[新聞] Offensive woes underscored in streak buster
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Offensive woes underscored in streak buster
Little support for Bumgarner, while 'pen lets game get away
By Chris Haft / MLB.com | 5/13/2011 8:07 PM ET
CHICAGO -- The bullpen endured a meltdown. Madison Bumgarner remained
winless. Those were the major issues for the Giants in their 11-4 loss Friday
to the Chicago Cubs.
But the relievers' struggles could be categorized as an aberration, and
Bumgarner didn't pitch all that badly. The Giants' offense remains their soft
underbelly, the rust that doesn't sleep, the team's true area of concern.
This was evident even during San Francisco's recently completed 6-0
homestand. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Giants became the first
Major League team to sweep a homestand of at least six games without scoring
more than four runs in any of them. They averaged a mere three runs per game
against Colorado and Arizona. The Giants' superb pitching, which surrendered
just 10 runs, sustained them the most.
Bumgarner (0-6) actually fulfilled his primary duty by keeping the score
close while allowing three runs in six innings. But the Giants struck out 11
times against Cubs starter Ryan Dempster, who entered the game with a 7.20
ERA, and stranded four runners in scoring position before relievers Jeremy
Affeldt, Guillermo Mota and Dan Runzler allowed eight runs in the seventh and
eighth innings.
Buster Posey struck out twice with runners on base and singled twice with
nobody aboard. Cody Ross struck out with runners on second and third to end
the first inning, when Dempster (2-4) looked vulnerable, and homered in the
eighth with the Cubs leading, 8-2. Leadoff batter Andres Torres went 3-for-5,
but No. 2 hitter Freddy Sanchez went 0-for-4.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy absolved Bumgarner of blame. "He's throwing the
ball well enough to get a win," Bochy said. "We're just having a hard time
finding a way to get him one."
Bumgarner had recorded a 0.95 ERA in his previous three starts and lost two
of them. He wasn't quite as flawless on this foggy, blustery afternoon at
Wrigley Field. The left-hander issued his only two walks in the second
inning, which happened to help generate the only runs he yielded. Bumgarner
walked Alfonso Soriano to open the inning and walked Dempster with two outs,
a runner on second and a run in. The free pass to Dempster, who was batting
.077 (1-for-13) at the time, set up RBI singles by Starlin Castro and Darwin
Barney.
Bumgarner forged ahead on the count, 0-2, against both Soriano and Dempster.
Asked whether he began trying to "nibble" at the edges of the strike zone or
simply couldn't throw pitches where he wanted, Bumgarner replied, "A little
bit of both, I think."
If those lapses weren't egregious enough, consider that the Cubs entered the
game having drawn the fewest walks in the Major Leagues.
Bumgarner appears to be in no danger of losing his spot in the rotation or
the respect he commands among teammates, who remain mindful of the 7-6 record
he posted in last year's second half, his Division Series-clinching victory
at Atlanta and his eight shutout innings in Game 4 of the World Series at
Texas.
"He's tough. He's a 21-year-old man," Ross said, giving "man" a hint of extra
emphasis. "He had a lot of success in the playoffs last year, and that gives
him some confidence knowing that he can pitch in big situations, big games.
... He's fine. He's not going to let his record get him down."
Indeed, said Bumgarner, "I'm just trying to move on from the wins and losses.
... I'm just trying to go out there and keep us in the game. That's all you
ask of a starter. ... I'm trying to take it one start at a time, one inning
at a time. I'm not really worried about what I did last year."
The most tortured pitchers in the visitors' clubhouse after the Giants
allowed a season-high 11 runs were the relievers, who had contributed to the
bullpen's streak of 22 consecutive scoreless innings. Reed Johnson led
Chicago's late-inning surge with a bases-loaded triple in the five-run
seventh and an RBI single in the three-run eighth.
The Cubs began their uprising against Affeldt, who was charged with four runs
in one-third of an inning. "We had the right guy out there," Bochy said of
Affeldt, who had permitted no runs in 4 1/3 innings spanning seven
appearances. But Affeldt was sharply self critical.
"I just flat-out stunk," he said. "It's one of those deals where I'm as lost
as I can possibly be right now. ... I have to figure something out because
obviously I'm catching too much plate. My ball's not doing what it needs to
be doing. My curveball was nonexistent. And my confidence isn't all that
great right now because of it.
"Hopefully there's opportunities for me to keep going out there and throwing
and getting it back. I think [Mota and Runzler] actually threw the ball well.
I absolutely didn't. I was terrible."
Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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