Was there anything more predictable in the world than watching Mike Hampton throw 7 innings of 2-run ball to beat the Giants for his first win in almost 3 years?
Right next to the law of inertia, the law of resultant force, and the law of reciprocal actions should be the fourth law of: “Injured, ineffective, or otherwise bad pitchers always beat the Giants”. Sure, every team loses a game now-and-then, but check out the list of some of the pitchers who have not only beaten the Giants, but beaten them easily.
7/29/08 – Jason Johnson, who was once serviceable about 3 years ago, makes his first start since 2006 and beats the Giants by throwing 6 innings of shutout baseball. He pitched for the Seibu Lions in ’07.
5/7/08 – Phil Dumatrait, who owns a 7.08 major league ERA in 96.2 innings, shuts out the Giants over 5.2 innings. Dumatrait is inserted into the Pirates rotation only after it’s discovered that Matt Morris has been deceased for months and can no longer continue to pitch.
5/6/08 – Zach Duke, the once promising left-handed pitching prospect, beats the Giants for his first win of the year. Duke throws 7.1 innings of 3-run ball. Since then, Duke has a 3-8 record with a 5.38 ERA while giving up 54 earned runs and 114 hits in 90.1 innings. He hasn’t finished a season with an ERA under 4.00 since his brilliant ’05 rookie season.
Power Surge!
In last night’s game, Fred Lewis hit a home run in the 7th inning. That’s usually a minor footnote but that home run snapped a 12 game team homerless streak that stretched from July 23rd to August 4th. Some interesting facts about that 12 game streak:
~ It was the longest power drought in the majors this year for any team. The previous high was the San Diego Padres who went 9 games without hitting a longball.
~ Since 2000, it’s the second longest homerless streak of any major league team. In 2007, a light hitting Angels team went 14 games without a home run.
~ Over those 12 games in which the Giants didn’t hit any home runs, the numbers work out to: 392 AB7, 31 R, 98 H, 14 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 29 RBI, 76 SO, 15 BB, 12 SB, 6 CS. That translates to a batting line of: (.250/.285/.291)
~ In addition to the 12 game streak, the Giants have two separate streaks of 6 games in which the team didn’t homer. The first was from June 16th to June 24th and the second from July 8th to July 13th.
~ As bad as the Giants are, it’s doubtful that they could beat the record — from 1956 to the present — of 20 games without a home run. The 1979 Houston Astros hold that unwanted record.
The Giants team leaders in HR are as follows:
1. John Bowker 9
2. Aaron Rowand 9
3. Rich Aurilia 8
4. Fred Lewis 8
5. Bengie Molina 8
The race to double digits continues.
I was spared last night’s debacle due to social engagements involving natto (the food, not the McC guy). Thank God. Kinda sad I missed Freddie’s bomb, tho. No one’s getting rich off “Bye Bye Baby” royalties this year.
“Zach Duke” should definitely be added to the list of awesome baseball names.