The Pitchers To Be Pitied

Last night in San Diego, we had a bit of a formidable opponent: the umpire.

His strike-zone was erratic; Jon Miller even had the guts to bring it up, multiple times, and Dave Flemming corroborated (naturally). Lincecum wasn't getting anything at the knees to speak of. (Hoffman got something at the knees in the tenth, which gave a very amusing reaction from Burriss. Good boy.) But because of that, he had to rely on that changeup again to strikeout people; he relied on it as late as the seventh. Which, he did. In the bottom of the first, he struck out the side. Of course, he struck out the last two after four reached in a row, and the Padres scored a run.

But fortunately for us, this tied the game instead of gaining a lead. That's right, the scoreless inning streak was over from the beginning. Thanks to the youth (big surprise), we hit the ball hard all night. Lewis sac-flied to allow Winn to score the first run. Then, he went 2-2; his base hit led off the sixth, Molina followed up with a single of his own, and even though Rowand double-played his AB, Lewis scored off a passed ball to take the lead. (This is the last time for the post that I will mention Rowand offensively, mind you: he did nothing.)

At this point, I'd like to bring up a few other immediate positives that made me happy about the team regardless of the outcome:

1) We FINALLY had youth at 2B and SS - at the same time! That's right; thank God, Burriss started at 2B and Ochoa started at SS. Ochoa started the game with a hit, and Burriss is solid defensively; he's finding 2B a warm home, I think, more so than SS.

2) The youth FINALLY had a game where they could show their stuff as a team. Everyone performed well, even though the stats didn't show it completely. Almost all the youth hit the ball hard at least once, and all of our scoring was because of at least one key contact-hit by a youngster or two.

3) Bowker was particularly interesting this time, because although Bowker made a baserunning error by advancing at a precarious fly ball, he hit the ball deep every time and led the seventh off with a double up the wall. I believe he's coming into his own, slowly, because surprise-surprise: he's being played every day.

However, naturally because of that last point being good, the management shocked me again and pulled Bowker after his baserunning naivete. They replaced him with Aurilia in the bottom of the seventh, defensively. I agree that Aurilia is better defensively with a slim lead, so I really don't have a problem with it. But I won't say I expected the switch. I would expect more of a double-switch from Bochy, actually. But so be it. Aurilia made the first out of the seventh himself, and I'm sorry, but I like Richie. He's the only vet I want to see playing for my team at this point (sorry Aaron). I mean, dude, look at how lame the rest of the players' walk-up music is, compared to Richie's that's given last.

For his own piece, Timmy The Kid still had 9 Ks through six innings himself. He would finish with 11, over seven full innings, with 114 total pitches. He didn't even allow a runner to reach scoring position since the first inning run. His being pulled out after seven innings and striking out most of the last two innings at least brought shades of his last start, I will admit. But an excellent showing nevertheless by Tim.

Bochy may have finally gotten the hint about Walker, using him for only a one-pitch groundout to start the eighth and then bringing in Jack [Taschner]; I know that Giles was next and it was lefty-lefty matchup. But, since Jack obviously didn't get traded, I have a feeling that Walker was being put on show to see, if he could hold well, what prospects we might have obtained for him. Shrewd, if it weren't for the fact that Walker wasn't viewed as desirable by others in the first place.

In contrast, Tasch struck Giles out with a 93mph fastball on the outside corner. Confident, and excellent. It's hard not to like the guy - except when he blows it. So of course, Tasch immediately gave up a one-pitch, bleachers-in-LCF HR to Adrian Gonzalez. Immediately, Romo was warmed up. That was the second HR Gonzalez hit against Jack this year. One should know that the one guy on SD who's having a good year, and is a real threat to Jack in particular, should have been walked - immediately. Instead, immediately Tim was robbed of another win.

It doesn't really matter what the outcome of the game was, or that at one point S.F. had doubled S.D.'s hit count. Although, a win is always nice and the game going into extras made putting Richie at 1B a prophetic move.

The thing that mattered primarily is that, I'm sure, Lincecum and Cain have a lot to talk about lately. Maybe my award can become "The Pitchers To Be Pitied" now. I suppose in a certain way, we can include the bullpen entire in that as well, though obviously they are pitiable because they keep ruining things for the starters - not because they earn something that they lose because of something other than their own doing. So maybe not. Just Tim and Matt will do, for that honor.

Come to think of it, there's at least one good young guy per game that deserves to be pitied. So perhaps that makes it a new "per-game award". Necessity is the mother of invention. And recognition.

