I don't mean that as a taunt, although it feels like the Padres have crawled so deep into the Giants' heads this year they emerged from Sunday's game smirking and strutting and dripping with cerebrospinal fluid. Yuck. What a horrible image.
As most of you probably know, Pedro Martinez made a similar phrase famous in a baseball context when he admitted that the Yankees were his "daddy," complete with a studded dog collar and leather chaps. Another horrible image. It's that kind of night.
From then on, Yankee fans chanted "Who's your daddy?" whenever Pedro pitched in the Bronx, whether as a Red Sock, Met or Philly. Pedro gave up a lot of home runs during his career, but he never set one up on a tee as perfectly as he did with that one. He said it late in the 2004 season, and it took a change of uniform for Pedro to pitch well against the Yankees again.
So are the Padres the Giants' daddies? Do they have the Giants' number? Are you kidding? It's such a small sample size, I mean, did you see the bloops and...one-run games...it's...yes. The answer is yes, they are, and yes they do. Ah, but here's the important part: It means nothing except for 3.5 games back in the division race.
It means the Padres have played the Giants the way they've played everyone else this year: timely hits, great pitching, and few mistakes. It's not psychological mastery. It's not kinky S&M power games. It's not jinxes and hoaxes. The Padres have a lot of teams' numbers this year, but combine that with crummy breaks and astoundingly bad numbers with runners on base and a bonehead mistake or two at the wrong time, and the Giants suddenly are 2-9 against them.
As the Giants are currently composed, however, I don't think the W-L tally of the final seven games will be as lopsided. As noted again and again in the run-up to this series, the first seven losses were by a very different Giants team. I'm not predicting the Giants will sweep the final seven -- I'll leave that to Jonathan Sanchez -- but no matter how the four games go in San Diego in early September, I think the Giants can make up a small deficit on the Padres the final weekend if they're in position to do so. Put it this way. There are seven weeks left. If the Giants gain a game on San Diego every two weeks, they'll be a half-game back going into the final week, in which they're at home for three against Arizona and three against the Padres.
What I'm really saying is that this weekend didn't crush my spleen as much as I would've thought if you had told me Friday afternoon, "Pods knock out Sanchez in the 6th tonight, play pepper all day against a rattled Lincecum Sunday and knock him out in the fourth, and coast to take the series two games to one." And I don't think the Giants emerged from Sunday's loss thinking they're doomed to fall short against San Diego for the rest of the year.
If I'm freaking out at all, it's because I'm not sure Tim can get his mojo back this year. Assuming it's mental/mechanical, it might take an off-season of watching video and breaking things down with his dad to get all the moving parts in sync. Tough to do down the stretch, with the fatigue of a long season and the pressure of a pennant race compressing every inning into a life-and-death situation.
Then again, this team has an endearing habit of bouncing back with improbable performances right after several kicks in the groin. Exhibit one: Sweeping Milwaukee before the break after the brutal 15-inning loss and ugly series in Colorado and LA's sweep in SF. Exhibit two: Taking four of six from Philly and St. Louis at home after a vomitous five losses in six games in LA and SD in April. Exhibit three: Sweeping the Dodgers at home.
Gain a game every two weeks. That's all we ask, then make the final weekend an unforgettable one.
Players of the week: No starting pitcher distinguished himself, but I'll go with Madison Bumgarner for the seven innings Saturday against San Diego. He gave up two runs early then held fast in the biggest game of his tiny career so far. A close runner-up is Santiago Casilla for nearly six innings of scoreless, two-hit relief over three games. Among hitters, Posey and the Panda had excellent weeks with key hits, but I have to choose Pat Burrell for his 12 game-winning RBI in a seven-game span. No one's ever done that before.
As most of you probably know, Pedro Martinez made a similar phrase famous in a baseball context when he admitted that the Yankees were his "daddy," complete with a studded dog collar and leather chaps. Another horrible image. It's that kind of night.
From then on, Yankee fans chanted "Who's your daddy?" whenever Pedro pitched in the Bronx, whether as a Red Sock, Met or Philly. Pedro gave up a lot of home runs during his career, but he never set one up on a tee as perfectly as he did with that one. He said it late in the 2004 season, and it took a change of uniform for Pedro to pitch well against the Yankees again.
So are the Padres the Giants' daddies? Do they have the Giants' number? Are you kidding? It's such a small sample size, I mean, did you see the bloops and...one-run games...it's...yes. The answer is yes, they are, and yes they do. Ah, but here's the important part: It means nothing except for 3.5 games back in the division race.
It means the Padres have played the Giants the way they've played everyone else this year: timely hits, great pitching, and few mistakes. It's not psychological mastery. It's not kinky S&M power games. It's not jinxes and hoaxes. The Padres have a lot of teams' numbers this year, but combine that with crummy breaks and astoundingly bad numbers with runners on base and a bonehead mistake or two at the wrong time, and the Giants suddenly are 2-9 against them.
As the Giants are currently composed, however, I don't think the W-L tally of the final seven games will be as lopsided. As noted again and again in the run-up to this series, the first seven losses were by a very different Giants team. I'm not predicting the Giants will sweep the final seven -- I'll leave that to Jonathan Sanchez -- but no matter how the four games go in San Diego in early September, I think the Giants can make up a small deficit on the Padres the final weekend if they're in position to do so. Put it this way. There are seven weeks left. If the Giants gain a game on San Diego every two weeks, they'll be a half-game back going into the final week, in which they're at home for three against Arizona and three against the Padres.
What I'm really saying is that this weekend didn't crush my spleen as much as I would've thought if you had told me Friday afternoon, "Pods knock out Sanchez in the 6th tonight, play pepper all day against a rattled Lincecum Sunday and knock him out in the fourth, and coast to take the series two games to one." And I don't think the Giants emerged from Sunday's loss thinking they're doomed to fall short against San Diego for the rest of the year.
If I'm freaking out at all, it's because I'm not sure Tim can get his mojo back this year. Assuming it's mental/mechanical, it might take an off-season of watching video and breaking things down with his dad to get all the moving parts in sync. Tough to do down the stretch, with the fatigue of a long season and the pressure of a pennant race compressing every inning into a life-and-death situation.
Then again, this team has an endearing habit of bouncing back with improbable performances right after several kicks in the groin. Exhibit one: Sweeping Milwaukee before the break after the brutal 15-inning loss and ugly series in Colorado and LA's sweep in SF. Exhibit two: Taking four of six from Philly and St. Louis at home after a vomitous five losses in six games in LA and SD in April. Exhibit three: Sweeping the Dodgers at home.
Gain a game every two weeks. That's all we ask, then make the final weekend an unforgettable one.
Players of the week: No starting pitcher distinguished himself, but I'll go with Madison Bumgarner for the seven innings Saturday against San Diego. He gave up two runs early then held fast in the biggest game of his tiny career so far. A close runner-up is Santiago Casilla for nearly six innings of scoreless, two-hit relief over three games. Among hitters, Posey and the Panda had excellent weeks with key hits, but I have to choose Pat Burrell for his 12 game-winning RBI in a seven-game span. No one's ever done that before.
