Pirates 2, Giants 0: Remember the series last month in Milwaukee? Two losses like two boots to the groinage region, then Ryan Sadowski ho-hum major league debut six shutout innings WTF coast to victory sigh of relief. The road trip, as I remember, was a success. So I'm going to take a deep breath and chill the flock out, though I offer a hat tip to Duane Kuiper on the radio side this evening for saying at one point, "This offense is hard to watch these days, folks."
Especially egregious was Travis Ishikawa in a prime spot to tie the game with a simple basehit in the ninth. Two curves down and in to start the at-bat; two swings and misses. At that point the K was just a matter of time. Quoth Ishikawa: "I was trying to be too quick to the ball, trying not to get beat with the fastball," Ishikawa said. "They overexposed me with curveballs. I couldn't wait back on them."
The pattern is clear. Ishikawa has trouble with good fastballs, starts his swing early, and it's too late to lay off the good hard breaking stuff. He is by his own admission overexposed. Whether this is fixable, who's to say. You can point to his Jekyll-and-Hyde minor league record and his relatively young age (26 this September) and argue both sides. If the Giants weren't a surprise playoff contender, they might be happy to plant him at first base all year and let him work it out. But at-bats like his final one tonight add a subtle layer of "Aauuuuggghhhh!" to the calculus.
Please Matt Cain please please Matt please pitch a shutout and hit a home run tomorrow. Please?