-MSH


PS
OK, how we won does matter. Burriss knocked a hit off Hoffman in the tenth after reacting humorously to a bad call, and Velez came in as a PH (youth, I'm telling you, really, what did I say?). Velez doubled off the scoreboard to score Burriss (because youth is quick). Winn was intentionally walked. Ochoa's first swing at a strike was a foul-off. Unforunately, he lined out; but it looked solid.

Brian "The Animal" Wilson came on to get a ball - at the knees. Aurilia got the first out with a great backhander. Did I mention that I like Richie? I have no idea why, except for his usual precision and his attitude. Brian hit 97mph easily, multiple times in fact. He unfortunately gave up a liner single up the middle next, because the slider hung. He then gave up another single to Giles. Thank goodness Edgar Gonzalez had a horrible jump when his elder brother got the third straight hit.

I held my breath for the final outs; but I'll give you one reason why I was ecstatic about the double-play when it looked like Wilson was falling off the wagon: Ochoa, a youth, touched 2B and turned the double-play to Aurilia. The youth were responsible for every major game-saving pitch or double-play, and every single run in some direct way; Lincecum, Lewis, Wilson, Velez, Burriss, Ochoa: the youth.

Thank God.

The Strangeness Continues

The title is a bit misleading, I'll grant that. But the game was full of potentiality that was robbed by a mixture of odd play, and our good ol' fashioned tom-foolery. There were a few bright spots in the 2-0 loss, including Matt Cain's strong and gutsy performance - as usual. Here's a quick run-down by notable inning:

Top 1st: Castillo is robbed of a hit by Blake with the kind of play at 3B that I am certain the Dodgers were finally hoping to see again. Given the rest of that inning's half, that may have prevented a run.

Bottom 2nd: Aurilia makes an error at 3B, to contrast Blake's play, though to be fair he was at least in the process of diving to get it. Thankfully, Matt is always in the mood to save himself from bad situations, and got out of the inning alive.

Top 4th: Classic Giants' veteran baserunning naivete; Winn had an easy steal of 2B, but on a poor throw decided to go around to 3B immediately. That's right, without checking to see if the backup player had the ball. Berroa did indeed, and Winn was caught a mile out from 3B, missing his helmet for comedic flair. Again, because of the deep fly to RF next, and Rowand's single, Winn would've scored. That makes the potential score 2-0 Giants, not Dodgers.

Bottom 6th: Richie had a brilliant stab at a line drive to make up for his error. The problem is that it led to another by Lewis. This because after Loney singled in a run - off a hanger that Cain hated himself for - and the Dodgers had been effectively forcing Cain into deep counts (without working 3-ball counts, mind you), Lewis' fielding error on a Blake bloop single moved the ball: from fair territory, onto, and then over the foul-ground wall. Lewis had to "reach over" the wall to get it, so the "ground-rule double" call was put into effect, allowing Kemp to score and Blake to go to 3B untouched.

(I would like a bit of explanation about this "out of play" deal, because I'm confused why it was ruled that way when it was clear that Lewis could still play it easily. Bochy's smart -- apparently he told the umps that OFs make catches over walls for outs all the time when they said the ball had gone "out of play", and that caused the second conference. The result of the second conference? "Two umpires saw it go out of play." Still no explanation of "out of play", and gang-up tactics to boot.)

This play from Lewis is solely responsible for the post title. This also means that the score was now 2-0 Dodgers, not Giants. And by the end of the inning, Matt had thrown 36 pitches thanks to 15 foul-offs, and still he only allowed 1 ER. Cain had also toughed out a ball hit off his right shin earlier, without so much as rubbing it.

Top 7th: Rowand (already 1-1 that night), was HBP for the second time in the evening. Intriguing, given his AVG against L.A.

Bottom 7th: Cain still threw in the 90s, but because he still has the 3rd-worst run support in the NL, and his pitch count a season-high 118, he had to come out after this scoreless inning. He finished with 8 Ks. And also my personal title of "The Player to Be Pitied".

Top 8th: Vizquel ended his night with being very good defensively, but grounding into two double plays and striking out once - the expected. Lewis did reach - but on an error. I'm a little confused on this ruling as well, because the error was given to Berroa even though Loney's glove clearly had the ball and the ball simply dropped as he was raising it off the ground, meaning Loney had a good chance and controlling the ball but could not.

Bottom 8th: Ozuma was caught on a pick-off from first, but in the relay process Bowker dropped the ball. I'm beginning to get worried about this from Bowker, as it's become more "commonplace" than "rookie mistake"; however, Hinshaw was able to strike out two and maintain his ERA.

Top 9th: Straight up, straight down.

