It’s not a winning formula: committing four errors along with a balk with a guy on third; going 1-for-6 with RISP; stranding a guy who hit a one-out triple; grounding into four double plays. But the Giants are used to these kinds of things. What they aren’t accustomed to is a good — or at least decent — strike zone getting weird in the late innings. So they fixated on that, as the Rockies stole another game at AT&T Park.
The Giants are just like us. Earlier on Monday I wrote about all the different “woe is us” complaints fans (and possibly the players and some media members) have seen as obstacles in the way of the Giants’ rightful place at the top of the standings. I also wrote that the Giants “simply aren’t that good.”
This was a perfect example, the true epitome of their season. This was a game the Giants should’ve won against a team playing out the string that started a truly mediocre left-handed pitcher who somehow allowed only two runs. Jake Peavy pitched well, at least compared to Tim Lincecum (who officially lost his spot in the starting rotation today), but Peavy is a perfect pitcher for this Giants team: occasionally brilliant, always capable, and constantly letting perceived slights get the best of him.
Bruce Bochy was thrown out after Buster Posey struck out on a close pitch, but he was already on his way to an ejection for his comments from the dugout while Peavy was battling through Eddings’ inconsistent zone in the seventh. By the way, the third pitch of Posey’s at-bat should’ve been called a strike. Eddings lost focus after the top of the seventh, but so did the Giants in the early innings.
The Rockies scored a run without collecting a hit in the first. Joe Panik’s throw pulled Posey off the bag on Charlie Blackmon’s grounder, and the tone was set. Michael Morse took a beer league softball kind of route to catch Drew Stubbs’ semi-deep fly ball, and Blackmon advanced to second. Peavy’s pickoff throw bounced off the front of second base, allowing Blackmon to take third on a play where Brandon Crawford wasn’t in a position to tag Blackmon anyway.
You get the feeling like the Giants expect Peavy to re-sign with them. If that’s the case, they should toss the idea of a “Bochy discount” out the window, because Peavy has clearly hated this team’s defense since his first start, when Dan Uggla was doing a bad impersonation of a second baseman.
Crawford? What can you say. His confidence is nonexistent and he’s trying to make up for a nightmarish two-month stretch on every tough grounder. It’s hard to watch him in the field these days, so much so that if the Giants were somehow gifted an abnormally awesome offensive shortstop, they might consider moving Crawford to third base if they can’t re-sign Pablo Sandoval.
There I go again, looking toward future hypotheticals. There’s no point in doing that, at least not until October. This is the Giants team that will play out the rest of the 2014 season, and maybe even a wild card game. This is apparently what $150+ million buys. In this 3-2 loss to the Rockies, money couldn’t buy glove for the Giants.
Extra BASGs
— Nice home run by Andrew Susac, next year’s starting catcher. Just kidding … sort of.
— The Giants should’ve challenged the first play of the game — Panik’s throw wasn’t great, but Posey stayed on the bag.
— Posey has never looked more aggravated during a game than he was in the dugout, talking to Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, after his eighth inning strikeout.
— Sandoval (.289) is going to end up with the highest average on this team.
— Don’t forget to come to Amici’s in San Francisco (King Street and Lombard Street restaurants) on Thursday, Aug. 28 for their second annual “Dine and Donate” event to benefit the San Francisco Homeless Prenatal Program. Kim and Bruce Bochy will be there, and I promise Bochy will be in a better mood than he was tonight. In fact, maybe he’ll even laugh about getting tossed from this game. Or not. Either way, 100% of the proceeds from both locations (3-10 pm) will go to charity, so come on over and eat some pizza, pasta, salads, wings and bread for a good cause.
— Once again, here’s a list of the prizes they’ll be raffling off on Thursday:
- Kendall Jackson raffle prize featuring a dinner for two at their Healdsburg location and a 3 liter bottle of Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
- Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards Prize – a 3 liter bottle of Sonoma Brut and a gift certificate to a tasting and tour for 4 people. ($300 value)
- A pair of tickets to September 10 game (7:15 vs D-Backs)
- A pair of Giants tickets to the September 11 game (12:45 vs D-Backs)
- 2010 Duckhorn Vineyards Decoy 2010 SF Giants World Series wine
- iPad Mini
- Bruce Bochy’s four personal seats to 9/15 game vs Dodgers
- Bruce Bochy – signed jersey and hat
- Brandon Belt — autographed ball
- Javier Lopez — signed picture, ball and hat
- Tim Hudson — signed picture, ball and game used cleats
- Matt Cain — signed jersey and ball
- Madison Bumgarner — unspecified item
- Buster Posey — unspecified item
- 1 x $100 Mom’s The Word Gift Certificate
- 4 x $50 Amici’s East Coast Pizzeria Gift Certificates
— CSN invited me down to watch how their Giants broadcasts are put together, which made a weird game fascinating — especially the review of the play at the plate in the top of the seventh, and all the shots of Peavy and Bochy losing what little patience they had left with Eddings. I got a chance to talk with the director, the stats, sound and camera guys, as well as Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, Dave Flemming and Amy Gutierrez.
— Everyone was beyond gracious, ESPECIALLY Krukow, who I thought might give me grief for my coverage of the Cubs rain delay saga. Nope. Incredibly nice person. I’ll be working for a while on a post about my experience in the broadcast truck and all the rest, but I took far too many notes and talked to too many people to put together anything coherent tonight.
