Nats 10, Giants 6: As soon as the Giants took a 5-2 lead in the 6th and Washington came right back and scored two off Tim Lincecum in the bottom of the inning, this one had the stink of a loss all over it.
It was a team effort. Creaky defense, runners left stranded, a sour bullpen, and Lincecum himself had a hand in it, too. Two of the four runs against him were unearned, yes, but in that ominous sixth inning, the first run would have scored, no matter what. Renteria's error prolonged the inning, but Lincecum ignored the baserunner, who stole third on him uncontested -- inexcusable -- and the next batter hit a sacrifice fly.
The bullpen hacked it up for good in the 8th, but I can't get too cheesed off. The pen was due a bad game after a long stretch of success. It happens. One key hit was the first RBI single against Bobby Howry. On another night, the weak grounder would go to an infielder for an easy double play. Instead it dribbled up the middle into center field. A rangier shortstop would have at least stopped it.
The most frustrating part was Merkin Valdez's performance, throwing an easy 97, 98, but not getting the ball where he needed it to be. The killing blow was Ryan Zimmerman's two-run double, and the pitch was belt high toward the outside. Merkin's been throwing well, though sporadically, since his debacle against the Mets two weeks ago. A once-every-two-weeks hiccup for a reliever is acceptable.
At this point you're thinking, Why is El Lefty so mellow? A sloppy, ugly, come-from-ahead loss, and he's tossing around words like "acceptable"? Where's the outrage?
Part of it is the feeling that right now, win or lose, the Giants will at least keep it close. They haven't lost by more than four runs since Eric Stults and the Dodgers shut them out 8-0 on May 9. That's cold comfort when a team loses four straight one-run games, but one-run losses seem fixable. Blowouts do not.
We don't know if the Giants have the guts, the desperation, or the willingness to try for a fix mid-season. There are arguments to make that they shouldn't, that the short-term fix is like using your last bit of energy to sprint toward a desert oasis only to find it's a shimmering mirage. Oh, the cruel illusion of the wild card, complete with shady palm trees and belching camels.
By the way, for anyone thinking about Milwaukee's Corey Hart or passing along the rumors of the Giants' interest, please understand that Hart is not a good player. All it takes is a quick read of his stats to see that he hasn't been good since 2007. He might return to that past goodness, but that's a big if. Look up his batting numbers. You don't have to go beyond OBP and SLG to see what looks like serious decline. As for fielding, he's not that good, contrary to conventional belief (including mine before I looked it up). UZR/150 looks weird, but it's as good a measurement as any defensive stat out there (an explanation here). Over a season (ie, 150 games), Hart for his career is less than half a run above average in right field. Randy Winn for his career is 14.4 runs above average.
SMALL PRINT UPDATE: Pat Misch is off the island. Four years ago, we were talking about him being potentially as good as Noah Lowry and getting our bad wordplay ready for heavy rotation. How far did he fall? He was just bumped off the 40-man for a kid who was popped 50 games for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Pichardo's back, Misch is gone.
