Zito’s Law, In All it’s Inglorious Glory
Man, was his Law ever in more effect than last night? Look at my 9/13 post and see how many theorems out of the 6 he had checked off:
1) “He’ll get outpitched by the opposing pitcher”: check
2) “Our bats will go silent”– double check
3) “”We will commit some dumbass defensive miscue”— ugly check. This one was the best because God (who hates Zito and the Giants) stepped into the game for just a moment to make sure Theorem #3 kicked into play: Blake hit a certain base hit up the middle–except that it bounds off the mound and changes course directly to the Uribe. We are saved, inning over. Whoops. God just wanted that inning to hurt a little more– a simple, clean base hit up the middle wasn’t gonna do it………..
4) “Opponents hardest hit balls are always in the direction of our slowest athletes”– I wouldn’t call Uribe slow or not athletic but he’s hardly a deft gazelle out there at SS. I’d give this a 1/2 check.
5) “If we ever score a run Zito will walk the first 2 hitters of the next inning”– we never scored a run but he did manage to screw up the 6th inning in classic Zito style: hit batter, walk, walk to load the bases. No check here, though. OK, maybe a 1/4 check.
6) “The opponents game winning hit will always come from their worst hitter”– substitute “most hated current Dodger” and this one gets a full check………..
Heart breaking game. Who loses when their team throws a 1 hitter? Zito’s Law, baby. You can’t escape it. Every 5th day like clockwork………..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Win today and Padres lose, we are back to where we were…Padres showing some cajones…
This is why my buddies back in the bay area and I call the Giants the Junk.
What can wrong will go wrong. Same as Zito’s Law. Zito Junk.
It’s a new day. The past is past. All I have left to say about yesterday’s Zito infection… Ego te absolvo in nomine Patris, et Filiii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen
It’s a good thing we don’t have to win em all.
Like I’ve said before, all we have to do is win each series (I know, I’m the master of the obvious). Take 2 of 3, 3 of 5 and 4 of 7 and everyone (do it for Murph) gets a shiny new ring.
I like the way Bochy came right out and laid this at the offense’s feet. Zito threw a great game.
I’m not going to deny Zito throwing well, but bottom line is he lost. He blinked, Kershaw didn’t. Uribe will tell you he should have had it and Bochy and the the hitters will say they didn’t do enough, but….nobody except Zito loaded the bases and gave LA the opp to score. He’s the one with the ball in his hands, and he got out-pitched by the other guy.
I used to say the same thing about Cain when he was losing two years ago….sure he would pitch well, but make a critical mistake at an inopportune time and SF would lose a close low scoring game. But that is your job as the SP–out duel the other guy. JS had a game where SF lit up the other team (Rox I think), and he wound up giving up a couple bombs late and a few runs. It wasn’t even a “quality start”, but he was better than the other guy, and SF won. Is that fair? No. But you don’t get anything for being well enough to lose, except the L. Don’t give me “good enough to win” because if you really were, you would have.
Cain is only 11-10. Apparently, he’s regressed in the mental toughness department. Maybe the Giants need a manliness coach?
No, James, I think Cain has matured tremendously. I think he has a better idea of focus, command and prep necessary to get hitters out consistently and succeed at this level and how hard that is. I don’t have an explanation for his losses, altho I do remember a couple times he got hit hard that surprised me.
Just a bad luck effort from Zito…he pitched great…Franchez gets 2 hits but not after Ross 2b hit…tuff luck game…
Kershaw wudda out pitched anybody last nite…
Would it kill Zito to actually out-pitch the opposing pitcher?
You know? It just might
No shit, zum. At this point, I honestly don’t give a shit how well he pitches, just get a fucking win. We give up one hit and lose? Holy crap.
Ian Kennedy looked just as tough as Kershaw on that Labor Day game, but because MadBum and the ‘pen put up matching zeroes, the Giants were able to win it in extra innings. The offense obviously gets the brunt of the blame last night, but Zito setting up that fateful inning with a HBP and 2 walks is just maddening.
In games like this you have to find a way to scrap up a run.Atleast that would take the game to extras where we would have a good chance.Atleast a better chance then a flat out 1-0 loss.When you start hitting batters and walking them around the bases,that is when errors are made.
