Giants Win posts on a sports writer pumping up Barry Zito:
He appears to be a very nice man, at least to sportswriters. Sort of the anti-Barry Bonds. Bonds was disliked by the writers and loved by the fans. Zito’s loved by the writers and disliked by the fans.
At Baseball Analytics, I look at the difference in Barry Zito’s curve ball in his last two starts against the Padres.
Peter Abraham suggests the Red Sox and Giants trade John Lackey and Barry Zito straight up:
Lackey returns to California and the forgiving embrace of the National League, Zito returns to the American League and pitching coach Curt Young, who had him in Oakland from 2004-06.
Each team assumes some risk. Lackey obviously has some sort of elbow problem. Zito has never played outside the Bay Area and Boston isn’t exactly the mellow capital of the Western Hemisphere.
I would not do the deal if I were the Giants. Zito, at this point, is a better pitcher than Lackey. Since the Giants already have five good pitchers, Zito stands as insurance against an injury. Lackey, with elbow problems, doesn’t.
Besides, the Giants don’t need pitching, they need offense. I’d rather see SF trade Zito to a good offensive team that needs pitching. It they send Zito to Boston, they need to get a hitter, not Lackey.
Barry Zito made a successful return to the Giants rotation, going seven innings as the Cubs fell 6-3. Most encouraging was Zito’s two walks. When he’s had trouble in the past, it was due to wildness.
Now the Giants need to figure out what to do with six starting pitchers.
Giants Win wants Ryan Vogelsong to replace Barry Zito as San Francisco’s fifth starter.
Then you have Zito, who folds up like a card table any time there’s pressure. I don’t buy the arguments that “he’s the best No. 5 starter in the league.” He’s a Head Case Hall of Famer. I don’t want to see him out there with the game on the line.
Beware small sample sizes. Zito’s pitches poorly for his salary, but not for his spot in the rotation. Don’t let one good start by Vogelsong fool you.
Barry Zito is sore but plans to pitch on Sunday:
Zito wore a neck brace as he came to Dodger Stadium earlier in the day. He was gone by the time reporters were allowed into the clubhouse and expected to go home to rest after undergoing a precautionary MRI exam. Zito had an X-ray at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles shortly after the accident.
“He was pretty shaken,” Bochy said. “I talked to him last night. It was really upsetting what happened. It took him by surprise. It happened so fast. Today he feels better about what happened.”
He was driving a Bentley, which probably helped protect him.
A car accident sent Barry Zito to the hospital Wednesday night and demolished his car. Zito was released, so at least there’s nothing seriously wrong with him. A feature of today’s safer cars is that the vehicle takes the damage so you don’t have to.
I suspect Barry might be sore, however, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he misses a start.
The Giants released Jeff Suppan. I guess the idea of releasing Barry Zito and keeping Jeff was a bit on an exaggeration.
Raising Matt Cain shoots down the idea of replacing Barry Zito with Jeff Suppan. The Giants are on the hook for the money even if they replace Barry. Plus, over the last two seasons Barry wasn’t that bad. Three years younger than Suppan, the Giants should keep taking a chance on Barry, and hope for a late career comeback.
Barry Zito‘s father was hospitalized with a heart problem during the Giants playoff run last year, and remains in rehabilitation home.
Jonah Keri makes the case for the Yankees trading with the Giants for Barry Zito. The only flaw in the argument is that Barry holds a full no-trade clause. He would need to be convinced that he’s better off pitching for the Yankees than the Giants. Having spent his entire career in the bay area, and pitching for the current World Champions, I don’t see the advantage the Yankees offer. He’d face better hitters in the AL East and tougher ballparks, not to mention the DH. There’s no reason for him to leave the west coast.
Barry Zito won’t be on the Giants NLDS roster.
Zito’s exclusion is not surprising, given his performance in Saturday’s possible division-clinching game against San Diego at AT&T Park. In a broader sense, this is stunning for a player who was given $126 million over seven years not only to pitch the Giants into the postseason, but also to be a face of the franchise in the post-Barry Bonds era.
As a whole, this season wasn’t very different from Barry’s 2009 effort. If you fifth starter carries a 4.15 ERA, your team is in pretty good shape.
Barry Zito walks in two runs with two outs in the first as San Diego jumps out to a 2-0 lead. Chris Denorfia and David Eckstein singled to set the table, and Adrian Gonzalez was intentionally walked after a Miguel Tejada sacrifice. Zito got Ryan Ludwick to pop out before walking Yorvit Torrealba and Scott Hairston for the no-swing RBI. That’s all the Padres get, however, as they fail to break the game open.
