Fire Felipe?
So with the passing of the trade deadline, we have the answer to this weekends' big Giants' question-- wave the white flag or go for it. We're going for it. Unfortunately, we're going for it with the same team that is currently enjoying an eight-game losing streak. So unless Sabaen can somehow pull off a Benitez for A-Rod trade (Sabes?) , the question out there is what if anything can the Giants do to get off the schneid? Well, here's something to ponder, something that for whatever reason isn't really being discussed even though it should, and here it is; Fire Felipe. Like right now before it's too late.
Why? Well, first off, desperate situations call for desperate measures and this is a pretty desperate situation. Extremely desperate. As in how could it not be more desperate desperate. And it's not that crazy.
We're not here to get into a discussion of Felipe's game-calling skills, as we don't think that's the damning evidence for whatever's ailing the Giants. Nor is the pitching carousel or often baffling lineups and substitution patterns or the lack of situational hitting or smart baseball. Those are all concerns but not what we think should be Felipe's downfall right now. Instead what we're talking about is the Giants maddening pattern of winning a few, then losing a few, playing well for a few games, then stinking up the joint for a few. That shows a lack of intensity, a lack of consistency. That's what we think is the damning evidence.
For further proof just dig their amazing ability to play down to the level of their competition. See current eight game losing streak, mainly at the hands of the last-place Nationals and Pirates. In fact, here's their record against some of the worst teams in the NL-- 1-5 against Philadelphia, 1-6 against the Pirates, 0-5 against the Nationals. Against the seven teams with the worst winning percentage in the NL, the Giants are 15-26.
That, dear readers, is fairly craptastic. And the responsiblity for that can only fall in one place, with Felipe.
You know what all this makes us think of? Dusty. We admit it, we believed in Dustiny. If somebody asked us way back when who our favorite Giant was, we'd always tell them it was Dusty. Yeah, we know, Dusty angered a lot with his favoritism towards certain players or his play calling. But one thing you could say about teams Dusty managed and that was they always played hard. Always. And you remember too how they were always good for some great second half run that would either put them in the pennant race (' 99 & '98) or into the playoffs ('02). Well you can't say that with this team and the Giants under Felipe. They've always been maddingly inconsistent, always been sloppy, always did just enough to lose.
Granted, Sabes hasn't quite given Felipe the best lineup and Felipe's never really had a closer to work with (well, he did have Nathan at one point, but we're not getting into that). But Felipe hasn't quite made lemonade out of lemons. More like lemon sours. And wasn't that Dusty's specialty (not counting his last two years with the Cubs), getting the best out of not-so-great players?
But lack of intensity is something the manager should be fixing. That's what separates the good ones from the bad ones. The good ones will keep their team motivated, learn just when to press what button, keep them playing hard. But not Felipe. From what we've read, he's a pretty hands-off kind of guy, the kind of guy who doesn't really speak to his players or say much of anything. If there was ever a time to say something, it's now.
One wonders if he's even talking to Armando in an attempt to fix his head or whether he's just letting Righetti deal with it. Dusty would be trying to spin his Dusty magic on the dude to get his confidence back up. You know Joe Torre would be whispering words of wisdom in his ears. But Felipe? We have no idea what he's doing before and after the game other than probably checking out fishing reels and dreaming of retirement.
There's a precedent for what we're wanting too. The Astro's back in '04 were lollygagging around with a hands-off kind of manager until they fired him and brought in Phil Garner, otherwise known as "Scap Iron." You don't see some guy named "Scrap Iron" sitting back and letting his team flail do you? No. With Phil as the Manager, the Astros came out of nowhere to get to the NLCS in '04 and the World Series last year. Now that's what we're talking about. Hey, Henry Schulman brought up Sweet Lou Piniella. We say bring it.
Unless, of course, you got any better ideas.