Run support is like hitting with RISP in one aspect: it eventually evens out. And while some of those peripherals are important in predicting future success or awarding postseason honors, over time the W-L is the bottom line.
Zitfuck is 39-56 with the Giants. He is 39-56 because he fucking sucks. Not because Panda sucks, or Bochy sucks, or his fielders suck, or because his Mommy sucks…Ok, next.. the mouth breather at the back, what was your question?
Uh, yes thank you. I was wonderig. What’s your opinion on Zito?
Yes Zito hit a batter and walked 2 but it only produced 1 run!! on an error!! You can’t win unless you out score the opposing team. Giants ZERO runs. enough said!!
Anger and determination must be the keynotes in the Giants clubhouse today. The hitters should be angry at themselves. Zito, a bit of anger over that HBP followed by the pair of walks. The whole team needs to be angry with the LaBumbos for rolling over and lubeing for the Dagos while Kershaw dominated SF. They need to direct that anger at Lady Billingsley tonight. Only thing which gives him an ERA as low as 3.65 is his four appearances against the Giants where it is well under 1.00.
They must be determined to beat LA no matter what. We may see that determination in the top of the First. Take a look at that Alabama countryboy’s eyes as he stares down Furball and maybe opens high and tight, not quiiiite chin music, but the message is there. Then watch him mow them down like a herd of LaBumbos.
This may be the game to start Ford in the OF and bat him lead-off. Under no circumstances should Bochy turn to his tried and true dreetsak (shitpants) stance guy whose name will not be mentioned here. Reason for Ford is twofold. One, most of the guys on the team have, for whatever reason, not been able to hit this pretty good but certainly not dominant pitcher. Billingsgate is NOT Kershaw. Two, Ford is a totally unknown quantity to the Dodgers and to the league. No book. He should be instructed to do all he can to draw a walk or even a HBP. As so many on this board have pointed out already, so long as he does not make a dumbshit Velez move in the OF, he is not likely to be any worse than the nameless one. If he gets on base Ford could seriously knock any pitcher off his rythym.
Bochy should carefully go through his stats and determine who simply cannot hit that Bum and who can or might could. This may be the game to shake it up a bit, even if its somebody like Fontenot starting. Going by the book has not worked against this Bum. Bochy needs to go against his usually conservative instincts and watch for the guy with the fire in his eye.
This game counts and counts big. If there have not been enough “must win” games this season, tonight’s fits the bill. Bludgeon the Bums!
That would be “drecksak” . . .
with a c, that is.
Everyone makes a big fucking deal about this 119-6 record with 4+ runs of support. I don’t see where Baseball Reference breaks it down that way but I do see how he does with 6 or more: he’s 85-6. How impressive is that? Tim is 28-1. Sanchez is 20-3. Cain is 22-2…. Livan is 88-9…
What it is is the only fucking stat that KNBR can find that lends any credence to him being worth a shit. The stat is meanigless.Virtually any medicocre MLB starter is great with run support.
The real Barbara Billingsley talking “jive” in Airplane was pretty darn funny…
Nate is 6 for 11 against Babs. Starting OF will probably be Burrell/Ross/Nater, but if they’re going speed Velez is the much better choice than Ford and he had a real nice AB last night. PLUS we know he can hit here, at least in spurts. Stix: try decaf.
This “no book” nonsense is way overrated.There’s a book on little Billy Butthead , should they bring him up from Midget Leagues. If you wanna say “there’s no fucking rational reason to start Ford but what the fuck let’s try it”, say that, OK?
Michael: Everything the Giants have done so far this year against Billingsley has not worked. Nice you noted that Nate has hit him. He should start. My pernt on Ford is more than mere “book”. It cannot be contested that he is an unknown quantity. Nor can it be argued that his speed factor wouldn’t be devastating to a pitcher and to a defense.
Personally, i was not very impressed with what i saw of Velez’ AB last night. He should have drawn a walk on the pitches he swung at. Had he not tied himself up in knots in his followthrough on that slap to the infield, he is fast enough that he could otherwise have beaten it out.
Stix, you’re a nice guy so I’m not going to savage you for some totally unsupportable nonsense you are espousing. I’ll just say this: they may at some point give Ford a start, call it Plan Nine. But if they want to start a guy with a .680 OPS they might be better off with one who is that at the major league level, not Double Fucking A….
