allowed.

Haven't We Been Here Before?

One game out, and a key matchup with San Diego on the horizon. Talk about a sense of deja vu all over again.

The Giants have won three straight, with smoke and mirrors as the primary ingredients for success. So I sit here at the keyboard wondering, do I get excited about the prospects of the Giants actually winning the division, or am I simply setting myself up for the same heartbreak that has seemed to come at the end of each of my 40 seasons of fandom?

Quite honestly, I've been neglecting my writing because I have no clue what to say. I had resigned myself to the season being pretty much done. San Diego had a commanding lead, the Giants were playing poorly, and wildcard chances were also slipping slowly into the abyss. I'd written the G-men off.

Well, the Orange and Black still aren't doing anythig to set my toes a tappin', and that isn't so much as smile on my face as it is a pained grimmace. But who would have throught the Padres would unravel like a GOP economic plan?

One game out. Unthinkable.

I want to be excited. Heck, I want to dance on Tommy Lasorda's fat and balding head. But I just can't get worked up about this team. The offense only emerges from witness protection only sporadically. The defense is sometimes spectacular but at other times horrific. The bullpen scares the blazes out of me. Jonathan Sanchez is the ultimate chicken-or-feathers arm.

The opener at Arizona raised more questions than it answered, the least of which was "how is this team is in the race?" At one point the Diamondbacks' ace of the day (translation: anyone who faces the Giants' anemic offense) retired 14 in a row. The streak was broken by a walk to Pat Burrell, who gave way to pinch runner Nate Schierholtz, who was promptly picked off base.

Aubrey Huff (zero for his last eight with RISP) had a chance to end the drama in the ninth with one out and men at the corners but managed only a weak pop-up, an event made even more disconcerting since that was the first time in the game the Giants had managed to place a runner in scoring position. Nine innings to even sniff the possibility of a run, and nada.

Nate redeemed himself with the game-winner in the 11th, but how often can you count on the opposition to remain inert and trip over its own shoeleaces until you can luck into a tally or two?

On the flip side, the Giants received good starts the last time through the rotation, and both Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner threw their best games of the year. Santaigo Casilla still has less command than Custer at Little Big Horn, but Bruce Bochy appears wedded to the guy so no point in further flogging that bullpen horse except to say I am concerned with the numbers game.

Bochy went through relievers on Monday like I go through Jolly Ranchers. I cringed when Mark Grace (I was watching the D-backs broadcast) commented that it was September so, with call-ups, both teams could run pitchers out there all day. Uh, not so fast, Gracie.

The Giants reactivated Mota but only called up infielders Burriss and Velez. Although they have 40 spots available they've filled just 32 of them, and none with extra pitchers. No Pucetas. No Sosa. No nothing. Now, Brian Sabean and Bochy can argue that they don't want to throw an untested arm into a pennat race. Fair enough, but after watching Zito's between-starts debacle against Cincy (and his subsequent drubbing in his next start), they need someone, anyone with a pulse, at the end of the bench just in case disaster looms. Heck, I'd put John Montefusco down there if he were available. Anything to avoid another Zito-like incident. Better to trust luck for one game than give away two.

But even if the pitching revival is real and not a mirage, do they have enough offense? Right now it seems only Buster Posey is hitting. Burrell at least makes pitchers work. Everyone else? Coin flip.

I have to take exception to the Giants' approach at the plate. Three hitting coaches in the last four years haven't been able to turn around this death march between plate and dugout. Either they need a better approach or better players. Yesterday was a perfect example of how poorly the Giants seem to understand the basics.

Arizona's weakness is its pen. Their starter threw his 80th pitch with one out in the eighth. Sanchez is usually there by the fourth inning.  Why? Beacuse hitters are patient with Sanchez, who is known for bouts of wildness. The Giants should have been working Ian Kennedy like the McCourts worked the IRS. Insted there were countless times where at-bats went three pitches or less, and a lot of those were one-pitch ABs. Hey, you rip at that pitch if it's in your zone, but judging from the result there were more reaches than rips. Too many fat hitters as opposed to fat pitches -- sorry Panda.

But, I guess it matters not how the Giants got here, they're here. One game out. The last time the Giants anticipated a showdown with San Diego, they laid an egg in the preceding series and pretty much let the air out of their own sails. Now it's the Friars who are sucking wind.  Can the Giants take advantage?

At this point the goal has to be observing the Hipocratic Oath: first do no damage. It's two more with Arizona, then four at Sea World. The Giants return home for another three-game go-around with The Hated Dodgers and Giants MVP Jonathan Broxton, three with the cominc book Brewers, and then rodies at Chicago and Colorado.

The goal through all of that has to be this: Come home from Colorado in no worse shape than they are now.

Make those last three games of the season, hosting the Padres at The Big Phone, matter. Anyting better is gravy.

I'll put The Count on speed dial.

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Well, That Certainly Sucked!

Dodgers 4, Giants 2. The do-or-die road trip starts, not with a bang, but with a whimper.

San Diego lost so the Giants are still just three back, but we're left singing that familiar refrain of "what might have been." The Padres have lost eight straight, basically begging the Giants to take command of the division, and the Giants have simply refused to accept the gift.

Tonight's display of impotence was just the latest example of a team built, not to win, but to simply "contend." Watching tonight's telecast (in my area MLB Extra Innings was blacked out so I was limited to the Dodgers' feed) Vin Scully made a telling observation. The Giants offense isn't bad, they rank right in the middle of the pack in virtually every category. That's the problem. As Scully noted, that means they don't do anything exceptionally well.

San Francisco is now five games under .500 against the diivison it's trying to win. Built to compete? Uh, not really.

I've noted before that the Giants aren't constructed to beat good teams, so I take this as independent verification. When their pitching is on, the Giants will eek out enough offense to beat average to good teams. But against the top tier, they find themsleves hopelessly outgunned.

As the Dodgers and Padres continue to prove, that opponent doesn't have to be elite. If they can match the Giants' pitching, the G-men are toast. In a watered down National League, the Giants are about as viable over the long haul as mood rocks, new Coke and earth shoes.

Tonight was a perfect example of a team that didn't have the "it" factor. Zito hangs a breaker to the number-eight hitter with two down and the pitcher on deck. The result: a two-run jack. The next time around he walks that same hitter to get to the pitcher, only to surrender a soft liner to right that would have been gloved by a less lead-footed player.

After being lifted, there was a great shot of Zito in the dugout. His look said it all: a real right fielder would have caught the damn ball. Jose Gullien. What a @#% mistake.

Unfortunately, that can be said for much of the team. It's not that they cause the team to lose, it's that they don't contribute anything to victory.

The line-up, which had only two players not plucked from the heap by Brian Sabean, managed two hits. None came after the fourth inning, The last 10 Giants went in order. And the one rally was aided by an error and a bouncer off the glove of an infielder playing out of position.

Sad.


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