Bad on Brian Wilson for yesterday's performance, but blown saves happen to every closer. A three-run lead and a weekend sweep is painful to let slip through the hands, but it's now more important to see how Wilson bounces back. Or to see if team officials have a little conversation with him: according to his own tweets his late night Saturday involved encounters with "over aggressive males" in Scottsdale, and tongues (typewriters?) are wagging.
What bugged me more, though, was Bruce Bochy's bullpen management. He said in the pre-game show he needed to find a way to get Merkin Valdez into the game. A splendid idea. Up 4-1 in the 8th, he asked Affeldt and Howry to pitch, and they did fine. But both pitched nearly every game last week, and even with the off-days, that's a lot. The Dodger series starts tonight, the most important series of the year so far; don't you think it would've been wise to give those guys a breather?
If it were a four-run lead, I'll bet Bochy would have brought in Valdez. But no, it was three runs, a "hold/save situation," and Valdez apparently couldn't be trusted or simply didn't fit the role.
Once Wilson blew the save and the game went extra innings, Bochy had more chances to call on Valdez. Nope. Brandon Medders did the job in the 10th and 11th, but he started the 12th badly. Then, with the bases loaded and the team in desperate need of a strikeout, Bochy called on Justin Miller and pointedly not Valdez, who throws in the mid-90s.
Or, if you like, Valdez could have pitched the ninth inning Friday. It was 5-1 and unlikely to get out of hand. Instead Bochy brought in Affeldt.
It was all so weird, I wonder if there's an ulterior motive. Does Valdez have a nagging injury that the Giants don't want to disclose? Is there a disciplinary problem? Either way, they're basically pitching with a short bullpen. Brian Wilson blew the save Sunday, but if the bullpen gets smacked around the next few days -- or if Valdez after a nearly two-week layoff has a disastrous outing -- it's fair to say that Bruce Bochy blew it over the weekend in Arizona.
