Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Swytek and...
Barry Zito got Matt Cained today, pitching a beauty but ending up with nothing to show for it. Zito's control was terrific and, except for the two home run balls hit by Mike Cameron and Khalil Greene, he surrendered nary a well-struck baseball. The offense let him down (as Cain sits back and chortles, "Now you know how it feels."), but tonight Zito pitched like a man who deserves the most lucrative contract ever given to a pitcher.
So where is this in every start? If we don't get Good Zito we get Bad Zito, and lately the latter has been showing up more frequently. Check out these splits, courtesy of Lefty Malo, showing the Jekyll/Hyde act by Zito so far. When he's good he's been Bob Gibson circa 1968. When he's bad he's Jeff Weaver circa now.
Here, this is my little tribute for when we see Good Zito. I'll break out the other, less flattering photo when Bad Zito rears his ugly head again.
The game ended tonight on a caught stealing, which you never, ever like to see, but Dave Roberts getting nabbed by Michael Barrett was an upset of monstrous proportions. One of the best percentage basestealers in the league versus one of the worst defensive catchers? Go figure. I bet nine times out of ten Barrett throws a two-hopper and Roberts steals the bag with his eyes closed, but this time Barrett threw a seed and it unfortunately came at the most crucial point of the game.
Maybe it's just one of those years. If the Giants really do want to get back in the race somehow, they're going to have to win pretty much every series from here on out. Beating Greg Maddux tomorrow, and getting Cain some @!#$% run support, would be a good start.
So where is this in every start? If we don't get Good Zito we get Bad Zito, and lately the latter has been showing up more frequently. Check out these splits, courtesy of Lefty Malo, showing the Jekyll/Hyde act by Zito so far. When he's good he's been Bob Gibson circa 1968. When he's bad he's Jeff Weaver circa now.
Here, this is my little tribute for when we see Good Zito. I'll break out the other, less flattering photo when Bad Zito rears his ugly head again.
The game ended tonight on a caught stealing, which you never, ever like to see, but Dave Roberts getting nabbed by Michael Barrett was an upset of monstrous proportions. One of the best percentage basestealers in the league versus one of the worst defensive catchers? Go figure. I bet nine times out of ten Barrett throws a two-hopper and Roberts steals the bag with his eyes closed, but this time Barrett threw a seed and it unfortunately came at the most crucial point of the game.
Maybe it's just one of those years. If the Giants really do want to get back in the race somehow, they're going to have to win pretty much every series from here on out. Beating Greg Maddux tomorrow, and getting Cain some @!#$% run support, would be a good start.