Shaun Marcum and the Blue Jays provide Brian Duensing with his warm up for the playoffs on the penultimate day of the scheduled regular season. Marcum’s been hit harder on the road than at home this season with 15 of his 24 home runs coming on the road. Duensing has only allowed two of his ten homers at home, where he holds a 1.59 ERA.
Ubaldo Jimenez goes for his 20th win of the season in St. Louis against Kyle Lohse. Getting to 16 was easy, but he’s only picked up three wins since the end of July. Ubaldo owns a 3.61 ERA since the start of August, but all the good luck early in the year evened itself out in the last two months.
The Phillies send Vance Worley against Atlanta’s Tommy Hanson as Philadelphia tries to spoil the Braves’ playoff bid. The rookie Worley has impressive numbers in limited duty, two walks and nine strikeouts in eight innings of work. Hanson posted a 2.04 ERA in six September starts, and a 1.56 ERA in three starts against Philadelphia this year. Tommy has not allowed a home run to the Phillies.
San Diego sends Tim Stauffer against Barry Zito in another must-win division game for the Padres. Stauffer makes the argument that it’s not all that difficult to transition from relief to a starting role (see Yankees fans on Joba Chamberlain). He owned a 1.87 ERA as a relief, a 1.91 ERA as a starter. His strikeout rate dropped, but he still doesn’t give up many hits. Zito pitched better at home this season, a 3.19 ERA in San Francisco versus 5.09 on the road. It’s not clear why, as he three-true outcomes are slightly worse at home. For some reason, he just gave up fewer hits. He’s walked seven in five innings against the Padres this year.
This matchup is why I think the Massive Tie Scenario will last into Sunday.
Enjoy!
Busy day, so a quick games of the day.
Texas send Derek Holland against Oakland and Gio Gonzalez. A Texas win clinches the AL West title and sends them back to the playoffs for the first time since 1999. The Rangers have never won a playoff series.
Jon Lester goes for his 19th win as he tries to keep Boston’s playoff hopes alive against Ivan Nova. Jon holds a 2.95 ERA against the Yankees this season.
Travis Wood and Jon Garland battle in San Diego, the Reds trying to inch closer to clinching the NL Central, and the Padres trying to hold on to their playoff spot. Wood is having an impressive rookie season with 75 K, 24 BB and 7 HR in 89 1/3 innings.
I’m still upset that Doug Fister and David Price didn’t align. Doug and the Mariners get Matt Garza instead as the Rays try to solidify their AL East lead. The hold the tie-breaker with Minnesota as well, so they just need ties with the Twins and Yankees to claim home field through the AL playoffs.
Finally, the Rockies try to get back in the playoff hunt as Barry Zito and the Giants face Jason Hammel. Zito owns a 3.52 career ERA at Coors Field, and Hammel is 7-2 with a 3.90 ERA at home.
Enjoy!
Barry Zito gave up three hits and three walks in the first inning against the Diamondbacks, and a Jose Guillen error helped Arizona to a six run lead before the Giants even batted. Two of those were unearned due to the Guillen misplay.
Andres Torres tripled and scored in the bottom of the first to make the score 6-1.
The Yankees try to even the series with the White Sox as CC Sabathia faces John Danks. Sabathia boasts a 2.32 ERA since the start of June, mostly due to a very low home run rate. Danks’s ERA is about 1.3 runs better at home. He walked 10 fewer batter compared to the road in 17 more innings in Chicago.
If you want to watch good pitchers on poor teams, tune in to the Royals/Indians game as Zack Greinke takes on Jeanmar Gomez. Since allowing six runs on August 6th, Greinke is pitching like a Cy Young winner again, posting a 1.64 ERA without allowing a home run. Gomez sports a 3.62 ERA, but that number looks shaky. His strikeout rate is low, and his .295/.347/.450 slash line allowed screams an ERA of 5.00. He’s been very good at home, however, where his ERA is 0.98.
Brett Myers and Johan Santana face off at Citi Field with the Mets hanging on in the wild card race. Myers doesn’t pile up the strikeout numbers any more, but he cut down on the number of home runs allowed to make up the difference. Santana took the same route to success after his injury, fewer strikeouts, fewer home runs, but a low ERA.
