Great post. Giants fans have been looking for a scapegoat all year to justify getting Hayden Birdsong into the rotation. First, it was Justin Verlander, before they finally realized, hey, wait, maybe he IS pitching well, just not getting the breaks or run support. Then it was Robby Ray, who kept getting shredded early in games, couldn’t get past the fourth inning, before realizing, oh, well, he did have to pitch in thunderstorms and freezing conditions. And then, the realization that, dang, the Giants have won all his starts, and, geez, look at how he dominates hitters.

Hicks has also had to pitch in bad weather, has not had run support, is getting tough breaks on ground balls getting through, and, yes, the occasional bad pitch selection (i put some of that on Patrick Bailey, who just doesn’t read hitters well, but that shouldn’t be a surprise: he’s one of the worst hitters in MLB).

Melvin has obviously been talking off the record with beat writers about Hicks, and they’re taking their cues, jumping on the conventional wisdom bandwagon to push for his ouster. Did anyone notice the two home runs Birdsong gave up, the first of which helped explode Hicks’s numbers more?

Yes, we are a results oriented people, but we seem to never heed the warning about asking what we wish for.