Zito Turns Corner, There’s Absolutely Nothing to Worry About!
5 innings, 1 hit, no runs? We’re all good right? Yeah, right. I hope no one gets sucked into believing that this guy is doing anything other than submitting one of his random, unexplainable work efforts. Zito is like a really bad famous artist–you don’t know what you’re looking at or why you’re looking at it. Yet there it is before you, in all it’s unglorious glory….
SOme would argue that yesterday’s performance is a good thing. There is no “good thing” in the world of Barry Zito. It’s all bad. He is NOT a competent starting pitching at any slot of one thru five. He needs to be judged as a member on our starting staff, not any random staff in baseball. I don’t expect us to be able to find someone as good as our *other* four. But winning one game since last July 16th is unacceptable as anyone’s #5. Certainly ours.
So I’m not going to say anything about yesterday’s performance other than continue to wonder what the Giants are planning on doing after he starts the season 0-3 with a 6.52 ERA…….
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Zito
200 Ip’s
4.0 era
1.38 whip
He is NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!!! Anyone you replace him with (Runzler?) (Suppan?) will be just as inconsistent. I agree Runzler has potential. Send him down. Stretch him out and get him ready for next year..Till then it’s all Barry..
The sooner Zito is gone the better. Nothing is worse than an incompetent pitcher and he’s one. Sure in the past he did it all. Not now. He’s just hanging on. Four years with the Giants has proven his worth. What the Giants saw in him is still a mystery. How could so many talent experts for the Giants be so wrong?
And Rowand should be exiled too. He’s proven what he can and cannot do. The evidence is not good.
Thank you, Cap’t Obvious.
funny
Unca Chuck said, on March 10, 2011 at 6:40 am
God I hate 6 am meetings.
FH, very sorry to hear about your layoff. My wife just went through that.
She was told, a week before Christmas, that she and 5 others in her co were being let go. The owner was a total asshole about it. Nothing like, ‘thanks for your hard work these past 6 years . . .’ , ‘good luck’. It was ‘listen up you guys, I’m only going to say this once. All the remote employees are terminated, effective immediately.’
Funny thing is, my wife just got a job (starting 3/1) with their biggest competitor. A company that passed her old company last year in revenue.
Whenever I think of Zito, I’m reminded of the old Bill Walsh quote about Steve Deberg “He’s just good enough to get you beat”. Maybe the Giants want to keep Zito around until after the inter-league games.
Sorry Ted, today’s BB is the best ever.
If the Splash had a POTD, I’d have to go with this one from Twin
jackcrabby 7:37 PM on March 9, 2011
Seal hasn’t been the same since he espied a live woman in his shower decades ago. Drove him to Gin and Ovaltine. He’s not being cautious, he’s soused..
The best pout so far.
“She was buns up kneeling. I was wheeling and dealing.”
Is her name Dyna Moe?
Bozo: until Loo says “Good Morning”, it might…
Dude: Zithead’s inconsistency might be more tolerable if it was start to start rather than month to month. And sorry, 1-8 the last two ain’t “inconsistent”. In fact, it’s extremely consistent. The leak to Jenkins was a message, they’ve had enough…
Replacing chocolate milk with Ovaltine cracked me up. It was perfect.
“Why do they call it Ovaltine? The mug is round. The jar is
round. They should call it round tine. That’s gold, Jerry! Gold!”
I was kinda thinking more like the Harry “The Hipster” Gibson song ‘Who Put The Benzedrine In Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine?’
Bochy was quoted yesterday saying the following about Bubbles. “He’s a pro. He’s handled things so well, including the postseason thing, and the stuff that’s been said.”
I like how Bochy doesn’t say that the postseason ‘thing’ was his decision, and the leak could very well have been him as well.
If Bubbles doesn’t get it by now, he never will. “Awww, gee. I should have gotten more aggressive in the strike zone. 8 walks in 3 innings sort of raised my pitch count. I was really fighting myself out there. NEXT time . . . . “
another BB without a smile??
who is it that likes a sour puss?
Are you questioning her freshness?!?!?!
I’ll continue to hope for the best. He drives me nuts, but I don’t see anything better on the farm or from the scrap heap.
