John Shea - San Francisco Chronicle(SFGate.com)
What's more embarrassing, 2-11 or 14-24? Barry Zito's season record or the Giants' home record?
Actually, they're intertwined. One-third of the Giants' home losses have come on Zito's watch. They lost all eight of his home starts, and he's 0-7 with a 7.34 ERA when wearing the home whites or home oranges.
"It feels terrible to let the team down," Zito said. "That's the hardest part, to go out there and have the guys bust their tail and come in here with a loss."
In Wednesday's latest breakdown, Zito was pulled after two innings (the second-shortest start of his career) after he yielded five runs to the Tigers. Nine of the first 12 batters he faced reached base. Five hits. Four walks. He was replaced by a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the second and sat around as his teammates finished a 7-2 loss and 1-5 homestand.
Zito lost both the opener and the capper, and manager Bruce Bochy didn't rule out the left-hander missing his next start - "We do have some options, sure" - because of off days today and Monday.
"It's tough," Zito said. "You could say we got two runs today, but baseball is all about momentum. If it's a 3-2 game or 2-2 game, maybe we scratch across a couple of other runs. If it's a 5-1 game or whatever it was, momentum plays a big factor. So I take responsibility on myself for that."
The Giants used to have a home-field advantage. They used to relish the fact they played in a pitchers' park. No longer. They own the majors' worst home record, having lost six straight home series.
Their home ERA (4.41) ranks 12th in the National League, and their road ERA (4.19) is seventh - still mediocre, but an upgrade over the unfriendly confines of China Basin.
Attendance is down (171,000 through 38 games), and boos are up (particularly in Zito starts). Teammates said Zito got squeezed a little on his pitches by umpire Jerry Crawford, though the pitcher wasn't making excuses. Zito either fell behind batters or got ahead and failed to finish off the at-bat.
According to witnesses, Zito was sharp warming up in the bullpen. But once the game started, Detroit's star-studded cast of right-handed hitters dug in and drooled. Magglio Ordoñez and Miguel Cabrera hit RBI singles in the first, and Placido Polanco and Carlos Guillen hit back-to-back doubles (both on 0-2 pitches) for three runs in the second.
The boos picked up steam after the Guillen double. Even Bochy wondered what was up and walked to the mound. Fans figured Zito was done, but Bochy left in the left-hander and returned to the dugout to another chorus of boos. From there, Zito retired the next three batters, striking out homer-happy Marcus Thames to end the inning.
Bochy wouldn't say what he told Zito, who said he was told he was needed to eat up innings. Bochy soon pulled him for a pinch-hitter, Brian Horwitz, in the bottom of the inning with two runners aboard and one out. Horwitz struck out on a wild pitch that permitted Travis Denker to score the Giants' first run.
It was unearned, just like the Giants' other run. A fitting way to end another unrewarding homestand. In the five losses, they scored seven runs.
"Pitching at home has been more of a challenge," Zito said. "Fans are frustrated. It's ironic. When you're on the road, you get cheered when you give up hits to the opposition. At home, you get booed. That's all part of it."
Neither Zito nor Bochy would address talk of Rick Peterson joining the Giants to tutor Zito. Peterson, fired by the Mets this week, was Zito's pitching coach during his heyday in Oakland, but his Mets contract runs through 2009, so he wouldn't likely accept a "special instructor" job unless he were assured a full-time on-field position in the near future.
His contract is guaranteed, and any money he'd make from another club would be taken off the top of his Mets' salary, meaning he'd be working for free elsewhere. In other words, he might not be in a hurry to accept a secondary job.
It seems Zito and the Giants are left to figure out their problems on their own.
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