On Sunday, the Arizona Diamondbacks eked past the San Diego Padres 3-2, helping ace pitcher Brandon Webb climb to 6-0. He's the first pitcher this season to reach six wins, and the first pitcher since 2002 to win his first six starts. The last pitcher to do that was Randy Johnson in 2002 with the Diamondbacks. And before that... well, Randy Johnson, again, in 2000.
That very same afternoon, the San Francisco Giants hosted the Cincinnati Reds and got Skylined 10-1. Barry Zito's 12-to-6 curve was clocked for eight runs in three innings, swelling his ERA to an un-swell 7.53 ERA and putting him at 0-6. He's the first pitcher to lose six in April since Mike Maroth in 2003, who went on to lose 20 games. In all fairness, Dave Stewart also lost six in April once, and he went on to tell many great stories.
But neither Maroth nor Stewart were the second comfiest-paid pitchers in the game at the time. Zito is. The cool $18 million he's making this year is just a fraction of the $126 million San Francisco handed to him over a year ago. (Comparatively, the Sedona red-hot Brandon Webb is only making $5.5 million. "Only.")
Most news sites are headlining Webb's sixth win over, say, the Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang improving to 5-0, and deservedly so. But Zito's sixth loss is curiously absent. Moreover, the MLB news page skyboxed the Red Sox getting swept in Tampa and Wang's aforementioned win. Where the hell is Webb's win even in the "more headlines" news roll?
Then again, Phoenix and San Francisco are three hours behind New York and Boston. This isn't any kind of East coast bias, conspiracy, or freemason new media project. It's just how it is. Daily newspapers from Newark, New Jersey to Newark, Ohio can't wait around past deadline for box scores on the Pacific side of the Rockies. Now granted, this was a Sunday, where most games were in the afternoon, so they have time to fit the game stories within their precious column inches. But unless the teams are on an East coast trip, their daily accomplishments are oftentimes pushed to the footnotes, or when they win the Cy Young — which has gone to the National League West the last two years.
Article comments
1 - Casey Michel
The downward spiral Zito has found himself in is one of the most pathetic stories coming out of West Coast baseball in the last decade. It wasn't long ago that Sports Illustrated ran a piece detailing Zito's shaggy mane and penchant for all things quintessentially California - surfing, meditation, and taking life as it comes. It's too bad Peter Magowan came along with a fat check and ruined what was a great tale of a kid who played the game in its purest sense - for the sake of playing. My question is would Zito be willing to make the move to New York? Certainly if Zito found himself in the Big Apple his self-destruction would be font-page news, but, then again, he would also be playing for a title contender.
2 - Tan The Man
In recent developments, Zito was just demoted to the pen.
Either he comes out of the rut soon or he becomes the first $18 million closer.
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
Ya gotta wonder if he's hurt and just isn't telling anyone.
4 - Braxton
Brandon Webb is going to get so paid....will be over $150 million at this pace