Michael: My idea is all about shaking up the LU and the LaBumbos. Starting up the Ford is one approach. Got any better ideas along those lines? Share em.
why will no one give my idea of starting Burriss at short and leadoff any credence 😦 OK, Twin dont go there 🙂
Other than it’s not happening.
Nats beat the Braves again thanks to a grand slam by Justin Maxwell, whoever he is.
I think he was hitting something like .143 as well…HAH, hate the Fucking Brraves right next to the Bastards…
Featured video on Yahoo frontpage right now is none other than Barry Zito with a caption reading “Give up one hit and lose the game”. So its gone viral, gone national.
But enough of crying in the beer and weeping over spilled milk. Last night is over. We lost. New game tonight. Cain is our man. Time to bedazzle, batter and blast the Bums. Let’s send the team all the positive vibes we can muster.
BEAT LA!
Stix,yeah: the MLB players on the team have to hit better tonight. Don’t piss me off with Room B idiocy. You can deny it all you want but this is the same shit as the morons on the Splash. Fuck you, I “share ’em” everyday. Pay attention. If Burrell, Posey,Panda, Sanchez, etc. can’t bring this home, it ain’t fucking happening. Darren Ford is here to pinch run.
And of course the blame should be laid on just one person for last night…our nemesis, Casey Fucking Blake…HATE THE BLAKE!
I’ve posted abiout a dozen fucking times that Ford may get a start or two. Just unlikely in the extreme that it’s tonight unless it’s instead of Nate which makes zero sense. And no way they’re starting both. BTW, Snarkklefuck said Ford hit over .300 in the second half at AA. Not true. Mayybe he meant OBP. He never hit over .300 in a single month. .270 .233 .246 .250 .284 month by month.
As Bouton said:
Good pitching stops good hitting……and vice versa.
Also:
It’s a round bat and a round ball and you gotta hit it square.
Michael. Plan 9? Ah, yes. Plan 9 deals with the resurrection of the dead. Long distance electrodes shot into the pineal and pituitary gland of the recently dead.
Maybe Ford will get an AB somewhere and pull a John Patterson…
Or he’ll misjudge a flyball, Room B calls him Darren Ransom, and forgets all about demanding that the dipshit start a game..
“Plan 9 deals with the resurrection of the dead. Long distance electrodes shot into the pineal and pituitary gland of the recently dead.” Sorry, my mistake then. Ford is Plan 10.
Speaking of Plan 9 From Outer Space, anyone see Ed Wood?
Just yesterday, in the field.
Often it seems the first time around the league for a new pitcher, he has a distinct advantage, even over vets with thousands of ABs. Hitters are taking pitches to see what he has, velocity, movement, off speed, etc.
Realize, to Ford, every single guy he is gonna face at this level is new. Imo, the “no book” idea has it completely backwards–he hasn’t seen any mlb pitching all year and didn’t exactly light up AA. Next year, maybe, he starts, but not now.
Same goes for Burriss, imo. Bochy is trying to win a pennant, not look at guys to see what they can do to help the club in a couple years. Other than one sequence as a PR, neither of these guys has done anything to get the Giants to where they are today. Late game replacement, OK. Otherwise watch and learn and realize failure is a large part of the game, and how you deal with it and bounce back is a large part of your ultimate success.
So, “realize” who is worse? Rohand who has a high likelihood of going 0-4 or 1-4 versus anybody, including pitchers he may have hit against several or many times, and is a DP threat and a K machine. Or Ford, who is near impossible to double up, who has a good shot at the same AB result tho not having hit against the pitchers, but is a speed merchant, can eke out a hit, steal a bag, maybe score from first on a hit run and long single, score on a passed ball, etc. And their D is the same, if not edge to Ford because of his speed. I take Ford…
Ability to get on base is measured in OBP, idiot. His speed is ALREADY factored in. He’s .318 at DOUBLE A. Next drooler…
I’m talking about what skill set Ford brings, compared to Rohand. Ford’s better case for stealing a bag, or going first to home on a long single has nothing to do with OBP. And Rohand’s OBP is well below .300. So, dipshit, go back in your cave and hibernate until the game starts…
Post of the early day,Willie, hands down..
very true and we know our team has shown ‘bounce back’ character.
