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San Francisco Giants lose third straight game to the Chicago Cubs
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San Francisco Giants' Barry Zito works against the Chicago Cubs
on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
SAN FRANCISCO---The 2009 San Francisco Giants performed beyond expectation, but it doesn’t make the disappointing home stretch easier to bear. “What if’s” can be thrown around as Colorado lost another game tonight, but the reality is that the Giants, once again, were unable to secure a victory over the Chicago Cubs.
With their 6-2 loss to the Cubs, San Francisco is in need of some divine intervention for the team to make the playoffs.
“We’ve made it real, real difficult,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of their Wild Card chances. “It’s getting down to a miracle, we know it.”
There was a time, however, that a miracle was unnecessary. The team’s performance was enough until the Giants’ bats were collectively silenced. What killed their playoff hopes continued today, with the majority of the lineup looking flat and only Juan Uribe shining as the solo star performer with his 3-for-4, two RBI game.
Giants’ starter Barry Zito pitched an outstanding five-pitch first inning. The game went downhill from that point, with the lefty lasting only four innings in which he gave up four runs on six hits.
“I didn’t attack with the fastball as much as I would have liked,” Zito said of his outing. “I have three off-speed pitches—they’re all pretty good—but when you don’t throw the fastball enough, it doesn’t set them up.”
AT&T Park was once the team’s sanctuary, as they were known for being unstoppable at home. In September, the Giants have posted a 4-8 record in San Francisco.
“We can say, ‘well this is just one of our downs,’ but we can’t afford to have those downs in September, as a good team—which we all know we are,” Zito said.
As the possibility of post-season play slips further away from the Giants, the focus for the team is to end the season positively.
“More than anything, we’d like to finish on a good note, play some good ball, crisp baseball. We’ve done that for the most part this year,” Bochy said. “We rely on pitching—it’s a big part of our game—but still, offensively, we’re not doing a lot. I’d just like to see the guys let it go.”
Seven games remain and the Giants offense still has a chance to show up. With the playoff hopes faltering, San Francisco will have to make those attempts with the younger players, such as Buster Posey, who have been getting more playing time.
“However this year ends up, we have that experience—at least the young guys have that experience under their belt,” Zito said. “It’s a upward swing, coming from a couple years ago, and I think there’s a lot to take from that.”
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