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.