The Eugenio Velez Experience rolls on, and it ain’t pretty. His two gaffes yesterday (the first was officially Castillo’s error, on a low throw that Velez should have caught) cost the Giants the game, and his O isn’t making up for his shoddy D. He’s not walking; he’s not having good at-bats. I’m not sharpening my pitchfork, but it’s fair to ask if Velez — and the Giants — would be better served if he started every day as the Fresno second baseman. He needs reps in the field, and he needs to learn to get on base by any means necessary.
He could learn on the big stage, but we’ll have to suffer through more games like yesterday’s.
Speaking of learning curves, the Giants have six straight games, including yesterday’s, against lefty starters. Pittsburgh has three lined up, then Philadelphia’s Hamels again followed by Jamie Moyer. Fred Lewis sat against Hamels yesterday, but Bochy told the press Lewis will play during the all-lefty run. He’s only had 6 ABs this year against lefties, and this is the perfect opportunity for a long string. Pittsburgh’s three aren’t blue-chippers, so he should play all three games. It’s the rarity of exposure to a lefty — the breaking pitch tailing away, the fastball and sinker cutting in — that makes it difficult for left-handed batters to succeed against them.
If their rarity alone is enough to make them harder to hit, why don’t LHPs get RHBs out all the time, too? Good question. Think of a batter’s field of vision as he faces the pitcher. For a RHB, a lefty’s curve or slider starts high and away, easier to see and gauge earlier than a breaking pitch out of a RHP’s hand, which starts high and in, i.e., visible over the batter’s shoulder.
The field of vision, plus the movement of the breaking ball away, gives RHPs an advantage against RHBs, too, but the familiarity — the sheer amount of right-handed stuff that RHBs face over their careers — mitigates the difference somewhat.
Other tidbits:
* Chase Utley’s home run off Cain was a masterpiece of hitting. Great pitch, a curveball down and away, and Utley put his short sweet swing on it and sent it out to the deepest part of the yard, left-center field. Wind or no wind, it was studly. And it makes Lincecum’s work the next day against Utley, the league’s hottest hitter, that much more impressive: 1st inning, man on second and one out, strikeout looking; 3rd inning, first and second with no out, fly to center; 5th inning, first and third with no out, pop to second.
* Keep an eye on Saturday’s pitching matchups. It’s when the Giants next need a fifth starter, unless Jonathan Sanchez goes on three days rest. (This page lists Sanchez as the starter, but it’s not going to happen.)
* Erick Threets is rehabbing in Fresno. He’s already thrown a couple innings. How long can he rehab before the Giants have to make a decision? It’s going to be tough, as there’s no room for him right now. Hennessey apparently has an option and could trade places with Threets, but his ability to throw multiple innings, no matter how gruesome’s he been so far, is an asset while the rotation gets sorted out.
Today’s question: Can you abide by Velez’s defense, even in a rebuilding year? If you were the GM, how much of his current performance — crummy D, a sub-.300 OBP, sketchy baserunning — do you tolerate before sending him down? Another month? Til the All-Star Break? A full year?
