Tipping Point - Part 1

If you're a Giants fan, I don't have to tell you what this home-stand meant for the season.

I don't have to tell you that, following a loss today and a 1-5 stretch at home, the Giants are now just 3 games above .500. With today's loss, they're now 6 games behind the 1st place Padres, 2.5 games behind the ailing Dodgers, and .5 games back of the Rockies. Good thing the Diamondbacks are in this division, or I'd be really depressed.

The Giants are 8-17 against their own division, hardly playoff-worth numbers. They're 15-20 on the road, heading into an 11-game road trip to finish out the 1st half of the season. That's a scary thought, considering their season could be over by then.

Where does the blame fall? Who's responsible for this level of play?

It starts at the top.

The last few weeks, the line-up has consisted mostly of: Torres - CF, F. Sanchez - 2B, Sandoval - 1B, Huff - RF, Burrell - LF, Uribe - 3B, Renteria - SS, and Molina - C. Pablo is the only person in this line-up under 30. At some point, this should have been expected. These players will go into slumps, they will break down. But, then, why didn't Bochy plan for this? There are plenty of capable young players who would've loved a few more starts, if for no other reason than to give the veterans some rest. Aubrey Huff has clearly earned a starting spot at 1B, but he's slowed down quite a bit in the last couple weeks due, in part, to a lack of rest. Travis Ishikawa is batting .314 and, yet, has only had 35 at-bats. 35. In 3 months. That is not good utilization of your utility player. As the summer wears on, Huff will need to miss a few more games (He's only missed 3 so far). It's not a slight to Huff, it's a way to preserve him.

The catching situation is also confusing. Molina was re-signed this off-season, supposedly, to start the season out until Buster Posey could prove he was ready. Posey has shown he is. After a month in the big leagues, he's batting .289, but he's had just 2 starts behind the plate. His starts have also become more erratic and inconsistent. He's having to learn a new position and has had inconsistency, and it has affected his hitting lately. To succeed, Bochy needs to make the executive decision to go with his catcher of the future, sit Molina, and let Posey claim that position. Molina is bringing nothing to the table. He's batting .257 with 3 homeruns (1 less than back-up catcher Eli Whiteside. Why isn't Molina the bench guy with Whiteside starting?). It's time for Big Money to become the back-up he was signed to be. It's almost the halfway point - time to pull the trigger.

The biggest factor in this team's lack-luster performances? The Manager and General Manager, Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean. There almost seems to be a lack of effort on their part, and that trickles down to the players. If the manager doesn't try (as seen when the line-up barely changes this home-stand, despite awful baserunning, a lack of clutch hits, and ugly at-bats), why should the players go all out? Bochy clearly can't manager all 25 guys, as we see the same guys over and over again, and he seems to forget about the younger guys (Ishikawa, Nate Schierholtz), who HAVE to be developed. This old line-up is not your future, and if you don't have a manager that can develop anyone younger, maybe it's time for Bochy to go.

However, it's easy to see where Bochy gets this attitude. In an article written on Wednesday, prior to another loss to the Dodgers, Brian Sabean is quoted as saying, "it's a good group. they know what's at stake. They know the sense of urgency." Really? Does that come across in the way Renteria, Rowand, Molina, Uribe, and Sandoval have been playing lately? Sabean goes on to say that there is no reason to panic, no reason to be upset. Isn't this the very problem with the team? They have become painful to watch, not because they're losing, but because there's a lack of fire and passion and energy. On Saturday, against the Red Sox, the Giants lost; but the game was great to watch because of the show Madisen Bumgarner put on throwing to Buster Posey. They brought an energy and an excitement to the field that hadn't been out there for awhile. The Giants need more of this. Without it, they will continue to fail, continue to look lack-luster.

If Sabean doesn't care, Bochy doesn't care, why should the players care? And why should we, as fans, care?

Jen

P.S. - this is "part 1" because my dad will be guest-blogging with me this week. Get ready.