Giants Forget Baseball is Scored With Runs Not Hits

Goodbye Michael Bourn

It’s tough not to get worked up about a Giants loss, because I feel comfortable reporting that in my life experiences, losing is a worse feeling than winning. It’s stinks. It feels like someone took a huge crap on you while tomahawk chopping Bruce Bochy’s tolerance for Brandon Belt. That is my current state right now, which probably makes me a weirdo. But being the loyal trooper I am, I march on.

Still, as much as losing one game hurts, the big picture shows the Giants winning a series in the dark labyrinth that is Turner Field. The Braves are one of the best teams in the NL, and for a Giants team that’s struggled on the road, a series win is all one could really ask for. The Giants are probably lucky to get out with 2 of 3 games after last night’s funky monkey baseball game. 5-1 since the All Star break is not a bad way to start.

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Of course, a sweep was definitely there for the taking, and in the shocker of all things shockable, the Giants did not take advantage. More surprising results: the Giants did not score many runs. The Giants had 11 base runners and 2 runs to show for it. They’re stranding more runs than a dirty diaper. At this point, the hitters should bring canned soup and spare underwear up to the plate, in anticipation of being stranded in the dark wilderness that is the base paths.

Complaining about the Giants offense is probably stupid after the team scored 18 runs the previous 2 games, but since I’m not a sensible person, I’m going to do that. The Giants have three good hitters: Melky Cabrera, Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval. The rest of the lineup is filled with average, to below average hitters to Emmanuel Burris. Mostly the middle one. Contrary to Bochyan belief, Brandon Belt has been the 4^th best hitter on this team. Sure, that speaks to Belt’s ability, but it also speaks about the ineptitude of the rest of the hitters on the team. If Belt’s that extra hitter we’re waiting for, that would be fantastic, but I’m not holding my breath for this year. We’re all waiting for this runners in scoring position thing to regress back to the mean, but what if it never does very much because the lineup simply is a little average? Is that necessarily a bad thing, and is that a weakness? Well, that might be good enough, or might not be. But I’ve lowered it down to that.

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When the manager decides to pinch hit, it is because a) the original hitter is injured b) the replacement hitter is better than the original hitter given the situation or c) the manager is coo coo. Brandon Belt was pinch hit for by Justin Christian. Let’s see- a) Brandon Belt is not injured b) Justin Christian is not a better hitter than Brandon Belt. So that leaves us with…

Should be noted: I don’t like ripping Bochy. That’s not true, I love making head jokes about him. But still, I think the manager has an incredibly hard job, satisfying so many different personalities, and all I have to do is sit on my couch and press buttons all day. As Grant from McCovey Chronicle points out multiple times, the manager’s job is not an enviable position.  Still, knowing all this doesn’t help the frustration when a manager makes a dum dum decision that logic seems to counter in every which way.

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Madison Bumgarner gave up 3 hits. He was in the stretch in only one inning. How he became a footnote down here probably speaks to my writing ability. Dude was fantastic again, and it makes you grimace as a fan when starts like this are left by the wayside.

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But really, brighten up. It’s a beautiful day. Go outside. Learn something, like how to grow a lizard tail, because those can regenerate. Stop thinking about this game.