Summer of my discontent
One of my favorite things about baseball is how much is going on that can't be immediately seen. Who watching a game in person would think that a walk could be one of the keys to a productive offense (well, that and the three-run homer)?
Digging through statistics and trying to find why John Maine had such a great start or what events best predict how a team will score runs in the future is exciting to me. I like trying to understand why certain events have happened and what that means for upcoming games. And that's one of the reasons this season is so painful as a Giants fan.
When the team kept crossing the .500 mark last year I could dig through the stats pages (no game watching in Eugene, Ore.) and read the articles and figure out who was doing better or worse and why, what the team had to improve on to get better and whether that was something I could expect.
This year that is lost. It's pretty simple. The team is bad. Nothing I find at BaseballProspectus is going to change that fact or suggest anything different. Whether it's Zito's HR/FB or Rich Aurila's WARP3, every marker is pointing strongly to suck. Most of it is in the batters box. In the Holy trinity the Giants rank 14th/14th/13th, combining to rank 15th in runs scored.
And that has pretty much cancelled out what has been pretty decent pitching. While it has been depressing watching Zito and Lincecum losing their last two starts while pitching poorly, it's been even more depressing watching Matt Cain lose 2-0 and 1-0.
Today I saw a comparison to the Washington Nationals, which suddenly makes me contemplate 100 losses. Right now the team's .423 winning percentage is on-pace for 68 wins, only six losses away from triple digits so it seems a possibility.
That's the bad news. The good news? Probably that I'm a little cranky after a seven-game losing streak, which I can only assume is making me look at things through ick-colored glasses.
But I'm not ready to think too much about the team starting a fire sale. My main reason is that I've been looking forward to it for too long, and I'm paranoid that if I start believing it will happen it will once again be put off. But I hope it comes and comes this season. I'm ready to give Sabean once last chance to save himself and prove he is really one of the premier GMs in baseball. But I don't expect anything to happen until we get into July.
Digging through statistics and trying to find why John Maine had such a great start or what events best predict how a team will score runs in the future is exciting to me. I like trying to understand why certain events have happened and what that means for upcoming games. And that's one of the reasons this season is so painful as a Giants fan.
When the team kept crossing the .500 mark last year I could dig through the stats pages (no game watching in Eugene, Ore.) and read the articles and figure out who was doing better or worse and why, what the team had to improve on to get better and whether that was something I could expect.
This year that is lost. It's pretty simple. The team is bad. Nothing I find at BaseballProspectus is going to change that fact or suggest anything different. Whether it's Zito's HR/FB or Rich Aurila's WARP3, every marker is pointing strongly to suck. Most of it is in the batters box. In the Holy trinity the Giants rank 14th/14th/13th, combining to rank 15th in runs scored.
And that has pretty much cancelled out what has been pretty decent pitching. While it has been depressing watching Zito and Lincecum losing their last two starts while pitching poorly, it's been even more depressing watching Matt Cain lose 2-0 and 1-0.
Today I saw a comparison to the Washington Nationals, which suddenly makes me contemplate 100 losses. Right now the team's .423 winning percentage is on-pace for 68 wins, only six losses away from triple digits so it seems a possibility.
That's the bad news. The good news? Probably that I'm a little cranky after a seven-game losing streak, which I can only assume is making me look at things through ick-colored glasses.
But I'm not ready to think too much about the team starting a fire sale. My main reason is that I've been looking forward to it for too long, and I'm paranoid that if I start believing it will happen it will once again be put off. But I hope it comes and comes this season. I'm ready to give Sabean once last chance to save himself and prove he is really one of the premier GMs in baseball. But I don't expect anything to happen until we get into July.
Labels: Barry Zito, Doom, Giants, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum
posted by Chris at
9:08 PM
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