And it’s not just Ford or Rowand anyway. Ross is in the equation.
I can really get behind flav’s law. nail on the head. teams always have some cross to bear. for us it is the bio rhythmics of up-down-mess, the torture of blasting fighting grinding out wins followed by the torture of playing flat unintentional impotent when a win would be so nice.
Nice analysis BF! like a hole in a left hander’s strike zone god knows zito and takes advantage of it.
Well to way in on the Ford debacle, Velez imo has the same speed, I have seen him go from 1st to home on a long single, we know he can hit ML pitching, what comes into question is his fielding. unforntunately we have not seen him play since he was hit in the head. But he is a known quantity. So IMO he would be a better choice than Ford!!
“Going from first to third on a long single…nothing to do with OBP” How’d he get to first? Osmosis?
He has hit ML pitching I didn’t say he was a .300 hitter. The Giants are sticking Rowand out there and he isn’t exactly tearing up pitchers. All I am saying is that there are more choices before you get to Ford to put in the OF.
Not the issue I brought up, dim bulb. Ford’s speed on the bases is an obvious plus over Rohand/Ross. He’s got as much a shot at getting on, even better, than Rohand, his OBP is better at AA than Rohand over the entire season. Once he gets on, obviously he’s got a better shot at scoring in whatever way you can imagine, than Rohand, from the speed perspective, not to mention putting pressure on the D to make mistakes. Quit the straw man arguments to misdirect away from Ford’s advantages. Sure, he’s unproven. And like I’ve said before Bochy won’t do it, he’d rather sink with Rohand than have a chance at swimming with Ford….
The Rox are beating up SD. 9-2 top 5
Snarkk was one of the morons who, when Bengie would get a”long single”, would say Whitey woulda had a double. Yeah, if the fuck hit the ball in the first place.
Never said it. Quit making stuff up…
I was referring to Snarkklefuck’s post. Velez is obviously a better choice than Ford. But Ross is the second option to Rowand. You can book that at least two of Rowand, Ross, Burrell, Guillen play every night. So in order it’s Nate, Velez, Ford for a spot if only two of the others play. Best LU tonight has Burrell/Ross/Nate starting.
Mike, its cool, I mentioned the 1st to home thing in referencing Velez. So I wasn’t sure who you were talking to.
Chuck, yes I’ve seen ED WOOD. I’d have Martin Landau start ‘cuz he sure hit that one out of the park
Ford is not an option. Get over it.
Is the general idea that the Giants have nothing to lose by mixing things up, maybe generate some speed? You’re not going to see that from Bochy, for good reason. The guy has juggled the lineup incessantly since April, but not based on a whim. Bochy has made hundreds of difficult LU decisions and not one has been a wtf, whadda-we-got-to-lose choice.
By the way, I think Zito’s Law has a philosophical corrollary: Zito’s Paradox — A pitcher must cease losing before he can begin to win, but he must win in order to cease losing. Zito can’t find a way out of that conundrum. Fucking overpaid son of a bitch.
TedSpe, private eye stuck in a flea bag hotel waiting out the heat. The cops wanted him bad and he knew it. Hiding wasn’t his style but Spe was tough and knew he had to get on that party boat. The answers were all there on that boat. He was tired of this LA mess and their corrupt cops and looked with dread at the answers he had to find out.
Heavens to Betsy:
Velez LF, Fontenot 2B, Huff 1B, Posey C, Uribe SS, Sandoval 3B, Ross CF, Schierholtz RF, Cain P
You call this a LU? Botchy’s a idiot;)
Giants go for the shakeup LU. Speed in the OF
Velez LF
Fontenot 2B
Huff 1B
Posey C
Uribe SS
Sandoval 3B
Ross CF
Schierholtz RF
Cain P
Bochy must have sneaked into my medicine cabinet.
Tell ya what, I’m not even gonna bother to bitch and moan about this one; not worth my energy.
You confirm your idiot status. It’s good shake up.
An 8.1 on the Richter scale provides a good shake up as well. You clean up the mess.
Any LU without Rowand is already a better LU.Fresh!!!!
