Stupid Schadenfreude

We will admit that we wanted Barry Zito to be terrible.  At the end of his A's career, he had tortured us with so much nibbling, and trying to be too fine, and even admitting that his heart wasn't in the 2006 ALCS.  And all of those annoying post-game comments when he would repeatedly say things like "I thought I pitched well" even when he clearly had not.  So when he went to the Giants for more money than we could ever even conceive of, we were like, "We understand, but we kind of hope you suck forever."  And we will admit that we didn't really care if he ever got another strikeout for troops.  And when he started being bad, like that terrible first inning against the A's last season, we will admit that we enjoyed it.  It felt okay to us for Barry Zito to get a litttle comeuppance for so excitedly going to play for the hateful Giants for such an obscene amount of money.  We felt justified saying mean things about the fact that he can be such a headcase and that we knew that contract would mess with his mind.  And as a general rule, we like to see the Giants lose.  But we never hoped that he would lose every game.  We didn't wish for those shaky, annoying, fearful in the zone Barry Zito outings to occur every single time he took the mound.  At this point, he is just so bad that we can't even enjoy it.  Now it just seems sad.  Even pathetic.  And weird.  What on earth is wrong with him?

Comments

Nowhere in that post is any hint of giving Billy Beane credit for knowing when to let go. There's nothing particularly "wrong" with Barry; its just that when he was on the A's he was surrounded by a quality team. Now, he's on the Giants.

[Dave-O]

sorry, that was me

[Where's Milton?]

I don't think that is true that nothing is "wrong" with Barry. For one, his velocity is down. For two, he is 0 and 5. He didn't win games with the A's just because the surrounding team was better. He won games because he was a good pitcher -- Cy Young winner in fact. And even terrible teams win sometimes, particularly when their supposed "ace" is pitching. I tend to think Zito's problems are mental -- but that is kind of a chicken and the egg problem. Did BB get rid of Zito because he was about to get bad or did Zito get bad because he left the comfortable confines of the A's and got an enormous contract that he could never live up to? I think it was the latter. Also, BB didn't really decide to let Zito go. There was no way the A's could have paid him anything close to the going rate. I think giving Beane the credit for that takes Beane worship a little too far.

[Blanton'sNutritionist]

There is no doubt that Zito sucks, big time. Giants fans have 100% turned on him, and the Chron's Giants beat writer, Henry Schulman, openly mocks Zito at every opportunity. Case in point, the first line of the Giants' game recap this morning: "Someone would need Superman's vision to see the light at the end of the Barry Zito tunnel." Also, the headline of the piece is "Zito Lets Down Giants Again." OUCH! I agree with OAD that the schadenfreude has gone too far. However, it's fun to see the Giants get more and more dysfunctional every day. BTW, I hope Rajai Davis steals 10 bases against the Giants in interleague play.

[Chuck Cheeze]

First of all - who can blame Zito for taking the money? Wouldn't you have? Blame the G's for offering it.

Second - the G's have no team. Durham as cleanup? The only thing worse is Cust. However this is kind of moot as every time Z loses it is for giving up a ton of runs.

Third - Its a head game for him. I don't blame him for leaving, and though with this losing streak I'd rather see him on the Angels, I sure didn't want to see him on the Angels when he was shopping around. I never hated him for going to the Giants and I certainly never took to heart any of the things he said when he was intro'd as a Giant like some people did (ever see Bull Durham people? There are things you just say! - Just because he said he's excited to go to a team doesn't mean he's excited to leave the last one - man i got tired of hearing people bitch about that stuff).

Anyway - I've wanted him to do well, just like Haren, Swish, Tejada, Scoot and everyone else that I loved when they were an A. I hope he turns it around for his own sake. He's always welcome back in Oakland...for a slight pay cut...

[Blanton'sNutritionist]

About Zito's comments...I think OAD is talking about his glassy-eyed post game comments about his own performances, rather than any comments he might have made when he joined the Giants. I can't recall anything bad he said about the A's. On the contrary, he took out a classy full-page ad thanking A's fans for their support. Classy or not, I'd love to see him in back in Oakland...on the mound for any team but the A's, with a signature Mr. FITZ seven-walks-over-5 innings performance! Some nice low-80's fastballs hanging over the middle is just what our team needs right now to get the HR parade going.

[Dave-O]

I'd reply, but I'm buliding a shrine to Billy Beane. Can anyone get me a lock of his hair? Anna?

[Anna]

Sorry, all I've got is Mark Ellis. Can I interest you in a few strands of that?

[Dave-O]

Another brilliant outing from the Zen master Sunday....

[Steve-O]

The fans were chanting, "Zi-tooo". Ok, ok, they were booing.

[Anna]

He's a mess...

[GoSox]

His fastball is straight as an arrow and didn't break 84* yesterday. The whole league lets the curve go by and waits for a fastball.

They should put him on the 60-day DL and have a sports psychologist and Dr. Andrews give him full physical and mental diagnostics.

* That's not an exaggeration. Not one pitch over 84 mph yesterday:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2008_04_27_cinmlb_sfnmlb_1&mode=gameday

[The HEY BOBBY! Guy]

I hate to dig up old bones, but this is my first time seeing this post, and I've been waiting for a chance to publicly state the following:

Barry Zito is still my favorite current Oakland Athletic. He doesn't play for the Giants! He's a mole, sent in by Billy Beane himself to launder funds from Peter Magowan. How do you think the A's were still able to acquire new players with an average attendance of fifteen and a half?

Further proof of how brilliant Beane is and how daft Magowan is: Zito gets steadily worse every year. His velocity drops 1-2 mph for each year he's away from Rick Peterson. So long as he doesn't get traded to the Mets, he'll still be an Oakland A.

[Dave-O]

Sounds like you need to help me with my Billy shrine, HBG...

[Anna]

Seriously.

[Dave-O]

I'm always serious, Anna.

[Anna]

Clearly.