Over the 4 yrs, he’s still out pitched the likes of Hennesleep, Apall-mer, Ortease, Sadlousy, Mulch, Bean head Martinez and Welchmeyer. And now we’re to believe Supplatt and Voglestink would be better alternatives? Or Tanner??
Show me evidence of there superiority and I’m on board.
editor…their superiority.
On a Giants’ blog called the Crazy Crabbers, author Scott Willis posits that the ZitMeister will have his best season since his Oakland days. His reasoning?
“I wish I had some great statistical analysis to back this up but there isn’t a whole lot to point to. ” And so it goes with even his supporters.
Yup, that blind squirrell’s nut-finding days are behind him . . .
The WSox were swinging yesterday and hitting a lot of ground balls. The exact stats are hard to figure out because of the fragmented coverage mlb gives ST games. But it looks to me like Zito found himself in a perfect groove for 50 pitches (in 5 innings). In the regular season, hitters would work counts and give him a chance to pitch himself into trouble. There would be more walks and more line drives and many more runs. Yesterday means nothing. Zed for Zito. I’m still on board for ABZ.
relief spots (important ones anyway) seem pretty full, with plenty of quality from both sides.
Brain trust would have to decide Runzler’s real value which might be as SP. Obviously, he wouldn’t get “stretched out” or learn more pitches sitting on his butt in the pen. I just don’t see them grooming him to be closer and biding their time, since there doesn’t appear to be SP with mlb talent in the wings. One injury or Zwuss continued suckitude and untradeability, and the need becomes more critical. Not to mention potential deal.
Boz, I played on a company softball team that took the name “Dinah Moe Hummers”….co-ed, too.
I played on a team called The Nads. The guy in charge of the office actually tried to get women co-workers, wives and girlfriends and kids to show up at the games to chant: “Go Nads!” I still have the shirt somewhere.
A buddy of mine worked for the Eaton Corp. back in the day. the girl’s softball team, no joke, the Eaton Beavers.
willie, my guess is that was a fun softball team to be on.
“I whipped off her bloomers n stiffened my thumb
An applied rotation on her sugar plum”
Yer killin’ me, Bozo.
” I got a spot that gets me hot, but you ain’t been to it!”
Great song, huh chuck?
I’m down with getting Runzler stretched out in Fresno and making him the heir apparent.
Zito is 40-57 as a Giant, if that isn’t enough of a stat then nothing is!! Even Bum had a winning record last year. of the 5 starters Zito was the only one with a losing record. The Veteran of the crew I might add!! He is less than useless!!
Barry Zito is 86-6 when he gets 6 runs or more support. What’s not to admire?
Moving along, with TV games tomorrow and Saturday,we get closer and closer to everyday baseball at last. If there has been a disappointment this spring, it’s that no youngster has stepped up-including Belt. I’d like to see more of Tanner and I had kinda hoped that Crash Eldred would launch a few…by and large it’s been an uneventful camp, probably just about what you hope for coming off a WS championship. Most significant-the apparent good health of DeRosa and Panda’s slimline silhouette…
Also several more Giants games on MLB network in the next week.
In OSF’s fantasy- Soph and “her” roommate show up at his doorstep, and it’s like this:
best…bottom half only…bb…ever
So the guy throws his best game since June or July and half the Flapzone is down on him like lava spewing from Vesuvius. I couldn’t find so much irony a hundred miles east of here on the Mesabi Range. Sure, Zito hasn’t lived up to expectations and definitely not up to his paycheck. But there are worse options.
My point is that for now the Giants are stuck with the guy and it doesn’t do a helluva lotta good to bellyache about the fact. At 18M/ Zits is being paid at a rate a bit over twice what he’s actually worth…to some team or another. If SF were willing to chip in at $10M/ for the next three, plus half of his buyout clause, some A.L. team might bite. With his pitching style being more attuned to the Junior Circuit, it is possible that he might give one of those teams a reasonably steady performance at a .500 clip or maybe a tad better if that squad has the bats to back him up.
What it boils down to is that the Giants should no way simply dump him or attempt to use him in relief. He has some trade value ~ on the right terms. Taking a dive somewhere in the neighborhood of $30-40M could lance that butt-pimple, clear up things around the clubhouse and delight the fan base.
