A 1st Class Headcase

Brett Tomko. What is there to say about Brett Tomko. What can be said about dear Brett is that he is following the trend of the Giant's pitching staff. Right when there seems to be a ray of hope, suddenly the Giants are down 6-1. Tomko pitches 5 innings of scoreless baseball, then comes a run in the 6th, then before you know it, the Padres drop 5 runs on Tomko like they've been hitting him like that the whole game. The answer to the conundrum that was Tomko's start last night isn't in his mechanics, or the the pitches he threw, etc., but rather it lies in the mind of Brett Tomko himself. He's a headcase. Simple as that. Last year his second-half turnaround was attributed to him going to see a psychologist. That does not bode well at all, seeing as the last thing the Giant's rotation needs right now is another underperforming pitcher. We don't need a pitcher that requires regular visits to a shrink in order to pitch effectively. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not quite as ready to crucify Tomko as I am Woody. In his 3 starts, the Giants have scored a grand total of one run while he was pitching. Average it out and you get less than a run of support per game. The Giants are batting .303 right now as a team. Not being able to score more than one run every 5 days is not the kind of performance you would expect out of a team with the major league leader in Batting Average (who seems to be on the decline with his 0-3 last night), and two guys with 13+ RBI's. The Giants can't afford to go into an offensive slump right now with the pitching staff imploding as we speak.


All They Needed Was The Friendly Confines of Coors Field
Let's face it. The Giant's middle relief corps this year has been less than impressive. Not only that, the so-called anchor to their bullpen, Armando Benitez, has been worse. You know your bullpen's in trouble when you're thinking "Man I hope Felipe goes to Jeff Fassero" when the bases are loaded and the starter is about to be pulled. Tyler Walker, Scott Eyre, Jason Christiansen, Jim Brower, and Matt Herges. Riddle me this Batman: Up until they found the save haven of Coors Field, they weren't getting anything done. Suddenly the Giants go to the Mile High City and the middle relief is lights out in the thin air. One possible explanation could be the fact that the Giants bullpen is built to get to the groundball. Herges, Brower, Christiansen, and Walker all throw a sinker. Bullpen success at Coors stands as yet another unexpected performance this season. Brace yourself Giants fans, because it definitely won't be the last.


See How Long it is Before it Snows on Niekro's Parade
Last night the rain-soaked field caused Snow to slip, and now he's down with a pulled groin for who knows how long. This comes as good news to me, as I would love to see Lance Niekro get some more at-bats before Alou comes back and Lance gets sent back down to the minors. He's got the raw power, the pretty swing, and he's not too shabby on defense either. Look for him to make some contributions as long as he stops trying to swing out of his shoes in RBI situations. One at-bat of his that stands out to me is one a week or so ago. Niekro came up with bases loaded, and went up there trying to hit it to Missouri. He ended up swinging at a pitch up around his forehead and he struck out. With more at-bats in bases-loaded type situations, Niekro could transition from "Rookie trying too hard to be a hero" to a trusted hitter in crucial situations.


A Few Words of "Encouragement" from the Boss and The Yanks Snap Out of It
In the latest temper tantrum pulled by George Steinbrenner, he bemoaned about how the Yankees "...are not playing like true Yankees". With 150 games left in the season, who exactly does Georgy-boy think he is (besides supreme emperor of the universe of course). What continually peeves me about the Yankees is that they do this every year. They start out in the cellar a good 8 games out of first and come September, they've got a stranglehold on first place in the AL East. If Steinbrenner hasn't noticed this trend by now, then I say ship him out to Iceland where we'll never have to hear from him again. Right after George pulled his little hissy fit, the Yanks go out and score 19 runs on the Devil Rays. Wow they're really rolling now. Now that they can be the stuffing out of teams that sweep the cellar every season, maybe next Mariano Rivera will be able to save a game against the Red Sox. But hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. The higher ups need to stop being so concerned with September in April. Teams that come out of the gate fast in April don't necessarily make the playoffs, much less finish above .500. For example, 2 seasons ago, the Royals topped the AL Central the first couple months of the season. Since then, we haven't heard much from those good ol` Royals. People were calling the Brewers to make the postseason a week ago. Since then, they've dropped 4 in a row. Point in case, the season isn't decided in April so stop stressing.


I'm off to listen to the Giants/Pads games. Buckle your seatbelts if Jerome can't get through the 5th inning.