With the roller coaster ride that the San Francisco Giants pitching staff has taken fans on this year, it’s hard to tell if they are heroes or villains.
Here’s a rundown as of May 27th, 2010.
Note: this slide show was supposed to feature pictures of the actual comparisons, but those pictures, while widely available on the Internet, are not available for publication here on Bleacher Report.
Use your imagination.
Do the Giants really need pitching to overtake the pesky Padres?
Really?
It appears so, because I saw Lincecum struggle through his second start in a row, and the bullpen blow another lead that would have given him six wins.
Sure, Lincecum struggled, but the entire staff needs improvement.
My main point of emphasis is the wild pitches.
The Giants let another game get away with another WP thrown to give the Dbacks the lead. It’s happened too many times already this season, and not just a few are at fault.
Guillermo Mota and Barry Zito have both thrown four.
Jeremy Affeldt and Todd Wellemeyer have both thrown three.
Waldis Joaquin is at fault for two.
Matt Cain, Dan Runzler, Tim Lincecum, and Jonathon Sanchez have all thrown one.
Twenty wild pitches in 40 games?
That’s ridiculous for a staff that (on paper) looks to be the best in the NL.
This means every other game, there’s a good chance Zito or Affeldt will throw one past Molina and give the go-ahead run away.
Not all 20 have yielded runs, but it does present cause for concern. Starting with Zito, I love watching him throw the curve, and I understand that it can get wild. But it’s up to him and the catcher to realize what the count is, what the situation is, and how confident he is with that pitch on a given day.
Lincecum and Sanchez we’ve seen can be wild youngsters, Sanchez more often than the former.
With Lincecum winning back-to-back Cy Youngs, I’m not going to tell him what he needs to do, but someone should talk to them and get them more focused and committed on each pitch.
Jeremy Affeldt is having all sorts of problems this year. In just 17 innings, he’s given up 15 hits and five earned runs. On top of his three wild pitches, he’s also hit two batters.
The Giants’ woes are not solely on the offense (believe it or not).
The bullpen has blown four wins for Lincecum—and the game three other times.
There’s a lot of frustration when the team can only put up a couple runs every day, but the pitching staff must re-focus and concentrate on the remaining month and a half until the break.
With Sanchez coming back, Renteria and DeRosa coming back soon, and Pablo Sandoval getting healthy, the pitchers should get a renewed confidence with some spark adding to the lineup.
Because the hitters and fans are always thankful for the fantastic pitching.
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