Same would apply to Rowand, only there the Giants might have to swallow from 3/5ths to 2/3rds of his salary to make it happen. It’s mostly a matter of money. If the prices are right those guys could be redomiciled.
I would agree that the best thing about yesterday could be as a showcase for a trade. The Giants would eat a huge amount of the salary, but on the upside, they would close the book on Zito-drama, and give someone the 5-spot who has a bigger upside.
Of course to some, the Zito/Rowand book will never close. At least until all involved have passed on to their greater reward
“it doesn’t do a helluva lotta good to bellyache”… Well, then we might as well all pack it in.
According to Christopher Lee, “No need to bellyache, old boy…” was the meanest thing Peter Cushing ever said. Of course, I realize this comment belongs in Room B
Bellyaching is one thing. Offering possible solutions is another. So is the glass half full or half empty?
Saturday the Giants play the Dodgers. on TV
Twin, did you see the thing Baggs wrote on Tanner and Crawford? It’s a nice read about the two guys.
http://www.mercurynews.com/giants/ci_17574799?nclick_check=1
Eddacker, even if you were getting $10K per day, if you were a chick maybe you might not be smiling if your photo shoot director told you to lay your 34Es on a splintery picnic table? From multiple sources close to the photo team, as they aren’t authorized to disclose, today’s “roughing it” BB appears to be model / actress Kelly Brook. Born 1979 in England, she’s appeared in FHM (#1 in 2005 top 100 sexiest women in the world) and tons of other mags, in many ad campaigns’ media including impressively for the Flap crowd, Fosters beer (altho Fosters sucks), and some fairly cheezy films. Apparently single. Being a Brit, she can probably swing the bat even while carrying that bustline, but her people would not aver that she bunts…
http://tinyurl.com/4ju273b
http://tinyurl.com/4rblevx
Plus, she shares a birthday with Boris Karloff.
I know. Room B
well, she does have nice hair.
close to game time
Re yesterday’s BB, BF certainly does like that pasty look. I didn’t research her, couldn’t get past the glare. As for Zito, maybe he just needs to pitch against AL teams. Can we put him on the DL until the interleague season?…
Stix, the “solution” for Zito is to move past a terrible mistake. Paying him 16 million to go 10-15 is no better than paying him that to go away.
Zitz is getting $18.5M this year, but what’s $2.5M these days? Anyway, this is the point I’ve made repeatedly with Rohand, too, who I think the Giants are seeing that they have better options than Zito to well cover his roster spot. Why keep a player that gives nothing but suckage and a loser vibe when he plays, when you can pay league minimum or just a bit more to another player that will produce as well, or likely better, and you also get ride of the negative vibe impact on the team?…
Get ride? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
In Zito’s case, it’s ride, anybody else, it’s rid…
Anybody catch the story of that atrocious reffing at the end of last night’s Big East tourney tilt between St. Johns and Rutgers? Itz on youtube. About 4 seconds to go, St. Johns up 65-63, Rutgers inbounding on opposite end of court. Mayhem ensues, several St. John’s violations were not called, one of which could have been a technical, giving Rutgers free throws. The over/under was 128.5, so the score sat at the under before all this started, but could/would have turned to the over had a call been made. The refs left the court BEFORE the time expired. Hmmmm…..
Wow, and they say the reffing in the NBA is bad!! The guy was fouled and the guy clearly stepped out of bounds with time on the clock!!
Shit, guys. Like it or not, Bubbles appears to be the Alex Smith of the baseball world. He ain’t going anywhere in the near future.
The hope is that he can cobble together a .500 season, and let the shit rain where it does. A fucking 12-14 season would be cause for joy if he’s at least getting through 5+. Low hanging fruit? Sure. But the team at this point isn’t really counting on anything more than this from him. THEY know this. The rest of you should realize this. He’s not the 1 or 2 anymore. Not even in name. He’s a 4 in name now. He’s really a 5 . . .
——————
“Just get me wasted and you’re half-way there. Cuz if my mind’s tore up, then my body don’t care.”
“I rubbed my chinny-chin-chin
An said my-my-my
What sort of thing
Might this lady get high upon? “
looks like the Giants are trotting out the opening day line-up against the Reds.
