Sunday, October 18, 2009
Carney-Vale
The Giants fired hitting coach Carney Lansford the other day, insisting he wasn't a scapegoat for the team's poor offensive performance. Yeah, pull the other one. The Giants had one of the three worst offenses in baseball last season, and I guess it's only natural to blame the guy supposedly in charge of guiding the hitters throughout the season, as if Lansford could just magically make Edgar Renteria stop sucking. The Giants apparently informed Lansford of his firing on the same day that he was at a funeral, burying his father-in-law. I really hope that the team just didn't realize that one of Lansford's family members had passed away. If they did...humanity shudders.
Maybe Lansford was the worst hitting coach in the world. I don't know. What I do know is that it would be impossible to tell when in charge of this bunch. No one short of Harry Houdini could turn this Giants lineup into anything resembling quality. Aaron Rowand has been swinging at sliders a foot off the plate for years. Bengie Molina has been utterly clueless at the plate since the beginning of his career. There's nothing Lansford could have done to turn these guys into the OBP machines we all want them to be. If he had done so, then he would have deserved the Nobel Peace Prize or something (though some would say he did just as much to deserved it as Obama...ba-zing!).
You can only build with the blocks you are given, and Lansford was handed three tiny Legos and some Elmer's glue and told to make magic happen. When he couldn't, he was sent on his way.
The real blame here, of course, should go to the architect, the man who brought such an inept cast of characters together and then stuck Lansford with the impossible task of turning dogshit into diamonds. That man, however, is here for another two years, riding the wave of a surprising 16-game improvement over the previous season.
Anyone who thought that Brain Sabean and/or Bruce Bochy would be axed after the Giants won 88 games this year is insane. You don't fire the guys who are supposedly behind such a drastic improvement, even if the Plexiglass Principle and other clear reasons for probable regression next season are staring you in the face. The Giants shocked the world, Sabean and Bochy got all the accolades. Lansford got a rock.
If anything, from reading his quotes in the paper about hitters needing to be more patient, it sounds like Lansford did everything he could to legitimately improve this offense. Instead of a pat on the back he got kicked to the curb, having to shoulder the blame for other peoples' failings. Ridiculous. It probably not a good sign that the offseason is being kicked off with a cold, asinine move such as this.
Maybe Lansford was the worst hitting coach in the world. I don't know. What I do know is that it would be impossible to tell when in charge of this bunch. No one short of Harry Houdini could turn this Giants lineup into anything resembling quality. Aaron Rowand has been swinging at sliders a foot off the plate for years. Bengie Molina has been utterly clueless at the plate since the beginning of his career. There's nothing Lansford could have done to turn these guys into the OBP machines we all want them to be. If he had done so, then he would have deserved the Nobel Peace Prize or something (though some would say he did just as much to deserved it as Obama...ba-zing!).
You can only build with the blocks you are given, and Lansford was handed three tiny Legos and some Elmer's glue and told to make magic happen. When he couldn't, he was sent on his way.
The real blame here, of course, should go to the architect, the man who brought such an inept cast of characters together and then stuck Lansford with the impossible task of turning dogshit into diamonds. That man, however, is here for another two years, riding the wave of a surprising 16-game improvement over the previous season.
Anyone who thought that Brain Sabean and/or Bruce Bochy would be axed after the Giants won 88 games this year is insane. You don't fire the guys who are supposedly behind such a drastic improvement, even if the Plexiglass Principle and other clear reasons for probable regression next season are staring you in the face. The Giants shocked the world, Sabean and Bochy got all the accolades. Lansford got a rock.
If anything, from reading his quotes in the paper about hitters needing to be more patient, it sounds like Lansford did everything he could to legitimately improve this offense. Instead of a pat on the back he got kicked to the curb, having to shoulder the blame for other peoples' failings. Ridiculous. It probably not a good sign that the offseason is being kicked off with a cold, asinine move such as this.
