Friday, August 5, 2011

Attention Giants: plan not working

'Pitch like hell and hope you hit enough' was the mantra I was brainwashed into believing. Giants baseball is close, low-scoring games that the good guys pull out at the end because of superior superiority. And awesomeness. Don't forget the awesomeness. Awesome awesomeness, in fact. But that hasn't been working lately. They haven't done the 'pitch like hell part.' Well, some. But not every day. Too many other guys on too many other teams pitched better. And 'hit enough' hasn't happened since 2007 or something. The Giants, as a franchise, stopped hitting in the middle of the decade. I can't remember the exact date, somewhere at the convergence of Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, and Bruce Bochy. It's been pitching, pitching, pitching since then. OK, some defense and some big hits. But mostly it's about arms. Arma virumque cano and all that. (Vergil, you ignorant gobshites.) Like I said, there's a problem in the execution department. The theory is great. I'm down with the theory. I get the whole Pythagorean Runs thing. 'Runs prevented' is more important than 'runs scored.' Hey, I'm on board. You're preachin' to the fookin' choir here, laddie bucks. But ever since this team pulled in to Cincinnati on July 29th they have played some piss-poor ball. Now I understand that teams have slumps and whatnot, but you don't defend a title by watching the other team score. Or watching the scoreboard. C'mon Giants, win some goddamn games.

--M.C.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The team has been downright pathetic since losing a close game on Friday July 29th. The move to bring up Derosa, and send Belt down really irks me. Belt should be playing everyday, and Huff should be riding the pine. I like Huff, I like Burrell, but right now I would rather have Burrell back than have Huff in the middle of the lineup. The guy swings at balls, takes strikes, and is a lot more inpatient than last year. Whatever he did last year, he is not doing this year. I wonder if he has a twin brother. One twin played last year and the other one this year. That might explain the every other year thing with Huff.

JC Parsons said...

Jeeshh you guys! Panic much? MOC, I thought you were the "mellow" one. You do realize that when Matt and Tim win this weekend and we split and we are STILL in first that the PLAN is WORKING! I know everybody wants to win big or score alot of runs BUT can we just stay ahead of Arizona and get in the playoffs...ANY WAY POSSIBLE?

Have Tim, Matt, MadBum and Vogie been pitching poorly lately.. do they seem injured?...is the bullpen heathly and deep? Last year, you were not brainwashed into believing it ...you LIVED it. It did not stick, I guess.

"And 'hit enough' hasn't happened since 2007 or something."
This confuses me...didn't we win it all last year?? What "enough" are you talking about??

M.C. O'Connor said...

Hey, like I said, "win some goddamn games." No matter what else happens you have to win some goddamn games.

Not panic, just despair at watching losses. That's 7 of 8!! Tell me you can watch 7 losses in 8 games and go "gee willikers everything is dandy!"

I know the Giants are still in 1st and I know there is lots of baseball left but I just watched 7 losses in 8 games. I get cranky on 1-7 runs--you don't?

JC Parsons said...

Me, cranky? I thought I was always furious? Or don't you remember this charming quote:

"Even when things are going well he seems like he's furious about something."

Truthfully a bad spell in August without falling out of contention (and you don't think that do you?) is really not that bad. Sounds like a team that might be firing on all cylinders in Sept. This is a tough stretch, no doubt, but I really think the disgraceful offense is still getting too much of our "worry" energy. Our pitching will keep us in contention...we win not win as many as the Phillies or look nearly as good doing it...but if we make the playoffs, NO ONE will want to come near us.

Brother Bob said...

You're just passionate, bro, and that's a good thing. It was mostly that fact that I was chowing down on that amazing salmon dinner while you were watching the Snakes score a bunch of runs, and I realized I didn't give a shit, while you were naturally pissed off. Oh well.
It's pretty remarkable that we're still in first. When we took that series in Philly it seemed like a big deal, but since then the Phillies have been invincible and we've sucked. Clearly the trade for Beltran has had a negative effect on the team mojo so far.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Like I said, they are playing some piss-poor ball and I'm pissed about it. They'll survive. A win today would be nice.