If you want to know why the San Francisco Giants are barely a .500 team, you don’t need to look any further then the sixth inning in the Giants’ 7-6 loss Friday night to the Miami Marlins.
With one out and one run already in to cut the Giants’ lead over the Marlins to 3-2, the Marlins had the bases loaded. Tim Lincecum was already over 90 pitches and looked like he had lost it.
Then John Buck hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Only then did Giants manager Bruce Bochy get the bullpen going. A little late, don’t you think?
The next batter, Chris Coghlan, hit a three-run homer and the Marlins had blown the game wide open, leading 6-3. By the way, Coghlan had a homer in only five career at-bats against Lincecum.
Bochy pulled Lincecum, but it was way too late for the Giants and their ace.
So Bochy’s slow thinking cost the Giants and Lincecum once again.
A few things have come to light this year about Lincecum. One is that he no longer can be trusted to get out of jams in the middle innings. Bochy leaves him in every time and keeps letting Lincecum hurt himself and the team.
Yo, Boch, this isn’t Cy Young Timmy from 2008 or 2009. It isn’t even up and down Lincecum of 2010 or last year. This is a pitcher who has lost his confidence to get out of these situations.
Yet Bochy is making things worse by allowing Lincecum to bury himself and the Giants every single time. Bochy needs to throw Lincecum a life preserver by having a quick hook. Instead he’s sticking a fire hose down his throat and turning it on full blast!
Bochy potentially cost the Giants 4 runs in the sixth inning, and the Giants lost by only one. This was Bochy’s loss through and through.
This just goes to prove what I’ve been saying all along about Bochy. He’s a lousy manager with poor judgement. Brian Sabean and Larry Baer, are you watching the games? Bochy is screwing up right and left.
A good manager can sense when his pitcher is losing it. He knows when to make a change. Bochy isn’t a good manager. Not even close.
Remember a few years ago when Barry Zito would start allowing home runs after the 90th pitch like clockwork? Do you also remember that everyone in the media noted that fact? And do you remember how long it took Bochy to start using a quicker hook with Zito? It was absolutely ridiculous! The man just doesn’t get it.
There’s believing in your players and then there’s just being a damn fool.
I was calling for Bochy’s head on a platter last season. Yes, the Giants were strapped by injuries, but all Bochy did was make matters worse on an almost daily basis.
Hensley Meulens isn’t the only one who needs to go. It’s time to get rid of Bochy and hire a manager who can think his way through things.
No, the Giants personnel isn’t perfect. Far from it. But no team is. Certainly the Los Angeles Dodgers, this year’s surprise team in the majors, isn’t perfect either. They are a collection of a few stars and the rest are journeyman that general manager Ned Colletti threw together with a limited budget. Yet they are in first place with the majors’ best record.
The Giants are a better team then the Dodgers on paper, and they should be better on the field. But they’re not, because of poor managing. Time to get a manager that will lead the Giants past the Dodgers and any potential playoff foes.
But there won’t be any playoffs for the Giants if Bochy continues as Giants manager.
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