Zito Struggles, Giants’ Woes Continue in Blowout Loss to Phillies
By Baily Deeter
Jul 30, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; San Francisco Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti talks with pitcher Barry Zito (75) during the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
The San Francisco Giants’ endless struggles have shocked a lot of people. Unfortunately for the team, they aren’t going to stop anytime soon.
Well, it certainly seems that way. For the 44th time in 67 games, the Giants lost. Today’s 7-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, which were coming into the game on an eight-game losing streak, was again embarrassing. Barry Zito failed to make it out of the fourth inning, and the team failed to hit a home run for the ninth consecutive game. Zito has one quality start in his last nine outings, and he didn’t come close to registering one today.
Catcher Carlos Ruiz cranked his first home run of the season in the fourth, and that contributed to Zito leaving the game in that inning. Ruiz crushed a line drive that just sailed over the left-field fence, one that gave the Phillies a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Third baseman Michael Young, who could be playing for a different team tomorrow with the MLB trade deadline looming, hit a home run in the sixth to add some insurance runs to Philadelphia’s lead. Young’s home run came off of Guillermo Moscoso, who surrendered two runs in 2.2 innings of mop-up duty. Moscoso made his team debut today.
His debut wasn’t great, but he wasn’t as bad as Zito. Somehow, Zito threw 45 pitches in the first inning, an inning in which he surrendered two runs. Delmon Young singled in the first run, and John Mayberry Jr. drew an inexcusable bases-loaded walk. Mayberry doubled in a run off of Jean Machi in the seventh inning.
On offense, the Giants got to John Lannan three times. However, he managed to stay in for seven innings and earn the win. The Giants scored on a sacrifice fly by Pablo Sandoval and a bloop single off the bat of Sandoval, and they scored on a groundout by Joaquin Arias as well. The Giants hit some balls hard against Antonio Bastardo and Justin DeFratus, but they couldn’t score against the Phillies’ bullpen.
The 46-59 Giants are now 10.5 games out of first place, and they still hold sole possession of last place. If the Los Angeles Dodgers, which signed former Giants closer Brian Wilson today, win, the Giants will fall back to 11 games out of first place.
In other words, the season hasn’t gone as well as the Giants would have hoped. Tonight’s game, just like seemingly every Giants game recently, showed everyone why the team is playing so poorly.