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

06.16.2008
Beaned

Watching Friday’s game, in which the A’s took advantage of Barry Zito’s wildness and the Giants did absolutely nothing with the very charitable Greg Smith’s six walks, I had a bad feeling about the entire weekend.

I was right. The Giants ended up on the short side of three relatively low-scoring games. But I realize upon review the results don’t bother me so much. We knew the Giants would go through stretches like this all season. That it hasn’t happened more is testament to some surprising offense from several players, some excellent bullpen work, and injury luck (Molina staying healthy, Rowand able to play through cracked ribs). As long as the team plays cleanly and learns from its travails, I can’t be too upset.

The weekend sweep boiled down to a few pitching mistakes. The team that took advantage won. Zito’s ugly walks in the 6th inning Friday turned what was nearly a “quality” start (6 IP, 3 ER) into something less so. In three of Smith’s five innings, one hit would have given the Giants at least a couple runs. The worst at-bat was Molina in the fifth, swinging at and popping up the first pitch after Smith had walked the bases loaded. Awful.

Sunday, Kevin Correia made two very bad pitches in the sixth, an 0–2 fastball to Chavez and a hanging slider to Crosby. Each was crushed, and the game was effectively over. Up to that point Correia was excellent. He might have run out of gas in his first big-league start in more than month, and perhaps Bochy should have pulled him after five innings. But it’s hard to second-guess it. Tip your hat to the A’s for hitting hittable pitches in key situations.

Things I liked about the weekend:

* Emmanuel Burriss looking like a big-leaguer. Two doubles and two beautiful defensive plays Sunday put me more firmly on the Burriss bandwagon. At the very least, platoon him with Vizquel, as Burriss’s strong side is batting righty. He’s the leading candidate for 2009 starting shortstop, but he needs to improve from the left side (.220 / .291 / .240 in 50 at-bats).

* John Bowker’s pinch single in the 8th Sunday. He’s supposed to have trouble against off-speed stuff, but in a pinch-hit situation he waited nicely on a Foulke changeup (still one of the best in the game) and lined it very very softly into left field.

* Matt Cain’s second straight strong outing. Perhaps he’s about to go on a tear. Go baby go.

* Correia’s strong outing. Ignore the sixth inning, and you’d say what a great return from the DL. Swapping Correia for Misch, who will return to Fresno as a starting pitcher, will be a big boost.

Still, it’s embarrassing. The A’s come in and sweep as a direct reminder that rebuilding done right doesn’t have to be a long painful process. The A’s are a good team right now.



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3 Comments

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trilljester | June 16, 2008 6:35 PM | Reply

And to think the media thought the A's would stink it up this year. They continue to underestimate Beane's ability to effectively manage a team on a limited payroll. Tipping my hat to a REAL GM.

obsessivegiantscompulsive | June 16, 2008 8:44 PM | Reply

Now you say that re-building doesn't have to be a long process. What I would like to get from you is when a re-build is defined to start.

Now, you appear to be using 2007 as a rebuilding year for the A's and therefore Beane is successful in re-building quickly, hence your comment.

One could also say that this rebuild is part of the over-arching rebuild that started in 2005 when they traded away Hudson and Mulder. After all, they were winning a lot of games prior to 2007 and, not being a very old team, it is not like they got old and needed to rebuild, Beane more, and I think I'm stealing this from a quote from him over the off-season, more re-loaded than re-built.

And it's not like I don't admire what Beane has done in Oakland, but I think you are being generous to call it a rebuild when they took a huge page out of the Sabean playbook in signing Emil Brown, Mark Sweeney, and Frank Thomas for this season.

Yes, he traded away their top hitter and pitcher. It was a calculated risk because they were hoping that Harden will finally return and take over for Haren, which he has, so far, and first Sweeney, and now Thomas is replacing Swisher's offensive output. But that's not quite a rebuild if you are replacing the vets you traded away with equally good vets (and older vets to boot).

And if Harden goes down, I'll bet the A's would go down as well, they are 7-2 in the 9 games he has started since coming back and thus without him they are 31-29. When's the last time he pitched for a significant chunk of the season.

And without Toronto stupidly pissing off Thomas and sending him their way, they would then be at or under .500, he has been worth at least 2 games if not more to them.

In addition, they are living on possible borrowed time in the starting rotation. Eveland, who has been a big part of their resurgence has an ERA of 3.56 but a xFIP of 4.54. Look at his lack of strikeouts and all the walks he is doing, that's going to catch up with him eventually. Likewise Greg Smith with 3.62 ERA, 4.37 xFIP. Plus his BABIP is very low, though it is possible he's a craft lefty type who can do that regularly.

Even their more established guys have been lucky. Duchscherer has an ERA of 2.20 but xFIP of 4.02. Harden 2.53 ERA but xFIP of 3.45.

Only Blanton is pitching close to what his xFIP is, 4.23 ERA vs. 4.45 xFIP, but he is still a bit lower too than expected.

So what happens if this house of cards in the starting rotation fall down, as it appears likely to do?

That's the danger of jumping the gun in labeling a team as successfully rebuilt in the middle of a season when there is still a lot of games left to play.

hummbaby89 | June 21, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply

Comparing the Giants and A's in terms of rebuild really isn't a fair comparison. The A's have been working their 'moneyball' philosophy for about a decade. Their offseason was not a rebuild but their regular reloading that takes place regularly. This is the mistake that people make when looking at them on paper.

The Giants on the other hand haven't had a bona fide home grown big league position player since Royce Clayton and haven't brough one up through the system since they acquired Aurilia in the Burkett trade. The reality here is that the Giants are in unfamiliar waters. This is a true rebuild. A complete change in business philosophy and an end to an era. It's a different situation.

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