Dodger Game 2-26-09

Since I wasn't able to comment on the horrific 16-7 loss to the Dodger due to technical difficulties........just a couple of belated thoughts.

I know a lot of folks were down on Pat Misch because of his poor performance on the day (4 hits, 2 walks and 5 ER in only 2/3 inning), but to me.......this was another case of "What was management thinking?". Timmy Lincecum throws only 18 pitches on Wednesday. In this game a big horse like Matt Cain throws only 1 2/3 innings. OK......they are being overprotective of the arms because it is still early.....I get that. Yet Pat Misch, who just threw 2 full innings in the intra-squad game on Tuesday.....is thrown out there to stink this game up. When they brought Misch out of the pen to finish off Cain's inning, my thinking was.......OK.....since the pitch count limited Cain to less than 2 innings, they are bringing Misch out for 1 batter just to finish the inning off and not mess up the day's planned rotation. Misch accomplished this task and I thought he was out of the game. But Giants management saw fit to bring him out to begin the 3rd inning........and he got killed.

Remember, Misch threw 2 full innings of 1 hit shutout ball in the practice game on Tuesday. Now they bring him back to pitch parts of 2 innings on Thursday? Since when does a pitcher throw in 4 innings, in a 48 hour period this early in the spring. It's spring, I don't mind losing games (although losing this badly to the Dodgers does cause some minor amount of pain)........but come on.....What were they thinking?

I was more disappointed in Jeremy Affeldt's performance (5 hits, 4 ER in 1 inning). I really haven't seen much from Affeldt so far. At least he didn't have the control problems he had last time I saw him pitch live BP. It's early, so I'm not too worried......but I have been a little disappointed in what I have seen so far from Jeremy.

The other bad pitching performance was by Sergio Romo who gave up 6 runs (although 3 were unearned thanks to a Ryan Rohlinger error at 3B). Despite the error, Romo was just too darn hittable......and that was not against the Dodger's regulars. I am hoping that Romo is a big part of this years bullpen. Again......no reason to panic....but still a little worrisome.

The good news is that the hitting was good enough to win most games. But some pretty poor pitching performances, from guys who the Giants are counting on this year, was less than encouraging.