So how do you describe a losing streak where you lose 18-23 games? At one time early in the season, you’re on top, then comes the meltdown and suddenly you’re at the bottom.
My father was a big Giants fan when he was alive. Part of me wonders what he would say at a time like this. That would be easy. It was always the same thing then as it is now. He would say the other team didn’t win, the Giants lost.
Maybe you could say that. I don’t want to make Homer Bailey mad since he pitched a no-hitter against us. Have to say that that was probably the point where things got worse though.
It doesn’t help when your GM says that he won’t make any moves. There won’t be any quick fixes because that won’t help this team. Seeing that article in the San Jose Mercury News was a disappointment. As a friend of mine on twitter said to me after that, if he doesn’t care, then why should I. Have to agree with that.
Seeing the fans reaction to that wasn’t surprising. Sabean is the first to be blamed. He treated the team like it was Walmart. Didn’t make any moves. At the very least, we should have looked for a left fielder. Hell, I was the one saying that we should have added Kyle Lohse and see how a six man rotation would work. Of course, that would give us a chance to see how Lincecum would do.
I don’t think it’s too hard to see what happened to the Giants. If we look back on last year, we went through the season losing to the teams above .500 and winning against the teams below 500. We had Melke in the outfield and when we lost him, it was a punch in the stomach. It was his job to lose and he lost it big time. Blanco was no replacement for him.
As far as the pitching went, the warning signals were there. The only pitcher who showed the same consistency was Bum. Yes, Cain had his no-hitter but he was off once in a while. Even though Zito had a good year, you still had plenty of moments where he was the house or horrors. Vogey went through a long streak of losing. Lincecum had his worst year.
Somehow, we still won the division though and Romo was the closer. Belt was always a work in progress. Pence served as a great sparkplug but never really hit until the playoffs. Sandoval had his big bat and when it came crunch time in the playoffs and the world series, we won.
Coming back this season meant 162 games and the expectations were high. Maybe too high. The pitching was horrendous in the beginning but somehow, we had some good hitting from Hunter Pence and Posey. Sandoval was good in the beginning as well. Belt had his moments. We never knew how Romo would do based on 162 games.
After that, we reverted back to good pitching but we lost Angel Pagan, who was our biggest sparkplug from last year. Vogey was tough to lose even though he wasn’t doing well. Sandoval went down. Our bullpen was tasked because our starting pitching wasn’t giving us 6 innings.
In the end, baseball is a business. I miss the 70’s and 80’s when there were no buyers and sellers and the teams just played for 162 games for the year. Then free agency changed everything. We rent players like Hunter Pence now and trade them when there time is up. It’s a shame that we have two wildcard teams now yet still, there are teams like the Giants who give up on that or the fact that we were six games out even before the All Star Break.
I’m disappointed but I see Sabean’s point. Let’s face it, the Giants aren’t the team that will blow out their payroll like the Dodgers or the Yankees. We tried that twice with Zito and Beltran. Zito gave us one good year. Beltran didn’t do much in 2011.
The fact is that the Giants are a winning team because they develop talent from their farm system. I don’t have to name the players. We know who they are. Like it or not, the Giants will have more winning years ahead of us if we continue to do that. There is no quick fix and we may not win even next year but if pitchers like Kickham develop like Bum did, then we’ll be on top in no time. That's the wave of the future and you see that many teams are doing that such as the Reds and the Pirates.
I will fault Sabean for taking Jeff Francoeur. I think it’s a waste of time for him to be on this team. He always complained because he played in large parks where he can’t hit home runs. If anything, the word is out that if you throw a pitch over the backstop, he’ll swing. He’s not going to help us.
Far as I’m concerned, baseball is meant to be fun and I have fun watching it. I don’t have a problem seeing how the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Kansas City Royals do the rest of the season. Watch a few Dodger games to hear Vin Scully. There will be plenty of games to watch.
I’m sure many fans will be angry but I don’t see the point in that. From my perspective, I have other things to be angry about other than whether the Giants finish in first or last place. In the next few days, you’ll find out what I’m very angry about though.