It was a decent game, and certainly fit the rivalry with its odd occurrences. I would say that of anyone, Cain was the man to watch. Toughness, precision, and perseverance. Other than that, typical average-quality play from S.F.

-MSH

How (And How Not) To Get It Done

S.F. is now 1 for 1 when I am at Dodger Stadium. For those who like it straight-up, here's the box and wrap. Thank you; I am quite proud of them, myself. Hence the title.

But the title also implies how not to get things done. And what I was not proud of, visibly and vocally (in an explanative, not expletive, fashion), was further proof of my "(mis)management conspiracy" theory to throw this team into the Bay with player rotation. In addition to Ralph Barbieri's fantastic tirade this afternoon which furthered my post on Lincecum's removal Saturday, I got to witness first-hand what Bochy's idiocy means for this team. More on that later.

We can allow a little indulgence into the good of the game itself, but it was honestly a weird game. Strange. Had a humid "feel" to it's weirdness. First of all, we scored seven runs without first allowing the Dodgers a hit. I was feeling proud of Kevin Correia. Especially since our own run seemed to start when he got a two-run single himself with two outs, after Vizquel struck out chasing (bad) sliders.

I was also feeling proud of the umpires from a biased point of view, because there were three consecutive, very close calls in a row that kept our run-streak alive in the fourth: a plate tag (couldn't see it), Lewis beating a throw at first (did see it and it looked a tie, which means I functionally didn't see it), and Ethier's "catch" in RF hitting the ground before his glove (which I couldn't see for other people in the way). After those were done, we played a contact-hitting game. This is really the only way we score, and it explains why we score in bunches. Think of it like the baseball equivalent to bopping squirrels on the head at an arcade. It's frenzied, and it's erratic, but you get on a roll.

However after the run amazement, and the umpiring amazement (which was not done for the night), came the necessary growing pains of our youth. In the fourth, we almost gave up a run. Bochy left Correia in. OK, maybe. Then in the fifth, the Dodgers actually scored five runs, with no one out. Righetti talks to Correia after the second run comes in. Nice talk. Lewis misfielded what should have been a single, making it a two run double.

Then on a bunt, Bowker starts towards the ball. Too bad the ball had only gone six inches - an easy play for Molina. Except Bowker wasn't at first, and because he was moving back while Molina had the ball, Castillo didn't know whether to stand at first or not. Bowker decided that for him by backing off but too late, and Molina threw it. Why? Who knows. But Castillo, who should have been there to back Bowker up anyway, was not in place for it and lost it entirely. Did I mention that earlier in the inning, Castillo had made an erroneous throw to let Loney on base in the first place? Let me say this: You shouldn't be surprised.

Given that Correia was still in at this point, the following is the second piece of evidence for the mismanagement theory: Castillo at 2B. Excuse me, but you already have Bowker to play 1B, and Rich Aurilia to play at 3B, and sometimes 1B. Castillo can split time at 3B, though everyone in their right mind prefers Richie, which they should. (He was one of the only consistent areas of hope on both sides of the ball tonight - he hit when he had to and fielded where it would be necessary to make the best play. And of course he still has the right spirit about him on the field: gritty, versatile, calculating, and unsung.) The point here is that you've just freed Durham so that Burriss and Velez can grow out of their youth. Castillo has no place at 2B, ever.

The third piece of evidence, and the rest of it actually, is pitching. After giving up five runs in the fifth, Bochy left Correia in to bat, and then in to get one out in the sixth. This was insane; when Correia left, a runner was on second and it was 7-6. Bochy gained nothing by leaving Correia in, except another way to self-destruct his team.

Fourth piece of evidence: bringing in Hinshaw, who has the best ERA in the 'pen, to face one batter. Yes, Hinshaw walked him; yes, lefty-to-lefty is a good matchup; but this was the bottom of the sixth. Let the man finish it out. Romo did that instead, and awkwardly. Romo did not return.

Instead (the fifth piece), Walker was given the ball in the seventh. Yes, Mr.-Blow-It. Did we have luck? Fortunately, yes. But the first out was a mistaken swing at a bad pitch in the dirt, the second out was a fly out, and the third out was Rowand at the track. Kent's hit for that out looked gone to me immediately. Toward any other place in that park except dead-center, it would be. Walker did not do that smoothly, at all.

