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

08.11.2009
8/11: Calm Down

Dodgers BLECH, Giants UGH: I'm not going to wait til the end of the game to write this one. I don't think you'll disagree: Worst loss of the year.

HOWEVER. It's not a huge deal. Really, no biggie. Eugenio Velez finally gaveth back what he's been takething away the past two weeks. Call it the clank we've all been waiting for, but his egregious 5th inning error wasn't the sole reason for the Giant defeat. Joe Martinez made some good pitches, some bad pitches and got knocked around, error or no (10 baserunners in less than 5 innings -- don't get all weepy about hard luck); the Giants' bats were once again powerless before the unblinking cycloptic eye atop the Devilish Blue Pyramid. Pick your conspiracy theory, they all work here. Russell Martin + grassy knoll = You know what I'm talking about, and Joe Torre knew full well about Pearl Harbor on Dec. 5, 1941. I have proof.

But back to reality, where Giants fans can't feel too sorry for themselves: only one game back in the wild card, where our attention really should be focused anyway, Tim Lincecum pitching tomorrow, and the same offense that averaged about 5 1/2 runs a game in a 5-2 run last week is suddenly putrid because it's managed just under 3 runs a game in this current 1-4 funk?

Well, yes, sort of. Half-putrid. More like playing to our worst fears, just like when Velez drops a sure out in the middle of a key inning. It's like when you buy a lime-green Mini Cooper with red racing flames on the side, and suddenly you notice all the lime-green Mini Coopers on the road. We are human. We see what we expect to see. We buy ugly little cars. Our biases are hungry, and we feed them with morbid pleasure.

If two sour losses to the Dodgers leave you rolling up your sleeves and measuring out the razor's width, look at it this way: a win tomorrow (pitching matchup: Fresh Gnarly v. Original Gnarly!) and a Colorado loss, and this exasperating, frustrating, ill-conceived, boulder-headedly managed, palooka-for-a-GM team is tied for the wild card half way through August.
  


Also on the Network:



8 Comments

| Leave a comment
obsessivegiantscompulsive | August 12, 2009 2:10 AM | Reply

I totally agree. I was going to post something like this after the series ended, so you beat me to the punch. I loved your description of Velez, I could never match that prose!

While I would love to see the Giants give the Dodgers a nice punch to the gut, as you astutely noted, the division title is not a realistic goal, while the wild card slot is. Even if we lose tomorrow, we are still only 2 games back of Colorado if they win and we have some games coming up against them soon too. We could gain back those games during that series.

And we shouldn't lose: Tim should be his usual goodness while Jeff Weaver should be his usual putridness outside of pitcher's parks like Dodger Stadium and Comerica Park. He should buy season tickets for life at those two stadiums, without which he would not have been able to cobble together a career lasting this long, it would have ended long ago, as badly has he has pitched on the road during his career.

aGIANTman replied to comment from obsessivegiantscompulsive | August 12, 2009 8:36 AM | Reply

I agree that it is not freak out time, and that the Giants are very much still alive and well in the wild card race.

I disagree that winning the division was an unattainable goal before this series... if the Giants would have taken 2 of 3 they would have been only 4.5 back... if they would have swept they would have only been 2.5 back. Those deficits are anything but insurmountable with 49 left to play.

However, with lossing 2 out of 3, even if they win today they will be 6.5 back and a loss will make it 8.5. This series probably put a division title out of reach, although baseball is a funny game, and you never know.

bigO | August 12, 2009 11:29 AM | Reply

There must have been "Something in the Night." Usually I'd be pretty upset with our boys but last night I had a calming feeling come over me (maybe because we didn't lose 2-1 with a ton of missed ops). For some reason I was able to focus on that we're only 1 game back in the WC. I remembered this was supposed to be a "rebuilding year" and no one expected us to be 9 -10 games over .500, especially me. OH yeah, while they all count, somehow, unexpectedly for sure, I was soooothed knowing we had another month and a half of ball to play. Let's win today. Hummbaby!

KM | August 12, 2009 11:36 AM | Reply

"Fresh Gnarly v. Original Gnarly." Nice one. Reminds me of a mock video from Seattle a couple years ago in which a fan, stats analyst, and computer held a debate about the Mariners (who foolishly employed the services of Mr. Weaver). Computer voice: "Everything about him is sub-optimal. Even his hair is sub-optimal."

Long Ball | August 12, 2009 12:56 PM | Reply

I agree with all! But,it made sick watching the Dodgers dig in and swing out of their ASSES!!! The Giant pithers were pussies !! Someone should have hit the dirt and it should have been Ramirez or Blake... Can someone throw inside PLEASE????

50andstillfly | August 12, 2009 1:17 PM | Reply

I saw Sabean walking down King with cellie to his ear at about 5:30 - working on a waiver deal or making postgame dinner plans?

Otherwise, even the short skirted big bottomed dodger fan in front of me who flashed her thong every time she jumped up couldn't save last night's debacle.

john c | August 12, 2009 2:04 PM | Reply

What gets me is the lack of bats against rather weak starting pitchers over the last 2 series. I know we lack in that department, but getting 3 hits last night is brutal. The hitting comes, the hitting goes, but I sure would like to see some life put into the mix against the f%^&$#$# dodgers.

Loved the cycloptic eye bit, priceless.

UVHaight | August 12, 2009 2:44 PM | Reply

Tough to put too much on Velez too, that’s a tough play for any 2nd basemen, much less a kid who’s been playing exclusively in the outfield for the last few months.

I’ll say again what I said in April. We have one position player that would start for the Dodgers. One. We can’t change that this season, and we probably can’t change it next season. What we can do, is hire the GM that was most responsible for putting that lineup together. Paul Depodesta. Even Agent Ned’s forays into Schmidt, Pierre and Andruw Jones have not been enough to mess it up. That’s what smart, non-free-agent roster building does. It builds a foundation that even morons like Colletti or Bochy can’t mess up.

Leave a comment