A Pack Of Baseball Cards

When I was a kid I would collect baseball cards. I would buy packs of cards at Target and would open the pack in the parking lot before I even got home. Now do you remember how excited you were to open those pack of cards hoping there would be a Ken Griffey Jr or Frank Thomas card only to find two Todd Greene cards instead? Of course you do.

That was the joy of buying baseball cards. You never knew if you were going to get an All-Stars card or some bum. From complete and utter joy to complete and utter disappointment.

I bring this up because that's how I would describe a Barry Zito start. Now Zito has been with the Giants for six long years, you'd think we know Barry Zito like the back of our hand. We don't know Zito though. Zito only knows how to pitch two ways: great or he sucks.

Zito started the year great throwing a complete game shutout at Coors Field to give the Giants their first victory of the year. Then Zito continued to pitch great and thus you had a million "Zito is back!" articles published. Which is funny in retrospect because Zito pitched great to start the 2010 season and by the end of the year he wasn't even on the postseason roster.

Lately though we've gone back to the Todd Greene stage. Zito had a 10 something ERA in his past three starts and there were discussions about whether the Giants should trade for a starting pitcher or not because Linecum hasn't exactly been stellar this year. The Giants though don't have a strong minor league system to trade for anyone of quality so they're stuck praying Zito-Linecum can pitch a good game every once in a while.

Zito pitched Monday night and it was against the Dodgers who were making their debut at AT&T Park this year. Perfect opportunity to visit the Mos Eisley Cantina to chat with the boys.

"Prepare to get drunk!" says a smiling Bandit who was holding a glass of beer over his head as I walked into the bar. With Zito pitching getting drunk might be the best idea.

Like we said we should know Zito like the back of our hand. Zito can get raddled easily. And sure enough Zito walked the first batter of the game. When this happened the Bandit, Colonel, and I shrugged ours heads and prepared for the worst. Only the worst didn't happen. Zito got the next batter to ground into a double play and Zito got out of the first inning.


"Zito is turning up Ken Griffey Jr Topps card!" I scream after the inning. I was of course jumping the gun because Zito can implode anytime, but he was smelling roses after that inning.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," said a very serious Colonel. "This is still Zito after all."

Something amazing happened though. The Giants scored 4 runs in the first inning. The Giants blooped hit the Dodgers to death in the first inning and then Pablo Sandoval drove the spike through their hearts with a double. It was a beautiful inning.

"Zito can't screw this up now, can he?" I asked the Bandit and Colonel.

"I still wouldn't get ahead of yourself," says a cautious Colonel.

"I say this is the Giants night," says the Bandit.

We decided to order a round of Old Fashioned's for the second inning. Sure we were getting ahead of ourselves but we needed something sweet after that inning. There was a lot of baseball to be played, but that felt like a victory.

Until about a week ago the Dodgers had the best record in baseball despite Matt Kemp missing significant time. It didn't seem fair that the Dodgers were doing so well without Kemp and despite Ted Lilly and Aaron Harang in their rotation. But there were the Dodgers in first place.

The past couple of seasons have been coming up roses for the Giants. The Giants finally won a championship while the Dodgers were imploding under the McCourt disaster. It was beautiful seeing the Giants succeed while the Dodgers falter.

And then Kerhaw won the Cy Young and the Dodgers were sold to smiling Magic. The Dodgers started the year hotter than a firecracker. Yeah the Dodgers played a weak schedule and were receiving contributions from guys like A.J. Ellis.

Something though hasn't felt right about the Dodgers all year. They had a 2010 Padres feel to them, IE: getting by on luck. Yeah they have some players, but they're mostly getting by with scrubs. They had to return to Earth sooner or later right? And that's what happened this past week when the Dodgers were swept by the A's and lost 2 out of 3 to the Angels. Suddenly the Giants were 3 games out.

And then there was Barry Zito looking at Giants fans right in their eyes.

Zito though turned into a Ken Griffey Jr Topps cards for the entire game. Zito went 7 innings giving up 3 hits, 3 walks, and no runs. That's about as good as Zito gets. Gives up a few hits and walks, but doesn't let the opposing team beat him.

"You just never know what Zito is going to show up," says a confused Colonel. "I don't know if I should dread his starts or look forward to them?"

Every team has a pitcher like Zito. They're the baseball card pack pitcher. You're either going to end up with a Bruce Bochy card or a Tony Gwynn. That's how it goes. You're happy if you can get anything in return and always not as disappointed as you should be if you get nothing.

That's the life of a baseball card pack pitcher.