Then came the fun (no more evidence for this game). Taschner is now the setup man, apparently, and so got the ball in the eighth. (By now, of course, the Giant offense had committed to its default attitude of forcing the pitching to win the game - I believe it possible that we were hitless for the last 5 1/3 innings.) The best out was the second one, because newcomer Casey Blake was called out on a check swing. Now, I don't have a problem with Dodger fans wanting to see it as a bad call; I understand it. But Blake both crossed the plate with his bat, and had his bat angled towards the pitcher - even if just for a split-second, either of those things counts. Blake had done both. I won't argue it, but I was looking right at it, from the first base side, perpendicular to the right face of the plate. Blake argued it, because it was appealed to the 1B umpire, and after going into the dugout was then thrown out for God-knows-what by the home plate umpire. Blake ran from the dugout to the 1B umpire, for a moment as if it were an impending brawl. Welcome to the rivalry, Mr. Casey-At-The-Bat.

Then Torre was there with him; soon - and also inevitably - Torre was thrown out. I understand that you need to stand up for your players, and argue, but getting thrown out when you still have a (very) realistic chance at winning apart from a possible (but not actual) bad call is a huge mistake. The Dodgers never recovered from it, though Torre left to a standing ovation.

Something to further the weirdness was the arrest and manhandling of an errant and surprising fan by four or five security officers, who had to follow the man into the Giants' dugout. It was actually a bit frightening. We were on the 1B side, as I mentioned, and it was an absolute treat to see the boys in orange that close again (the first time in years, actually, because of the proximity to the dugout itself). But it also gave a great view for the man getting cuffed and carried out like a hot dog, being held face-down and parallel to the ground. I have no clue what he wanted, but he had a black jacket on and if he was a S.F. fan, that's completely uncalled for. I can understand if a Dodger fan gets in there because, hey, it's rivalry. But don't do that to your own team when they're losing a huge lead and just barely hanging onto it.

There was also the incident with Vizquel tossing his hat from the dugout to a lucky guy in the premiere box. This poor man then had it taken from him by a security guard so that Vizquel, obviously a little confused, had to give the man a ball instead. What, a player's hat is illegal to give out? Why? "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that could encourage a fan to keep being devoted to the game; I'll make sure not to do that ever again." What's next, no baseballs tossed to fans? I already miss the old-school gray on the under-bill of the cap, for autographing. Idiocy, everywhere. I don't get it.

But all is well that ends well. Brian Wilson is the workhorse of this team right now, without question. At least in his attitude. Aurilia has the attitude, and Lincecum and Cain have it by-default, but Wilson has it every day: the stonefire eyes, the chiseled stance, the passion, tenacity, and hardcore intensity that we've not seen since Nen, and perhaps Beck. For God's sake, the man threw one inning, struck out two, threw over 80% of his pitches for strikes, and hit 100mph or more on the radar at least five times. The man's a human animal.

I love it. I may even adopt his facial hair pattern.

-MSH

Out At The Plate

Let's go over this in detail, shall we?

Lincecum started the game striking out the side. Gaining a support-run in part thanks to Roberts (leadoff walk), Velez (throwing error - sending Roberts to 3B), and a sac fly (CF) by Winn. It looked for a while like he wouldn't give up a hit, but then a Romero hit a triple in the gap. Then a lucky break: Lincecum gets a roller to himself, checks Romero, and throws to Bowker at 1B. Then Romero tries to trick John the rook and goes towards home. Bowker makes a throw that allows Molina to make Romero look a fool. Inning saved.

Lincecum used the changeup to an enormous advantage. This is not something that the majority of the baseball country knows. In addition to having at least one of the most devastating two-seam fastballs, this has lent itself to an equally devastating change. He also has a curve and slider, each of which he throws with the same type of motion. The changeup tonight got him at least three Ks directly (as the last pitch).

Velez was certainly notable. Forcing an error in his first AB, and then stealing second from a pitchout, he succeeded in a base hit to left-center in his second AB. If it weren't for a questionable foul-call down the line for Winn, Velez would have scored because of his speed. For the record, that's two potential runs for his first two plate appearances. It's unfortunate that he struck out in the 6th with Roberts on base, but he did what he could.

Rowand unfortunately continued his woes against Webb: he was 0-8 through the 4th with 6 Ks. The same was not true for Snyder, who hit a two-run double. But the problem was the infield hit by Jackson to start the rally. Already, they were adapting to Lincecum's patterns. But Rowand did make a key throw to Molina in the fifth to keep the damage minimal.

At this point it's notable that our title, "out at the plate", applies not just to the Diamondbacks being out at the plate running but our being "out at the plate" swinging. And unfortunately, the fielding started to worsen as well. Lincecum allowed a two-out single, and then committed an error to Bowker to allow that single to get to 2B. He was, however, able to end the inning and that threat by striking out his tenth batter to end 5 1/2 innings.

