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SAN DIEGO – This is all a learning experience for Tony Vitello. The Giants’ new manager will make mistakes. He’ll hear criticisms. Some will be justified, others will come from doom-and-gloomers who like to criticize just to criticize.
Conversely, when Vitello does the right thing, it ought to be noted, and he did the right thing Tuesday night at Petco Park.
By doing nothing at all.
Vitello could have made an aggressive decision in the third inning when ace Logan Webb was struggling to find a rhythm and get outs. Rather than pulling Webb, Vitello left him alone. He trusted that the right-hander would bounce back, and that’s exactly what happened.
Webb rewarded his manager by pitching brilliantly from there. The longer he remained in the game, the better he looked. He retired 10 batters in a row, and even though Webb’s pitch count was up to 92 through five innings, Vitello left him in for the sixth — Webb responded with a 12-pitch inning.
That’s how you win over players. That’s how you win the clubhouse. That’s how you win games.
The Giants collected 16 hits, four by new leadoff hitter Willy Adames, and beat the Padres 9-3, and all signs pointed to Webb starting to find himself. He tossed a stinker on Opening Night, coughing up seven runs and nine hits to the Yankees and seemed destined for another disappointing start in the early innings Tuesday. The offense handed him a 4-0 lead, but he kept putting men on base and allowed three runs in the third, making the score 4-3.
Then came the turnaround, thanks in part to the manager’s patience.
“Guts,” Vitello said. “That’ll be one of my favorite outings of the year, even though you could take a step back and say it was one of the uglier ones, too, at times. It looked like he just dug down, got pissed, showed his guts. … That’s our guy, you know?”
In the sixth, Vitello’s strategy was to go hitter by hitter. If anyone reached base, Webb would get pulled. But he induced three groundouts, and he walked off the field after 104 pitches. Vitello took several steps from the dugout to meet him and congratulate him on the gritty performance.
In retrospect, the right move.
Today
4 days ago
Tuesday, Mar. 24
“You’re not going to make all the right ones, and sometimes you make the wrong one, and you get a good outcome,” Vitello said. “But we look at it from all angles, and I like the fact that we’ve got people with a lot of input, and then ultimately, you’ve just got to make a call.”
Webb told Vitello, “Thanks for trusting me.
Now it can be told: Webb and his wife have been staying on nearby Coronado Island and happened to be at the right place and right time this week to check out the Navy SEALs’ rigorous training program along the beach.
During Tuesday’s game, Webb drew from the experience.
“It’s pretty friggin’ intense, what they’re doing out there, and that thought popped into my head,” Webb said. “I was like, ‘I got it a lot easier than those guys do – and figure it out.’ I know it’s kind of weird to say, but it’s how I felt.”
It’s easy to suggest Webb’s early issues have stemmed from a World Baseball Classic hangover. He was dominant for Team USA in two starts, winning them both on the way to the silver medal. The intensity, nerves, and adrenaline are all extremely high in the international tournament, akin to playoff baseball in October, though it’s played in March. After the WBC, Webb returned to spring training and struggled in a Cactus League exhibition, which by comparison had zero stress, and never rebounded to his WBC form until he found a groove Tuesday.
Willy Adames hit a leadoff home run and collected four hits on Tuesday. | Source: Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
Webb insists the WBC had nothing to do with how he opened the season.
“I signed up for that. It’s what I chose to do,” he said. “Yeah there’s some different travel, different atmosphere. If I was tired, hypothetically, it’s my own fault. I feel great right now. It’s not that. I think I’m just a little off. I’m trying to figure it out as we go.”
The offense erupted for the first time this season. The Giants’ nine runs were more than twice the combined output from their first four games. Adames homered to open the evening, the obvious choice as the leadoff hitter moving forward. Matt Chapman also homered, and Jung Hoo Lee had three hits, including two doubles.
Designated hitter Rafael Devers, dealing with a hamstring issue, busted to first base for an infield single during a four-run sixth inning, an encouraging sign. Does it mean he could start playing first base? Vitello said the team will remain cautious to keep Devers fresh through the summer.
Vitello will get ridiculed for his moves, like all managers. But he pressed the right buttons the past two nights, both wins, including how he handled Webb.
“Subconsciously or consciously,” Vitello said, “he wouldn’t let us take him out of the game.”