Boo

Armando Benitez blew it, plain and simple. It wasn't just one mistake, it was an inning full of them. 1) You can't walk Reyes to open the inning. He walked Reyes. 2) Reyes is going to get to second, possibly with a steal, but balking him to second is inexcusable. You can argue whether it was a balk or not, given the first-base umpire's reputation, but he did start and stop. 3) Then you can't balk the guy in to tie the game! It's unbelievable, really. Complete mental shutdown. 4) Last, he throws a 2-2 meatball to Delgado, the pitch he should have been throwing to Reyes to begin the inning.

There's not a whole lot of choices down in the pen, but if you're Bochy and Benitez is coming off a terrible outing over the weekend and you're in extras in New York, you might think twice about bringing the guy in. Well, at least you will now. Alas, what choice do the Giants have as closer? Brad Hennessey?

It's unfortunate, as the Giants defense and the rest of the bullpen produced a great performance. Watching Russ Ortiz pitch in pressure situations is not my idea of fun, but he pulled it out. It did get me to thinking that his fastball looks quite hittable. Ortiz at this point is just trying to stay in the majors, so you wonder ... at what point does a guy like that consider -- ahem -- altering the ball? Scuffer or spitter? What's he got to lose?

The Giants offense, if you can call it that, really isn't a team thing. The parts don't ever seem to mesh together in any efficient manner. Scoring requires a home run or three consecutive hits. It does have predictability going for it. Bengie Molina is the team MVP. Bat him 5th. (Max: Bring a glass of water! Chief: Water? This man has been shot! Water won't help! Max: Won't hurt.)

Can someone put together a DVD of Omar Vizquel's greatest defensive plays? The guy is a treasure. In the 4th, Chavez bounced one to short that Vizquel barehanded before throwing him out. You just have to see it. Then in the 9th he makes the diving stop on Franco then rolls over to try to get the force. The throw was wide, but Frandsen, perhaps inspired by Omar, made a spectacular barehanded catch and stretch to retire the side.

Lincecum was exciting, but the Mets made him pay for the mistakes he made. Delgado absolutely creamed a belt-high fastball to tie the game, and Beltran drove in the third on an 0-2 mistake. Other than that, typical Lincecum, making big leaguers look silly. Lo Duca was an exception, as he fouled a bunch of pitches off to work a walk in the 5th. Lincecum's fastball had a little tail into right-handers early in the game. The pitch to strike out Beltran in the 1st was just sick, 99 mph with late movement. No one is hitting that. He had some trouble getting the curve over until Bengie Molina went out in the 5th to talk to him. I didn't see him throw many changes.

Watching the past few weeks of Fred Lewis and Dan Ortmeier, I just have to ask: How did Todd Linden stay ahead of these guys? Ortmeier struck out looking against Wagner tonight, but the quality of the AB was miles ahead of anything I'd seen out of Linden. (He didn't miss that first foul ball by much.)

Although ... Lewis does seem to have some issues in the field. He doesn't seem to pick up the ball quickly. Wright's fly in the 9th could have been caught, but Lewis misjudged how close he was to the wall and wound up missing it when his shoulder slammed into the wall, halting his leap. (Still, the ball was crushed and nearly left the yard.)

Comments

[barrataria]

I agree with you as usual sir. Except for one thing: it doesn't matter who else is around to close. As long as there isn't enough offense to win 1-2 run ballgames, a closer is a luxury. And, not having another closer doesn't somehow make Benitez better. Hennessey. Correia. Rotate them. If someone steps up, great, problem solved. If someone doesn't step up, at least the shame and embarrasment can be spread among others. The Giants should have traded Benitez for a bucket of rocks earlier in the year.

BB