By Art Spander
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The question didn’t seem to bother Jake Peavy as much as it surprised him. The Giants pitcher had given up six runs and nine hits in under two innings, in his first start of spring training. The Milwaukee Brewers had gone whap, whap and, with Chris Carter’s homer, whump.
And so someone (blush!) had the temerity to ask Peavy whether he was embarrassed or disgusted. Peavey almost couldn’t believe what he had heard.
“I’m not embarrassed or disgusted,” he said. “There’s no reason to be. I gave up six runs in a spring training game. There were some balls hit hard, and a ball that was almost an out. The results weren’t good, but that’s part of spring training.”
A glorious time of year, spring training, part myth, part standing in line at Don & Charlie’s restaurant. The next year we’ve waited for has arrived, if only as Baseball Light, when the games don’t count and even after his team gets whipped 8-7, as happened to the Giants on Thursday, the manager can offer a few virtual shrugs and a couple of casual comments.
“In Arizona,” said Bruce Bochy of the Giants, “if you don’t get the ball where you want it, you’re in trouble.”
Jake Peavy, although fully healthy, did not and was. Well, was in trouble if you consider getting hammered, those six runs, nine hits in 1 2/3 innings, trouble. And neither Peavy, two months from his 35th birthday, or Bochy tended to think along those lines.
Maybe in 20 games, maybe when April is close, it will be different. But, insisted Peavy, not the first game, when you’re trying to get your fastball over and nothing else matters. Which is why they’re called exhibition games, even dolled up with the Cactus League label (in Florida, it's the Grapefruit League).
Peavy, in the bigs since 2002, came to the Giants in 2014 by way of, in chronological order, the Padres, White Sox and Red Sox. He helped San Francisco win a pennant and World Series, but he had hip and back problems early in 2015 and didn’t do much until late in the season. He wasn’t going to overwork himself in the winter and reinjure himself. This February and March is for getting into shape and getting into the groove. If possible.
“Because I’m experienced,” said Peavy, “I was excited to get to pitch today.” It was only the Giants' second game of the spring, and a home game, before a heavily partisan crowd of 8,355 at Scottsdale Stadium.
“But it wasn’t like I was trying to win the seventh game of the World Series.”
What he was trying to do, unsuccessfully, was find out what was wrong with his basic pitch, the one on which his whole repertoire depends, the fastball. Everything seemed fine in bullpen sessions, but against the Brewers, against batters, Peavy couldn’t throw the thing where he wanted.
“My fastball is everything,” he explained. “If I’m not throwing the fastball where I want to throw it — well, everything works off my fastball, the cutter (cut-fastball), curves, changeups. So I kept throwing it.” And from the first batter in the box for Milwaukee, Eric Young, who singled to right, the Brewers kept hitting it.
Pitching is where the Giants live, although they did hit well in 2015. Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija — the last two signed as free agents in December — Matt Cain and Peavy are supposed to keep the opponents off the bases and San Francisco in race. So even in exhibitions, even in early March, even the least important situation becomes very important. Or one would surmise.
“I love our rotation,” said Peavy, unsure where he’ll fit in that rotation, but pointing out that depth cannot be underestimated. Peavy’s reputation is that of a man dominant in the early innings, then fading in the seventh or eighth.
“I feel quite a bit stronger all over,” said Peavy. “I’m refreshed. If you plan on playing a full season you’ve got to be smarter. I’m not going look today like I will at the end of the month.”
There are no scouting reports for exhibition games. The pitcher throws, the batter swings. And each keeps in mind what might happen if and when they face each other in the regular season.
In the top of the first, Carter came up with two runs in and a runner on third. He drove the ball over the right centerfield fence.
“I’m not going to throw Chris Carter a breaking ball,” said Peavy. “I may have to face him in a huge situation this year. You try to get ahead of a hitter. If you don’t, you better spot the ball. Arizona (with the elevation and dry air) is not the most fun place to do that, but it makes you a better pitcher.”
Better, one would think, than he was on Thursday.
