There are five other teams that had a 13-16 records 29 games into the season.
The ’08 Giants remain one game above the ’85 team. There were three other teams 28 games into
the season that had the same record as the ’08 team. They are 1977 who finished fourth; the ’81
team also finished fourth; and the ’04 team who finished 2nd.
Overall it wasn’t a good sports day for the Bay Area. The Sharks lose their most important game of the season to the Stars, the A’s lose and the Giants blow the game.
There were five other teams that had the 12-15 record 27 games into the season.
It was nice to actually watch part of a Giants game (I have Extra Innings package while NHL Center Ice is still on) last night. The Giants looked pretty good from what I saw. Cain’s WHIP (1.69) was a little high but it was nice for him to get a win.
Another nice bit of news was the fact that it was announced that Zito will be put in the bullpen to figure out his issues. I hope he can get it straightened out, it would do nothing but help beef up the
Giants pitching.
There were three other teams that had the 11-16 record 26 games into the season.
ZITO! ZITO! ZITO! (say it in the same vein as MARSHA! MARSHA! MARSHA! from the Brady bunch). With a WHIP for the game of 3.33 (1.99 for the season) and a unending parade of runs for what seems like the 85th start of his SF career I think we can officially pronounce his signing a flop.
I think it is time to quit wasting games by having Zito start. You can feel the difference in the team behind Zito vs. the younger pitchers. While we are at it why not get rid of the GM also? I just heard on XM radio’s Home Plate that Sabean had put a 5 year 80 million dollar (I believe that was the amount offered) to Andruw Jones. Thanfully Jones declined. It is time for a more ‘current’ GM to take over. Look across the bay and see what the A’s do and follow their lead!
This just in
I just saw this on the game wrap up from MLB.com
Bochy called his pitcher into his office after the game to notify him that he may be sent to the bullpen or have his next start skipped.
“We can’t keep doing what we are doing. We need to get together and get a game plan on what we think is best,” Bochy said. “I’m sure there’s a lot on his mind. He’s got a lot of pride and he’s taking this harder than anybody.”
At least we may be saved from an instant loss when Zito’s turn comes up again.
The current SS situation in San Francisco reminds me of my childhood and one SS in particular, Johnnie LeMaster. I wondered if he was really as bad as I thought he was back when I was a preteen. So I did a little research. I went back and looked for Giant SS that played 90% of their games as a Giant at shortstop and played at least 200 games at the position as a Giant.
| Most Games at SS | ||||
| Player | G | pct at SS | Seasons |
|
| Fletcher, Art | 1240 | 0.945 | 1909-1920 | |
| Uribe, Jose | 969 | 0.999 | 1985-1992 | |
| Aurilia, Rich | 960 | 0.907 | 1995-2003, 2007 | |
| LeMaster, Johnnie | 954 | 0.996 | 1975-1985 | |
| Dark, Alvin | 887 | 0.945 | 1950-1956 | |
| Kerr, Buddy | 820 | 0.979 | 1943-1949 | |
| Pagan, Jose | 613 | 0.945 | 1959-1965 | |
| Dahlen, Bill | 578 | 0.998 | 1904-1907 | |
| Bancroft, Dave | 521 | 0.979 | 1920-1923, 1930-1930 | |
| Bridwell, Al | 509 | 1.000 | 1908-1911 | |
| Fuller, Shorty | 504 | 0.990 | 1892-1896 | |
| Clayton, Royce | 499 | 0.998 | 1991-1995 | |
| Vizquel, Omar | 445 | 1.000 | 2005-2007 | |
| Glasscock, Jack | 221 | 1.000 | 1890-1891 | |
LeMaster comes in as #4 in the most games at SS as a Giant. I was a little surprised to see that he was that high on the list but it makes sense. When I think about it, it seems like he was the SS for my entire childhood. The next thing I did was to rank the players by BA, SLG, OBP, and RC27. So here are the rankings.
