In his final season, Giants manager Bruce Bochy can’t be loose
LOS ANGELES — Bruce Bochy’s farewell tour hasn’t gone sour. At least not yet.
Sure, the San Francisco Giants lost again on Thursday, 9-8. The Los Angeles Dodgers shellacked Madison Bumgarner, who may be dealt in the month before the trade deadline anyway, for six runs in less than four innings.
But for a 25-year manager, there’s too much to worry about. Eighty-nine games separate Bochy from the end of his career and, despite a 31-42 record on June 21, he’s not changing his approach toward the second half of the season. Pablo Sandoval’s swinging the best he has since leaving the Giants in 2014 and will be back in the lineup Friday. Maybe Tyler Beede — a first-round pick from the 2014 MLB draft — can repeat his one-hit performance from Tuesday.
Bochy can’t be loose. Not when his team’s sliding like this. What if there’s a fix?
“If you look at the record, I'd like to think, we're going to get better and that's been a little different,” Bochy said. “You know what, I haven't done a lot of reflecting or anything. We've got a lot of baseball left and the next time in ask me that question and you may have a different answer.”
In 13 seasons with the Giants, Bochy’s won three World Series. Several key pieces from that championship stretch are with Bochy this season. Sandoval, the third basemen during all three championships, came back to San Francisco in 2017 in part because of Bochy. He said in January that the manager has always been supportive, like a father.
In 2014, Sandoval hit .176 through the month of April, but Bochy never moved him lower than fifth in the lineup. The third baseman finished that season with 12 hits in the World Series.
“He always trusted me,” Sandoval said. “He never gave me his back, and it's always been like that. He wants you to be a success. And when you fail, he wants you to get up.”
For Bochy and the Giants, this season has been like the start of 2014 for Sandoval with a few moments to celebrate scattered throughout. On June 5, the Giants scored six runs in the 10th inning to beat the New York Mets. The win was Bochy’s 1,000th with the Giants.
After the game in the city where he made his major league debut, Bochy reflected, a rare gesture even in his last year. He thanked the players and staff. Then, came the beer shower.
1,000 wins ☑️
🍻🍻🍻🍻🍻#SFGiants pic.twitter.com/NNtEEF91L9— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) June 5, 2019
“I know we’ve had a tough go this year,” Bochy said after that game. “But … a big win tonight. They are going hard. That’s all you can ask. Finding a way to win this ballgame is huge on the road.”
Less than two weeks later, Beede won his first game at Dodger Stadium. After San Francisco's lone win in a four-game stay in Los Angeles, Bochy said moments like that are what he loves most.
Beede, a 26-year old pitcher is in his first season full season with the Giants, listens closely to the 64-year old skipper. He’s embraced the “bulldog” mindset, Bochy requires of Beede on the mound. But Beede has also just observed Bochy, admiring his even-keeled manner through the different stages of a trying season.
“It's kind of cool just to see his thought process, what he's thinking, and how he wants to motivate us going forward,” Beede said. “He's seen a lot of great baseball and been on a lot of great teams but he wants us to be great as well.
“Just for someone to be on their last run and want to pull it all out there, leave it all out there, it makes us want to do the same for him.”
Earlier this year, former reliever Sergio Romo gifted Bochy a bottle of Don Julio 1942 Tequila. A month earlier, it was a personalized bottle of wine — which included Bochy’s player card from San Diego — from his relievers. The Baltimore Orioles opted for whiskey.
But this season’s been nothing like the farewell tours of baseball greats in the past. Video tributes haven’t filled outfield boards. National television coverage isn’t following him around. The Giants aren’t having that kind of season. Not at this point anyway.
“It'd probably a lot more rewarding and enjoyable if we were in first place at this point in time going through it,” said third base coach Ron Wotus. “But you know he's business as usual.”
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