RMJ 152 July 17

THURSDAY, JULY 17 ● Houston, vs San Francisco

I thought I felt groggy the morning after the 15-inning game with the Cubs, but that feeling was nothing compared to this one. It wasn’t a hangover; I only had three beers. It was more like jet lag, or a profound case of angst.

I was hoping our players weren’t feeling the same way. But I fear they were. We sure looked flat, losing to the Giants 3-1.

In a way, it’s our own fault. We choose to play our midweek day games at 12:30, rather than the customary time of 1:30. I don’t know how the fans feel about it, but I sure would appreciate another hour of sleep.

This game was particularly frustrating because we got good pitching from Chis Holt, and we played good defense. We just couldn’t get anything going against Mark Gardner. This guy is 35 years old, and he only throws 85 MPH. He used to have a great curve ball, and it is still good, but he got most of his outs with fastballs.

Biggio, Bagwell and González were a combined 0-for-12. It just goes to show that a well-placed fastball is still the best pitch in the game.

It also goes to show the resilience of the Dusty Baker Giants. They are 13 games over .500 and running four games in front of the second-place team in the West. Earlier in the year, I said that they couldn’t keep it up; now I’m not so sure.

They have some power, but little speed. They have some good pitchers, but little pitching power. In fact, they only have two pitchers on their staff who throw 90 MPH. Even their closer, Rod Beck, is a finesse pitcher.

I give a lot of the credit to their pitching coach, Dick Pole, and a lot of credit to Dusty for keeping the team focused.

The secret to success in this sport is to win the games you have a chance to win. The Giants are doing a great job of it, just like the Astros did in 1980.

The Astros outscored their opponents by only 48 runs over the course of that season, yet they won the West with a record of 93-70. They won almost every game they could. They often lost by a wide margin, but margins are not important in baseball.

This season, we are about even with our opponents in runs scored and runs allowed. Our record is accurately reflected in the runs column. The Giants are defying statistical measurements with their clutch play. They have scored about 30 fewer runs than their opponents, yet they keep winning.

If I had to vote right now, Dusty Baker would be my Manager of the Year. If I had to rate myself, I would get a C. That’s not bad at this level, but it’s not good enough to keep a job very long.

 

I slept some on the way to Montreal. The flight didn’t seem too long, and we got in at 9:30 — a reasonable hour. I would prefer to have played a night game, won it, and to have arrived at 5:00 in the morning.

Anyway, what’s done is done. Now all we have to do is beat Pédro Martínez, the best pitcher in the league, tomorrow night.