Rick Holman
My father was a big Giants fan when he was alive. Part of me wonders what he would say at a time like this. That would be easy. It was always the same thing then as it is now. He would say the other team didn’t win, the Giants lost.
Maybe you could say that. I don’t want to make Homer Bailey mad since he pitched a no-hitter against us. Have to say that that was probably the point where things got worse though.
It doesn’t help when your GM says that he won’t make any moves. There won’t be any quick fixes because that won’t help this team. Seeing that article in the San Jose Mercury News was a disappointment. As a friend of mine on twitter said to me after that, if he doesn’t care, then why should I. Have to agree with that.
Seeing the fans reaction to that wasn’t surprising. Sabean is the first to be blamed. He treated the team like it was Walmart. Didn’t make any moves. At the very least, we should have looked for a left fielder. Hell, I was the one saying that we should have added Kyle Lohse and see how a six man rotation would work. Of course, that would give us a chance to see how Lincecum would do.
I don’t think it’s too hard to see what happened to the Giants. If we look back on last year, we went through the season losing to the teams above .500 and winning against the teams below 500. We had Melke in the outfield and when we lost him, it was a punch in the stomach. It was his job to lose and he lost it big time. Blanco was no replacement for him.
As far as the pitching went, the warning signals were there. The only pitcher who showed the same consistency was Bum. Yes, Cain had his no-hitter but he was off once in a while. Even though Zito had a good year, you still had plenty of moments where he was the house or horrors. Vogey went through a long streak of losing. Lincecum had his worst year.
Somehow, we still won the division though and Romo was the closer. Belt was always a work in progress. Pence served as a great sparkplug but never really hit until the playoffs. Sandoval had his big bat and when it came crunch time in the playoffs and the world series, we won.
Coming back this season meant 162 games and the expectations were high. Maybe too high. The pitching was horrendous in the beginning but somehow, we had some good hitting from Hunter Pence and Posey. Sandoval was good in the beginning as well. Belt had his moments. We never knew how Romo would do based on 162 games.
After that, we reverted back to good pitching but we lost Angel Pagan, who was our biggest sparkplug from last year. Vogey was tough to lose even though he wasn’t doing well. Sandoval went down. Our bullpen was tasked because our starting pitching wasn’t giving us 6 innings.
In the end, baseball is a business. I miss the 70’s and 80’s when there were no buyers and sellers and the teams just played for 162 games for the year. Then free agency changed everything. We rent players like Hunter Pence now and trade them when there time is up. It’s a shame that we have two wildcard teams now yet still, there are teams like the Giants who give up on that or the fact that we were six games out even before the All Star Break.
I’m disappointed but I see Sabean’s point. Let’s face it, the Giants aren’t the team that will blow out their payroll like the Dodgers or the Yankees. We tried that twice with Zito and Beltran. Zito gave us one good year. Beltran didn’t do much in 2011.
The fact is that the Giants are a winning team because they develop talent from their farm system. I don’t have to name the players. We know who they are. Like it or not, the Giants will have more winning years ahead of us if we continue to do that. There is no quick fix and we may not win even next year but if pitchers like Kickham develop like Bum did, then we’ll be on top in no time. That's the wave of the future and you see that many teams are doing that such as the Reds and the Pirates.
I will fault Sabean for taking Jeff Francoeur. I think it’s a waste of time for him to be on this team. He always complained because he played in large parks where he can’t hit home runs. If anything, the word is out that if you throw a pitch over the backstop, he’ll swing. He’s not going to help us.
Far as I’m concerned, baseball is meant to be fun and I have fun watching it. I don’t have a problem seeing how the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Kansas City Royals do the rest of the season. Watch a few Dodger games to hear Vin Scully. There will be plenty of games to watch.
I’m sure many fans will be angry but I don’t see the point in that. From my perspective, I have other things to be angry about other than whether the Giants finish in first or last place. In the next few days, you’ll find out what I’m very angry about though.
Rick Holman