The Padres were ugly today, but the Giants were uglier. The issue I wrote about yesterday -- the Giants starters inability to go deep into the game, and keep the team in it -- reared its ugly head yet again. More vexing is the fact Tim Lincecum struggled for the second time, against a team he's dominated in the past. Along the way, a couple of other problems have come to light. Like rivers running into the ocean, these two other factors are helping contribute to the larger issue:
1) One bad inning. The starters haven't really pitched all that poorly overall, but three of the six starts went from soild/spectacular to crummy/crappy in one inning -- a couple on one swing of the bat.
Randy Johnson's dominant start was ruined by his first ever HR allowed to a pitcher, and he ended up only going 5 and allowing 4 runs. Johnathan Sanchez was dealing last night -- save for some control issues, and Henry Blanco -- but lost on two walks, an infield hit, and a two-out double, which turned a 2-1 game into a 5-1 game over. Today, Lincecum was his usual self until two outs in the 3rd when a defensive mistake cost him three runs and many, many pitches, blowing open a taut, 0-0 affair. In each of the latter cases, the pitchers actually retired Brian Giles with a runner on 3rd and one out with the run scoring, and only needed to get Giant-killer Adrian Gonzalez to escape the inning without any damage. Close, but no cigar.
2) Bad defense. In each of those aforementioned jams, the pitcher could've also escaped if just for some solid defensive play, but both were let down by young player's gaffes. Last night, sandwiched between Sanchez's costly walks, he got what should've been a huge out when Jody Gerut hit a roller to 3B, but Pablo Sandoval couldn't field it cleanly, then turned the wrong way when attempting to throw to 2B. The play was ruled an infield hit, but a good 3B could've made the play. Sandoval is not a good 3B, time will tell if he's good enough to not stay there, but the early results have been a little shaky.
Today, Fred Lewis was the culprit. Lincecum got what he needed from his face-off with Gonzalez -- a meekly-hit fly ball -- but Lewis butchered it badly. First, he got no jump at all on the ball, standing flat-footed for a moment. It seemed obvious to me the ball was a bloop, not a blast, but these things do happen -- especially on a sunny day. But the next mistake is much harder to understand: He charged in on the ball, then, for no apparent reason, stopped for a beat as if he thought the ball would go over his head*. By the time he recovered to keep coming in on the ball, it was too late. He dove and came up with the ball, but it was clearly on a short-hop. The run scored, the inning continued, and the next batter homered, and suddenly it was 3-0 Pads and the game was over for all intents and purposes.
If the Giants don't mend these cracks in the facade, they seemingly have no chance to be competitive. Winning with pitching and defense only works when the defense shows up. And it also helps if the pitchers don't invite trouble with walks, and implode when things go sour. Because the offense certainly can't be depended upon to bail them out of a hole. They looked bad on Sunday, particularly Lewis, who continued his bad day by striking out with a runner on third and one out in the 6th, swinging for the fences when he should've been trying to make contact and halve San Diego's 2 run lead.
* Lewis let this happen to him in that same inning as well -- drifting back on a ball which then sailed over his head.
TOMORROW: The Giants travel up the 5 to LA, where they'll take on the Dodgers in their home opener. Randy Johnson will take on some Dodger jerk (Chad Billingsley, to be specific).
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