The Red Sox try to take another game off the AL East/Wild Card lead as Clay Buchholz opposes Matt Garza. Clay leads the AL in ERA thanks to a low home run rate, but six of his seven home runs allowed came on the road. Garza’s been amazingly consistent the last four seasons, with ERAs between 3.62 and 3.95. He’s 2-1 against Boston this year despite a 4.94 ERA.
Finally, Daniel Hudson and the Diamondbacks try to take another game against Giants and Barry Zito. Hudson and Enright have done a nice job of stepping up to the top of the rotation in Arizona. Since joining the DBacks, Daniel struck out 36 and walked just six in 36 2/3 innings. Zito is mired in an August slump, with a 6.26 ERA for the month. While he hasn’t allowed many walks, opponents are hitting him for average (.333) and power (.573 slugging percentage).
Enjoy!
The Detroit Tigers send Justin Verlander to the mound against CC Sabathia as the Yankees try find themselves in a tie with the Rays for first place in the AL East. With Tampa Bay holding a 6-5 edge in the season series, they would win the division if the season ended today and the Yankees would be the wild card. Verlander should match up well against the Yankees, as he is very successful against left-handed hitters this season. With the switch hitters turned around to the left side, Justin held the Yankees scoreless in their first meeting this season. Sabathia is on a roll, with 14 straight starts of at least six innings and no more than three earned runs allowed. Unearned runs prevented three of those from being classified as quality starts.
The Phillies lead the Giants by .001 in the NL Wild Card race as Barry Zito meets Roy Oswalt in the city of brotherly love. Zito has not fared well on the road, this season, although it’s not clear why. His strikeout, walk and home run rates are all good away from San Francisco, he just saw a lot more balls in play find holes. Oswalt has yet to allow a home run since joining the Phillies, but he has been a bit wild, walking eight in 19 1/3 innings.
One of the better pitching matchups of the night happens in Boston where Jered Weaver of the Angels faces Clay Buchholz of the Red Sox. Clay leads the AL with a 2.49 ERA, while Jered ranks seventh at 2.87. Weaver’s strength comes from his strikeouts, which keeps his hits allowed down. He does give up home runs at a decent rate, however. Buchholz strikeout rate is less than outstanding, but he manages to keep the ball in the park.
Tommy Hunter and Matt Garza battle as the Rays try to make it two in a row against Texas in Tampa Bay. Hunter, who pitched brilliantly through July 25th, has allowed 12 earned runs in his last three starts, even though one of them was a short shutout. The Angels and Red Sox both sent him to the showers early. Garza is 0-2 and the Rays 0-3 in his starts since he threw the no-hitter.
Finally, John Danks leads the White Sox into Minnesota as Chicago tries to close a three-game gap against Scott Baker. Danks tries to continue his hot pitching since the start of July, a time frame in which he allowed just one home run in 58 1/3 innings. Baker comes into the games with 4.1 K/BB, but a .282 BA allowed. The hits prevent him from taking full advantage of his low walk rate as they lead to a good but not outstanding .320 OBP.
Enjoy!
The Giants seem intent on winning games with as few runs as possible. After defeating the Mets 2-0 on Thursday night, they come back, behind Barry Zito and blank the Mets 1-0. Zito showed great control, walking two and striking out ten over eight innings of work. Jose Reyes still has not returned to the lineup, although Carlos Beltran did pick up one of the three Mets hits.
I believe the Giants will try to win without scoring today, and they go into negative runs tomorrow.
The win puts the Giants in a three way tie for second place in the NL Wild Card race. Along with St. Louis and Los Angeles, San Francisco is 1/2 game behind the Rockies, with the Mets 1 1/2 games game and the Phillies two back. I can smell the massive tie scenario brewing.
Barry Zito, with the Giants leading 6-1, comes out of the game against the Brewers with two out in the fourth inning having issued his sixth walk to load the bases. Denny Bautista comes in and walks in a run. Barry could have done that!
Zito was at 113 pitches. Of course, coming out with a lead is much better than coming out trailing. The Giants went on to a 9-3 win, with Torres, Sanchez and Huff combining for seven hits, six runs and seven RBI.
The Brewers offense has gone stone cold, scoring three runs or less in seven of their last nine games. A 12-5 victory against the Cardinals gives them 25 runs in those nine games.
Southpaws battle in New York as Ricky Romero and the Toronto Blue Jays try to make it two in a row against the Yankees. Andy Pettitte takes the hill for New York. Romero brings a 2.83 ERA into the game. His one weakness, walks, is a Yankees strength as they lead the AL in drawing free passes. Afternoon games have suited Pettitte this season as he’s 6-0 with a 1.31 ERA during daylight hours, allowing half the home runs.
