Playoff hopes of San Francisco Giants fans were effectively vanquished Thursday night by the usual suspect - a putrid offense.
Clinging to a one-run lead in the top of the ninth against the Cubs, closer Brian Wilson yielded a go-ahead, two-run bomb to Jeff Baker. It would be easy to blame Wilson for the loss, but he's actually been one of the better stoppers in the league in 2009. Instead, the culprit reared its head in the bottom of the inning. The Giants already knew that the wildcard leaders - the Colorado Rockies - had lost. Rally for a simple two runs and they'd be just three games out. The inning had promise. The Giants put a man on with one out against Cubs closer Carlos Marmol. Just as quickly, the next batter, Aaron Rowand, fell behind 0-2. What happened next epitomized the Giants offensive futility. Marmol chucked a waste pitch - a slider - about two and a half feet up the first base line. Inexplicably, Rowand flailed at the offering to record the second out. Boos reigned down on Rowand as Fred Lewis pinch hit for the Giants in their final attempt at glory. Almost predictably, Lewis was struck out on three pitches.
The Giants will miss the postseason because they failed to address their offensive shortcomings. At the trade deadline, the Giants insisted on trading for slap-hitting Freddy Sanchez and the underwhelming Ryan Garko. This despite having chips on the farm to trade and legitimate bats like Matt Holliday available. With Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum already in tow, wouldn't it have made sense to lure the A's into dealing Holliday for lefthander Madison Bumgarner? But alas - GM Brian Sabean decided to fill the cupboard with more of what he already had - replacement level batters that fail to support a tremendous pitching staff.
Now, as Friday's action looms, the Giants remain four games behind Colorado with just nine games remaining.
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