San Francisco Giants Manager Bruce Bochy spent some time on 95.7 The Game's The Drive with Brandon Tierney and Eric Davis Tuesday, and had some interesting things to say about the struggling offense, the mindset of losing, and what a manager can do to help his team get out of a funk. Make the jump to to take a listen and check out some if the finer points made by the ol' skipper.
When asked if he feels helpless when the offense is bad, Bochy didn't beat around the bush:
"If you look at some numbers since the All-Star break, really you shouldn't have that many guys struggling. And that's what's we got me baffled. We're at the bottom. Not the bottom five, we're at the bottom. We're better than this and so in that respect maybe I do feel a little helpless".
You would too if your team was falling faster than gravity would seemingly allow.
Bochy was asked if his pitcher's ever get on the hitters in the dugout, trying to get a rise out of them and possibly spark something at the plate:
"I think you'd be surprised in the dugout at Timmy and Matt both have gotten on the club, ‘wake up lets go.' They're screaming. It's not out there in the public, but believe me I've seen it in the dugout. And it's something they're doing in the right way where they aren't going to try to embarrass the offense, but oh yeah there's been some snaps in that dugout."
Glad to hear it, especially from Lincecum- getting blanked by your offense 10 times in a season has got to be absolutely maddening.
Boch knows how important the manager is to any ball club, and wants everyone to know that he is doing his job to the best of his abilities:
"I've got to constantly try to think of something to help this club. And sure I feel like I haven't done that. That's probably what's bothered me a bit. And don't let my comments or what looks like my comments belie what's going on. Believe me I'm up to 2,3,4 in the morning thinking of something that can help these guys -- whether its shuffling the lineup, talking to them, it's just not working right now."
Bochy is one of the most respected skippers in baseball for a reason, and he's got the hardware to prove it.
Here's the link to the whole interview from 95.7 The Game.