The Mets get to meet Stephen Strasburg as New York sends R.A. Dickey against the rookie phenom. Dickey is pitching the best ball of his career with a 6-1 record and a 2.98 ERA. A win today gives him a .500 career record. He has allowed a 4.06 ERA on the road this season, so maybe Washington can get Strasburg some runs in support today. Washington scored just one run over his last three starts. Teams are learning how to hit him as well. In his last two outings he allowed 15 hits in 12 1/3 innings, striking out 16. In his first three starts he allowed 10 hits in 19 1/3 innings, striking out 32.
John Danks faces his former organization as the White Sox visit Texas and Tommy Hunter. Danks improved his strikeout, walk and home run rates versus, 2009, the latter cut in half. He’s only seen a small drop in his ERA, however, as his 2009 ERA was much lower than his FIP. That measure dropped by a run compared to last season. Hunter, too, is keeping his home runs down so far, giving up just one in 29 1/3 innings. He’s allowed 23.6 HR per 200 in his career. All but 2 1/3 of his innings came at home this season, making the home run number even more impressive.
Finally, Barry Zito tries to stop San Francisco’s seven game losing streak as he pitches at Colorado. Unfortunately, he’ll have to try to beat Ubaldo Jimenez. Zito is showing the second best control of his career, topped only by his Cy Young season of 2002. He walked 3.1 batters per nine then, 3.3 per nine in 2010. He average 4.2 walks per nine his first three years in San Francisco. Jimenez is showing signs of being human. He’s allowed ten runs in his last two starts, after allowing ten runs in his previous 12 starts. He also allowed two of his five home runs in these last two games. He is still undefeated at home, with a 5-0 record, however. This is Colorado’s 81st game of the season, so if Ubaldo wins today, he’ll be on pace for 30 wins in the season.
Don’t forget, you can make your own Ubaldo Jimenez doll.
Enjoy!
Barry Zito and Joe Blanton have not allowed a hit through four innings. Zito walked one Blue Jays player as the Giants lead 1-0 in the top of the fifth. Joe walked two as the Phillies lead 8-0 in the bottom of the fourth.
Update: Alex Gonzalez leads off the fifth for the Blue Jays with an infield single. Uribe knocked the ball down but the throw was late.
Update: Kubel triples leading off the fifth, and the two no-hitters are over.
Carlos Silva attempts to go 8-0 on the season as the Cubs and Pirates play an early afternoon makeup game in Pittsburgh. Dana Eveland makes his Pirates debut. The big change in Silva this season is his higher strikeout rate. He uses his fastball less and his slider more, and that’s fooling batters. Since the start of 2009, Eveland walked more batters than he struck out, good for a 6.80 ERA.
The Padres travel to Philadelphia as Wade LeBlanc takes on Cole Hamels. LeBlanc made only three of his starts on the road so far, but holds a 6.59 ERA away from PETCO Park this year. Hamels is posting his best strikeout rate since his rookie year. He’s very tough at home where he’s only walked eight batters in 33 2/3 innings.
The Reds and Johnny Cueto host the Giants and Barry Zito. The Giants lefty traded five line drive for five groundouts per 100 balls in play, and that’s made all the difference in his ERA. Cueto gave up eight runs his last time out, breaking a string of five straight quality starts.
Enjoy!
Tauntr premiers their new animated series, Timmy and Bus.
In webisode one of tauntr’s exclusive new show Timmy & Bus, Giants teammate Barry Zito joins Tim Lincecum for a ride on the old-school VW bus that he bought with his new contract money. Zito tells Timmy about how he managed to escape from the Unicorn Club, where he was held captive against his willl.
It’s weirdly funny.
I’m a bit underwhelmed by the inter-league schedule today. The best game, though not the best pitching matchup, is Boston at Philadelphia with John Lackey facing Cole Hamels. Both own 4-2 record despite ERAs in the fours. At this point, Lackey is on pace to pitch 200 innings for the first time since 2007, but he’s also on a pace to set a career high in walks. Hamels suffers from the same problem. His career high in base on balls is 53, but he may end up in the high 70s if he doesn’t find his control. Both teams are high scoring, with the Phillies ranking first in the NL in runs per game, the Red Sox third in the American League.
