SAN FRANCISCO _ Not even cross-country jet lag would serve as a good excuse for Ty Blach's latest baffling pitching performance Friday night against the New York Mets.
As for the San Francisco Giants, rude defeat has become an all-too-commonplace occurrence, and any notion of an AT&T Park happy homecoming turned to sawdust almost immediately in an 11-4 defeat in which the Mets pummeled them with _ ugh _ 20 hits.
San Francisco lost for the 49th time in just 76 games, and don't look now, but the Philadelphia Phillies are suddenly primed to relinquish the heavy yoke of "worst team in all of baseball." The Giants have now lost three straight, 10 of 11 and 19 of their last 24. They now have one more loss than the Phils, and only three more wins. It's tightening up, and sad to say, it may be the only race of any consequence at this point in China Basin.
This latest humiliation might have been somewhat predictable. The Giants staggered in from their all-night flight from Atlanta at 4:45 a.m., and the players got as much break as reasonably allowable to try and be reasonably ready. Batting practice was canceled, and players did not have to report to the ballpark until 5:15 p.m. Even with those concessions, key regulars _ notably, Buster Posey _ were not in the lineup.
But none of that mattered, thanks in large part to Blach's blowup. The 26-year-old left-hander's mysterious and disturbing descent into inefficiency took its deepest dive yet. He gave up four hits and a run in the first inning, and then served up seven more hits in the second, including five doubles (including one by opposing pitcher Seth Lugo) and a monstrous two-run homer to left-center to Yoesnis Cespedes.
Blach (4-5) managed to pitch a scoreless third, but by the time he finished the inning, he had thrown 80 pitches and manager Bruce Bochy mercifully lifted him for a pinch-hitter trailing 7-1.
It's been a very weird June for Blach. He started the month with a complete-game shutout of those aforementioned Phillies, but since then he's gone 0-3 in his last four starts with some truly horrific numbers: 18 1/3 innings pitched, 37 hits, 22 earned runs and an ERA of 10.80.
Little doubt about it, this was the worst start yet in this hideous slump, and the rotation as a whole is really starting to leak oil without its ace, Madison Bumgarner. New York didn't exactly roll into town with bells on, having just been swept in a four-game series by the Los Angeles Dodgers. And the Mets had lost seven of eight themselves.
As for the Giants' offense, it couldn't hope to keep up with the Mets' onslaught. After New York went up 1-0 in the top of the first, the Giants did counter with a run in the bottom half on Brandon Belt's two-out RBI double.
But by the time the Giants scored again, generating a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth, it was already 10-1 Mets.
