Zito loses again and doesn't suck again

Ever since Brian Sabean proclaimed the Giants were going to contend, they've lost every game. Way to fire up the team, Brainy Brian -- I'm sure William Neukom's noted that this team is not looking once again like it may make it to 100 losses despite Barry Zito's recent flirtation with adequacy. Projected record -- 64-98

Ron Kroichik knocked out a pretty snappy write up of the game for the SF Chronicle of what sounds like a pretty bad game. Here are some of his better takes --

-- Barry Zito staggered into dubious territory Saturday night. He labored through five innings, absorbed another loss and became the first Giants starter to drop his first eight decisions in a season since Jesse Burkett in 1890, a mere 118 years ago.

-- Giants hitters were strikingly anemic with runners in scoring position - 1-for-7 on the heels of an 0-for-12 showing Friday night. The Giants have scored only one run in their last 23 innings, and their season total of 151 runs ranks next-to-last in the majors, ahead of only San Diego (148).

--Buehrle did not overpower the Giants, but he threw strikes more reliably than Zito did. The Giants put the ball in play against Buehrle - he collected only one strikeout in his 6 2/3 innings - but he often had hitters off-balance, tapping soft, harmless grounders.

-- Zito's outing probably looked painfully familiar to Giants fans, except he somehow departed with his team trailing only 2-0. That counted as astonishing, given how the White Sox clogged the bases with runners - 14 in all during Zito's five innings (eight hits and six walks). Many of the hits were soft and well-placed, but Zito again served as his own worst enemy, repeatedly losing contact with the strike zone.

-- Eugenio Velez, pinch hitting for Zito in the fifth, achieved something no Giants hitter had in the team's 18 previous innings: He knocked home a run. It was an innocuous RBI groundout, scoring Jose Castillo, but it represented San Francisco's first run since the fourth inning of Thursday's loss to Houston.

These aren't the Yankees, Joe

For Giants fans -- what with a terrible team and Barry Bonds blackballed by owners' collusion -- the only real compensation during much of the season is watching the Dodgers stumble around. Fortunately, because the Dodger roster is constructed by Brian Sabean's protege Ned Colletti, the Dodgers are also blowing lots of games.

Gary Bennett appears to be having serious problems as a catcher -- even hesitating as he lobs the ball back to the pitcher. He overthrew first by 20 feet tonight and helped the Dodgers gag away a game to the Angels -- a team that tormented Torre, in that it was the only team to accumulate a winning record during Torre's tenure. Colletti's prize free agent signing Andruw Jones also choked tonight, turning towards second after an error on a groundball and leading to a tag-out at first. I can still hear my Little League coaches yelling at me to turn right at first on an infield play.

Face it, Joe -- as long as these are the guys you're stuck with, this is how it's going to be.

The really good old days

photo by foggydave

When I first started following the Giants, they could flat out hit. It doesn't hurt to have three Hall of Famers (Say Hey, Stretch and the Baby Bull) in the lineup.

I thought of this tonight because ESPN noted that Jason Werth had hit 3 HRs with 8 RBIs -- only the fourth time since 1961 that a centerfielder had at least 3 dongs and 8 RBIs, the others being Mays, Fred Lynn and Hard Hittin Mark Whiten. I had to dig up this game from 1961 when Mays hit 4 homers at County Stadium in Milwaukee on national TV.

Proving a lunatic wrong

The Giants appear to be going out of their way to show Brian Sabean how idiotic he was to say that the team's going to contend. Since Matt Cain's gem on Tuesday, they've lost 3 straight games that any kind of decent team would have won. It's May 16 and the team is 10 1/2 games out of first place. Meanwhile, the Oakland A's -- a team with barely half the payroll of the Giants -- are a game and a half out of first.

Tonight's 2-0 nightmare came amid a 5-hit attack from the Giants; Durham got 3 of them. Team's projected record -- 64-98.

NOTE TO WILLIAM NEUKOM -- I would bet that if someone messed up at Microsoft, even if they were in senior management, they'd be fired. It's time to pull the trigger on the guy who brought you this mess. You might note that attendance was 35,000 tonight -- many of them disguised as empty seats.