Huh.
That’s out of Velez…D’OH! I mean left field.
Velez in left:
If you look at the match-up numbers against Billingsley, the LU makes sense — especially if FSanchez is still hurting. With a fuckup or two, however, Velez could turn this opportunity into a permanent seat right next to Rowand’s gold-plated place on the pine.
Is Velez any better “defensively” at 2nd base? I don’t recall actually seeing him play that position but I recall seeing somewhere he does.
Velez is erratic at 2nd, he can be brilliant or terrible. As at any other position. More than any guy on the bench he has the talent to make the difference-either way.
Velez played a very good LF last year. He had a couple fuck ups this year but he’s certainly an upgrade defensively on Pat, ferchrissakes. One game, let it go, Room B. It’s a fine LU..
Wow, with that LU, Boch is the new Icarus, extending his wings into the sun of HighRiskLand. Shocking. This may be the fastest OF lineup this year, altogether. I like that, though near zero OF power is the trade off. Even with error in waiting Velez in LF, at least we have some potential speed on the bases. If they can actually get on is another question. Can’t be worse than last night’s zero run production. Cain probably figures he might get 3 runs support, tops. But, I say Boch is rewarded for this crazyass LU, doesn’t crash and burn, and Gmen get at least 5 runs to win…
” It’s a fine LU..”
That all depends on which side of the one-way mirror you are standing.
Watch it, my traitorous friend. I might change my mind again.
I would have to say that based on this line up, Bochy saw no runs from his power hitting last night. he is going to try the small ball and see a lot more hit and run chances if someone gets on. This could/should work just fine.
Mike that “heavens to Betsy” comment had to be one of your more G rated moments!! LOL most of the time it is R rated or adults only!!
9-6 Colorado over SD
I’m feeling kindly toward all today, even the Snarkker..
LU seems more like a stacking of lefties than anything else. Benching a player with an 893 OPS when you are having trouble scoring runs doesn’t seem very prudent to me.
I like the LU a lot, especially the difference at the top 2 spots. If EV has recovered from his head injury he could blast off for the last 2 weeks, we’ll see. You all probably remember, he was one of the top POTG guys the last couple of years, I bet you he was in the top three of guys who won it the most…
Yeah I remember his POTGs but I can’t remember what the girls looked like in the picture
Most all of you are extremely confused. “Taking a night off” is not a euphemism for”benching”.
The Dodgers are a beaten down group. Any kind of early lead would probably be enough to put them away. Ethier and Kemp are way off what they used to be. It’s startling how two potential stars could be faltering so much. By far, the Rockies have the best one-two punch in the division, with Tulo and Gonzalez. When Huff and Posey are in a groove, they rank up there, though.
That would be 3-4, zoom. . .
Come on, you know what I meant. (grin)
Kemp’s mailing it in is pretty galling, as he was expected to be all world. he’s just a disinterested slacker now. He doesn’t even fake the hustle, if you will.
I guess it says a lot that Sandoval is such an after-thought to me. It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out between the Giants and him as the years go on, because he’s a player that is so marketable with the Panda hats and all that.
Now you can even get an *orange* panda hat.
I have no idea why I’m posting this.
Tonight’s LU is 28 for 96 .292 BA against Babs.
Good odds Babs will be saying tomorrow “Ward, you were a little hard on the Beaver last night”
I know, I know
Guillen could miss a bunch of games after the MRI he got on his neck today
Meaning, the door is wide open for EV. And I wasn’t drunk last night, I stand by my post about rowand. He could be the guy to step up, u never kniw
Called for a shakeup in the LU in my first or second posting this morning. Jeeze, Bochy went even beyond what i was thinking. Dude must be pissed, or inspired, or something. That this collexion has hit well against Lady B. is a very good sign. Cain deserves plenty of run support. Hope the speedsters run wild on the Bums.
Flav, what’s up with Guillen’s neck?
don’t know what’s wrong with Guillen’s neck, just that he got a pain killer injection and he had an MRI on it today. Either way, it’s probably best to not count on seeing too much of him for the rest of the season…
“Your comment is awaiting moderation.”
And why would that be?
they shouldn’t be awaiting moderation, I just deleted some of that off topic stuff about the splash.