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

05.03.2008
Well Played
Last night's game was a bummer, with Brian Wilson giving up the walk-off to Pat Burrell. But it was also one of the best games of the year. The Giants came back strong against a tough team in a hostile environment. Sure, a better team might have won, given all the chances the Giants wasted, but this is what we'll get as long as Jose Castillo and Manny Burriss are expected to provide the big hit.

As for Wilson, a closer, no matter how good, will occasionally fail. That Wilson failed against two of the hottest hitters in the league, in one of the best hitters parks in the game, is nothing to be ashamed of. Bochy turned it into a good learning moment by telling Wilson after the game he needs to mix up his pitches a bit more. (Wilson threw nothing but fastballs in the inning.) Wait a sec: shouldn't Bengie Molina be mixing it up more? Isn't that his job?

I loved what I saw from John Bowker. Four hits, all singles, which tells me he's making adjustments by taking a little bit out of his swing. If he's strong, the home runs will come. Hard contact is what he needed in his 1-for-26 slump, or whatever it was, and contact is what he found last night.

Fred Lewis had a rough one with four Ks, but his one hit came leading off the ninth, down two strikes against Brad Lidge, who's been nearly unhittable this year. Kudos also the bullpen for more outstanding work.

For the weekend question, here's something for Righetti-skeptics to ponder: Who gets credit for putting together such a good bullpen? Is it dumb luck that Taschner has bounced back from a miserable year and Tyler Walker is throwing better than ever (and now up to 9th in the NL in WXRL)?  The relievers always say it helps when everyone knows his role. Is that the manager's responsibility?







[May 3, 2008 11:05 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Frank said

Agree with your comments, Lefty, except as regards Bowker. His hits last night were on fastballs. Tonight they threw him all breaking balls - I don't think he got a bat on one of them. They did throw one FB, which he fouled off. I think if he weren't playing 1b, they would send him down. He could probably use a year in AAA; wasn't he in AA last year?

[May 5, 2008 9:48 AM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive replied to Frank

Yes, Bowker was in AA. Thanks for that observation. Odd that they would feed him fastball all game long though, seems very Bart Simpson-ish: "I won't get electrified this time..."

[May 4, 2008 12:50 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Jonathan Bass said

Keep it up Lefty!

I'm not a big fan of Boch, but he came in with a rep for solidifying bullpens and he's done that. I give him all the credit.

Kudos to Wilson for stepping in on Saturday and getting the job done, albeit with a little more drama than was needed. I judge closers by how they make me feel when I see them coming in the game, (a range from mortified to queezy to comfortably numb). Wilson is still in the queezy range, but Saturday's performance makes Friday's a learning experience instead of the beginning of a tailspin.

Also, did you notice Cain's non-comparison of Utley to Bonds in quotes this morning? It's almost like Bonds has reached official "he whose name we do not speak" status. Weird.

We've got Mark Gardner on staff. Why is he not giving Bowker his own special BP session of slurves, sliders and eephus pitches every day?

Watching this team is a lot of fun--more fun than any since '03.

[May 5, 2008 10:30 AM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive said

I feel we have to give both Bochy and Righetti some credit.

However, in Taschner's case, if I remember right, he said that he didn't prepare properly before last season, plus I think he developed a new pitch for this season (could be Righetti there). Read over any quote from him, he has a closer's mentality even if he doesn't get to close, which I love about him. I think that he's going to be a huge key in making our bullpen work going forward, because he can handle both lefties and righties (shades of Lavelle-Moffitt?)

In Walker's case, his arm is now fully healthy (he could be better perhaps with TJS) AND he now has the experience to use it properly, perhaps. I think he would have pitched this well irregardless of his role.

In Valdez's case, seems to be a strong case of Righetti, because Valdez has always struggled in the minors, but has been pretty good so far. I don't think his role, other than being a major leaguer, affected his performance.

In Wilson's case, as much as I admire his mindset, I think it got to him last season and it took him almost all season to wrap his head around it. Since coming up, though, clearly he's used to the idea of being a MLB closer.

In Hennessey's case, he knew his role and quickly lost it, so knowing his role did not help.

I think Yabu just wants to stay here and doing all he can to stay here, role, no role.

I agree with Lefty. People have to remember that there is no pitcher with a zero WHIP. At hopefully a low 1 WHIP, there will always be a baserunner, so there will regularly be more drama.

About having a lefty pitch to Bowker, the guy who used to pitch to Bonds, Yandle (or something like that) is still doing that for the Giants (though Bonds paid for his road trips so I doubt he's following on the road). I agree with Jonathan, Bowker (and Lewis) should be taking a million pitches every day from the guy. That's how you 1) get better against LHP and 2) stay in groove against them. And the Giants said that he's still going to play this week against some LHP.

Still, Bowker's going to sit this week, and I assume against the tough LHPs and Aurilia will play 1B in those cases (looks like Ortmeier will be Lewis's platoon partner).

Yes, this is a pretty fun team, probably the most fun since 2003, I agree with Jonathan.

In terms of fun with new guys, this is probably the best since Will the Thrill and Robby came up.