2016 Giants Season Ends in Heartbreak

The day after the 2016 Giants season ended in heartbreak, all over San Francisco, people are still talking about the seemingly unreal 6-5 collapse at AT &T park to the Chicago Cubs.  My neighbor Marc wanted Manager Bruce Bochy to leave Matt Moore in to pitch the final inning with a 5-3 lead. "Why did he take Moore out?" He asked me. There are no easy answers.  Of course we can all speculate and play Monday morning quarterback. The fact is Moore did his job, just like Bochy said, and after 120 pitches it was time for the bullpen to do theirs and get three outs. But that didn't happen. It really isn't much of a shock for those of us who followed the team all year. 30 times, the bullpen gave up a save opportunity this #believen year. 10 times in the 9th inning our so called closers left the door wide open for the opponents to steal a win.

And so we are left watching the Cubs celebrate on our turf. The fist time in an elimination playoff game since the Bochy era began in the City by the Bay. And it hurts. We want to blame somebody. Anybody. Mary Ann also puts it all on Bochy. But that won't solve the problem. Even if the Giants had pulled off the miracle upset against the Cubs, there was little chance they could have carried that magic without a formidable bullpen through two grueling 7 game series. The reasons the Orange and Black won in 2010, 2012 and 2014 when Bochy apparently made all the right moves, were that he had outstanding starting pitchers,  big hits, and above all a feared bullpen.  Giants management went out and secured the outstanding starting pitchers, although injuries, age and slumps kept those timely big hits at bay all too often they weren't the problem. Bochy tried as hard as humanly possible to piece an effective, dependable, fearsome bullpen and closer with what he had.  He just couldn't find him and those with the money and power didn't help him out. Perhaps the best analogy I heard on this hangover-like day-after came from an uncharacteristic sullen Tim Flannery on KNBR.  "It doesn't matter how beautiful your house is," Flannery said,"You need a roof. Without a roof you have nothing." The directive for Team President Larry Bauer and his equally skilled staff is go out and get Bochy a proven closer and oh yes, while you're at it, get us that big time hitter who launches baseball to the seats or better yet McCovey Cove when his team needs a run or two or three. It was also interesting listening to Flannery talk about how Giants fans come to expect championship seasons and want to pin the blame on his pal Bochy when the team falls short. He simply said: "It's hard. That's why I'm not out there anymore in uniform. Everyone is doing their best. Sometimes their best just isn't good enough." In the end that's the answer I gave Marc. We were all spoiled into thinking we could just do it again in 2016. The reality of sports is they can lift you to the highest of highs and drop you to the lowest of lows in a matter of seconds. Now it's onto the Warriors whose historic acquisition of Kevin Durant make them the must watch, must win collection of superstars. Talk about lofty expectations!