The San Francisco Giants are struggling this spring, and it all starts at the top.
No, not with general manager Brian Sabean or manager Bruce Bochy.
The top as in their first impressions each game — the first batter and first pitcher.
How does a team win just four of your first 15 exhibition games? Here is how:
–The leadoff batter gets on base a total of 13 times in those games.
–The starting pitcher throws two or more shutout innings just twice over that stretch.
Bochy, a patient man, wasn’t concerned. But he probably should be.
His experiment to try outfielder Nori Aoki in the leadoff spot so that center fielder Angel Pagan could hit in the middle of the order was a disaster. Aoki went 3-for-22 in his first eight games atop the lineup card, compiling no runs scored, no RBIs and just two walks to complement the .136 average.
For what it’s worth, Pagan wasn’t much better. He had one hit to show for his first four leadoff gigs (nine at-bats). He did manage three runs in those four games, thanks in part to two walks. But bottom line, a .272 on-base percentage isn’t going to stop Bochy from exploring other options.
This says it all about the state of the leadoff spot: Old standby Gregor Blanco went 1-for-2 with two walks in his first shot atop the lineup in a split-squad game March 14. Those three times on base equaled Pagan’s total for four games, and were just two shy of Aoki’s eight-game success.
Blanco got a second crack at the spot the next day and wasn’t as good … but still better than the others. That is what having a single in two at-bats does for you these days in the competition to reside atop the Giants’ lineup card.
Bochy made one decision regarding Aoki. The manager announced he would rather have the AT&T Park-experienced Blanco patrolling tricky right field in San Francisco than his newcomer, so Aoki likely will start the regular season in left field, if not atop the batting order.
Maybe Bochy isn’t concerned about his No. 1 hitter because his starting pitching — considered to be the anchor of the team — was even worse.
Then again, the manager wasn’t worried about that, either.
No member of the Giants’ projected season-opening rotation — left-hander Madison Bumgarner and righties Jake Peavy, Matt Cain, Tim Hudson and Tim Lincecum — had a win through the team’s first 15 spring games. They quintet, however, amassed seven losses and an ugly 9.29 ERA.
The biggest potential problem, predictably, is Lincecum — and he didn’t have any of the club’s first 10 losses. He did, however, have a stiff neck, one that got him pulled after one inning of his March 11 appearance and scratched from his scheduled March 16 outing.
As with the leadoff spot, Bochy was weighing his options in case Lincecum’s pain lingers. But like the leadoff spot, no cure was found.
Leading replacement candidate Ryan Vogelsong allowed seven runs and seven hits in his first two starts (4 2/3 innings). And usually dependable Yusmeiro Petit had one of the worst starts by a Giant in the early spring, allowing four hits and three walks (four runs) in two innings on March 10.