By Art Spander
For Maven Sports
OAKLAND, Calif. — This is the kind of day it was for the Oakland Athletics: A first baseman came in as a reliever; on two different occasions, fans jumped out of the stands, dashed across the diamond and were taken into custody; and the home team couldn’t pitch or hit.
Copyright 2019, The Maven
By Art Spander
Bruce Bochy was talking about the little things, about moving a runner, about laying down a bunt. It’s the big thing that’s beating the Giants, an inability to score, whatever which way, a ground out, a home run. And when you can’t score, you can’t win. That’s a sporting truism. And right now, a San Francisco Giants flaw.
Everyone was so worried about Matt Cain, the Giants starter, winless since the middle of last season. What happens if Cain gets battered around as he did in his last start against the Rockies? The question was academic. San Francisco’s offensive woes seem to be endemic. Cain had his best game of the year. So encouraging. The Giants, beaten 4-0 by Toronto on a chilly, Candlestick-type Tuesday night at AT&T Park, had another scoreless round — shut out for the second time in three games.
Three runs over the last four games for the Giants — who somehow won one of those games, but none of the last three. “We ran into some well-pitched games the last two nights,’’ said Bochy. No question. It was lefthander J.A. Happ on Tuesday night for the Blue Jays. He was within one out of his first complete-game shutout in six years. It was righthander Aaron Sanchez on Monday night in the 3-1 win.
“We just need one critical hit,“ said Bochy, “one at bat that works.” Nothing is working for the Giants when they have a bat in their hands. The heart of the order, Buster Posey (0-for-4 including a double play), Hunter Pence (1-for-4) and Brandon Belt (0-for-3 with a walk) seem mystified.
Three days ago, there was near-panic about the fourth and fifth pitchers in the Giants’ rotation, Jake Peavy and Cain. Peavy made it through five innings on Monday night. Not without problems, yet he allowed only three runs. Then Cain was very effective Tuesday, going eight innings — his hadn’t gone more than six in his previous 18 starts — striking out seven, walking none and allowing six hits.
And the Giants couldn’t get a single run. Just as on Sunday they couldn’t get a single run.
In order, the Giants lost 2-0 to the Rockies, 3-1 to the Blue Jays and 4-0 to the Blue Jays. The Bad News Bears weren’t that bad.
“We’ve got to find a way to beat them,” said Bochy. One way is to get people across home plate.
It's hard to knock your pitcher when he’s decent on the mound and botches something when he’s at bat, but in the bottom of the sixth the Giants had runners on first and second with nobody out and their pitcher, Mr. Cain, coming up. Everyone from McCovey Cove to Cooperstown knew he would sacrifice, and he tried, without success.
Cain’s bunt was fielded by Happ, who forced the runner (Jarrett Parker, who had walked). Then leadoff man Denard Span grounded into a double play, the sequence of a team for which everything of late goes wrong — and nobody goes home.
Cain was as upbeat as someone can be when the ballclub is losing.
“I felt like I limited my mistakes,” he said. “We did a good job of keeping those to a minimum. This is something to build off of and carry into the next one.”
Unfortunately, he’s now 0-5 and is winless in 14 consecutive starts.
The bunt? “I didn't get the angle right to third," Cain said. “That's our job as pitchers. We need to be able to execute. That could have changed the game.”
That’s the Giants right now, talking about what might have been, could have and would have. If this had happened... but what did happen was another defeat, and with the homestand ending Wednesday with yet another game against the Blue Jays, San Francisco has a losing record, 17-18.
“I’ve tried to shake things up,” said Bochy, who had Duffy batting sixth instead of second (he was 0-for-3 with a walk). “But our big hitters are cold.”
Maybe they can sign Steph Curry to bat cleanup.
By Art Spander
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — There were days when Ricky Romero would sit and wonder, “Why me?” Why someone in his prime, someone so skilled, someone “so dedicated and passionate about the game of baseball,” as he described himself, would suddenly have his body fail him and send him crashing not just out of the majors but out of the game.
He was the sixth overall pick in the 2005 draft, from Cal State Fullerton, and in six years an All-Star for the Toronto Blue Jays. So perfect an arc for anyone, especially a kid from the barrio, from East Los Angeles. A lefthanded pitcher, and you know how valuable they are.
In his late 20s the value diminished. An elbow ache. He compensated by trying to drive harder off the mound, and both knees — sore from running the stadium steps to get in shape — went bad.
As did his ERA, ballooning to 5.77 in 2012 from 2.92 the previous year. He underwent surgery on each knee. And struggled. Although he had $8 million coming, in 2014 the Jays sent him to Triple A Buffalo. He was pounded in two starts and cut.
“I asked myself, am I just going to sit here and feel sorry for myself or am I going to go to work and do what I have to do?” Romero remembered. “There were a lot of rehab days where I said, ‘This is it. I’m just tired of being in pain.’ Then finally the Giants called. They said, ‘We don’t want you ready for this year (2015). We want you ready for next year.’ I thought, let’s do it.”
Next year arrived on a humid, 84-degree afternoon Saturday at Scottsdale Stadium. For the first time in two years Romero pitched against major leaguers. He started the Giants’ Cactus League game against the Texas Rangers, went 1 2/3 innings and although allowing a hit and two walks didn’t give up a run.
Eventually the Giants would be beaten by Texas, 7-5, before a sellout crowd of 11,351. Yet that seemed unimportant. Romero was not. “This was a big day for him,” affirmed Bruce Bochy, the Giants’ manager.
“This,” said Bochy, “has been a long road for him.”
Where it leads is impossible to suggest. Does Romero regain the dominance of the past, at the least find a spot in the rotation of the Giants’ AAA affiliate in Sacramento and then, when and if someone on the San Francisco staff falters or is hurt, move up to the big club? Or does he never make it back to the majors?
“Look at his track record,” said Bochy, an unrelenting optimist. “You can tell he’s got experience just by his poise and how he pitches.”
This comeback hardly is a lark for Romero. He misses the game, misses the clubhouse, misses the feeling of making a contribution. At 31, he doesn’t need the money. He needs the acceptance.
“At this point in my career,” said Romero,” there’s no pressure. I’ve been through it with injuries. Whatever happens, happens because of the work that I put in. I think I did a pretty good job of that. Just to be part of this team, with a coaching staff like this, is pretty cool.”
The knee is healthy. The outlook is healthy. Time and patience were necessary. Obviously a team like the Giants, with pitching depth, a perceptive front office and a large budget, had the smarts and wherewithal to go about it in a proper manner.
“I’m being smart about certain things,” said Romero. “I’m not 23 years old anymore. It’s been a process. After I signed here, I still was rehabbing. I showed up on the minor league side. They saw me play catch for the first time. They’re like, you’re not going on any mound yet, even though I had thrown live batting practice in Toronto.
“So I took a step back. This ain’t a race I had to get back into the year I signed.”
Now the race is underway again.
“My agent asked me over the winter if I wanted to go back with the Giants,” said Romero. “I said, 'If they want me back.' They did the job helping me get healthy. If I can help them in whatever way, I will help them. You might be the guy they call up. These guys are winning for a reason.”
Ricky Romero can only wish he’s part of that reason.
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