Zuri Berry: Zito's not alone in this mess

When collection came around Sunday, in the allegorical baseball sense, do you think Barry Zito chipped in?

I know you don't think so, and I don't either. But after a devastating 0-6 start to the season, a pitching performance best described by his ERA (7.53) and a career 11-19 record with Giants, all the blame surely can't fall on him.

I mean, he only pitched in games he was allowed to pitch in, right?

Take time to ponder that while we examine the dynamics of the 2008 San Francisco Giants and the past of Mr. Zito.

In a lineup (and marketing plan) fueled by the team's young talent, as well as the change bug, Zito fit in only as a question mark.

His checkered 2007 season (11-13, 4.53 ERA) and downward spiral should have warned the Giants what they were getting - especially for $126 million.

In his last four seasons for the Oakland A's, Zito went 55-46, giving up a high of 216 hits and 106 runs in 2004 - two years removed from his Cy Young Award winning season.

To compound the confusion regarding Zito's all-star capabilities, he went 16-10 in his last season with Oakland, in which he stopped floundering and starting throwing strikes. But with a quick decision, that changed as well.

Let me tell you something, $126 million can mess with a man's head. Zito strolled into the Cactus League with a new swagger and apparently a new throwing motion for the 2007 season, much to the dismay of pitching coach Dave Righetti.

"If he feels like it's going to be successful for him, he knows what he's been doing the last six, seven years, and all through high school and college," Righetti told the San Francisco Chronicle in February 2007. "At some point, you have to trust him. We'll work off of that."

All of which just leaves you to wonder, who was going to rein this guy in?

Now take a look at the 2008 team, encouraged by embattled Matt Cain, who received the fourth-lowest run support in the majors (3.53) during the 2007 season, while Tim Lincecum and Noah Lowry were surprising upstarts. With the other Barry leaving, the focus for the organization was supposed to shift to these young guys and prop them up for a "hopeful" 2008 year.

Somewhere, the politics of a ballclub veered horribly wrong.

Bruce Bochy, never one to leave much to the imagination (other than what would happen if the Giants had a guy who could position pieces like Joe Torre), announced late in spring training that Zito would get the opening day start, thereby proving that the dollars put behind the former all-star were still important to everybody in the Giants organization. As far as we know, the fans could shove it.

In fact, the decision making by both general manager Brian Sabean and Bochy have contributed to the almost daily comedy described as the black and orange.

In other words, the guys above didn't pay it forward either.

Fast forward to Sunday when Zito makes his sixth start of the season after clearly showing no velocity in his first five games, all the while continuing his inability to pound the strike zone. Not only that, the rest of the Giants had lost faith in the team's alleged ace. They gave Zito only 1.3 average runs in all of his outings, including two games when the team was shut out.

Why wasn't he pulled before that game, where he gave up eight runs to the Cincinnati Reds after three innings (of all teams)?

One answer: Sabean and Bochy were still banking that the error of their ways would make a turn for the better, or at the most throw strikes. What they got in return was a big fat turd, and in response they finally woke up from their delusional state and took a whiff of the numbers. Had they the initiative to give playing time to players who actually produced, the Giants might not be 12-15 right now.

Now look carefully at some other parts of the Giants' starting roster: Rich Aurilla, however faithful and admirable, shouldn't be playing first base. Fred Lewis should have been playing every day from the start and Brian Bocock as well as Omar Vizquel aren't the answer for the team's shortstop needs. It is only through inaction that the Giants haven't handled some of these problems and it is painfully exemplified by Zito's output.

As the saying goes, the numbers don't lie. I'm figuring Sabean and Bochy can't escape these facts when the chopping block comes back around.

Zuri Berry is a sports writer for The Union. His columns appear Wednesdays. Contact him via e-mail at zberry@theunion.com or by phone at 477-4244. You can also read his blog online at TheUnion.com.