I know I'm a crappy fan but I'm calling this one early and hitting the shower. ( It was my first day back in front of my classes after a lovely summer vacation, I'm bushed.) After six innings, the Boston Red Sox have a commanding 5-0 lead over our hapless Giants. We are putting on quite the display of 2013 Giants baseball. Let's see, another painful Lincecum start complete with a nightmare 33 pitch, 3 run, second inning. Oh yeah, silly ol' Tim had to do ANOTHER one of those goofy fall-off-the-mound-like-a-spaz balks. Gee, those never get old. What else...ANOTHER catcher interference, this time after a nine pitch battle! And, I guess, I don't really have to mention the usual non-offense. Tonight so far, Torres has two singles...and Brett Pill got a walk. Be still my heart.
Yeah, I'm hitting the showers. More power to you guys that stay with it tonight. I hope they pull off a miracle for you. You deserve it. Good night.
Next morning addition: It ended up 7-0, not much of a surprise. We did get 4 more hits, all singles.
6 comments:
Tiger Woods got himself into quite a kerfuffle in the British sporting press a few years back when he complained about putting like a "spaz" during a tournament. Apparently that's a very sensitive word in the UK and people with palsy, seizures and similar conditions take offense. No moralizing here, JC, just reminiscing about the event (I read the BBC daily) and thinking about context, language, and the role of athletes in our modern world (some of my favorite topics).
Alas, we got Bad Tim last night. A lot of people back in the day talked about how his small frame and unusual mechanics would be his downfall. I hate to think those folks might be right. Then again, Tim would not be Tim if he looked and pitched like everyone else. There's something to be said for breaking the mold. I hope we can see Good Tim again real soon.
This team, though, is arguably the worst team I've ever watched. This is from a guy who went to 25 games in 1984 and saw 7 wins. Those teams were bad because they lacked talent and were not part of a winning culture. This team has talent. This team won the World Series twice in three years. This level of play from such an accomplished outfit is incomprehensible.
I think that the talk about Tim's small frame and unusual mechanics ended up speculating that he would be hurt. Thus far, he has not been hurt, and I don't think that, at this point, you can blame his failures on mechanics or size. He remains very athletic and, from what I've heard, very flexible. Which makes the whole thing just that much more mystifying. If there is any theory that kind of makes sense, it is that his mechanics are so complex that a small flaw in them throws him off. That doesn't strike me as a very complete answer, but perhaps a part.
The Giant failure to shake off their late June slump, which turned into an all-of-July slump, which turned into an early August slump is also a puzzle. Actually, a conundrum wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a puzzle. That is one reason why I was so bummed at Sunday's result. They had a couple game glimmer of competence. More than competence, really, and then, all of a sudden, back to crappy baseball. Are these guys all out getting drunk every night? Do they hate each other? Is management so onerous that they can't loosen up? None of that seems likely. So why can't a team as obviously talented as the Giants bust out of this long slump? I guess a lot of much smarter baseball people than I are equally stumped. Boston sucked last year and this year are doing great (although, they made some changes). Maybe the Giants can emulate them.
I intend to write volumes on the 2013 SF Giants at some point in the future, but here is the short version:
- Hunter Pence, while lovable, is not as good as he's made out to be. He's been cast off by several teams, & there is a reason for that. However, without the shitty plan for LF, Pence in RF could have still worked.
- Marco Scutaro, while lovable, is not as good as he's made out to be. He's also not a young man anymore. He is a steady veteran, capable of stretches of magic. Again, he has been cast off by several teams in the past, & there is a reason for that.
- The Blanco / Torres platoon as Plan A for LF was a terrible plan.
- Sandoval - a book in itself.
- Pagan got hurt, leading us to have to start a parade of chumps & lightweights in his place.
- I haven't sorted out the Cain / Vogelsong problems, but I will, certainly, come up with some theory on that in the future.
- We could have hidden another sub-par year from Lincecum, if Cain & Vogelsong had performed. Zito's debauchery is unmaskable.
- Casilla & Affeldt got hurt - critical pieces of our 'damage containment' strategy.
- No veteran bench tools.
More at a later date.
Oh ... and I forgot the main one:
- When your pitching staff ptiches into the end of October (or, in the case of 2010, early November), you need a completely different plan to get them cranked up for the following Spring.
Not sure what that plan should be, but it should be radically different.
Marco Scutaro is hitting .300, including his struggles. We have a total of two players who are hitting .300. I think everyone knew that Marco Scutaro was not young. He was rewarded for being a stud in the post-season for the Giants, not paid for his future upside.
Marco Scutaro is hitting a VERY light .300 & is a defensive liability. I still love him, but we have to be realistic.
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