Sometimes you have a bad game. It happens to the best of them. We go out and spend sixty million bucks on a guy who hits fifth, we hit him third, we get what we deserve. As Jon Miller succinctly put it after the 8th inning, "he's had 4 at-bats, seen 11 pitches, and made 5 outs."
Yes, it is the saga of Captain Gamer himself, Aaron "Gomer" Rowand. What a display he put on for us tonight! Wow. The leadership alone was legion. Never mind the ball-playing. And what is this with his throws? Does he always uncork those ugly-looking things or was that an aberration? Tell me it was an aberration. Lie. It's OK.
Despite the 5 hits by Winn and Lewis, we couldn't generate the runs we needed. Matt Cain was not sharp, he labored (27 batters, 112 pitches) for his "quality start," pitching just poorly enough to lose. But, ye gods, the man ought to win one of these creaky 6-and-3 efforts now and again, eh? If this were a Kirk Rueter start, we'd have won 7-4! Perhaps a little time in The Shed with Woody would help.
I don't like the way that sounds. Sorry Matt, skip the Shed. Forget I brought it up.
Just bring the gas next time.
5 comments:
The Giants' streak ended but not Pablo's. He's now at a 9 game hitting streak, that's 9 out of 10 ML games.
(With Sanchez out of action my man-crush had to find a new outlet...thighs...oh...buns...mmm)
You are a sick puppy, Bro. Guess that's why we love ya.
NOT feeling the defensive love for Rowand, never have. The first game I saw him in he chucked one almost over the screen and twice let runners advance on STUPID throws. Seems like his strength is running down balls (and crashing into photo ops). Since defense and age are strongly correlated I fear that his defense, which is OK now, may become pretty crappy by the end of his ridiculously long contract. His offense is rather disappointing too....
I'm not disappointed in Aaron Rowand. He is exactly what I expected.
Rowand's career OPS+ is 106. His OPS+ for 2008? 105. An OPS+ of 100 is considered "league average." It is the sabermetric equivalent of OPS, but league and park adjusted. q.v. B-R
To be fair, he had seasons of 130 (2004) and 123 (2007). Over the life of the contract, he might have another big year like that, even two. But he sandwiched those with 93 and 86. So those down years are just as likely. My gut feeling is that he will not age well, but that is, as I said, merely a gut feeling. The numbers are far scarier in the context of a $60 million contract.
As far as "glove" goes, he has very good range and is a solid CF, but nothing like his reputation. I'm underwhelmed by "grit" and "hustle," and I can't stand it when guys crash into walls and land on the DL. You can't help your team on the DL (although Dave Roberts did by allowing Fred to play). I have absolutely no use for "clubhouse presence" and "leadership," two things Brian Sabean loves to spend millions on.
Fred Lewis? His OPS+ for 2008 is 114, and he makes $392,000 this season. Barry Bonds had a career OPS+ of 182, with a high of 268 in 2002. Chipper Jones is currently at 171 (lifetime 144), just for perspective. Check this out.
I'm going to make a proposal that I am quite sure will be accepted by exactly no one. We should no longer discuss dollar value of contracts. First, it is extremely boring. Second, it is irrelevant. It is like a discussion of whether Tim Lincecum SHOULD be left-handed or right-handed. It is what it is and it doesn't matter. I understand the concept of value. Yes, Tim Lincecum is a better value than Barry Zito. Must we keep stating the obvious? If we want to criticise Sabean for spending too much money, OK, let's just adopt a tag line for the ending of every post no matter the subject: Brian Sabean spends too much money on players that I am not sufficiently enthralled with! Take that, Brian.
One thing I am a little concerned about, though, is this "leadership" thing. Not because Brian Sabean apparently likes it - I would say the same thing because the media eats it up. Gives them something to write about. I read in the paper yesterday about how Aaron Rowand was scolding Pablo Sandoval because he mentioned that he hit better from the left side - it was, apparently, giving away tactical information. WTF? Scolding? From a guy who had just made 5 outs in 11 pitches? I think, were I a Giant, I would probably soon be in a fight with Aaron Rowand, and he would beat the crap out of me because he is built like a fire hydrant with irritable bowel syndome. Then the Giants would be deprived of my talent.
How about a discussion on Bruce Jenkins' two part article in the Chron about how he wants Robin Roberts to pitch for the Giants (even though he is 81 years old)?
I agree--to a degree--on contract dollars. The problem is that money spent on Zito or Rowand is money NOT available to buy some "difference-making" talent. (Did you see where CC Sabathia wants to come to SF? Fat chance! Not a pun.) Or money to spend on the farm system. I know, it ain't my money, but it IS a problem with management, this gross mis-allocation of (supposedly) finite resources. Spending on Rowand means we are stuck with him. His trade value went to zero when he signed. Same with Zito. Look how hard it was to dump Durham, and how no one wants Winn or Roberts. If they were cheap, we could move them. If we had offered them less, they might have signed elsewhere. And we would not have missed them all that much.
Yes, if I were Rowand's team-mate, I'd want to put a sock in his mouth. "If I wanted your leadership, Gomer, I'd join your Boy Scout troop." (That is what I'd want to say.) Great description btw--'fire hydrant with IBS.'
Discussing anything that overpaid blowhard (er, Jenkins) has to say is equally as futile as discussing Sabean's infatuation with veterans. I don't read that clown anymore. I get much better analysis from my blogfellows. In fact, other than Rob Neyer at ESPN, or Andrew Baggarly, I avoid the mainstream media. The guys at FanGraphs or The Hardball Times or any of a number of websites are far, far better.
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