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

08.14.2008
Astros 7, Giants 4: Bullpuckey

Another puke job by the Giant bullpen today makes me want to can the lot of ‘em. Instead I’ll focus my wrath on Bruce Bochy for something he did and something he didn’t do.

With a man on second, the Astros already up by two and two outs in the eighth, Bochy brought in Tyler Walker to pitch to the weak-hitting Humberto Quintero. He wanted the righty-righty matchup, I guess. Lefty Alex Hinshaw had already coughed up Berkman’s two-run jack and a monster double by Blum, sure, but after Blum’s double, Hinshaw struck out Pence and Newhan. He seemed to have settled in. Why not let him finish the inning? Instead, the flammable Walker entered and allowed an RBI single. It didn’t have much bearing on the final, as the Giants went meekly in the ninth, but it chapped my hide.

And what Bochy didn’t do: He didn’t bring Brian Wilson his best relief pitcher into a single game in the Houston series. What is he waiting for? I know the answer: a save situation. If there was ever a save situation, it was with Darin Erstad at the plate in the 7th and a runner on third. Instead, Walker’s little arsonist friend Jack Taschner was summoned. Single, tie game. Even better, why not think out of the box and ask Wilson to start the 8th with the Astros’ best hitters up? Instead, it was Yabu, who instantly fell behind Tejada and allowed a leadoff single. How about Wilson now, since the dreaded Berkman was up? Nope.

It’s too much to ask Bochy to defy baseball convention and bring his closer into a tie game in the 8th, but it would have gained my eternal respect. Well, not eternal. Temporary and grudging is more like it.

PLODAG: Kevin Correia didn’t have great stuff but got his act together and should have gone 7 innings with only 3 ER. He’s thrown a few good games in a row. If it weren’t for the oblique injury, what kind of season might he be putting together?

The Upside: Travis Ishikawa, who made two excellent plays in the field that probably saved a run in the early going, and an opposite-field double. I love opposite-field doubles.  
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2 Comments

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Tom Clifton | August 14, 2008 8:12 PM | Reply

A story on ESPN.com last week kind of mimics your thoughts.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/080805

If your closer is your lights out pitcher, why don't you use him when you need the light out.

obsessivegiantscompulsive | August 14, 2008 9:43 PM | Reply

This is the logic that BP has been saying for years, to bring in your closer when he is needed, not perfunctory in the 9th with the lead. But that's our world today.

Don't know if you remember, but Bochy did bring in Wilson into non-save situations earlier this season and he promptly got bombed a couple of times and was quoted as saying that he doesn't like being put into non-save situations, I guess he doesn't get the rush he normally gets closing.

So is it Bochy fault or Wilson's fault in that case? You can throw Wilson out there all you want, but if he gets blown out and publicly says that he is not good in those situations, what do you do?

I think for Correia, you look at what he did at the end of last season for a glimpse of what he is capable of. So today's game, to me, would represent about what you can expect out of him over a full season, 6-7 IP, about 3-4 runs given up.

Don't forget that Ishikawa also took a walk late in a tie game when the Giants needed a baserunner. A young hitter out to prove himself might have been looking aggressive for a pitch and be the hero by hitting a homer or something.

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