By Art Spander
SAN FRANCISCO — The manager was talking about resilience. Bruce Bochy said he’s proud of the way the Giants, his team, came back when it seemed to have no chance. Yes, the San Francisco Giants are persistent, courageous, gutsy. But they’re not successful.
They rallied in the ninth. Scored two runs to send the game into extra innings, then lost in the 10th, then Tuesday night were beaten, 3-2, by the Chicago White Sox, who had dropped five of their previous six. Which doesn’t say much for the Giants.
Their race is all but run, resilient or not. They’ve lost five in a row. They’re six behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that never loses, as opposed to the Giants, who lately never win.
Six back, and in May the Giants were 9½ ahead. Sure it was early, but they looked like a contender, maybe a champion. Now they look like a team that is lucky to get a run.
Bochy was talking about the almosts, which is what happens when you’re not quite as good as you thought you would be, not quite as good as most of baseball thought you’d be.
Hunter Pence was on third in the bottom of the first with one out, but he broke slowly on a grounder to short and was cut down at the plate.
In the bottom of the ninth, trailing 2-0, with the bases loaded and none out, Joe Panik hit a smash up the middle, but White Sox second baseman Gordon Beckham made a spectacular diving stop and it was a 4-6-3 double play. Yes, San Francisco eventually tied, but it could have won in nine.
Still, could-haves and would-haves are the thoughts of teams that can’t find a way to win. They may not quit — nor do the fans, the sellout crowd of 42,317 at AT&T Park staying and screaming to an end that was bitter — but neither do they win.
“We could use a break,” sighed Bochy in his post-game remarks.
They could. They also could use some runs. They did avoid being shut out for a 14th time this season, and they were facing one of the best pitchers in baseball in Chicago’s Chris Sale, but a run here or there just isn’t enough.
Especially when in the first inning Ryan Vogelsong gave up two on a home run to Adam Dunn. One mistake. In another season, perhaps, that’s overcome. Not this season for the Giants, so painfully ineffective.
“We have to pitch shutouts,” Bochy said in a conversation before the game. It was an offhanded remark, but there is a great deal of truth. Because the other team pitches shutouts against the Giants.
Especially when Vogelsong is pitching by the Bay. He was gone by the time the Giants finally broke through, and this was the fifth straight home game in which Vogelsong received not one iota of offensive help. It also was the eighth time in 24 starts overall.
The Giants simply can’t score. Angel Pagan, Pence, Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval, the four men at the top of the order, had one hit apiece Tuesday night. It was a two-out single by Brandon Crawford, the No. 8 batter, that tied the game.
“Their defense beat us,” said Bochy. “That double play on the Panik ball was one of the best I’ve seen.”
Bochy is remarkable at keeping his cool. He doesn’t throw equipment. He doesn’t berate his athletes. He simply says things like, “This was a tough one,” and again, “We could use a break.”
No less, they could use some hitters. The strain on the pitchers must be enormous. And now there’s no Matt Cain, who at the least underwent successful surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow.
No Cain. No hitting. No runs. A bad combination.
Six games back of the Dodgers, and a month and a half to go. The talk is about a wild card, but if they can’t beat the White Sox, a team with a losing record, then whom can they beat? They were swept by the Dodgers, swept by the Kansas City Royals.
“I was hoping when Hunter (Pence) was caught at home it wouldn’t affect the game,” said Bochy, “but it did. We were behind 2-0 in the first and it would have been 2-1. I don’t think he read it right. He’s as good a runner as we have.”
Giants home night games are mostly as they have been. There’s the recording of Sinatra singing “Strangers in the Night,” and close-ups of fans kissing. There’s the recording of Journey singing “Don’t Stop Believin.’”
What’s changed is the Giants can’t score and can’t win. Maybe it is time to stop believin’.
