Rotation lousiness continues

Man, I can't stand the Rox. Coors Dump has turned out to be the worst possible place for a shaky starting rotation. Here's what Andrew Baggarly of CSNBay Area just tweeted --

Andrew Baggarly ‏@CSNBaggs 14m

Update time. After Tim Lincecum's 6 ERs in 5 IP, the #SFGiants rotation has ... a 4.81 ERA this season.

Well, it's another Lincecum start where you say, "Well, he really wasn't THAT bad -- except for mishandling a bunt, balking and leaving a fattie belt high for Wilin Rosario..." 

Best thing so far tonight -- The dodgers lost again.

I blame Bochy

The Giants have just lost a heartbreaker, 10-9, at the Coors Dump. Bruce Bochy decided to press his lucky in the 5th with the bases loaded and keep Bumgarner in after he loaded the bases -- when he was obviously no longer effective -- and then give a grand slam.

Bochy obviously knows what he's doing with 2 World Series crowns but it drives me crazy when this happens. What the hell are the 11 guys in the pen for?

UPDATE -- A well-thought out comment about how there really isn't that much difference at that point using Bumgarner or Kontos, who came in after the slam. I'd only say that there are 29 MLB parks at which that thinking is applicable; and then there's Coors Dump, which requires a super-quick hook. 

Does that really count as a comeback?

I mean, really? Down 6-0 would be a death sentence in any other park but at Coors Field, it's no big deal.

Fortunately, there's one team that the Giants have been beating up on recently -- the Rox. 10 times in a row, I believe. 

Brandon Crawford had the big hit -- a bases loaded double. Here's part of Chris Haft's story for mlb.com -- 
They fell behind the Colorado Rockies, 6-0, as starter Matt Cain yielded three home runs. It echoed the six- and five-run deficits the Giants faced after one inning during lopsided defeats Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, in Toronto. Then the pendulum swung inevitably and irrevocably in the other direction, as it often does in baseball.
"Especially here," Giants first baseman Brandon Belt said, referring to Coors Field. "There are a lot of runs to be scored here."
For the rest of the evening, the Giants scored all of them. They amassed five runs in the fourth inning and three more in the sixth to prevail, 8-6, lengthening their winning streak against National League West rival Colorado to 10 games.

Here's the best part -- the Giants have seven guys hitting decently -- Sandoval, Pence, Posey, Belt, Pagan, Scutaro and Crawford. Five of them have at least 20 RBIs; Pagan has 18 and Scutaro has nine.   

Ugly Ugly

Talk about a shot in the arm of the Blue Jays and the Dodgers, who beat a pretty good Nationals team tonight. 

Hard to believe but Ryan Vogelsong had a start tonight that was even more pathetic than Barry Zito's on Tuesday. Zito has occasionally reverted to being adequate and even made it into the 6th after giving up 6in the first. Vogelsong was just plain awful with the score getting to 10-1 at the end of the third.   

Here's the relevant part of Henry Schulman's story for the SF Chron. I disagree about the errors. This one is on Vogelsong. Good for him for seeing the positive but this leaves me wondering if he's done --
 
Ryan Vogelsong was hammered again and pitched only two innings, his shortest start with the Giants. Although the Scutaro and Pagan errors contributed mightily to Vogelsong's line - eight runs, three earned - the right-hander showed no signs of improvement and allowed four runs on homers by Adam Lind and J.P. Arencibia, the 10th and 11th off Vogelsong this season in just 41 1/3 innings.
Once again, Bochy and pitching coach Dave Righetti are faced with a difficult conversation and question: Should they pull Vogelsong and his 8.06 ERA from the rotation?
Bochy said that would be discussed on the long, late-night flight to Denver, where the Giants open a four-game series Thursday night.
The first-inning errors will be mitigating factors to a point. With one out, Scutaro dropped Jose Bautista's easy flare to short right field, continuing his season-long defensive struggles.
After Vogelsong walked Edwin Encarnacion, Arencibia hit a liner to center that should have been the second out. Pagan got a good read on the ball, charged, then flat whiffed on it. The ball rolled past Pagan, allowing two runs to score and setting up Lind's two-run homer.
"That was probably the worst thing that could have happened for Vogey, what happened there," Bochy said. "That's uncharacteristic for us. I can't think back when we've had two identical games where we made mistakes like that in the first inning. The big numbers killed us and took us out of our game."
Vogelsong tried to stay positive with his words, even if his face betrayed severe frustration.
"Things have got to turn in my favor here eventually," he said. "I shattered two bats, sawed them off, and they got two hits. It's got to change here."

