"I thought Josh threw the ball extremely well," said McClendon. "That's a tough lineup over there and in this ballpark you are probably going to give up some long balls from time to time. He certainly kept us in the ballgame and gave us an opportunity to win the game."It's one thing to support Fogg and to believe he can make another step forward as a starter. It's a totally different thing to excuse his propensity for home runs. Every time he starts, he gives up home runs. Fogg giving up home runs is as recurring a thing as Barry Bonds hitting them. You can't excuse them on a case-by-base basis every single time. That's sticking your head in the sand. It's weak and makes Mac look like he's playing favorites. Is he going to excuse Craig Wilson's boneheaded plays at first? "It's hard to play on the road and in the first inning, often your head isn't in the game." Will he excuse Chris Stynes's inability to hit for power? "The opposing pitchers are very good. One of those foul balls went a country mile. I think he's swinging the bat really good." Standing up for your guy is one thing, making excuses for him is another.
The Bucs have scored 100 runs in 24 games. That's 4.16 runs per game. If your starter is going to "keep you in the game" and your offense only scores 4.16 runs per game, your starter can't allow more than 3 runs in seven innings (well, 3.24 runs) without leaving the game in a such shape, as Fogg did yesterday, that the bullpen has no margin for error. How many times will the Bucs be "in the game" after the starter gives up four runs? Are you really giving your team much of an opportunity to win if you give the ball to the bullpen in a position where they can't allow a single run more? If Mac honestly thinks that it's the starter's job only to not get blown out, he needs to re-examine his priorities. Do we play the game to win, or do we play the game to lose by just a few runs?
We support the decision to stick with Fogg a little while longer, but we're not buying the half-truths. Josh Fogg will be just fine in or out of the rotation, and he'll make plenty of money as a big-leaguer, and he has a long career in baseball ahead of him if and only if his managers recognize his abilities for what they are. They need to put in him in a role where he can be effective.
Speaking of making excuses, Mac doesn't have them for J.J. Davis:
"It didn't look good out there [in right field] tonight," McClendon conceded. "I don't know if it was the wind or what it was. It didn't look very good. [He was] not very confident out there tonight."No excuses - that's good. J.J. Davis is a big boy. You don't have to be Dusty Baker to say the truth about poor play. If you'll do it for Davis, you gotta do it for Fogg.
One last thing. Ed Eagle quotes Mac as summing up the loss this way: ""We just didn't get the big hit when we needed it," McClendon said." Every out could have been a big hit, of course, but let's not piss on Bobby Hill and Abe Nunez. Both those guys came through as pinch-hitters. The game wouldn't have been close at all if Hill didn't drive in Castillo and later, make it home to score just ahead of a tag at the plate. The only starter to leave more than two on was Jason Kendall, and we're not going to listen to people run that guy down for not getting the hits when the team needs them most. In the rush to make excuses for Josh Fogg, don't pin blame on the hitters.
It was a subpar start from Josh Fogg - two homers, four earned runs. It may be good by Josh Fogg standards, but it's not good if winning is your standard. And it was an average performance for the hitters.
If you don't speak the truth, you compound the problems which make the truth difficult to speak.
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