2008, Bochy's Blunder

[love_that_reefer]

The 2008 season was doomed from the start thanks to a man I call "the Retard" but you may know him as Bruce Bochy, the San Francisco Giants manager. The Giants never recovered. It all started when Bochy announced that Barry Zito would be the Opening Day starter over the likes of Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. Zito went 11-13 with a 4.53 ERA in '07 and had no business whatsoever going against other team's aces. Sure enough, Zito finished the year going 10-17 with a 5.15 ERA. So right off the bat, the Giants were screwed and Bochy had plenty more screw ups left in him.

After the first month where he started Aurilia at first almost everyday even though he wasn't producing and SS Brian Bocock who had never played above AA, the Retard fell in love with John Bowker and Emmanuel Burriss. Burriss played well until Omar Vizquel came off the DL and Burriss was sent to the bench to rot but Bowker was hit or miss. Bowker showcased power in his first couple of weeks but Bochy stuck with him for far too long. June was by far his best month where he hit .325 with 4 HRs and 19 RBI but fell off big time in the months to follow. Daniel Ortmeier should have had more at bats in April while Aurilia was not getting the job done. Instead they brought in Bowker who had never played first before while as Ortmeier had been working with J.T. Snow during the spring. I will get back to this shortly.

There is the matter of giving Patrick Misch way too many opportunites. Misch started 7 games in '08 and didn't win a one of them. I know I was all for him getting a chance but after the couple of starts, Bochy should have gone with someone else. Misch was giving up runs left and right and never going deep into a ballgame. MLB hitters were feasting on him and the Giants should have either made a move or called someone up. There was no reason for him to keep getting the ball everday. Misch ended the season with a 5.68 ERA.

Here's where I have the biggest problem with Bochy. On June 22nd, the Giants were only seven games out and knew the West was going to be a weak division and that it was anyone's for the taking. So what does Bochy do? He continues to play Omar Vizquel who was hitting just .169 with a .237 OBP as of June 22nd!! Who does that? How does someone with those horrible numbers continue to get starts when you are only seven games out?? Emmanuel Burriss on June 22nd was hitting .286 with a .353 OBP. How could Bochy not make the obvious choice especially after Vizquel's disastrous 2007 season? This costs us big time.

After June 22nd and getting back to Bowker, Bochy stuck with Bowker for all of July for him to hit only .194 with a .247 OBP. The kid could not work a count to save his life and always swung at the first pitch with RISP. Bochy should have seen this and benched him for Aurilia who had started to hit or bring up a real first baseman like Travis Ishiikawa who was finally called up but only after it was too late. Bochy stuck with this kid way too long and this too costs us.

Then there is the matter of continuing to put Tyler Walker and Jack Taschner in setup roles. Walker finished with a 5-8 record, a 4.56 ERA and 3 blown saves. Not setup material at all!! Taschner finished with a 3-2 record, a 4.88 ERA and 4 blown saves. What were these guys doing in the ballgame in the 8th inning? Why were they still on the active roster?

Bochy made so many piss poor moves that costs us a chance a compete for a division title. Do I think the Giants could have won the West? No but I do think they could have been competitive with a better manager. Just too many bad decisions costs us any chance of that. He kept playing Eugenio Velez despite hitting .207 with a .244 OBP. Those stats are what he had on the day he was finally sent down to the minors on May 19th. Why would someone that awful keep getting playing?? Especially over Ray Durham who was having a good year. And why would you play him in the OF when the Giants had plenty of OFers to throw out there? Misch got too many opportunities as did Bowker and definitely Vizquel. Walker and Taschner shouldn't have been setting up anyone. Jose Castillo got too much playing time as well. Bochy is not a good manager and I hope the Giants go in a different direction.

Bochy started the season off on a very poor decision starting Zito against other teams aces and the Giants never recovered. Bochy never tried to make this team better even when they were just seven games out in late June. That's when most managers would cut the fat and go for it, no Bochy. He rather stick with players not hitting their weight. All I can do is hope Bochy will not be back next year and the Giants can get back to their winnings ways.

[Bear]

Well it would be nice, but it will never happen. He is here for at least one more season, and then we may see a change.