It was an ugly, ugly game, and the Giants didn't deserve to win. With that out of the way, I'm a little curious about Bochy's strategy in the ninth -- specifically, pinch-hitting Edgar Renteria for Kevin Frandsen. It's not like Frandsen is an offensive force, and it's not as if he were more likely to get a hit than Renteria. But while I don't pretend to know exactly what Bochy was thinking, I'm sure it was a stupid thought.
"Well, Rent's been hot over the series, and Franny's been a little cold since coming up..."
"Well, Franny's never seen Qualls before, and Edgar's had success against him in .2 at-bats -- I think he's .1 for .2 -- so, it wasn't a hard decision."
"Well, Kevin's a young player,and Renteria has been pretty clutch for us all year..."
Again, it probably didn't cost the Giants the game, but I'm sure the rationale was just dippy. When you sit a rightie for a rightie, or a lefty for a lefty, you're insinuating that either a) the guy you sat is pretty bad, or b) the guy you're sending up is pretty good.
Even better decision: Scanning the bench for a pinch-hitter to send up against a hard-throwing right-handed pitcher, and coughing up Rich Aurilia. Not Andres Torres, but Aurilia. Aurilia is just as awful against right-handers as Burriss, so that kind of negated the whole idea in the first place.
Hindsight is 20/20? Oh, absolutely. If Aurilia hit a homer or Renteria hit a single, you'd be reading something totally different right now. But it isn't so upsetting that the moves didn't work out, it's that the ideas behind them were laden with veteranophilia and knee-jerk strategy.
Pro tip: Rich Aurilia should not hit against right-handed pitching if it can be avoided.
Pro tip: Edgar Renteria is not a completely useless player, but he isn't a player who should be put in high leverage situations unless he's hitting for the pitcher.
Eh. The road trip was a success overall, so this is probably overly negative. I'd really like the last three hours back, though. Also, watching Jonathan Sanchez pitch right now is a real chore.