Hunter Strickland gave up another homer yesterday, but that wasn’t the worst thing to happen to a Giant named Hunter. Far from it, actually. Hunter Pence took a pitch off his left forearm. The beat writers sent out tweets that the team doctor diagnosed the injury as a fracture before sending Pence off to get x-rayed, and people reacted like the season was canceled.
Pack it in for odd year, you guys.
— Michael Reyes (@MichaelReyes888) March 5, 2015
Odd year disaster already underway in San Francisco.
— Gary Cousins (@KSJ49) March 5, 2015
The odd year has officially begun. #SFGiants — Matthew Gibbs (@Matthew_sfG) March 5, 2015
Welp. The Curse of the Odd Year is real. #SFGiants — Devin Pangaro (@devinpangaro) March 5, 2015
Odd year woes of the Giants are here. Batten down the hatches. Change the channel. Doomsday prep. Make Bochy noises. Get well, Hunter Pence.
— Sean Jordan (@BaySean) March 5, 2015
Odd year + Giants = #welp
— newballpark (@newballpark) March 5, 2015
Hunter Pence broke his arm? Well, it is an odd year… #SFGiants — Ryan Hood (@ryanhood19) March 6, 2015
#sfgiants so we got the “it’s an odd year” stuff outta the way early, “rock bottom” is next lol — Monica (@Chiica99) March 6, 2015
It’s 2015, and here’s the proof. @CSNAuthentic: http://t.co/egjZMYW3Uo
— Ray Ratto (@RattoCSN) March 6, 2015
F’in odd year luck, man #Pence
— SF Giants Podcast (@TortureCast) March 6, 2015
You get the picture.
Forget the fact that Pence will only miss six-to-eight weeks due to a non-displaced fracture of his ulna (the same injury I sustained as an eight-year-old — He-Man roller skates, for the loss) and his recovery time will probably be on the shorter end since he possesses an exoskeleton made of carbon fiber and tortoise shell. Oh no, Pence can’t comb his hair — which means he either combs his mop-fro with two hands or he’s a lefty-comber. Maybe this injury puts him on the video gaming DL for a bit. He’ll live.
(And this idea that the Giants might trade for an expensive outfielder who didn’t do jack last year, all because Pence *might* miss 30 games, is phenomenally stupid.)
This fixation on an “odd year curse,” or an “odd year syndrome,” needs to stop. If the Giants win somewhere between 70 and 86 games next year and miss the playoffs, or make the postseason and get eliminated, those would be examples of odd year baseball. Nothing more, nothing less.
Oh, Buster Posey suffered a season-ending injury in 2011? Sorry, but as Marty Lurie says, “That’s baseball.” The Giants looked ragged throughout most of 2013, until they figured things out about two months too late? That’s baseball, too. If there’s any proof that the baseball gods have a sense of humor, it showed up when the Giants won three different championships despite 95% of baseball writers who are paid to be “insiders” thinking they’d lose every series.
Like “Giants baseball … TORTURE,” the overuse of “odd year” complaints is guaranteed to drive everyone else crazy. Not that Giants fans should be blamed for ignoring the wishes of other teams’ fans. Other fans think panda hats and singing along to Journey every game is silly, and that’s no reason to stop doing what feels good.
But since I’m the proprietor of this site/blog/whatever, I’m selfishly hoping that this crotchety post will convince at least one person to stop with the odd year chicken-littling. Why? Because I’m already sick of it, and Spring Training just started. If we’re going to hear “odd year syndrome” complaints every time Casey McGehee grounds into a double play or Angel Pagan sprains a hair follicle, I’m going to go insane. Please, I know this request will fall on deaf ears and few eyeballs, but it would mean a lot if we could limit the “curse” talk to actual crises.
