Bochy, Righetti have enough in latest loss
Bruce Bochy couldn’t take it anymore. What manager could? The losing, the injuries, the blahs. It can wear anyone down.
In these gloomy times, when the plate umpire is calling balls on pitches in the strike zone, even an even-keeled manager can burst, and that’s what Bochy did in the second inning of Monday’s 10-3 loss to the Pirates at AT&T Park.
Bochy held nothing back. He knew his night was done. He knew you can’t charge the umpire and argue balls and strikes. He let Chris Conroy have it nonetheless. Told him what he thought of his performance.
Conroy ejected Bochy right away, and Bochy added a few choice words before retreating to the clubhouse, displaying a
season’s worth of frustrations in a few precious moments that captured the feelings of his team and fans.
Conroy also ejected pitching coach Dave Righetti in the ninth inning during a mound visit, a clear sign the Giants didn’t think the strike zone improved with time.
“There was some frustration all night,” Bochy said. “I don’t think he had a real good night, to be honest, as far as consistency. That really had nothing to do with what happened tonight. We gave up three-run homers.
“Sometimes you deal with someone who’s a little bit off, and I think it’s fair to say he might’ve been tonight. Both sides were a little frustrated.”
Bochy was thumbed after Andrew McCutchen smacked Matt Cain’s 3-1 curve over the wall, the first of a pair of threerun homers by the Pirates.
FYI: The Giants have hit two all season, none at home.
It didn’t go unnoticed by the home team that Cain’s second pitch to McCutchen, a curve that crossed the plate at the top of the zone, was called a ball. After McCutchen’s follow-through, Cain barked at Conroy — who barked back -- and walked all the way to second base, if only to get away from it all.
“I was already heading away from the situation,” said Cain, who commended Bochy for having his back. “He’s trying to keep his players in the game. That’s what a good manager does.”
Cain surrendered four runs in the inning, all unearned thanks to a two-out error by third baseman Eduardo Nuñez. It was Cain’s 11th straight winless start, and he fell to 3-9.
It got so bad that by the eighth inning, the crowd was doing the wave, traditionally a no-no for this fan base — anyone who tried such a thing in the Candlestick era would fear for his/her life.
An usher behind the plate gestured for everyone to stop, making her the leading candidate for usher of the year. It was too late. Jordy Mercer hit a three-run homer off Josh Osich, proving the wave is just as effective as those rally lights.
The trade deadline is Monday, and Nuñez could be gone soon. Aside from his error, he made some nice plays at third base and went 2-for-5.
One of the contenders showing interest is the Red Sox, who had high-ranking executive Frank Wren in the house. Other Giants could be gone, too, especially if management secondguesses its stance that the team is built to win in 2018.
The Giants are 31½ games behind the first-place Dodgers and continuing to sink fast. The 1985 team, the only one in franchise history to lose 100 games, finished 33 back of the Dodgers.
One play that typified the season was Brandon Belt’s in the fifth inning, the Giants’ latest baserunning blunder. Buster Posey hit a liner to center that McCutchen short-hopped but acted as if he caught. Belt ran from first to second, not knowing whether it was a catch or not. When McCutchen held up his glove for the umpires to make a call, Belt darted toward third, and McCutchen threw him out.
It was probably a good thing Bochy wasn’t around to see it in person.