Seeing that Barry Zito pitched a complete game, 4-hit shut-out today at Coors Field is probably a sign of the pending apocalypse (but good for 'Zicasso' - he's taken a lot of abuse the last few years, although well-deserved).

What would the Cal Football equivalent of this be? Maybe Zach Maynard throwing 4TDs and 300+ yards at the Horseshoe this fall. I guess anything really is possible. Or the Rockies are just terrible...

This morning Krukow joked on the radio that after the sweep in AZ, he expected Zito to pitch a gem and the giants to win 11-2. Even if this doesn't lead to anything, I'm happy for Zito that he was able to put it all together at least one last time. I never liked the contract, but Zito isn't a bad guy and think he should get some credit for helping the rest of the staff out over the years, even if he didn't contribute as much on the field as everyone had hoped.

Perhaps he has a Vogelsong like renaissance this year, although hard to imagine a guy with control problems and an 84 mph fastball really doing that well for an extended period of time.

Zito is not a bad dude at all. He's always had a great attitude about things, always wanted to get better and live up to his contract. Jonathan Sanchez - a similarly disappointing pitcher for us - never really had that same desire, which is why I love what happened today so deeply.

I think he's change his delivery almost every season now. In any event, his game is all about locating that big curveball. When he does that... 'Zicasso!' When he can't control it (ie. Most of the last 5+ seasons), there's not much else in the tool box and he's pretty garbage.

I hope he's found 'it' but I'm not holding my breath.

A's much as I hate the Giants I will always respect Zito. And I would not count him out yet.

People dump on Zito, but he's basically been a league-average starting pitcher over the last several years. That's not worth what he gets paid, but it is valuable. There are a lot of worse pitchers in the majors than Barry Zito.

sycasey;734867 said:

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People dump on Zito, but he's basically been a league-average starting pitcher over the last several years. That's not worth what he gets paid, but it is valuable. There are a lot of worse pitchers in the majors than Barry Zito.

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Look, he's a nice guy, good teammate, etc. But if not for that big contract, Giants would have cut him years ago. Not many pitchers get to stick around with as many 2 inning, 8+ER type games as he's had in recent years.

He's also an $C guy all the way. I met him at the Emerald Bowl a few years back (BC v. Toejams) and he was real proud of his SC roots. But good day for him today, and hopefully its not just an aberration.

BeggarEd;734890 said:

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Look, he's a nice guy, good teammate, etc. But if not for that big contract, Giants would have cut him years ago. Not many pitchers get to stick around with as many 2 inning, 8+ER type games as he's had in recent years.

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If the Giants had cut him, though, some other team would have picked him up. Last season was a waste (partially due to injury), but 3 of the previous 4 years he'd been about league average and threw 190+ innings. That kind of pitcher will easily be able to find a job and does have real value, even if he's not worth the kind of money he makes now.

No one would touch him at that kind of money......get serious.

"hate the Giants"???
I always thought your comments were warped..... ; )

Who knows, maybe Zito's and the beloved Timmy's fortunes will move in opposite directions this season.

CalBarn;734942 said:

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No one would touch him at that kind of money......get serious.

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Well yes, I believe I already said that Zito wasn't worth the money he's paid. However, he would be worth something to a lot of Major League teams.