Giants must get more length, quality from rotation

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SAN FRANCISCOHere is how Giants manager Bruce Bochy framed Tuesday night's 8-6,11-inning loss in which the Giants matched the major league record by putting11 pitchers on the mound and equaled their franchise mark by using 25 playersin all:

The starting pitchers are struggling here but the guys arebattling back and thats a good sign.

Nice rhetoric. But the Giants are trying to win a war, notmere skirmishes. To do that, theyll need those starting pitchers to do anabout-face.

In case youve forgotten, this is a club still built onits rotation. And the foundation needs some sealant.

After the Diamondbacks blitzed Ryan Vogelsong, Giantsstarters have completed seven innings just once in their last 11 games. Itsbeen an acute failure in the past seven games, when starters have averaged lessthan 4 23 innings per start.

Vogelsong hasnt escaped the fourth in three of his past sixoutings. Barry Zito has completed six innings just twice in his last eightstarts. Tim Lincecum, once a cinch to go seven, hasnt gotten that far in anyof his last four starts. Even Madison Bumgarner is coming off a four-inningstruggle and Matt Cain had to five-and-dive it at Wrigley Field.

For all the pluck and fight in their lineup of late, no, none of thisis a good sign.

For me, its just tough as a starter because you see usscoring runs and doing a great job coming back, Vogelsong said. We just haveto get back in our groove.If we keep playing like this, well be just fine.We just need to start pitching a little bettermyself, that is.

For his part, Vogelsong said he isnt hurt or worn down. Infact, the 35-year-old said he is feeling better and stronger at this point thanhe did last season. But he didnt have confidence in his cutter and hisfour-seam fastball was flat and hittable.

It just didnt have the angle, the tilt to it, saidVogelsong, who gave up nine hits and walked two (one intentional) whileretiring just 10 of 20 batters faced. Its just about making pitches, and incertain situations, I didnt make pitches.

Vogelsong had a 2.27 ERA in his first 21 starts and heldopponents to a .215 average. He has a 10.13 ERA over his last five starts andopponents are hitting .385 against him.

Perhaps a regression was in order for Vogelsong, who posteda .250 BABIP (batting average on balls in play) over those first 21 starts.Thats over 40 points below the league averagenot the most sustainable rate.And boy, has that script ever flipped. Over his last five starts, opponents arehitting a whopping .542 on balls in play.

Well, Ive got some work to do, definitely, he said.There are some things I need to clean up before my next game.

Heres one more reason (other than the obvious ones) thatthe Giants must get more length and quality from their starters:

They are trying to use a closer-by-committee approach. Thatmeans they cant afford to burn out their frontline relievers every night,especially when, in these matchup-oriented relief roles, Bochy might have toget someone warm two or three times and then end up not using him. That willhave a cumulative effect in September and beyond, and the surest way to preventit from becoming an issue is to get some of those seven-plus inning starts fromCain, Vogelsong, Lincecum, Zito and Bumgarner.

Were in this position because of our starting pitchers,said Bochy, after his team missed a chance to widen its four-game lead in theNL West. Theyll have their ups and downs. Its a great rotation. They feelfine, and Vogey will tell you that. You look at his stuff and its good.

But the result was not. And this time of year, thats allthat matters.

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