Zito takes a step forward...but how far?

June 26, 3:23 PMSF Baseball ExaminerDavid Bush

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Barry Zito had his best effort of the year.
photo chrisoleary.com

Giants lefty Barry Zito held the Cleveland Indians to one run in 6 2/3 innings Wednesday night, by far his best performance of the season.

If this game had taken place in April 2007, Zito’s effort would not have been the primary postgame topic.  After all, if you had just signed the richest contract ever given a pitcher, you would have been expected to hold the other team to one run. Talk would have been of Jose Castillo’s three hits, including a home run, Tyler Walker’s impressive set-up job and Brian Wilson’s save. Zito would have been a conversational afterthought.

But this is 2008, and Zito has given the Giants plenty to discuss, most of it unfavorable. So when he goes out and looks like the pitcher who was so successful in Oakland, that fact does make headlines. Zito this night was nothing like the pitcher who had lost 13 of his 11 decisions this year, and certainly not even close to the timid weakling who lasted just two innings against the Tigers in his previous start, giving up five runs and walking four.

No, this time he was fearless, staring down the Cleveland hitters. His fastball, while not traveling at the near triple-digit velocity of the classic power pitchers, was clocked at nearly 90 miles per hour, and generally was delivered in areas of the strike zone disadvantageous to batters. His signature curve was negotiating its near vertical arc so familiar in happier times. And his changeup finally offered enough of a contrast to the other pitchers that the opponents’ timing was severely disrupted.

In short this is the Zito the Giants thought they were getting when they shelled out $126 million and they had to be encouraged and relieved by what they saw. But, as is the case with starting pitchers, the euphoria lasts only for four days. On Monday the Giants and Zito will get a chance to see if this last effort was the real deal or an aberration, a rebirth of a quality pitcher or a deceptive victory over a struggling team that is minus key players.

Zito’s next opponent will offer a legitimate test. He opens the team’s final pre All-Star break homestand against the Cubs, the one time symbol of futility who have become a juggernaut. Chicago, leaders in the NL Central, has not only the best Earned Run Average in the league, but the highest batting average and most runs scored. Nothing is likely to come cheap for Zito this time.

But if he can take to the mound with him not only the efficiency he displayed in Cleveland, but the attitude that led him to leave react angrily and not in frustration when manager Bruce Bochy removed him in the seventh inning. The scowl said it all, and said it well.