It was only a matter of time.
We knew it was coming.
How could a team being led by Juan Uribe, Andres Torres, and Aubrey Huff be in the thick of a playoff race?
The team is made up of streaky hitters, inconsistent pitchers, and Major League scraps ready to be hauled to the dumpster.
Freddy Sanchez is either red hot or ice cold.
Barry Zito is either unhittable or like hitting off a batting tee.
Uribe, Huff, Torres, Pat Burrell, Jose Guillen, Cody Ross, Santiago Casilla, Guillermo Mota.
Each name is a story of how their former team or teams gave up on them. Teams said, “we’ve had enough of you.”
“Waste of our time.”
Yes, Torres and Huff are having career years, but the rest have been inconsistent at best.
When one is hitting well, everybody is hitting well. When one is in a slump, they all hit their slump.
What does this team lack?
The Giants lack a star. Playoff teams have a star. The star pulls the team from the brink of oblivion to rescue his team.
The star doesn’t go into two-week slumps. He is the slump breaker.
Don’t start screaming Tim Lincecum because he has been anything but a star the past two seasons in the second half.
Pablo Sandoval should have been a star but for a multitude of reasons, those plans have been set back.
Buster Posey isn’t at that stage yet.
The streaky nature of the Giants season is evidence of why the season is lost.
After the Cincinnati and Arizona series, it looked like the pitching was a lost cause.
The past two nights against the Rockies, the Giants haven’t been able to hit themselves out of a wet paper bag.
They have had the perfect opportunity to gain ground on both the Padres and the Phillies. What did they do?
They failed to capitalize.
The Padres have lost a season-high six games in a row. How many games have the Giants gained?
Two.
This was illustrated perfectly on Monday night.
The Giants had a 1-0 lead against the Rockies going into the ninth. Wait, the Rockies haven’t scored? That can’t be right.
Sure enough, the baseball gods brought the Rockies back for the win.
That night, you saw the difference between a good team and a mediocre team. If you didn’t know the records of the teams that night, who would you have said was the better team?
The Rockies.
They play with purpose and believe they will win every night. This is a team that has put together incredible runs in September each of the past three years.
The Giants play like they are afraid to lose. The fans expect something to go wrong.
“No, no. We can’t lose. Please, don’t let us lose.”
So, goes the life of a Giants fan.
The only good thing I can say is at least we are not Cubs fans, wherein apathy has taken hold.
Are they fun to watch? Yes.
Is baseball nothing but entertainment? Of course.
That does not change the agony many Giants fans go through each day after watching this befuddled group of players.
The Giants are a good team, just not a playoff team. Until they find “that guy,” the Giants will stumble around the 80-90 win total and watch as the playoffs go on without them.
As Mike Krukow says, “Giants baseball. Torture.”
Truer words were never spoken.
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