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Barry Zito throws in the first during a game against the Atlanta Braves. (John Bazemore-AP)

   There are so many words and things you can say about Barry Zito this season and both could be good or bad.  With Barry Zito, you never know what your going to get.  He has been very bad at times this season and he has been very good at other times. Regardless of his win-loss record, Zito has been dealing with trying to be consistent and staying true to himself all year.  He seems aggressive at times, while lackadaisacal other times.  However, on this very day in Hotlanta (ATL) Georgia, Zito was his old self and showed the great pitcher that he can be. 

  Zito threw seven shutout innings and dominated by hitting his spots with his fastball and commanding the zone with his offspeed pitches in a 5-0 victory against the Braves.  He kept the Atlanta Braves hitters off-balance and was aggressive throughout his whole outing.  He needs to be more aggressive and show some emotion out there like he wants to win and saying “here, hit this!” The surprise of his outing was he limited All-Star hitters Brian McCann and Chipper Jones to an 0 for 6 day combined, although both got singles in the eight off reliever Keiichi Yabu.  He was vintage Zito and looks to continue his confidence and aggressiveness in his next start against his hometown team the San Diego Padres on Saturday. 

Zito also has shown that if his offense gives him at least 4 runs or more, his record is an unbelievable 97-5 and 12-1 with the Giants. Overall, Zito’s record improved to 7-15 and combined his record is 18-28 in his two seasons with the Giants. However, everybody forgets Cain was 7-16 last season due to ineffectiveness and lack of run support, and that has been Zito’s case all season, and gets criticized for his woes mainly due to his big contract. Zito hasn’t pitched well at times, but his offense hasn’t really helped him out either, let alone most of our starting pitchers. It is also not his fault that management gave him that kind of contract, but Zito continues to work hard and help the community out and donate most of his salary to charity and other programs.  Based on his track record and his agent, he received that big contract. But I think that if Zito pitches a little better and Giants get some more offensive punch in this lineup, his record will improve and Giants’ success as a team will also.   And fans will be less harder and critical of him.  He still has five years to change some fans’ attitudes and feelings toward him. I am still pulling for Zito to get better because I am a die-hard Giants fan and overall a big fan of this game. So many things factor in and everyone concentrates on results, but there are some things out of your control. So the only thing as a player, is control the things only you can control and whatever happens, happens.  There are also worse pitchers out there than Barry Zito.

Other Notes: Giants offense has improved lately since the callups of Ryan Rohlinger, Pablo Sandoval, and Travis Ishikawa. So far, Rohlinger is 2 for 18 (.111 0HR 1RBI), Sandoval is 5 for 12 (.417 0HR 2RBI), and Ishikawa is 6/17 (.353 1HR 3RBI)with a stolen base and showing some gold glove defense as of late. Since their callups, Giants offense have scored 24 runs in 6 games, an average of 4 runs per game, a slight percentage up from their previous average of 3.8 runs per game. Giants record is 3-3 in the 6 games that the young trio has been here, but the inconsistent bullpen seems to be the weakness and achilles heel of this Giants team and their lack of offense just added to the mess.  However, if the Giants continue to play strong and keep this young core with Sandoval and Ishikawa in the mix and keep their strong starting rotation, then the future seems bright for the Giants in 2009 and they may be a piece or two away from contending in the NL West. Bolstering the offense and bullpen in the offseason is key!!!

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