A return to 2010 for Zito

Remember that guy who was so awful in 2010 that they kept him off the postseason roster? He may be back. 

After stellar starts by the Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain, Zito reverted to the form that we've all come to dread -- the form that nearly cost the Giants a shot at the postseason three years ago. This time, it was a 6-run first inning to ensure a 10-6 vic for the Jays. Usually, if the Giants can score 6 runs, that's a pretty good sign. Now, it just makes the loss a bit less embarrassing.

Speaking of returns from the 2010 Giants, the dodgers became officially desperate by signing Jonathan Sanchez. I guess Jason Schmidt isn't going to unretire.

The bonehead Dodgers lose

Dodgers broadcaster Rick Monday was floored tonight in the 4th inning when Dee Gordon managed to get to third on a single, steal and error with no out, then did not come home on a pop fly into right that 2B Danny Espinosa caught with his back to the infield moving toward the right field fence. Monday, who played 19 years in the bigs, contended that Gordon should have been tagging up since Espinosa would have to come to a stop, turn 180 and fire a strike to home. The score was 4-0 in favor of the Nats. Kemp and Ethier could not get Gordon home either.

Maybe it's just a single play but it seemed to symbolize the Dodger season to me.the dodgers are now 15-22, which projects out to a season of 66-96 -- what a thing of beauty! It's great to have an automatic object of disdain perform so far below expectations so far.

Pill back in the Orange and Black

Brett Pill has been knocking the cover off the ball in Fresno so he's back in the bigs. 

He's hit 6 HRs in 167 MLB at bats over the past two seasons. He's also taken a total of eight walks so his strike zone judgment seems a tad suspect.  

Chris Quick at Bay City Ball notes that the adjusted PCL numbers are still pretty good and he includes a GIF of Pill swinging at a ball that's at least 2 feet from his bat.  

Between Brandon Belt - who's mixed bad at bats with flashes of stardom - and Posey, I'm doubtful Pill will get many starts at first. 

Just like the old Tim Lincecum

He shut down the Braves today for 7 innings with 2 hits, 3 walks and 7 strikeouts. That's the kind of game was turning out routinely during 2007-11. He's now 3-2 this year.

Dave Flemming noted in the broadcast that Tim's performance was particularly impressive given his lack of command early and implied that the Braves were just too aggressive to take advantage.

He was quite a guy until last year. 
2007 - 2.3 WAR
2008 - 7.9
2009 - 7.5
2010 - 3.7
2011 - 4.2
2012 - negative 1.7

Now that's more like it

Back to back laughers against the Braves -- Bumgarner's first career victory over Atlanta -- six RBIs off the bench -- a first-inning left-field line homer by Sandoval.

I'd be fine with all the games being like this.

The only comparable game came a month ago -- a 10-0 vic over the Rox, which left the good guys at 6-3.

They're now at 22-15. That projects out to 97-65, which should get them into the postseason. 

Dodgers burying themselves

The loss streak has hit 8 in a row. What a thing of beauty. The Yankees of the West couldn't even beat the Miami Marlins last night. Per the LA Times, our old buddy Juan Uribe played a major role -- 

Dietrich, a 23-year-old second baseman, made his major league debut only two days earlier.
Dietrich's home run canceled out a three-run homer by Adrian Gonzalez in the first inning. The home run was the fourth of the season for Gonzalez, who aggravated a neck strain on Wednesday and was listed as day-to-day.
That would be the last time the Dodgers would have Marlins rookie flamethrower Jose Fernandez in trouble until they put men on first and second with no outs in the fifth inning. But Juan Uribe was picked off second base and the Dodgers failed to score.
"That was definitely a momentum changer," Mattingly said. "We kind of shot ourselves in the foot."

Like Jason Schmidt before him, Uribe signed a 3-year deal and has been mostly a disaster for the Dodgers. 

More importantly -- The dodgers have only won 13 games at this point for a 13-21 record. They're down with the Cubs, Jays, Astros and Marlins. How's that taste, dodger fans?