WHOOPS!
MLB.com radio has left the building.
This is a cool Video, it shows the last 27 outs of the world series. Watching guys strike out against the Giants pitching staff, I just can’t get enough!! All the talk about what are the Giants going to do about the Rangers offense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae34qjaGOao&tracker=False&NR=1
What a great way to spend 6 minutes while mlb’s computers were down. Guess they’re back now.
Awesome. The only hard hit outs were one liner off Timmeh to center caught easily by Rohand, and a grounder to short by Vlad off Wilson. That’s it. Even better if Buck had not been the announcer…
Chills…
This BB is sluttier than most and she actually looks like her ears wouldn’t fall off during the action. Best yet..
NOwhitey walks, Torres HR to right
Sanchez HR to left
Ross line drive HR to left
bott of 4th Bum pitching
4-0
“She quivered and quaked and clutched at herself.
While her sister made a joke about her mental health.
When Dyna Moe finally did give in
I told her all she really needed was some discipline”
Kevin, xlnt video. Timmy was dealing like a mo fo.
MadBum gave up a hit? Damn.
I tried a google image search on this Kelly Brook BB and I have to say, BF you somehow managed to overlook a lot of other impressive photos of her to get to this high-heeled picnic-table fantasy.
With a picnic like that, I’d even put up with ants…
Shiestakovitch. Looks like our nominal 5 is better than most of the 2’s out there.
Bummie shuts down Cincy’s A team. One hit (bloop single by Phillips), and he’s proptly picked off. . .
Personally, I want to keep Zito until the Yankees or someone else gets desparate around the All Star break and realizes that the Burnetts and Hughes of the world are not going to be enough. Keep in mind that he’s only a back-end starter on our team. Most clubs would be happy to slot him in as a three, and there are many places where he’d be a good option as a two. Two hundred dependable innings of 4 ERA isn’t easy to find.
The G-Men do not have any realistic replacements (don’t even mention Suppan); his salary binds him to the Giants; management has come out very publicly in support of Zito; and, perhaps most important, quite a few people, including Giants management (read SI’s Ann Killion’s article) believe that Zito “protects” Bumgarner – by pitching Bumgarner fifth, the Giants will have the opportunity to skip him when they’re concerned about his workload.
Great video. Kevin
We all knw the real reason the order is the way it is. Sanchez fits between the righty-righty combo of Timmy and Matt. That used to be Bubbles spot. Now he drops 2 places to be the next lefty. They certainly COULD put Bummie ahead of Bubbles, but wow, what a slap to the ego of bubbles. The 21 year old kid over the vet with the fat deal?
Not that it’s based entirely on that, but there’s the thought process that Sanchez and Zito are the most likely guys to not get to the 7th or farther (can’t have them back-to-back, and they don’t want to tax Bummie unnecessarily. Hence the 5th spot for him.
I never tire of it either, Kevin. Hell, I get teary every time..
Unca, yeah Timmy was definately dealing, you could tell when he came off the mound to field that ball, I bet Huff’s hand was hurting after that throw!!
Ford is up to his mischief again, steals thrd, scores on throwing error…
Don’t know about you guys, but if Ross is going to be the #8 guy most of the time, then that lineup is pretty damn good. And Bochy shouldn’t have to flip the LU so much this year with Posey and Ross here from the get go. Normally, I put llittle stock in ST results, but this run production is starting to look damn consistent. 4.5 rpg this season looks very doable at this point…
NO Whitey, hit by pitch and then STEALS second!! Steals it!! who’d of thunk.
and then SCORES on a base hit. who said this team has NO speed. They’ve got NO whitey!
Blade – I have said it a bunch of times, but there is not much budging from the dump Zito camp…. Whatever the Giants won the fucking world series with him last year, and I bet he would have had a much better record with this lineup early in the season than the shit he was stuck with when he was actually pitching well…..
I was at Spring Training last week and was kinda bummed about seeing Zito pitch the night game at Camelback, but he pitched well and it was fucking awesome…. The whole weekend was, at least what I remember about it! Living in SD and seeing some of the Padres games in Perioria dead and empty, I am so thankful we avoided that place. HoHoKam is a lot of fun, but Scottsdale has more sundresses… ahhh the sundresses….