More time with the family - HA!

It never fails. Any time anyone leaves a job and wants to convey the impression that they are leaving of their own accord, they inevitably say that they want to spend more time with the family. That's a statement always taken at face value -- even though it's at odds with most people's experience.

In any case, Peter Magowan trotted out that excuse today to explain why he's ditching the Giants. He also says that he wishes he had signed Vlad in 2003. Well, Peter, let me go record as saying that I wish that I were hanging out with Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell in Hawaii like Jason Segel's character in "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."

I realize that I should be grateful to Magowan for keeping baseball in San Francisco and building the park but frankly, I'm a little annoyed by all this. I'm really bothered over Magowan's lack of gratitude to the one guy who he should be thanking. I'm talking about his class-free willingness to keep throwing Barry Bonds under the bus -- when it's Bonds who was the major reason why Magowan was as successful as he was:

When asked if he would have done anything differently with Bonds, Magowan said, "Yeah, probably sure."

That's what reporters want to hear, even now -- that BONDS IS EVIL PERSONIFIED. The SF Chronicle's clueless Gwen Knapp, who's always hated Bonds, uses some pretzel logic to say that Magowan was "defending" Bonds -- "I'm probably more aware of what Barry brought to the franchise than anybody. The first thing I'm going to say he brought is the last thing that anybody ever seems to mention, which is, he made us a winner. That's hard, it seems, for a lot of people to write."

My snarky comment -- No, Gwen, he's simply stating the obvious, while still wanting to have it both ways and say he would have done things differently with Bonds. "Defending" Bonds would amount to either giving him a job or at the least, not continuning to give the weasel answer that "Oh, we wish that we could get into our time machine and change things."

Neukom's the guy

Henry Schulman of the SF Chronicle's reporting that ex-Microsoft exec William Neukom's replacing Peter Magowan as the managing general partner of the Giants while Larry Baer becomes president. Alarmingly, Schulman also suggests that Sabean may have a more powerful role.

Desperate times in the bullpen

Giants fans should not be surprised that the pen has performed abysmally this week, given the front office's track record. Keep in mind that their idea of a good relief pitcher was this -- signing Fatmando Blownitez to a $21 million 3-year deal.

He just made it back to the Bigs this week and immediately gave up a homer.

Hey, Bud Selig -- are you behind this?

Maury Brown of the Business of Baseball wonders if Bud Selig hasn't orchestrated Peter Magowan's departure as punishment for Barry Bonds doing PEDs.

I'm skeptical. I believe that the other Giants owners have had it with the team's rotten performance, declining revenues and crappy future. There's also speculation on Baseball Think Factory that this is Bud's retaliation for not using public financing to build Pacbell Park. Much as I'm inclined to blame Bud for doing something sleazy, I think the real story is this -- Peter's shoved out by the other partners for doing a flat-out crappy job.

You can bet that at some point Peter's going to claim that he wants to "spend more time with my family." When people say that, I often think, "I bet the family is THRILLED with that."

"Those are the rantings of a madman"

Anthony at Bleeding Black and Orange gives an astute point by point breakdown of how badly run the Giants are. He dissects Sabean's reality-free assessment of the Giants earlier this week. It's so on point that I'm running pretty much the whole thing. Key points --

-- I’m assuming the solution at first Sabean is referencing is John Bowker, a hitter who has looked so good some times and so terrible other times, it makes me think we’re just seeing the latest in the Lance Neikro, Todd Linden, Damon Minor mold of the Giants’ farm system.

-- The solution at third? I’m still lost as to what that is. Jose Castillo has been more painful to watch than Pedro Feliz, and that’s saying something. Rich Aurilia? His .245/.321/.367 line is well below replacement level for a 3B.

-- Big Money Molina? Yeah, he’s clutch, but a .304 OBP is NOT what you want from your #4 hitter. Manny Burriss is a factor? A speed guy who gets on base at a .302 clip is not a factor. I like the kid’s potential, but he’s in over his head. He’s just Brian Bocock with more speed.

