Giants 5 Dodgers 4

The only good sporting news coming out of the Bay Area last night was that the Giants beat the Dodgers, coming from behind to win by 1. Obviously I made the choice to watch the Sharks game last night and I haven’t had the opportunity to watch the replay of this one, so basically any information I could give you would come from ESPN highlights.

What I will say is that it looks like Zito is pitching a whole lot better this year than in years past. I’m not sure if that’s because of a new and improved workout regimen, or because he very clearly has no pressure on him to perform anymore because nobody anywhere expects him to pitch well. Somehow though, he’s putting up some decent numbers. Hopefully that’ll continue. I may have to stop referring to him by his alternate names, like Barry "Trade Me" Zito, or Barry "If I was a right-hander I'd be out of the league" Zito, or Barry "Sabean's Mistake" Zito. Seriously though, I don't hate the guy, he's been nothing but a positive force off the field and is, by all accounts, a great human being. It's not his fault that he's overpaid by a country mile. I just hate that the Giants are putting such a large portion of their money into a guy who pitches like a 5th starter, but is paid like an ace.

It looks like Sandoval is going to be catching every 5th day or so for Zito, by the way. I don’t have a problem with this. We need to give Molina a rest occasionally, and we need to keep Sandoval in the lineup so that he can improve. I mean, yeah, Molina is our cleanup hitter, but the fact that I even have to write that sentence shows what a sad state our batting order is in. Molina has no future on our team beyond this year, and maybe next. After that, Buster Posey will be taking his spot. So removing him from the lineup to keep Sandoval in seems to be the right move.

The Giants team this year has to be all about development for the future, and seeing what is there for you talent wise. The future of this team isn’t going to be built around Rowand, Winn, Molina or Aurelia. It’ll be around our young pitching and hitting. That’s why I think that we need to play guys like Ishikawa, Burris, Sandoval, etc… pretty much every day, regardless of their struggles, to find out what we have and to let those players develop. I’m not a manager, but common sense says that a young player is going to perform a heck of a lot better when they know that the job is theirs, and they don’t have to be looking over their shoulder every time they have an 0 – 4 day with 3 strikeouts. They’re young. It’s going to happen. 20 games isn’t a huge sample size. Give them time.

I’m not looking for a winning team this year; I’m looking for a team that’s fun to watch.