Giants Implode – Fail To Sweep Phillies

*phone rings*

“Hello, Giants? This is the Titanic”

“Oh! Hi Titanic – how are you?”

“Well, probably better than you right now”

What a meltdown. An uber meltdown. The bullpen was awful for the first time in ages and while the offense showed some fight, it was the defense that really let them down. Well, actually, it was Eugenio Velez more than it was the defense – but I’m not going to blame Velez for that….

I’ve seen some people blame Bochy for the loss because he removed Lincecum. Eh, understandable, because even a tired Lincecum most likely could have capped off two more outs, but with a bullpen like the Giants have, your baseball brain tells you to lean on them.

Sure, Affeldt and Romo had some really bad moments yesterday, but, I’m not going to blame them either. Affeldt had some crazy late movement that he couldn’t seem to control and Romo simply has a hanging slider that he tends to throw once a game and we have to pray it’s not sent into the Bay.

What I will blame is the continued desire to force guys into situations where they are set up to fail. First, it was Bochy’s request that Travis Ishikawa attempt to bunt a runner over. Yes, as a professional baseball player, Travis should be able to drop down a bunt – but he can’t. You know it. I know it. The few times he’s even made an attempt before, he’s looked like Ray Charles line-dancing.

Then we move onto Bochy’s desire to throw Velez in the outfield continually. There is that guy that they were so high on to start the season, you know, the guy that won the starting right field job – what’s his name? Oh! Bowker. Yes. And there he sat, on the bench, an outfielder, while Bochy insists on playing quite possibly the worst defensive player on the Giants, out of position, in crunch time. And of course, he repays him with two dropped fly-balls; one of which was dropped off of pure laziness and lack of concentration.

I watched Bochy for years in San Diego and now am forced to watch him again with the Giants. I question what I ever did to the baseball God’s to have this thrown upon me.

Tags: Bruce Bochy, Eugenio Velez, Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo, Tim Lincecum