-- As for the pitching, other than Tim Lincecum, it’s been pretty disappointing. Matt Cain has been solid, but he has to get that ERA below 4. Jonathan Sanchez has been Jonathan Sanchez. Lowry & Correia, shelved until further notice. Zito…. well, the less said the better. The relief corps looked solid at the beginning, but shitty management has flushed that down the tubes.

-- If Brian Sabean has represented utter lunacy, Bruce Bochy has represented complete ignorance. We’ve been over his abuse of Matt Cain & Tim Lincecum in terms of pitch counts. So, on top of that, he makes a move that rotoworld called, “disgusting.” After Merkin Valdez (who is fresh of Tommy John surgery) felt a little discomfort in his elbow, what did Bochy do? He sent him to the hill the next day, only for Merkin to get blown up. Only after that, do they decide to DL him and treat us all to Alex Hinshaw (did Erik Threets die or something?).

-- On top of that, he insists on putting our best hitter in the #5 slot, behind the anemic Randy Winn (.283/.320/.370) & the human continental drift. He never gives Dan Ortmeier, who is actually hitting a respectable .292/.393/.417, ANY playing time. He is frequently out-managed by the opposition, depleting his bench and forced to make ridiculous substitutions late in the game. In short, this is a team that was designed by a lunatic and is being run by an imbecile.

The worst game of the year

That burning smell was the bullpen exploding for the third time in four games as they made Houston look like the 1927 Yankees. It even featured a pinch HR by the now-worthless Darin Erstad, as if Giants fans needed a reminder of the 2002 World Series.

The AP writeup notes that it's first time in eight years that the Giants have blown a six-run lead -- this nightmarish 10-7 loss to the Padres thanks to Felix Rodriguez and Alan Embree. I still remember that one, too. In the spirit of trying to stay positive, here are the only things I can say --

-- Tim the Enchanter struck out 10.

-- Alexander Hinshaw managed to get one batter out in his MLB debut but then gave up a single. He'd racked up decent numbers in Fresno.

-- Tyler Walker took the blame rather than pulling a Blownitez: "Basically, you can blame me for losing this game. No way Vinnie should pitch in that game. There were six outs to go with a four-run lead. I know the Astros are a good hitting team, but that's our job. It's something you have to come back from."

A monument to Brian Sabean's incompetence

That's my first reaction to tonight's 6-3 loss to Houston. I had listened to some of the game and heard Dave Flemming mention that the Giants after 6 were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Then Taschner and Sadler combine to give up the 4th run to Houston in the 7th amid bad mistakes by both -- Taschner walked the worthless Cruz Jr. (5-for-40) to start the inning and then Sadler grooved a 1-2 pitch to Tejada with two out when Bengie had called for a shoulder high pitch that Mig would chase. I got home, kissed my wife and took the dog for walk, did some laundry and then looked at this box score.

THE GIANTS LEFT 10 MEN ON BASE. Anyhow, it seems fitting that with Magowan retiring, the team obviously years away from contending and fans starting to stay away, the ineffectiveness of this offense -- and the idiot who constructed this team -- could not shown more clearly.

The team is also not being well-coached. Flemming noted in the 6th that Ortmeier hacked at a 2-1 pitch well out of the strike zone with Castillo on third. "This is a free-swinging team," he added. They are also last in the MLB in runs scored at 140 and third to last in walks at 112.


Henry Schulman of the SF Chron let Sabean claim that the team will contend despite all appearances to the contrary, such as being 7 games under .500. I wish that it were true that this team can contend but I'm afraid it isn't meant to be. Projected record -- 67-95.

Hasta la vista, Pedro

The SF Chron's political columnists (Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross) are reporting that Peter Magowan will announce his retirement on Friday. No word if all the empty seats at AT&T Park -- which I bet are a big reason why he's running away -- will be in attendance. Back to back weeknight games have seen attendance (which includes tickets sold, not those actually in attendance) under 31,000.

Here's hoping the new owner decides to fire Brian Sabean ASAP.

