Giants rookies seem to be paying attention

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August 20, 9:48 PM

by David Bush, S.F. Baseball Examiner

 

 

Bengie Molina has been making his point

The Giants are looking a little livelier these days, and that might be a sign that some messages the older players are trying to send are getting through.

 Some rumblings from the clubhouse had it that some veterans were a little disturbed at what they considered lackadaisical play on the part of some of the youngsters. While no one is willing to go on the record, and no one is naming names, the disquiet is unmistakable.

  Earlier this year both catcher Bengie Molina and outfielder Aaron Rowand, two veterans known for their enthusiastic approach to their jobs, voiced some unhappiness with how some of their teammates went about their business. And as more rookies have been brought onto the roster their willingness to exert themselves at all times has been suspect.

   Of course, lack of hustle has been a hot topic in the big leagues these days, the most obvious example being Tampa Bay’s B.J. Upton, who has been benched and criticized openly by teammates for failing to go all out.

    The Giants have been introducing players to the big leagues at a dizzying pace this year. A franchise record 15 rookies have made their big league debuts with the team this year. Currently the team has ten rookies on the active roster.

   That’s an awful lot of inexperience and not all of them have been running out every ground ball. An employee of the organization said a team meeting was called recently tol address the subject.

    Manager Bruce Bochy, while saying he wants everyone, “to play the game as it should be played,’’ said he understands why players might tend to go less than full bore to first on a routine grounder. “A guy is discouraged,’’ he said prior to Tuesday night’s game. “He wanted to do something and he’s probably made an out, so it’s hard to go all out.”

    Bochy says he doesn’t expect every player to run 100 per cent to first base every time anyway. “You see sprinters ease up,’’ he said. “You don’t want a guy to pull something….But you’ve got to run 80 or 90 per cent.’’

    The youngsters seem to be catching on. Wednesday night on a second inning grounder Emmanuel Burriss could not have run harder to first base and when he singled in the sixth inning, he hustled to second when the throw went to third base. And in the third inning Ivan Ochoa took the Marlins by surprise when he bunted down the first base line, beating it out for a single.

  Later Ochoa showed some real desire on what might have been a blown-up hit and run play. With Randy Winn on first, Bochy called for a hit -and-run. Sensing someting was up, the Marlins pitched out. A lot of players, including some veterans, would have given up on the pitch, either just let it go figuring it was out of reach or taken a half-hearted cut to satisfy the manager. Not Ochoa. Keeping his feet in the batter's box (no small task) he got his bat within range of ball. The bat hit the glove of catcher Paul LoDuca, who would easily have been able to throw out Winn. The play was called dead at that point, Ochoa awarded first on catcher's interference and Winn advancing to second. Winn eventually scored, an obviously important run in a 6-5 victory.

  On the job training can work.

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