SAN FRANCISCO _ Matt Moore took short, halting steps as he shuffled off the mound toward the dugout during the San Francisco Giants' 6-1 loss Friday night. It was the top of the fourth inning and he had allowed 12 hits. He did not appear to be in any great hurry.
In the din of Fenway Park, or the Bronx zoo, or even the cavernous sound chamber that once existed at Candlestick Park, Moore might have quickened his pace to shield himself from tens of thousands of booing fans.
But this is quaint China Basin, and besides, Moore had pitched so interminably terrible that most fans had submitted their attention an inning earlier and were pecking into their phones. There were only scattered murmurs of discontent.
The fans were too bored to boo.
But some continued to watch through Moore's four-run, 35-pitch first inning. They kept watching as he hung breaking balls in the second inning. They continued to take mental notes as the Miami Marlins fearlessly dived over the plate to serve hits to the opposite field, since Moore could neither throw inside nor locate anything but that big, looping curve to keep them off his fastball.
After what they saw, could any scout recommend acquiring Moore ahead of the July 31 trade deadline?
The Giants had such high hopes and glowing marks for Moore (3-9) at this time a year ago, seeing him both as a piece that could augment them for the pennant stretch and economically fill out a place in their rotation for the foreseeable future.
Instead, Moore has presented them with a morass. It is one of the harder questions they must answer in a few months: He is still young, and still healthy, but do they still believe in him enough to pick up a $9 million option for next season, or buy it out for $1 million?
At least he is not making $126 million, because otherwise, his start Friday night could've been plucked out of the very worst of the Barry Zito era. Moore did throw strikes _ he didn't walk a batter for just the third time in 18 starts this season _ but that didn't redeem him on a night when he faced 21 batters and allowed 12 hits.
Moore's 6.04 ERA is the worst among all full-time major league starters. If not for rotation mate Matt Cain (5.58), it would be a half-run worse than any other starter in the National League.
He has abandoned the cutter that made him so dominant at times in September of last season, and for eight innings against the Chicago Cubs in that NLDS Game 4 that the bullpen let slip away like a pocket camera over a bridge railing.
Some things could not be helped. Moore trailed 2-0 after two batters, when Dee Gordon legged out an infield hit and Giancarlo Stanton shrank AT&T Park as few players since Barry Bonds have managed to do.
Moore fed Stanton a changeup that was away but at the belt, and the chiseled slugger sent it into the right field arcade _ the first opposite-field shot by a right-handed opponent here in almost three years.
Some perspective: Buster Posey has hit two opposite-field home runs here in his entire career, and none since his MVP season in 2012. Hunter Pence was the last right-handed hitter before Stanton to clear the fence here, in 2015.
The longer the Marlins got to look at Moore, the easier he became to decipher as they were able to hunt specific pitches. They collected four consecutive singles, including JT Riddle's liner that drove in a pair, before Moore exited the first inning by striking out opposing pitcher Dan Straily.
The second inning offered more of the same as the bullpen began to work. Moore escaped the third when Brandon Crawford reminded that no game is completely unwatchable as long as he stands at shortstop. Crawford raced to make a barehand pickup of a carom off Moore and threw off-balance to retire Straily _ and deny the career .024 hitter from just his third hit in 86 career at-bats.
The Giants offense was no help, but then again, your approach changes when the tying run hasn't bothered to put his batting gloves on. Denard Span admirably worked an 11-pitch at-bat to start the bottom of the first, which served only to drag out a foul note as Gordon speared a ground ball. Brandon Belt didn't help matters when he was thrown out trying to stretch his bloop single leading off the second inning.
Miguel Gomez was an energetic, hop-swinging sight as he made his major league debut as a pinch hitter in the ninth and re-engaged the crowd for a moment. He swatted a lineout to right field. Span prevented the Marlins from a shutout when he followed with a splash homer.
