When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

05.18.2008
5/18/08: Bad Patch

White Sox 13, Giants 8: Good pitching, no hitting. Lots of hitting, worse pitching. That's the way it goes these days. Two and eleven in the past two weeks, much of which parallels the downward spiral of the bullpen, though today you could hardly fault Tyler Walker, as a seeing-eye grounder and three bloops turned into three runs. After Octavio Dotel's attempt to give back all Walker's runs by walking the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, the Giants looked more anxious than a virgin in a whorehouse, jumping on first pitches and ultimately hitting three ground balls. They were lucky to score twice. Then Brian Wilson continued his disturbing trend of sucking when there's no save to be had, the Sox scored four more times, and it was over.

As the Giants hit the road, fans in rival towns will wonder at the bloated ERAs -- Walker 7.00, Wilson over 5, Cain 4.57, and they won't believe it when we tell them the Giants pitching isn't really the problem. Fasten your seat belts, we could be in for a bumpy road trip. At least the Giants have a game scheduled against Harrison Ford on Thursday. I'm not sure how he got into the league. The guy is what, 65 years old? If Freddie Lewis doesn't start that game, I'll call for Bruce Bochy's head on an extra-large platter.

PLODAG: Bah.

The Upside: Hah.
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[May 19, 2008 1:15 AM]  |  link  |  reply
johnP said

Funny trend: when the Giants start playing well with the younguns, Bochy starts plugging in more and more veteran savvy - until the Giants start to suck like it's 2007. Then he puts the younguns back, and they are fun again.

After seeing today's veteran savvy lineup, I said screw it - and skipped the game altogether. Good call, it turns out :)

[May 19, 2008 1:18 AM]  |  link  |  reply
reeky said

Did you catch the tally when the bases were loaded in the 8th? One foul ball (on a first pitch) and 3 DP balls. That's impressive in its own terrible fashion. The only consolation is that we're not really *this* bad!

[May 19, 2008 6:01 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Frank said

I really do wonder what these guys are taught. I usually hit 6th or 7th in HS, summerleagues, college. I was a player that was definitely taught to hit it to the right side or try for the sac fly. Guys like me aren't scouted, aren't signed to minor league deals. I wonder if that isn't part of the problem with us here in fandom - lack of knowledge. The guys from my leagues who garnered any interest hit 3d, 4th, 5th and if they came up with men on they didn't have any change in approach, just tried, as usual, to hit the ball hard. Situational hitting isn't nearly as easy as it sounds. If the pitcher is giving you a steady diet of sinkers inside, you ain't hitting a routine ground ball to 2b. But that apart, we all know you take a few pitches, you look for that low outisde FB or slider and hit a slow roller to 2b to bring in the run. I do really wonder why major leaguers don't know this. Are they so steeped in their early year heroics that they've never learned? When, at what level, do they learn this? Is there any evidence, not with the Giants but with any team, they are specifically taught this? When, where? Do we ever see it being covered by coaches, by the manager?
I guess I address this hoping to get comments from guys who've played in the minors or who know guys who played in the minors. I mean, what and when are these guys taught? Is there some macho prohibition from giving yourself up to knock in a teammate?