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| Barry Zito gives up a home run. Related: grass is green. |
Over the course of a 162 game season, baseball teams are
going to lose a few games. Probably more than 3. The 1906 Chicago Cubs have the best winning percentage in
baseball history and they lost 36 games (116-36, .762 win %). 36 losses in
baseball terms is unheard of. It’s remarkable, hence the best winning
percentage in history thing. The 2012 season is just over half way through, and
every team in baseball has more than 36 losses. It’s an astoundingly small
number of losses for a professional baseball organization. But I keep finding
myself thinking “36 games is still 36 games.” These are the things I say in my
head. But bear with me.
Do you know how big a number 36 is? Probably, but here’s
some perspective anyways. The 2012 MLB postseason lasted 36 days. It’s more
than double the days this year’s Olympics will last. It’s half the number of
days Kim Kardashian’s marriage lasted. That last one didn’t help, but I hope it was cute. 36 days is still a large number of losses, in non-relative
terms. Think about how you feel after a loss. It’s a disgusting, filthy
feeling, and you go into full-emo mode for a period, before remembering you
should talk to your family because they miss you. Now rinse and repeat
that 36 times. That’s what the best team record wise in baseball history still
had to deal with. And that’s best case
scenario.
You know you’re going to have this feeling a ton of times
when you pledge allegiance to a baseball team. You prepare for it before the
season, take your sanity pills accordingly, and formulate a coping mechanism to
deal with said losses, because your know they’re going to come, and come hard.
And yet, even if you’re the best team in baseball history, it’s still a crappy,
yucky feeling that you can’t stand.
The Giants are in first place in their division, and
guaranteed a fantastic east coast road trip before today’s game even happened.
A win would be great, but big picture success was already secured. The Giants
are riding one of their highest points of the season. A win today would just be
gravy. You probably even expected them to lose this game. 2 straight wins on
the road in Philly, and that’s pretty much as good as it’s going to get. That’s
fine, 2 out of 3 is fine. And despite all this, today’s loss stunk, even though
you did all that pregame reassuring yourself preparation. Sure it’s probably
easier for a Giants fan to deal with a loss than an Astros fan, because of the
winning, but it doesn’t mean it’s fun. They're just 2-8 in potential sweep games, which probably makes it worse.
It’s true, big picture this was an excellent east coast
swing. 4-2 against the Braves and the Phillies is pretty darn impressive. As I
wrote yesterday, remember the last east coast trip? Ian Desmond hit 32 home
runs. Yeah, this was a lot better, and the Giants look like a different team.
Yet today the Giants lost, and that just sucked. You
expected them to lose coming into the game, and yet here we are sulking again.
I predict they will lose again. And it will still be terrible.
*****
I probably should do some actual game analysis, because
Royals and Astros fans see the first part as some snobby spoiled whiny dweeb complaining
about nothing. Which is true. Sorry guys.
Nate Schierholtz deserves playing time, or at least a
chance. Not for Gregor Blanco though, but for Angel Pagan, who’s hit
.236/.288/.311 since June 1st. I wrote this here, but it’s worth
repeating: Pagan and Schierholtz are very similar hitters, yet Pagan has less
defensive awareness the Schierholtz. Blanco is a good defender and has at least
the courtesy to take pitches, which Pagan does not. For all the talk about the
Giants needing a first baseman, they have just as big, if not a bigger void to fill
in the outfield. Yet as I also wrote, these 3 outfielders add similar value. In
the end, whoever plays won’t make an enormous difference. Their value is, well,
average. Not too good, but not too bad. In case you didn’t know what average
meant.
*****
Did you guys know Brandon Belt is struggling? Apparently
people argue about him. Anyways, it’s tiring to talk about this dude, so I will
just say this: He should be playing everyday somewhere, and if that place is Fresno, so be it. It’s tough to
watch him on a day like today, he looked helpless. I’m not putting it past him
to snap out of it in the bigs, because for crying out loud he’s 24. Yet I have
no problem with sending him to Fresno to get the confidence and kinks worked
out. That’s all I got on him today, because I have to go prepare for World War
III, which will be fought over Brandon Belt. Could be any day now.
*****
The bullpen is good again! Hooray! Since the All Star break,
Giant relievers have 1.52 ERA. Jerermy Affeldt has looked excellent, and as we’ve
said, relievers can get hot. Hoperfully this bullpen is hot and will continue
to be hot.
There is one quarrel I had with the bullpen today, and
here’s a new angle: it’s about the manager. In the 12th inning,
Bruce Bochy chose Brad Penny to pitch, with Santiago Casilla still available.
It’s a tough decision, considering Casilla has been awful of late and Penny has
been less awful. Yet it’s not so much that I’m complaining about, as it is
about Bochy’s entire philosophy. Yesterday Bochy brought Casilla into the ninth
inning in a save situation which was a high leverage situation. It implies that
Bochy trust Casilla in those high leverage spots, whether right or wrong. If
Bochy believes Casilla should be in those high intensity situations, then why
wasn’t he chosen to pitch as oppose to Penny? Actually, I know the answer to
that. It’s because he was waiting for a save situation. Yet it’s silly to wait
for that spot, because your goal in extras is to extend the game as far as
possible with the pitching until your offense can score some runs. That means
using your best pitchers in order. Bochy clearly believes Casilla is a better
pitcher, yet he still sent Penny to the mound, which is a bad philosophy to
employ, because your saving the better pitcher for a moment that might never
come. It’s an expected but frustrating quirk of an outdated managerial philosophy.
Anyways the Giants are now 53-42, and I’m still whining. The
Giants should just not lose ever.
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