Your tax dollars at work

The federal government's mad-dog pursuit of Barry Bonds has continued with the refiling of the indictment. It feels as if there's an endless supply of funds for the feds to do whatever they want -- such as pursuing a vendetta against a guy who's one of the Designated Villains of Our Time -- rather than what people would want them to do, such as stopping gangsters from operating with impunity or stopping corporate polluters or busting scam artists.

Meanwhile, the Cubs have proven once again not only that they're idiots but also that there is indeed collusion among owners to not sign Bonds -- since they're about to sign a deal with the worthless Jim Edmonds. If he doesn't work out, I suppose they could try Ryan Klesko or Steve Finley.

Matt Cain = The Man

Cain did it all tonight, stifling the Stros and hitting a LONG homer to left. It was his second dong of the year.

Guess who's now leading the Giants in slugging percentage with a .706 mark (that's 12 total bases in 17 ABs).

The return of Johnnie LeMaster

A somewhat amazing story in the SF Bay Guardian about the guy who played 11 seasons for the Orange and Black and is probably best remembered for wearing "BOO" on his jersey once in 1979. --

"That stunt cost me a $500 fine, but it was worth every penny. It won over some of the media and the fans really got a kick out of it," said LeMaster who was honored by the Giants last weekend as part of the club's season long 50th San Francisco Anniversary celebration.
It was the Paintsville, Kentucky resident's first visit to San Francisco's downtown ballpark.
"I'm jealous of the new players. Everything is so plush and inviting, I'd love to take some ground balls or step up to the plate here," said LeMaster, 53, and a grandfather of six. "I'm glad for the players that they have something like this to come to and I'm really happy for the fans."

He was a decent fielder but couldn't hit worth a damn -- .222/.277/.289 for his career. And I think that Giants fans booed him a lot because they couldn't express their disgust in any other way that -- year after year after year after year -- LeMaster was the best that the team could find. I don't recall his successor Jose Uribe ever getting booed at the Stick.

For the sake of discussion, let's say that the Giants decided to play Brian Bocock at short for the next eight years. I'd bet that by 2014 or so, the booing would be pretty intense.

A better blog than this one

That would be Orange Black and Blue, which calls itself "the purgatory of lost Giants fans." I particularly love the inclusion of the Enron logo and Felipe Alou in the banner. To me, it's a reminder that things used to be a LOT better for Giants fans. I didn't even know this site existed until Lefty Malo -- also a far better blog than this one -- mentioned it in his post.

Why am I going on about this? Because, driving home from a difficult day at work, I was thoroughly enjoying the first half of the Giants game. Barry Zito got through 5 scoreless innings; Bowker homered for the first time since April 20; and Omar and Fred Lewis doubled home runs. I was thinking "This is how it used to be for all those years; if the Giants played at home, we fans knew they had a pretty good shot of winning."

By the time I got home, said howdy to my lovely wife, took the doggie for a walk and checked back on the game, the Astros had pretty much brought reality back to Giants fans. Rather than pull Zito in the 6th, Bochy kept him out there long enough to get hammered as usual; then the bullpen stunk up the joint and the offense took the rest of the night off. Sorry, but what the hell is Bochy doing letting an obviously fading Zito pitch to Lance Berkman in the 6th with a guy on and the score 3-1?

But back to Orange Black and Blue -- very sharply written, very entertaining by a guy named Hasan. He's already nicknamed Jonathan Sanchez "Dirty." The above photo of Steve Holm and Barry Bonds was part of his Mother's Day post. I called my post "Big Day for Steve Holm"; Hasan called his "Clutch Holmer." As I said, a much better blog than this. Anyhow, here's part of what he posted --

Awesome story for the local boy. The former backup to Justin Knoedler in Single-A San Jose has looked the part in the majors coming off an improbable upset in an open battle for the backup job in spring training. On the other hand, Jose Castillo celebrated the return of Pedro Feliz by doing his best impression, hitting into 3 double plays (two on the first pitch and two with the bases loaded) before lining a triple in a completely no-pressure situation leading off the eighth. (Unsurprisingly, he was subsequently stranded by Vizquel, Aurilia and Lewis). His struggles epitomize the Giants biggest downfall so far this season: not cashing in on baserunners. Team batting with RISP? .237.Dirty continues to struggle as he allows three in a very wild 4.1 IPs. Also troubling: Sanchez's inability to control his emotions - a good example being his failure to cover first on a helluva diving play by John Bowker.

