So we know the Giants will live and die, like most teams, on the strength of their starting pitching. Unfortunately when a team is in a losing spiral like the one they are in now it hardly matters. The Giants got a strong start from Ryan Vogelsong on Thursday but poor work from the bullpen and an anemic effort by the lineup doomed them to defeat. Tonight Matt Cain gave the team seven shutout innings, but the same formula--feeble offense and wretched relief--kept the losing streak going. I thought I might talk about Sergio Romo, but so much is wrong with the club right now it's not worth singling anyone out.
The Giants scored 111 runs in April and 123 in May. They've only managed 92 so far in June. The swoon isn't just the offense--the team allowed 94 runs in April and 90 in May and they've allowed 112 in June. It's a team-wide mess. They are 10-15 for the month after a 6-1 start--that's four wins in their last 18 games. We knew they would not sustain the smoking hot start to the season. We knew they'd cool off and hit some rough patches. But this is really, really ugly and not at all what I expected. They aren't doing anything right. Perhaps we can feel good about a solid start from Cain as they certainly can't expect to stay in contention without the rotation performing the way they ought to.
It's Homer Bailey and Tim Hudson tomorrow afternoon.
GO GIANTS!
--M.C.
3 comments:
Matt Cain has not gone seven scoreless since September 26, 2012. That's right, 2012 (via Baggs' tweet).
They spared Romo the L he deserved by scoring once in the 9th, then pathetically left runners on 2nd & 3rd. What this accomplished was the failure could be shared by the rest of the bullpen. Well done.
In addition to the home run, Sergio gave up two bombs that were caught on the warning track. At some point, soon, he needs to pitch much better or the Giants will have to make a business decision about him. I love the guy, from his "I only look illegal" t-shirt to his Mercedes ads, but that time has to be soon.
Last night was so difficult. First the top of the ninth, then in the bottom, after Buster was standing on second with the game tied and Pablo on third, our hitters consisted of Hector, who grounded out weakly on the first pitch; Arias, inexplicably replacing Crawford and grounding out weakly, and Duvall. Duvall gave us the only decent at bat of the three.
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