I’m not even going to mention the 10-3 loss last night to the Dodgers. It’s salt in an open wound. Sand in your eye. With the Giants’ odds of winning the Wild Card dwindling all the way down to a 2.7% chance, it seems rather silly to worry about wins and losses right now. It goes without saying that I want to see the Giants rough up the Dodgers, to see Matt Cain add a few more W’s before the season is over, and watch Pablo smack a few more basehits — but the reality is that with a 2% chance for making the playoffs, we’re not in this thing anymore.
Ultimately, when we look back on the 2009 Giants team, we’re going to marvel at how amazing our pitching was. The ’09 Giants put together a team ERA+ of 122. If FIP is your thing, our team FIP of 3.79 is 2nd best in the majors. We’re also probably going to marvel (or curse) at how poor the offense was. Last in walks, 2nd to last in ISO, and last in wOBA. What shocks me is that even with Pablo Sandoval’s continued success — his wOBA of .387 sticks him between Lance Berkman and Jayson Werth in the NL for hitters — this team just-can’t-hit.
When Buster Posey finally surfaced in the 8th inning of last night’s game, I was happy. Since he was called up, the extent of action that Posey got was catching a few innings in the bullpen. Bochy’s refusal to play his younger talent down the stretch has been driven into the ground (and validly so) on various blogs. Grant of McCovey Chronicles has written eloquently on the subject already. So, I won’t try to duplicate his words, but the Giants refusal to break Posey in until the game last night speaks volumes for the veteran approach that’s dogged this team over recent years.
Toss all of the ‘working with pitchers’ nonsense out of the window and Buster Posey is likely the best option the Giants have right-this-very-moment at catcher. The fact that he’s gotten 1 at-bat and a couple of innings caught behind the plate since his call-up is criminal. Bengie Molina has been a Good Giant™ for the most part. But his thin-skin and .279 OBP has sealed his fate. Molina has worked out better than I ever expected. His 2008 season was worth 2.9 wins to the Giants. That’s a career best for Molina in terms of WAR. I’ve enjoyed watching you play, Bengie. You’ve had some big hits for the Giants.
My last hope for this season, as the Giants slide away from Wild Card contention, is to play guys like John Bowker and Buster Posey. I fully expect that Bochy will run Molina out for the rest of this LA series and maybe for the one in LA, but the further the Giants move away from playoff baseball the closer they get to the need for seeing what Posey can do right now. The same goes for John Bowker. Let’s see what they can do.
