John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
It was not the first time. Bruce Bochy will hope it is the last time the question gets posed to him.
No, Bochy made clear again Monday night, he will not be dropping Buster Posey in the batting order. The 25-year manager, about to enter his final month, is going out with the catcher who brought him here.
“That’s been asked a few times,” Bochy began, correctly, after the Giants’ 6-4 loss to the Diamondbacks at Oracle Park, in which his No. 3 hitter went 0-for-5 — three of those coming with runners in scoring position — with a strikeout. “… These guys are our guys. The order, we moved it around a little bit, but with a guy like this, he’s still such a good hitter. He’s had a couple nights here where it hasn’t gone well, but two nights ago he squared up the ball every at-bat.
“These guys are who we will win with. And I’m staying with them.”
Posey, indeed, hit a few balls very hard Saturday. But the legendary Giant is 2-for-26 in his past six games. He did not cost them a game Sunday in Oakland, where he went 0-for-5 — three of those coming with runners in scoring position — with four strikeouts and a double play, but only because the Giants survived.
Monday, he came to the plate with two on in a 1-1 game in the fifth. Alex Young’s cutter sent him back to the dugout. The Giants’ two-run, too-late, ninth-inning rally featured a well-hit ball by Posey, but the 365-foot long fly ball was just another out.
Posey, who still brings defensive excellence, has not brought the bat he wielded for three World Series teams. The 32-year-old is down to a .249/.315/.374 slash line, the deepest divot in a few years of them, with six home runs and 35 RBIs, which are numbers that belong in the seventh or eighth hole. He has dropped no lower than fourth this season.
Joe Panik was designated for assignment. Brandon Belt has plunged in the lineup. Brandon Crawford, until a recent uptick, had seen his playing time slightly reduced. The Giants would not part with Madison Bumgarner at the trade deadline. And Bochy, a future Hall of Famer, will not manage his final month with another future Hall of Famer buried in the lineup.