Henry Schulman - San Francisco Chronicle
-If you think the Giants have problems, consider the Rockies. The Giants were supposed to struggle. The Rockies won the National League pennant last year and with their youth, were supposed to rock and roll for a long time. Then they started the season 15-27.
Things are looking up for Colorado. The Rockies won their last two games against Minnesota over the weekend. Then the Giants popped up on their schedule.
Make it three in a row for the Rox, who came from behind to win 4-3 Monday night and extend the Giants' losing streak to six games, their longest since an eight-gamer in mid-June last season. The decisive hit was a two-out, two-run double in the sixth inning by former Giants catcher Yorvit Torrealba against Vinnie Chulk.
Only a Padres loss against St. Louis on Monday night saved the Giants (17-29) from falling into a tie with San Diego for the worst record in the majors.
"Basically, it was my fault. I hit my spot, but it was not a good pitch selection," Chulk said of an inside fastball that rode into Torrealba's strength, his quick hands.
Actually, a team going as rottenly as the Giants can spread the fault around. Even manager Bruce Bochy left himself open to second-guessing with two critical decisions. Both were defensible on some level. Both backfired.
The first was removing Pat Misch for Chulk with one out in the sixth after Matt Holliday's double and Garrett Atkins single cut a 3-1 Giants lead to 3-2. Misch's pitch count (88) was not in the danger zone, the next two hitters were 0-for-4 in the game and Chulk has had a propensity for coughing up big hits at the worst time.
This month alone, Chulk has allowed two crushing homers, including Lance Berkman's game-winner into San Francisco Bay on Thursday.
"He was getting the ball up," Bochy said of Misch. "We had the matchups we wanted. Misch, he was pitching a good ballgame there. That inning, he was up."
Chulk walked Ryan Spilborghs. He rebounded to strike out Jeff Baker before Torrealba ripped his chalk-hugging double into the left-field corner, a ball that probably would have hooked foul at sea level. Holliday jogged home from second and Spilborghs blew through a stop sign from third-base coach Mike Gallego to score the go-ahead run.
"If I was thrown out," Spilborghs said, "I'm sure I'd be getting a lot of s - right now."
Fortunately for Spilborghs, Fred Lewis bounced his throw and handcuffed cutoff man Omar Vizquel, who had no shot at a relay home. The Rockies led 4-3, and Misch again missed on what is becoming an elusive first big-league win.
Bochy said he has to keep turning to his bedraggled bullpen, which allowed 20 earned runs (10 by Tyler Walker) in 27 innings on the last homestand.
"We need those guys to come through," Bochy said. "He (Chulk) made a mistake. He's got good stuff. We've just got to pitch smarter."
The other decision by Bochy was having Eugenio Velez pinch-run after Jose Castillo's leadoff single in the ninth against closer Brian Fuentes. Velez is fast and Torrealba does not have a good arm behind the plate, but Velez is getting terrible reads against left-handed pitchers and keeps getting picked off. Sure enough, it happened again. Rally over.
"I'm pinch-running for a reason," Bochy said. "We've got a good base-stealer there. Facing their closer, you're hoping to steal a base and get the runner into scoring position. We're not the kind of club that can sit back. He's a good base-stealer. He's just in a stretch where he's making mistakes against left-handers. He'll figure it out. In that situation, you can't guess that much."
The Giants wasted good offensive performances by Randy Winn and Lewis. Winn homered to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and added a sacrifice fly and a single. Lewis hit two triples. His first, against starter Jorge De La Rosa, was his first extra-base hit this season, and fourth hit overall, in 23 at-bats against left-handed pitchers.
Coors Field is kind to Lewis. He hit for the cycle here last season.
"I love it," Lewis said. "The ball travels here. I'm just happy to see a left-handed pitcher. That's what I need to work on right now. I haven't seen it in awhile."
Sort of like the Giants, who have not seen a victory in awhile.
Comment: Here we go again. Back to losing 101. Just when you start having hope of improvement, another bump in the road. In the minors....look for Pablo Sandoval. The switch hitting catcher now at Class A San Jose is hitting above .400 with power. More to come....
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