It Might Be Dangerous, You Go First

Very interesting development out of San Diego, where special assistant Paul DePodesta has launched a blog by that name. He's already answering questions and the Padres have won their last two games.

In a move that turned out well only for Giants fans and Dodger haters, idiot Dodger owner Frank McCourt decided to kick DePodesta to the curb -- after DePo had gotten the team into the playoffs for the first time in 7 years in 2004. In a midseason move, he traded the badly overhyped Paul Lo Duca, Juan Encarnacion and Guillermo Mota to the Marlins for Brad Penny, Hee Seop Choi and prospect Bill Murphy, then sent Murphy to the Diamondbacks for Steve Finley, who had one last burst of competence. Penney became a solid starter and none of the guys traded away ever amounted to much.

The Los Angeles media -- led by certified dingbat Bill Plaschke of the LA Times -- hated the LoDuca trade and began calling for DePo's scalp with the Dodgers sucking in 2005 even though the team he inherited and the manager (Jim Tracy) were mostly useless. He acquired J.D. Drew, Derek Lowe, Jeff Kent, which helped the Dodgers re-load and make the playoffs again in 2006 but by then he'd been fired, so Ned Colletti got the undeserved credit. Colletti's recent moves (Pierre, Andruw Jones, Schmidt) have been bad but the farm system's so strong that it usually covers those mistakes.

In the meantime, it would be a smart move for the Giants to dump Sabean and hire DePo, so it's probably never going to happen.

Big day for Steve Holm

This kind of thing always gives me a big smile. Here's a 28-year-old guy who's been in the minors since 2001 and finally gets a shot at the bigs this year by backing up Bengie. He just hit his first MLB homer -- a 2-run job in the 7th -- to give the Orange and Black a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the Phils.

The Dodgers also lost their 4th in a row as Fat Broxton gagged away a win to the Astros, who are headed into SF.

Giants projected record -- 68-94

Almost as big a bust as Zito

That would be Andruw Jones. He has 19 hits in 112 ABs, including 4 doubles, 1 HR and 4 RBIs. That would be 4 HRs and 16 RBIs by the end of the year. That's for a guy they signed for years 2 years at $36 million. It's nice to know that the Dodgers' front office appears to be as arrogant and inept as the Giants -- not surprising, since Ned Colletti is a Sabean protege.

The Dodgers have just lost 3 in a row and are now 19-17. Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times talks to some scouts and they say he's done --

-- In 27 at-bats with runners in scoring position, he has made 26 outs.

-- "I don't see anything that would make him better than a fourth outfielder," an American League evaluator said.His bat speed has slowed, the evaluators said, a trend that generally does not reverse itself unless an injury explains the decline.

-- In 2005-06, Jones ranked fifth in the National League in slugging percentage, at .553. In 2007-08, he ranks 80th, at .389. He strikes out as never before, and he struggles even when he makes contact. In 2005-06, when Jones put a fastball in play, he hit .363, according to STATS LLC. In 2007-08, that average is .305.

-- "If I were the opposing team, I'd throw him nothing but fastballs until he proves he can hit them," an NL evaluator said.That evaluator said he clocked Jones -- while beating out an infield hit -- at 4.7 seconds to first base."That's what a catcher runs," he said.

-- And, although the Dodgers trumpet defense, the evaluators independently made the same observation about Jones: He used to play notoriously shallow, daring anyone to hit balls over his head, knowing he could race back and catch them. Now he plays deep, so balls drop in front of him.Two statistical measures -- zone rating and range factor -- suggest Jones ranks as an average center fielder.

-- Jones weighed 210 pounds during his glory years with the Braves. He weighed 248 this spring, so perhaps the decline in speed and range can be reversed.