Giants defense falters in 9th

I remember a line that longtime White Sox broadcaster Hawk Harrelson said when I was watching a game as a little kid: "And the walk. The dreaded lead-off walk." The White Sox were up 4 runs that day in the 9th inning and gave up a "dreaded" lead-off walk that came around to score for the Blue Jays. The White Sox were able to win that game and were fortunate that they had a multi-run lead to work with that day.

Tonight as I watched the Giants take on the Rockies, the term of dreaded lead-off walk was very applicable. The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the 5th off of an RBI single by Buster Posey that followed two walks to start the inning from Rockies pitcher Jorge De La Rosa. In the 9th, Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez walked Dexter Fowler to begin the inning. Fowler came around to score on a triple by Carlos Gonzalez off of Giants closer Brian Wilson. Gonzalez scored on a throwing error that went into the dugout on the play. Huston Street retired the Giants in order in the bottom half for a 2-1 Rockies win.

Fact is lead-off walks often come around to score. You put a guy on base for free to start an inning and the other team still has all three outs to work with to get the guy around. They can even score him without a base hit in some instances with enough well-placed outs. It's just a tough way to start an inning and I feel has a much more negative impact on a team's psyche than does a lead-off single. A lead-off walk feels like you just gave something away and that in itself gives the other team momentum. A single to start an inning isn't optimal, but at least the hitter has earned his way on.

In my book, the key at-bat of the night was Sanchez walking Fowler, who had fallen behind 0-2 and still worked a walk. Granted, this whole thing might have been different if right fielder Cody Ross hadn't misjudged the ball that turned into a triple for Gonzalez. That ball simply should have been caught and instead of being down 2-1 with nobody out it should have remained a 1-0 Giants lead with one out and a man on first. That's a big difference. It could be argued that Fowler would have scored easily on Ryan Spilborghs' triple later in the inning to tie the game and he would have. But the momentum may or may not have been different. And in any case that would have only resulted in a tie game instead of the Giants being behind. It was just a crushing loss. Ross should have made the play and the throwing error by Freddy Sanchez that allowed Gonzalez to score from third didn't help. The defense let the team down and has to be better if they are going to make a playoff push.

The Rockies improved to 69-61 while the Giants dropped to 72-60. The Rockies are now two back of the Giants for second in the West and the Giants still trail the Padres (76-54) by five games. San Diego lost at Arizona (53-79) tonight to extend their season worst losing streak to five games. It's too bad the Giants haven't been able to take more advantage of that. The Phillies (73-58) still lead the Giants in the Wild Card chase by 1.5 games and now trail the Braves (76-55) by 3 games in the NL East. The Reds (76-55) have a pretty good lead in the Central over the Cardinals (69-60) at six games.

All this being said, the Giants are still very much in the Wild Card race and need to turn it around starting tomorrow night against the Rockies. Madison Bumgarner goes for the Giants and is countered by right hander Esmil Rogers of the Rockies.