The Giants brought Edgar Renteria back to the 25 man roster on June 16. Since then, the Giants lost 2/3 to Toronto, and have now split with next to last place Houston. What happened to the Giants that swept Oakland then Barnstormed through Pitt and Cinnci? What happened to the team that was 12 and 5 after Buster Posey and Pat Burrell joined the club?
Bochey lost his focus (mind) and went back to the losing line up he had before Renteria's stent on the DL. (sans DeRosa) The Giants were blown out by a rebuilding Houston squad. The truth is, Houston played with more Chemistry than the Giants.
Buster Posey has been benched for 3 days now. Bochey must have thought that the winning streak in late May was a fluke, or he caved to Renteria in the closed door meeting.
It appears the underachieving millionaires are showing the manager who has the power on the team. This must be crushing the spirit of the guys that carried the team through the winning streak. Huff, Burrell, Torres, Uribe, well pretty much everyone except Molina and Renteria.
What separates Championship teams from losing teams is Chemistry. Not the kind that turned Barry Bonds into a size 9.5 hat size. I'm talking about guys feeling good around each other. The problem is, the manager has to be firm with those who don't know their place.
Perhaps as soon as Bruce Bochey grows a set, he'll tell the overpaid millionaires that they're in a holding pattern waiting to be released or traded while the producers carry on putting games in the win column. If not, the season will be long. Sabean will try to over compensate by spending more money on former steroid users and by August the Giants will be 12 games behind Los Angeles and San Diego. It wouldn't surprise me to see Colorado in 3rd as the Giants and D-Backs fight it out for a draft pick.
On the other hand; If Sabean finds new homes for Molina and Renteria and decides to bring up Madison Bumgarner, the Giants might be playoff bound instead of the same old same old.
The Giants had that Chemistry for one game. The game Buster started behind the plate. There was balance in the universe. Huff at first, Freddy at 2nd, Uribe at Short and Panda being panda.
The birds were singing and sun was shining.
That's how it was for 1 game in June.
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