Idiots Write About Sports

Today’s Giants game was ugly. Ugly because of the unfortunate three-run seventh inning for the Giants, ugly because of the way the game was blown in the 9th, but mostly ugly because of Meathead.

Meathead, my nickname for Ricky Ledee upon seeing his cro-magnon mug beneath a Giants cap for the first time, really came through today.

In the fifth, with Deivi Cruz on first, Meathead (who is supposedly a contact machine) weakly swung through a pitch, leading to the easy toss-out of Cruz at second.

In the seventh, with Deivi Cruz on first (sound familiar?), Meathead got a 3-2 pitch. Cruz was running on the pitch, but it was clearly going to be ball four. Meathead swung at it. Strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out. Cruz looked appalled as he reached second base.

The seventh ended up being a three-run inning for the Giants, even after Meathead converted a first-and-second, nobody out situation into a nobody-on, two-out situation. Imagine how many runs they could’ve scored were it not for Meathead. In any event, Michael Tucker did some mightily bad baserunning on J.T. Snow’s two-run double, properly retreating back to third when the throw came into the infield, then inexplicably heading home.

Krukow and Kuiper made a big deal out of the play, suggesting that Tucker had to go home to avoid being tagged out at third. I’ve got news for them: Tucker would’ve easily been safe at third. Not even close. But a second bonehead play in the inning ended it, and the Giants got only three runs when they could’ve easily busted the game wide open.

After the obligatory Matt Herges run (singular this time!) in the bottom of the 7th, we head to the 9th, where the Giants clung to a one-run lead. J.D. Drew led off with a single, but what can you do? He’s kind of good. But then, in a sacrifice situation, Pierzynski has a passed ball off the edge of his glove. Atrocious.

Then Julio Franco hits one to Meathead in right field.

Meathead takes a terrible route to the ball, fails to cut it off, and the end result is that Franco is standing on third with the game tied and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth.

The game basically over, Hermanson surrendered the mere formality of a winning hit to Andruw Jones.

So let’s see. Stupid move by Tucker, two caught stealings by Cruz that were somewhat Meathead’s fault, a bad passed ball by Pierzynski, and a lost-in-the-outfield misplay that blew the lead and led to the loss.

I guess I see Thom Brennaman’s point. How in the world is this team still contending for a playoff spot?

Guess it’s all about Superman after all.

Referenced by Across the Seams, in the entry The Pain (Braves 7, Giants 6):
Unfortunately I have saddled myself with this silly office job that takes up way too much of my time, so I was forced to follow today's game via e-mail, ESPN not-so RealTime, and the Web. Looks like it was hideous, and certainly don't think I can top J......

On that 7th inning play, I thought Cruz was as much to blame for the blunder as the Meathead. Probably more.

Cruz took off running and kept looking over his shoulder at the plate. So he saw Meathead swing and miss. And that's when he slowed down -- hell, he practically stopped in the basepaths, so as to make it easier to get tagged out. Seems to me that when you see your teammate strikeout as you're running to second, that's when you should run _harder_ instead of _stopping_. But then I've never mastered baseball to the point where I've been in a position to get released by Tampa Bay during spring training.

Another thing I don't get -- yes, I work for a living, why do you ask -- is why the Giants didn't send Barry Bonds to the plate that inning to pinch hit for Tucker. You've got a bases loaded situation where you're down by a run and J.T. Snow in the hole -- surely, if there's ever a time when Bonds will get a pitch to hit, it's now. And certainly, he's more than likely to do some damage the plate than Tucker. So why not use him when the using's good?

Yeah, it sort of worked out for the Giants -- Tucker drew the bases loaded walk (And then got hung up in the running snafu detailed above). Seems like putting Bonds up there might have worked out even better. It's hard to get thrown out at the plate on a home-run after all.

There is no doubt that Cruz stopped running when he shouldn't have. Meathead's stupidity so flummoxed him that he was stupid himself. Stupidity squared!

Get back to work, Phil.

Incidentally, my parents dubbed my intermittent high school boyfriend (1988-1991) The Meathead, so when I first read your post, I was all, "Why is Jason writing about my prom date? How does he even know about The Meathead?"

Re-reading: it's what's for dinner.

This is OT, but the Cubs promoted Neifi Perez to the big club yesterday. Hooray for the Ted McGinley of baseball!

And the Neifster is 5 for 5 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base, roughly equalling his totals for the portion of the season spent with the Giants.