It seems a bit unfair to send the major’s best pitching staff against the major’s worst offense, but Tampa Bay is visiting Houston this weekend. Matt Graza gets the series started against Brett Myers. Garza, a right-handed pitcher, is having great success against left-handed batters this season, holding them to a .295 OBP and a .283 slugging percentage. That might actually help the Astros, as they are a predominantly right-handed hitting team. Myers has not performed well at his new home, giving up a .346 BA in Houston.
Joel Pineiro faces his former team as the Angels travel to St. Louis to take on Brad Penny. Pineiro is in total control this season, walking just ten in 51 innings of work. He has not fared well on the road, however, with a 6.61 ERA in just three starts. Penny is even more in control, with nine walks in 52 2/3 innings. He’s posted a 1.35 ERA in St. Louis, but poor support left his record there at 1-2.
Barry Zito pitches in Oakland for the second time since leaving the Athletics. He was lit up in his first start in 2007. He’s a different pitcher this season, however, mostly because he’s keeping the ball in the park. In his first three season in San Francisco, he averaged 21.5 HR per 200 innings. This year that’s down to 3.7. Trevor Cahill gets the call for Oakland. The low walk, low strikeout pitcher allows a very good .244 BA and an even better .293 OBP. He just has a tendency to give up the long ball.
Finally, Wade LeBlanc and Cliff Lee match pitches as the Padres travel north to visit the Mariners. Lee comes into the game with a .539 OPS against, LeBlanc, .685. Wade does a great job of erasing base runners, however, with five caught stealings in six attempts against him. Lee just keeps batters off base, having walked just one so far this season.
Enjoy!
After a vcitory over the Mets Monday night, the Nationals try to solidify their hold on second place in the NL East as they send Scott Olsen against Jonathan Niese. For the first time since 2006, Olsen is posting outstanding strikeout numbers, while cutting down on his home runs allowed compared to previous seasons. That’s leading to the best ERA of his career. Niese is allowing a .315 BA overall, but is getting away it as opponents hit just .250 against him with runners in scoring position.
Texas leads Oakland by one game in the AL West as the Rangers and Colby Lewis host the Athletics and Trevor Cahill. The Oakland righty is making just his third start of the season, but already allowed three home runs in ten innings. Lewis is one of the bright spots in the Rangers rotation. He ranks third in the AL in strikeouts per 9 IP with a 10.24 mark, holding batters to a .199 BA.
Roy Halladay gets to find out what it’s like to pitch in Coors Field as the Phillies face Colorado and Aaron Cook. When Halladay faced Colorado in 2002 in Toronto, he pitched a two hitter for the third shutout of his career. Cook is pitching better at home, where he allows a .170 BA this year versus .329 on the road.
Finally, the Padres travel north to send Wade LeBlanc against the Giants and Barry Zito. San Francisco trails the Padres by 1/2 game in the NL West. LeBlanc is living up to his name as he’s allowed just three runs this season in 23 1/3 innings with a K/BB of over 3.0. Zito keeps pitching like a $17 million man with just 12 walks in 42 1/3 innings and no home runs allowed.
Enjoy!
Barry Zito keeps pumping out the quality starts as he holds the Marlins to one run over seven innings Wednesday night. That gives him six QS in six tries. Most of them are high quality, two, as only one came in at the minimum six innings, three runs. Zito continues to do a great job limiting opposition walks as he issued just one free pass tonight while striking out four. He average 4.2 BB per 9 IP during his first three seasons in a Giants uniform, 2.6 this year. The Giants win 3-2.
Barry Zito just completed eight scoreless innings against the St. Louis Cardinals, finishing strong with three strikeouts in the last inning to bring his total for the game to ten. He gave up three hits and three walks. The Giants fans were chanting, “Barry, Barry, ” as he mowed down the Cardinals.
Unfortunately, Adam Wainwright is also throwing a shutout, and since Barry is due to bat in the bottom of the eighth, his evening is likely over. He’s thrown 114 pitches. It’s quite the turnaround for Zito after three years of not living up to his contract.
Nate Schierholtz doubles leading off the bottom of the inning as they try to score to get Barry the win. He’s out as a pinch hitter comes on.
Update: Andres Torres tries to bunt, but fouls off the first pitch and misses the second. He grounds a 1-2 pitch up the middle for a single, however, and the Giants lead 1-0. Barry can get the win.
Update: The Giants score a second run after two close plays go in favor of the Giants, loading the bases. Aubrey Huff hits a sacrifice fly to plate the insurance run.
Update: Brian Wilson gives up a two-out single to Holliday, but that’s it as the Giants win the game 2-0. Zito lowers his ERA to 1.32.