Thanks everybody for the well wishes! I’m sure I’ll be okay – eventually. I’ve got mad accounting skillz!!!
The single best thing about the Barry Zito signing is that it brought Twinnie and I together. Other than that, I’ve got nothin’.
Nice standing O for Rent.
I don’t understand the angst about Zito either Decap, albeit, my perspective is approximately 1200 miles away from the SF bay area . . . Still basking in WS glow.
I just can’t understand the angst about a guy who was 2-10 the second half-
“Whatever the Giants won the fucking world series with him last year”…
He blew Rent’s drive out?
Zito was blowing alright. You can bet your bottom dollar he was definitely blowing.
Zito was blowing AND sucking. No mean feat . . .
If your 5 can go 12-15 and pitch 5, most teams would be exstatic.
Ecstatic? Extatic?
Shit. None of those look right.
Fine, they’d be thrilled with it. 2-10 looks bad, but SOME of those were decent starts. Who was it that said W/L isn’t the be-all-end-all stat?
Poor choice of words by Decap.
He meant to say the Giants “got to” the fucking the World Series with him last year.
Tecnically, that’s true. He *was* on the team
“I might be moving to Montana soon . . .
Raise me up a crop of . . . dental floss”
It was me chuck that said W-L is a horrible stat for pitchers… Which is when I reminded people that Cain is still several games under .500 for his Career…… And Zito had 19!! quality starts last season…. more than half. I don’t love Zito, but I am completely fine with him as our 4 or 5 or whatever… especially with our improved offense… and I think the “drama” is percieved and blown out of proportion…
The 2-10 was among his better numbers…
Let’s not go overboard with W-L not mattering whatsoever. It still matters. What *that* arguement is is it doesn’t take 20 wins to get a CY. Yes, ERA, WHIP, run support, these all factor in now and that’s right. But you *still* have to win games to be an effective pitcher
Cap, they factually won the Series without him, along with two playoff series before that. If that doesn’t make him essentially unnecessary, I don’t know what does. You can’t honestly compare Zito of 2011 with Matt Cain.
Forget dumping him to the AL, too. If he can’t get out 8 guys in the NL, what makes you think he could get out 9, when you consider the DH is often a real middle order stick (as opposed to the SP in the NL)? New York is quite a hitters park (RH guys would jack that outside slop of his out of that yard in an NY minute), and they are in a division with boston, toronto and balt who all have hitters parks as well.
He’s lucky he’s where he is, and gets to P games in SD as well. And he still sucks.
Regarding “quality starts,” as others have pointed out before, 3 runs in 6 innings makes for a 4.50 ERA. And that kind of ERA, pitching homegames at AT&T, is just unacceptable.
Actually Zum, if you check his record for home games at AT&T last year – Zito was 7-6 (102 innings and 18 games (1 relief)) and had an ERA of 3.35.
Away was where he fucked up, e.g., 2-8 record, 16 games, 92 innings, and an ERA of 5.09.
Decap, that’s been my main point all along. The Giants are looking for a guy that will give them 12 wins and hopefully be within shouting distance of .500.
Have expectations changed since Bubble boy got here? You bet yer wobbly ass they have. All they want now is 5+ and under 4 era. He’s the bottom of the barrell now, but seeing as there’s no alternative at this point, they ride with Mr. Bubbles.
He pitched well for a few starts after Bochy pulled him with a big lead in the 5th against the Brewers. Now a couple good outings after the Jenkins article.Just hire Rickles to insult him once a month..
Rickles, ha. I’m from the generation that would say “hire Dice Clay” to do that. I’m fairly certain that there’s probably someone more mainstream today that would do the job the best…..
Well, Rickles is the benchmark. It was a badge of honor to get worked over by Don. He did my Dad at a club once. You’d think Pop won an Emmy, he was so fucking jazzed…
An honor. No sarcasm. An honor that he knew your pops
Zito on the brain. Meanwhile, how bout that Undertaker? Our technically #5 starter made hash of the vaunted Reds offense. If there is no real longterm problem with Cain’s elbow, we still got four aces. That matches Philly, but they can’t begin to match the SF bullpen.
