Anecdotal evidence that the Giants aren’t as wretched as we expected, part I: The keyboardist from Journey was on KNBR this morning. He’s a huge Giants fan, and he was pleased with the current state of the team. He knows they aren’t exactly good, but he was glad he wasn’t one of the people who was "piling on" the team before the season started. He can also make keyboard sounds when he doesn’t even have a keyboard! It’s true.
Anecdotal evidence that the Giants aren’t as wretched as we expected part II: As a co-worker was walking out of the office, he called back with a "Hey, how about the Giants? Not bad…considering…."
Anecdotal evidence that the Giants aren’t as wretched as we expected, part III: I know exactly what they both mean. It hasn’t been that depressing to follow this team so far. It’s been frustrating, but the nausea hasn’t set in yet.
Statistical refutation of the anecdotal evidence: The Giants have a .375 winning percentage, which means they’re on pace for a 61-101 record. That’s awful. It would be the worst Giants team in 23 years.
So what’s behind the…let’s see…it isn’t optimism…uh… what’s behind the begrudging acceptance of the Giants’ .375 winning ways? Some guesses:
* The pitchers who were supposed to be inconsistent have been inconsistent (Correia and Sanchez). The pitchers who were supposed to be good have been good (Cain and Lincecum). Barry Zito is depressing us all, but we had an idea that would happen.
* There are young hitters who are impressing. Fred Lewis has been hot, John Bowker isn’t going to have to pay for his own drinks for a while, and Eugenio Velez has shown flashes of extra-base pop to go with his speed.
* The truly wretched parts of the offense are mostly coming from the old guys that aren’t going to be around for much longer.
* The bullpen has mixed in some solid performances.
Add it up, and you have how a team can lose 100 games without putting the fans through complete misery. It would only be diluted misery. Like, only 60 ml of misery for every 100 ml of baseball. I can live with this team for now; I’ll be even happier if Rich Aurilia and Ray Durham find the bench soon, and I'm still hoping (against all of my better judgment) that will happen.
Am I crazy, or is there something to this undercurrent of mild bemusement? I once won the Most Improved Player award for my 5th grade basketball team even though I was the shortest kid in the class by about five inches and had only made one basket in about 200 minutes. I’m thinking this is kind of like that. If they don’t lose 120, and if some of the young players have breakout seasons, this year won’t be that bad after all. Maybe. I reserve my right to be bitter in August.