It’s been one week since Barry Zito was banished to the bullpen, and one can only hope that he is using his time doing something constructive, like waxing a surfboard.
His contract prohibits him from surfing, but Giants fans would stand in unison and cheer at the top of their lungs if Barry grabbed his board and went to Ocean Beach to catch a few waves, thus wiping out that albatross of a contract. I am somewhat surprised we haven’t seen any “Catch A Wave Barry” t-shirts at AT&T so far this season. Considering that the Giants marketing department is always looking for clever ways to make a buck, you would have thought they’d be all over this one. The shirts would be the hottest selling items at the yard. the minute they hit the shelves.
Before the ink was even dry on the contract, most of us knew the Zito, Giants marriage was already doomed. Based on his last five years in Oakland there was no way he was going to live up to the enormous expectations of the deal, but nobody could have guessed that he would have lost his ability to pitch seemingly overnight. It’s hard to fathom that a guy who is just two years removed from a 16 win season, could fall so far this fast. Zito is a notoriously slow starter, but 0-6 with a 7.53 ERA is flat out embarrassing. At this point it would be nice to see him just win one game, but I am not even sure if that’s possible, because Zito has already proven he can’t even beat our Triple-A team, the Fresno Grizzlies.
Publicly Peter Magowan continues to pledge support for Zito, his mega million dollar bust, but you can bet that’s just his ego talking. Rarely, if ever, does Magowan admit when he makes a mistake, so I wouldn’t expect him to start now. The fact that he signed off on moving Zito from the rotation to mop up duty in the bullpen this early in the season is a pretty good indication of how much faith he has in the guy right now.
While Zito hasn’t reached Armando Benitez status in these parts, most fans have already reached their boiling point. It would be an understatement to say that home hasn’t been so sweet for Zito during his time in San Francisco. It has gotten so bad that during the home opener this year Zito was the only Giants player who was booed during pregame introductions. The discontent hasn’t stopped since. Whenever Zito takes the mound at home, as soon as he starts to struggle, the faithful are quick to let him have it.
Despite his struggles, Zito is confident that he will be able to right the ship, and get things headed in the right direction. He is probably the only person on earth who believes that. During his last couple starts I see a pitcher that has absolutely zero confidence out there on the mound. He has no clue where the ball is going once it leaves his hands. Watching Zito get roughed up by the Reds a week ago, he had that deer in the headlights look, like he had no clue what to do next. It was painful to watch to say the least
During his sit down with reporters following the demotion, the left hander was talking as though he already had all the answers for his woes. As I watched on television I heard him say that it all boils down to locating his pitches better and being more aggressive. That’s true, but he’s been telling us that ever since he became a Giant, and still nothing has changed. The reality is, that even when Zito has been able to locate his pitches where he wants, hitters have still been teeing off on his offerings more often than not.
At this stage it’s reasonable to assume that maybe he just doesn’t have it anymore. His fastball, which was never all that fast to begin with is down three to four miles per hour from a few years ago, and the curveball doesn’t have the same bite that it used to. Mix in the poor location of pitches and it all adds up to disaster.
Until Zito accepts the reality that he isn’t the same pitcher as he was a few years ago, and starts to make the necessary adjustments on the mound, expect more of the same. Will this hiatus in the bullpen end up being just what the doctor ordered? Only time will tell. If not, hopefully Barry’s surfboard is waxed and ready to go.
Random Musings:
• Pedro Feliz donned the Giants uniform for eight years, so you’d figure that San Francisco pitchers would know not to throw a guy a strike. What do they do his first few at-bats on Friday? Throw two fat pitches right down the middle of the plate which he raked for a double and a home run. Feliz made a habit of swinging at slop nightly when he was here. Pat Misch or any other Giants pitcher should NEVER throw him anything but soft stuff out of the strike zone. It’s not exactly rocket science.
• What is it with umpires this season? The Giants seem to be getting the worst of them. Back in Arizona, they had a few bad calls go against them. On Tuesday against the Rockies, Ron Darling made a horrible balk call on Tim Lincecum that cost the Giants the game. Both Darling and Bengie Molina had come out of their crouches with arms waiving to signal timeout. Then, Darling says Lincecum flinched? He only flinched AFTER time was called. I think Darling used the “flinch” excuse, because he’s got too big of an ego to admit that he blew the call. On Sunday against the Phillies, first base umpire Marty Foster joined the club of bad umpiring. In the third inning, Giant killer Shane Victorino hit a routine grounder to shortstop Emmanuel Burriss, who then threw wildly to first base bringing Rich Aurilia off the bag. However, Aurilia spun around that tagged Victorino on the thigh, but Foster must be blind as a bat because he called Victorino safe. Is it just me, or are umpires rarely held accountable for bad calls? I understand that umpires are going to make mistakes, but this is getting ridiculous.
• A few weeks ago I criticized Aurilia and Steve Holm for not taking Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina out on a play at the plate. In the fourth inning on Sunday, Emmanuel Burriss absolutely laid out Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz as he tried to score. It turned out that Burriss did not have to bowl Ruiz over because he had already beaten the tag, but I loved seeing that play from the rookie. Good hard nosed baseball.
• Call closer Brian Wilson Houdini. He always seems to make things interesting, but most of the time, finds a way to get out of jams. On Friday however, he ran into Pat Burrell. As Burrell strolled up to the plate I thought to myself, there is no way Wilson let’s this dude hurt him. Sure enough, Wilson throws a fastball right down Broadway, and Burrell deposits it into the left field seats for a game winning homer. How about mixing in a few more sliders every now and then? Wilson’s got a great fastball, but until he learns to throw an offspeed pitch for strikes more consistently, hitters like Burrell, will eventually square up his fastball and send it a long way. Especially if he continues to fall behind in the count.
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