Winn did his job after Velez's strikeout in the 6th, and grounded a base hit up the middle off of Drew's glove to put Roberts at 3rd with one out. So, Molina up. Causes D-Back talking on the mound. Threats of a double-steal. Webb, obviously keen on this, called Winn's bluff immediately when Winn isn't that dumb. Winn stole on the second pitch, and Roberts didn't go to ensure an easy steal. D-Backs pull the infield in, which is a bit strange for such an RBI-hitting batter.

Molina tried his best; he kept fouling the ball away, getting pieces. Worked to gain a few pitches in the dirt. But he swung at one of those pitches in the dirt. A bad, bad pitch in the dirt. And Rowand, Mr. I've-Never-Hit-Brandon-Webb, had to get a two-out hit for us to score.

Rowand lined a sinker lower than his knees, and did so impressively. Roberts scored, Winn came behind him easily, and S.F. finally had the lead back. Webb was near 100 pitches in the 6th. Bowker almost hit an easy multi-bagger to score Rowand, as well.

Notice, please, that both of our scoring opportunities were started by Dave Roberts working a walk. Dave Roberts was also responsible for the RBI that won the last game against Washington, and a stellar catch that saved at least a run then.

Lincecum struck out three in row in the top of the 7th giving him a new career-high 13 Ks, the last one on that unhittable changeup. NB: he was still throwing 96mph then, after throwing 102 pitches. People stood for him. Montefusco was right.

(For those who didn't want to read the whole thing, the actual "meat" of this post follows, here.)

Bochy, however, was an idiot. Sometimes I think he may be drunk. He pulled Lincecum for an Ochoa pinch-hit, when there were two outs, no one on base, and Lincecum was on fire as described above. Ochoa bounced out to SS, and the Giants now had to rely on the at-times horrendous bullpen.

Nervousness is natural in such situations. Bochy insists that Tyler Walker is a legitimate, reliable setup man. I'm not sure what sport-authority agrees with him, though absolutely none come to mind and none would dare show themselves after Walker gave up a leadoff double by a middle-in, belt-high pitch. An error by Bowker continued the mess, and Walker proceeded to nearly walk the bases loaded with no one out. (Side note: Why is Walker the "go-to guy"? He had no consistency to credit, and we have kids just called up that are more so.) Ojeda scored the tying run off of a sac-fly, and Lincecum's career night was robbed of its rightful "W" glory. The D-Backs then proceeded to have two more hits, and take the lead with a run. Then again. It went instantaneously from a kid throwing 13 Ks and gaining a 3-2 win, to an old man getting only one out and giving up three runs to make it 5-3 loss.

Then Bochy came out.

Sorry, coach. You're too late.

I've noted this for a while about Bruce in his pregame interviews. He attempts to be a "player's coach" and maintain the paradoxical fantasy in his head that somehow that means he'll be listened to, and the guys will play as he wants. He was challenged by Kuip today for how he handles the bullpen, especially last night, and Bochy was obviously (though indirectly) defensive. He's not interested in being accountable anymore, and I can't say for sure that he was ever accountable period. I agree with Jon at Giants Win; boycotts and t-shirts that call for both Bochy and Sabean's firing is more than called for.

I don't want to hear anything about Bowker's error. It can be at-fault for one of the runs, yes; it shouldn't have happened. But hello, one run is not three; he's a kid, a rookie; he'll make mistakes. And though Walker did allow all the damage done, his being in the game in the first place was probably a shock to everyone else on the field, including Bowker. So really no matter how one observes the game tonight, the person who shouldn't be making mistakes, and definitely not ones that deliberately cease momentum, is he who manages. You'd think that Bochy would at least be sensitive to showing positive support for a young kid like Timmy that's on an obvious roll. I guarantee you that even if Timmy is a good kid, that lack of trust to ride his momentum is damaging Bochy's relationship with him. So much for being a "player's coach", huh Bruce?

Why does our team manage to sign people for big contracts years after their most success? Yes, I'm thinking Zito and Bochy. And no, I don't want to be thinking about Sabean. Ever.

Rowand did manage to get on base in the bottom of the ninth, and continue to spur the offense in an unfortunately rare show of plate-discipline. Bowker had a chance to make up for the error when he came up next after Aaron. He struck out to a great two-strike curveball that broke down and out of the strike zone. Castillo, in his youthful optimism, tried to tie the game with a HR. He succeeded... in flying out to RF. Game over.

But not for the management. Woe is S.F.

In other news, Durham just went 2-3 with a 2B and 3R in the leadoff spot for Milwaukee.

-MSH