| Best BA at SS | ||||
| Player | G | AB | H | BA |
| Bancroft, Dave | 521 | 2160 | 670 | 0.310 |
| Glasscock, Jack | 221 | 881 | 261 | 0.296 |
| Dark, Alvin | 887 | 3794 | 1106 | 0.292 |
| Bridwell, Al | 509 | 1698 | 480 | 0.283 |
| Aurilia, Rich | 960 | 3927 | 1085 | 0.276 |
| Fletcher, Art | 1240 | 4766 | 1311 | 0.275 |
| Vizquel, Omar | 445 | 1660 | 451 | 0.272 |
| Kerr, Buddy | 820 | 2952 | 756 | 0.256 |
| Clayton, Royce | 499 | 1790 | 445 | 0.249 |
| Pagan, Jose | 613 | 2042 | 494 | 0.242 |
| Uribe, Jose | 969 | 2992 | 721 | 0.241 |
| Dahlen, Bill | 578 | 1978 | 475 | 0.240 |
| Fuller, Shorty | 504 | 1880 | 446 | 0.237 |
| LeMaster, Johnnie | 954 | 3089 | 695 | 0.225 |
Not surprisingly, Lemaster is at the bottom of the BA list. Up next, slugging comparison.
| Best SLG at SS | ||||
| Player | G | AB | H | SLG |
| Dark, Alvin | 887 | 3794 | 1106 | 0.439 |
| Aurilia, Rich | 960 | 3927 | 1085 | 0.438 |
| Bancroft, Dave | 521 | 2160 | 670 | 0.413 |
| Glasscock, Jack | 221 | 881 | 261 | 0.384 |
| Fletcher, Art | 1240 | 4766 | 1311 | 0.356 |
| Vizquel, Omar | 445 | 1660 | 451 | 0.353 |
| Clayton, Royce | 499 | 1790 | 445 | 0.339 |
| Kerr, Buddy | 820 | 2952 | 756 | 0.337 |
| Bridwell, Al | 509 | 1698 | 480 | 0.329 |
| Uribe, Jose | 969 | 2992 | 721 | 0.316 |
| Pagan, Jose | 613 | 2042 | 494 | 0.315 |
| Dahlen, Bill | 578 | 1978 | 475 | 0.308 |
| LeMaster, Johnnie | 954 | 3089 | 695 | 0.293 |
| Fuller, Shorty | 504 | 1880 | 446 | 0.289 |
Again, Lemaster is at the wrong end of the list. This time he’s 2nd worst.
| Best OBP at SS | ||||
| Player | G | AB | H | OBP |
| Bancroft, Dave | 521 | 2160 | 670 | 0.382 |
| Bridwell, Al | 509 | 1698 | 480 | 0.372 |
| Glasscock, Jack | 221 | 881 | 261 | 0.362 |
| Vizquel, Omar | 445 | 1660 | 451 | 0.337 |
| Dark, Alvin | 887 | 3794 | 1106 | 0.334 |
| Aurilia, Rich | 960 | 3927 | 1085 | 0.329 |
| Dahlen, Bill | 578 | 1978 | 475 | 0.328 |
| Fuller, Shorty | 504 | 1880 | 446 | 0.326 |
| Fletcher, Art | 1240 | 4766 | 1311 | 0.318 |
| Kerr, Buddy | 820 | 2952 | 756 | 0.317 |
| Clayton, Royce | 499 | 1790 | 445 | 0.302 |
| Uribe, Jose | 969 | 2992 | 721 | 0.299 |
| Pagan, Jose | 613 | 2042 | 494 | 0.294 |
| LeMaster, Johnnie | 954 | 3089 | 695 | 0.280 |
Johnnie comes in last in this offensive category also…and finally how he does using RC27.
| Best RC27 at SS | ||||
| Player | G | AB | H | RC27 |
| Glasscock, Jack | 221 | 881 | 261 | 6.4 |
| Bancroft, Dave | 521 | 2160 | 670 | 6.1 |
| Bridwell, Al | 509 | 1698 | 480 | 5.3 |
| Dark, Alvin | 887 | 3794 | 1106 | 5.1 |
| Aurilia, Rich | 960 | 3927 | 1085 | 4.9 |
| Fletcher, Art | 1240 | 4766 | 1311 | 4.4 |
| Fuller, Shorty | 504 | 1880 | 446 | 4.2 |
| Vizquel, Omar | 445 | 1660 | 451 | 4.1 |
| Kerr, Buddy | 820 | 2952 | 756 | 3.8 |
| Clayton, Royce | 499 | 1790 | 445 | 3.4 |
| Uribe, Jose | 969 | 2992 | 721 | 3.1 |
| Pagan, Jose | 613 | 2042 | 494 | 2.9 |
| LeMaster, Johnnie | 954 | 3089 | 695 | 2.6 |
I removed Bill Dahlen from the calculation because he did not have all the necessary stats to calculate RC27. Maybe LeMaster wouldn’t be last in this category with Dahlen in the list but I’m pretty he would still be last.