Actually, the team which worries me the most for a NL pennant repeat is Atlanta. Braves are bringing up a host of talented kids to augment their already pretty competitive team. I see them eclipsing Philadelphia by maybe five games. Though the Brewers will be improved because they now have something vaguely resembling a rotation; the Cards are down to one ace; the Reds are a bandbox bunch and Pittsburgh, Houston and the Cubbies are highly unlikely to be competitive.
Stix, good observation – I have Atlanta also being the “sleeper” where they take it from the Phils . . . Venters, Freeman, and Kimbrel are all studs, with Freeman being their “Belt” and Venters and Kimbrel being co-closers until one forces the manager’s hand to pick one.
What’s funny about ZIto is, no one ever changes their mind on the guy regardless of the argument being presented to them. We all say the EXACT same shit about this guy every time there’s a topic on him.
Zito supporters trot out his durability and the fact that he’s a fine #5, that everyone should forget the money and,oh my, look at his record when he gets run support.
Zito Realists trot out the fact that he was horrendous in the 2nd half of last season, that he will always be prone to wild swings of production that have no predictable antecedents, that he might in fact NOT be as good as a regular #5 at this point in his career and that the team plays tight behind him and that’s why he gets no run support and that we’d be better off with “ABZ”.
And no one ever, EVER changes their mind on him. I find that funny…..
Meanwhile Rowand has been sucking balls in camp. If SF is going to get into salary dump mode it is likely Rowand this year(if they can’t trade him) and Zito next year but I don’t think Zito is going anywhere until the buy out year.
Dump both. Ouch!
Dirt, where are those WS trophy+you pics you promised?
I’ll post em in bit. Busy indoctrinating the kid with that 27 outs video. That is awesome. She’s watched it about 10 times so far.
How old is she? How the hell do you get her to watch that? I just watched it for the first time. Man, what a great video. Thanks KEVIN for posting that. My favorite part, and I wasn’t expecting they would include it, was the clip of Timmy walking off the mound after the last out of the 7th—utter determination on his face. I remember watching that live and just feeding off that. What a high.
Zito has a few PR problems that make it difficult to get behind him – he makes BBonds type money but whereas Bonds scowled constantly, told people to fuck off and hammered the baseball into the stratosphere, BZ tosses out candyass curves, throws an 83 mph heater, practices yoga, and strums a guitar. On top of that he is on a pitching staff that is as nasty as it gets, and his curve and fastball look even more pathetic. Good pitching is still hard to find and zito is adequate as a 5 ( or call him a “4” so he doesn’t get too bent). He did pitch in the most important game last year that probably enabled the giants to take it all – game #161. thats worth something
I was grateful for Zito’s suckitude in game 161 made game 162 a great experience for my brother and I. The Giants really captivated the whole bay area last fall. Even my dirt head brother was pumped.
Huh? He pitched like shit in that game. He forced us to have to have Dirrrrty step up on the final game of the year to win it for us.
Dirt went to game 162, Flav . . .
You guys are welcome, none of us will ever get tired of that feeling of watching our SF Giants winning the WS. BF I don’t know what I liked more watching Timmy’s reactions or the batters walking away shaking their heads!
Barry Zito
Glaze eyed, unicorn loving, fuck any skank, smoke any dung weed, drink the bong water, masterbate to VICTORIA SECRET catalog yet unable to secrete a portion, Java Juice drinking, falafel eating swallowing, vegan wannabee, dickhead, dicksucking, dickloving, huff-thong-sniffing, petrol smelling, mo-fo thinking…twit.
And here’s what that fucking douche is thinking:
“OH FUCKING CHRIST I’M RICH!!”
And in Zito’s defense, he only thinks that during Spring Training and Post Season
Any normal man that age with that much money would be bummed that he can’t surf (without jeopardizing being rich). Not Zito. Instead, he models high fashion in LA and feels just fine. Somebody, please, shoot the bastard in the left elbow and let’s be done with it.
Flav, she turned 4 in November and is in love with Buster Posey. I posted a couple of pics to the media area but am not quite sure how to carry them over to the thread. Sorry, I’m a bit slow with these fancy internets.
Why without Zito, there goes about half the posts every month. I guess guys would turn up the heat on Rowand and Eli.