The Giants played this one like their only goal was to get out of Dodge as fast as possible, and the hints that Barry Zito's days as a San Francisco Giants may be numbered grew to almost a crescendo. Key Lines:
Barry Zito- 5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 4 K'. ERA= 5.62. The only mystery to Zito's stuff was how he managed to keep the score as close as he did. Kruk put on a game face before the first pitch saying if Zito could keep the ball down he might pitch a pretty good game. Well, he didn't keep the ball down. He basically threw batting practice to the Reds in the first inning. Look, Zito may have an occasional game where he has unusually good command of the curveball and a friendly umpire, and manage to hold the other team to a 3 runs or less, but without perfect command, his stuff is not going to get anybody out. FB topped out at 85 MPH, everything up in the zone. Zito pitches high in the strike zone and always has. That ain't gonna get it done with the stuff he's throwing up there. Even Kruk and Kuip acknowledged after the game that this one was probably a lost cause from the moment Zito and Cueto were penciled in as starters. The signals from Bochy and the Giants are clear that Sanchez is going to take Zito's next start. Even Zito acknowledged as much in his comments. The only question left is whether to DFA Mota or Zito. If the Giants are going for it this year, and they obviously are, the answer to that question has to be Zito. Right now, he is useless even in a mop up role.
Orlando Cabrera- 0 for 3. I thought OCab looked surprisingly spry out there today. Maybe it was the rush of trying to impress new teammates but he definitely showed more range than either Tejada or Fontenot. I was half expecting a statue after all the ranting and raging over on mccoveychronicles.com. I don't expect much from his bat but almost anything would be an upgrade at this point.
Johnny Cueto(Reds)- 9 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K's. ERA= 1.72. Cueto would have been tough against a good hitting team that was trying today. Against a Giants team beating a retreat out of town, he didn't break a sweat on a hot day. Good pitcher!
The D'Backs are leading the Dodgers 4-1 in the 5'th inning as I write this so it's likely the Giants will head into their showdown starting tomorrow night in AT&T Park leading the NL West by 2 games. Hopefully sleeping in their own beds and the cool breezes by the Bay will be just what the doctor ordered for this weary team. Matt Cain takes on Ian Kennedy in game 1.
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i spent the weekend out of town and away from the net and tv...chose a good series to do so
ReplyDeletereading the write ups of the last 3 games, seems that the giants found it hard to motivate themselves
right now (and its early in his rental tenure) carlos is a bust...thats why rolling the dice in this sort of trade is always a huge risk, and why sabean has been loathe to trading for the straight rental...the only positive...they made the phils overspend on pence
dfa zito??? if zito was a man, and invested well, he would announce his retirement tomorrow...even the yanks would pass at using him...he is done, and he could spend an entire season in the minors and all that good will would amount to nothing
one of the giants prospects blocked me from his twitter because of some nasty things i said about zito...but i will repeat them here...he doesnt give a crap
i watched bonds in his twilight years, and despite declining skills...the man still loved the game...and still loves the game...i dont think that zito loves the game...not sure he has since he joined the giants...i think he thinks he loves the game...i think he thinks that he is supposed to love the game....but its all a facade
so he needs to be a man...drop the 50 mil still owed to him...and walk off into the sunset
open the restaurant, play session guitar on the side...and hang out with beach bunnys....but stop accepting a check for something he cannot and should not do, any more
totally missed the orlando trade
ReplyDeletegonna miss neal....doc, you are right...its the nagging injury thing....he never got on track, and as a result, fell in the depth chart...will have a much better chance with cleveland
miggs is done with the org...he apparently snapped at reporters...and i lay odds that he gets the hall treatment after his rehab starts
gonna check out his tweets, and i hope that craw is ok with hanging in fresno for a month
im sure he will be back in a giants uni next spring....wonder if they will ask him to play some winter ball
The Giants tried hard on Friday night even though they fell behind early. Fought it out into extra innings but home team always has the advantage in those games. When MadBum didn't have it in the first inning yesterday, it seemed like they kind of folded up their tents and chalked it up as a lost weekend.
ReplyDeleteTough to know what is going on in another person's head but from everything I've read about Zito, I have to wonder if he would have chosen baseball as a career if it wasn't pushed onto him. Seems like maybe it's an acquired taste for him, at best.
ReplyDeleteBacci, Zito has invested well. In fact he has one investment that will pay him approx $50M over the next 2 years.
ReplyDeleteNot his fault he found a sucker to sell him the investment.
So way, way, WAY too early to even suggest that Beltran is a bust. The guy has what, 20 ABs with the Giants? You've gotta be kidding me Bacci.
ReplyDeleteThe hitting chemistry is all off. It's been off all year. But now it's way out-of-whack with the three new outsiders starting (Kepp, OCab & Beltran). Give it a week or two to settle and gel. It's hard on the guys who are already here to face that they were not getting it done. Tough for athletes to deal with that. Give it some time.