As you can see LeMaster wasn’t in the lineup for his bat. Even Uribe finished at least 2 slots above LeMaster. It is nice to know even at the ages of 7 through 17 I could spot a bad SS! If LeMaster was this bad at the plate he must have been one helluva fielder. Sometime in the not too distant future I will do a similar post checking into his fielding stats.
As for the current Giant SS situation, even though it is far too early to say definitely that Bocock’s batting stats are LeMaster’sh it is surely starting to look that way. When and If he hits the 200 game
mark I will run the numbers to see.
There are four other teams with the same record 23 games into the season.
What a pitching duel the game was last night. Young had one more strikeout than Lincecum did with 10, two less walks then Lincecum with three, and only gave up 2 hits. Fortunately for us Giants fan
one of those hits was a homer. Young’s WHIP was .71, exactly half of Lincecum’s 1.42. Pitching like that and losing must hurt. One last note on the pitching last night. Both starters threw the same number of strikes with 74. Lincecum threw 122 pitches and Young threw 121. A nice pitching duel.
The Giants sweep the Padres to move into third place above a half a game over the Dodgers!
Other teams that had the 9-13 record at game 22 are:
After the late heroics last night the Giants have now pulled two games up on the ’85 team. Cain pitched great, only giving up one run but the lack of run production leaves him with a no decision. (Another strike against using Wins and Losses to determine the quality of a pitcher.) It would be nice if the team ended up like the ’04 team but that is not likely. They will probably be more like the ’77 team or worse.
More of the same for the ’08 team. Zito doesn’t get the job done.
I didn’t watch the game last night because I was watching the fantastic Sharks game 7. I did switch to the game when the Sharks were in between the 1st and 2nd periods just in time to see the Zito pitch to Webb. Shortly after the game winning hit by Webb I changed it back to the Sharks game. Given Zito’s game last night I thought I would look to see what Barry has done in the first five starts of the season going back to 2006.
| Barry Zito’s first 5 starts of season ( 2006-2008 ) | ||||||
| Season | k/9 | BB/9 | IP/Start | K/BB | WHIP | BA/OBP/SLG |
| 2008 | 3.51 | 4.21 | 5.13 | 0.83 | 1.79 | .321/.383/.509 |
| 2007 | 5.50 | 4.02 | 6.27 | 1.36 | 1.28 | .305/.319/.624 |
| 2006 | 7.57 | 4.61 | 5.47 | 1.64 | 1.24 | .211/.345/.400 |
Since 2006 his K/9 and K/BB are trending down while his WHIP is going up each season. The K/9 has fallen by 2 each of the last two seasons. His BB/K haven’t changed all that much but the number is still on the high side. These numbers do not bode well for the remainder of the season much less his contract. Perhaps Bochy should start thinking of him as a fourth or fifth starter instead of the ace.
What was Sabean thinking when he signed for seven years at 126 million?
…and more than likely another loss. I’ve checked how Zito did the last time he faced the Diamondbacks and found out it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but it still isn’t that good. The BA was only .238 but their OBP was .385 with a WHIP of 1.67 again not that great.
The losses can’t be totally put on Zito’s shoulders. The offense has only scored three runs in his four starts. He will be facing Brandon Web who is 4-0 and the last time he faced the Giants this season they only batted .111/.148/.172 and a WHIP of 0.63. So it looks like it will be another low scoring affair for the Giants at least. Hopefully Zito will lower his WHIP and BA and the batters can up their run support for him otherwise it looks like the Giants will be 8-13.
