That’s your San Francisco Giants. Boring. Last night’s dreary loss, punctuated by Ray Durham’s continuing inability to get a hit with men on base, and Bonds being walked four times, was just this shy of unwatchable. Durham ranks somewhere between 10th and last in just about every important category among NL second basemen, 3rd most GDIP, only 22 extra base hits, .248 batting average, .717 OPS. He’s having a terrible season, and, although I can’t find the stat, I can guarantee you that he is among the top five in all of baseball in men left on base.
His 41 RBI are a mirage. If you want to see what a good, young, player does when he has a chance to drive in runs, take a look at Chase Utley, the Phillies second baseman. Here’s how the two stack up when they come to the plate with men on:
RD 132 at-bats .273/.325/.447 .772 OPS 13 extra base hits
CU 145 at-bats .331/.395/.517 .912 OPS 21 extra base hits
It’s only the difference between being ten games under .500 and maybe having a chance this season. Durham left 8 men on base last night, a common occurence this season with him batting either in front of, or behind Bonds. The Padres did what so many teams have done this season; walk Bonds and fearlessly go right after whoever comes up next. It used to be a guy coming up in front of the hammer got good pitches. Not the Giants. No team cares about facing Durham, or Feliz, or whoever with men on base, because the Giants fail to get the big hit, again and again.
Oh, and what the hell was Bonds waiting for last night? He got pipeline 3-0 pitches twice last night, and let them go right by. Somebody needs to remind him that the team needs him to drive in a couple of runs now and then.
Okay, the Giants, will be just fine. And do not worry about Barry Bonds, he will give the Giants a spark, after he brakes Aarons’s record. Just do not give up on San Fran yet.
care to define “just fine”? would that be finishing 4th in the NL West instead of dead last?
I’m guessing Lummpy’s comment was tongue-in-cheek. Or hoping…
Well at least Bonds, is going to break Aarons record.
Your 2005 San Francisco Giants: Currently at 184 and 218. The 2007 Continuum Giants are currently 33 W and 44 L. A pace for a nice even 70 Wins and 92 Losses.
And here we thought the Government wasted money. Holy Cow. Talk about penny-wise and pound foolish. 218 LOSSES, since April of 2005. The payroll during this time period is about 218 Million give or take a few million. How’s that for a “Giant Drive of the Game”. And you don’t have to guess very hard where that drive goes either. The Giants have been paying about $1million per loss since 2005. And not memorable “too bad somebody had to lose” losses. But boring losses. Uninspiring losses. Frustrating losses. Losses by misplay, Losses by miscues and Losses by mistakes too numerous to itemize.
And there is no end in site to the relentless turn stiling of talentless newbies, has-beens, undeveloped and underdeveloped potential, and misuse, overuse and under use of whatever talent happens(ed) to be around at the time. So much time, so little accomplished. Blah.
So be sure to tune in again this Friday Night for another chapter of “Who the Fuck Gives A Shit”
+mia
By the terms of your argument, if the Giants had lost only 109 games since April 2005 – half as many – your figure would be $2 Million per loss. I believe you have to calculate the cost per win to come up with a meaningful analysis.
Your point, however, is well taken.
Durham has faltered in ‘clutch’ situations this season, but blaming him for not being Chase Utley is silly IMO. He should be hitting 2nd or 6th on a decent team, and he’d be a big asset…as a clean up hitter he’s poorly suited. The Giant players are doing better than we should have expected, to be frank….Klesko, Winn, the catcher, their production more than makes up for Dave Roberts’ (predictibly?) awful start.
Blame management for not getting a legit clean-up hitter so that Bonds got the extra 3 fastballs a game that whould give him 20+ homers. The other Giants simply aren’t great players in any scenario.
And, John, you’re going easy on Durham. After a decent April, he’s gone 239 in May, 225 in June – and 2 for 21 on the current home stand. I don’t so much have a problem with playing him, hoping he’ll start to hit again, but he’s worse than Feliz and should be hitting 7th until he comes out of it.
So is it luck or skill?? WE got the majority of our hits w/ 2 outs. I have done a bit of research and made the point that Morris, despite his poor peripherals, is a skilled pitcher who gets results precisely because he doesn’t often put runners on with 0 or 1 out. AS the Giants showed, 2 out rallies are difficult to come by. Has Morris been lucky and we were unlucky? OR has Morris been good and Wells, in particular, was also good, despite the inordinate amount of hits given up?
14 LOB is unacceptable. Didn’t realize Ray was responsible for 8 of those. Christ on a crutch.
I’m not necessarily looking for things to get excited about, but I was impressed with the pitching last night. Zito was filthy, and Messenger looked amazing. Both made mistakes, and the Padres made them pay, but all in all, they pitched really well. Good enough to win, frankly, if the Giants offense didn’t suck royally.