Very surprised by Tejada's comments. Even if he feels that way, I always thought he was the kind of player who could deal publicly. I guess that's only when things are going well.
Zito. Yeah, it's not his failings as a pitcher that are a bummer. He just damn well seems like a guy who doesn't care. Or at least who isn't intense. So we're back to the crap alternatives:
Carry a 6th starter that can't relieve. (See Zito's latest 1st innings)
DFA him and choke on the (more than) $50 mil
Try and get him to deal with accepting that he is no longer a major league pitcher, accept assignment to the minors, and try and come up with something. Anything. It doesn't have to be a funeral. It's a longshot, sure. But maybe he'll find something. After that, head for winter ball. Keep working. Knuckleball. Spitball. Nail file. If the guy tried and failed I'd have a ton more respect for him than I do now.
Cals, it's not that he's owed the money. It's the way he deals with it. He doesn't seem to fight. He had one of those lame comments on the Showtime series about how people should just remember that while he a big-time athlete, we should all just remember that he's human. I'm pretty much a touchy-feely tree-hugging liberal, but that kind of "feel sorry for me" crap from a ball player makes me want to puke.
The Giants need to iron out their problems and get to it. It's August, and the fun begins. Maybe the moves work out. Maybe they implode. But they weren't going to win the World Series again waiting for Crawford, Tejada & Huff to get it going.
I agree with Doc & Bacci. Gonna miss Neal. He seemed like a real good kid, who never got a chance put it together this year. I believe he's a 5th outfielder at worst. Best to him in Cleveland.
The funny thing is that the Giants had actually heated up in July, averaging 3.9 runs scored, which with their pitching puts them at low 90 wins level. Getting Beltran should push them even higher, once his bat gets loose and hot for us. This is way too early to call Beltran a bust.
ReplyDeleteKeppinger too. He was also over amped early on - he is amazingly such a good hitter that he don't strike out much, while walking a lot relative to strikeouts, yet struck out a lot early on for us, before calming down. I think he will be a great addition for us and a good backup at 2B when Franchez does return, whenever that is.
Tejada was actually hitting well for us before getting injured, so he could be very useful bat off the bench, plus good backup at 2B and 3B, should anything happen at either position.
Zito is Zito. He will have his ups and downs as a pitcher, and when he is in the rotation full-time, those will balance out, I think, like it did the past two seasons. But when he's on the border like this, he will just look bad period.
I don't see the Giants eating his contract. Just too much to eat with the potential that he joins new team and do as well as he did the past two seasons, which is good stuff, and make Giants look even worse.
However, I agree, I don't think that Zito is consumed by baseball like many players. He appears to be a renaissance man with many varied interests and that will make his commitment to baseball seem to be less than it is. But I don't think one could go through all that he has and not have a consuming passion for baseball. I just think it is all relative.
I also wonder if that car crash is affecting his motivation, some people get that epiphany of the importance of life and so on, and find that stuff (like baseball) do not really matter as much, especially after suffering the loss of his father (if I recall right) during the off-season.
Such circumstances make a lot of people think about their life and question the importance of certain things in their lives. Given that Zito is a thinker, have to believe that his ardor for baseball might be waning given these circumstances, maybe he wants to spend more time with mom before she is gone or do other things before he is gone.
Still, when he came back, he was doing very well. Personally, I give passes to anyone getting beat up in Cincinnati, the park is just too weird to chalk up anything bad against a pitcher, same with Colorado, Texas, those parks just messes with pitchers stats and creates a lot of outliers.
OGC,
ReplyDeleteI understand park effects and know Cincy is a bandbox, but it was the slop he was throwing up there. I really believe he would have gotten lit up in any ballpark yesterday. The only mystery to me was why he didn't give up a whole lot more than 5 runs!
Agreed with Doc. Zito was tossing slow, straight fastballs up in the zone catching the center of the plate (especially early, he got things down from the 3rd on). Very, very easy for the hitters to sit curve and adjust to FB. It had nothing to do with the ballpark, everything to do with very poor pitches.
ReplyDeleteOCG, Zito's not so much thinker. He's more emotional, esoteric, etc. And who cares. If other interests or problems are drawing him away from the game, then give it up. (Ryne Sandberg.) I don't believe that's the case. I think the guy simply has no idea of how to deal with adversity. His skills are eroded, he's completely unable or unwilling to adapt.
a ballplayer that plays guitar, writes crappy music, does yoga, likes to make scrambled eggs and spouts bs philosophy, does not a renaissance man make
ReplyDeletethe man was good for a half of a season plus 3 games (and i can argue that he wasnt good in those 3 games, just very lucky)
he is throwing bp
sabean and bochy agree...he is out...official today
what happens next will be announced tonite or tomorrow....hope the org has the balls (and the caishe) to dump his sorry ass
and had he once taken responsibility or shown a bit of care for sucking, i might have a different attitude....he hasnt
he is a multimillionaire who never earned a dime as a giant
Well put Bacci.
ReplyDeleteI don't fault Zito for sucking. Just how deals with it.