{"id":2734,"date":"2026-06-21T22:06:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T22:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2734"},"modified":"2026-06-21T22:06:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T22:06:32","slug":"kurtenbach-a-pathetic-ninth-inning-conflict-perfectly-summarized-the-sf-giants-miserable-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2734","title":{"rendered":"Kurtenbach: A pathetic ninth-inning conflict perfectly summarized the SF Giants\u2019 miserable season"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Want to know why the San Francisco Giants are an irredeemable, unwatchable mess?<\/p>\n

Look no further than the ninth inning of Sunday\u2019s latest descent to the bottom.<\/p>\n

The Giants are now 15 games under .500 for the third time this month, swept by the lowly Miami Marlins\u00a0\u2014 the sixth time they\u2019ve been swept in 25 series this season.<\/p>\n

Read more Serena Williams, 44, will play singles at Wimbledon after wild-card invitation<\/a><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not the losing that makes them the most disappointing, most inscrutable\u00a0squad in baseball; it\u2019s the profound, arrogant dysfunction.<\/p>\n

They are a rudderless ship captained by a mutinous crew of unaware veterans and a powerless manager. Sunday\u2019s final frame wasn\u2019t just a loss: It was the perfect, pathetic epitome of a deeply broken operation.<\/p>\n

Down 2-1 in the top of the ninth, Rafael Devers managed a leadoff walk.<\/p>\n

A pinch runner, a stolen base, perhaps even a bunt (let\u2019s get crazy), and you\u2019re in business. The Giants had life.<\/p>\n

Naturally, they chose death by 6-4-3 double play.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

But the final out isn\u2019t the punchline. The tragic comedy occurred before that final pitch was even thrown.<\/p>\n

Manager Tony Vitello sent rookie Jonah Cox to pinch-run. Cox possesses prodigious speed and actual base-stealing ability. He skipped Triple-A and went straight to the majors to take on this specific role (and apparently no other).<\/p>\n

Devers, meanwhile, possesses a 22nd-percentile sprint speed that frankly feels flattering. He runs like he\u2019s wearing combat boots in a swamp, and that was before a series of hamstring injuries this season.<\/p>\n

Yet, the Giants\u2019 highest-paid player arrived at first base and waved \u201cno, no, no\u201d at the dugout.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Cox, entering the game, just stood there, awkwardly marooned in foul territory. Poor kid.<\/p>\n

It took the first-base umpire to step in and enforce the substitution.<\/p>\n

Let that sink in. The ump had to manage the Giants.<\/p>\n

Devers finally trudged off, hiding his face behind his helmet while barking something presumably terrible into it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s galling. It\u2019s a stunning lack of self-awareness from a guy with \u2014 let me check, oh yes \u2014 zero stolen bases in a Giants uniform.<\/p>\n

You want to call it fire? Call it pride? Please.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pure, uncut selfishness.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was signaling over to us that he\u2019s good to run,\u201d Vitello told reporters afterward.<\/p>\n

No, Tony, he wasn\u2019t. He was openly defying you, and the television cameras caught it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know how competitive he is,\u201d Vitello added, laying it on thick.<\/p>\n

Competitive for whom, exactly? Certainly not your team \u2014 his team \u2014 which was trailing by a run in the ninth.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s bad enough to publicly show up your manager.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s worse when the manager bends over backward to excuse it.<\/p>\n

And yet the absurdity didn\u2019t stop there. Because once Cox finally took his rightful place at first base, he did precisely nothing.<\/p>\n

Facing a right-handed pitcher on a team completely incapable of holding runners, Cox just stood there. He was a statue masquerading as a track star.<\/p>\n

Presumably, first-base coach Shane Robinson and Vitello had the steal sign on. If they didn\u2019t, it\u2019s malpractice.<\/p>\n

Either way, Cox remained anchored. Maybe it was solidarity with Devers, who would have been standing there, too.<\/p>\n

Or maybe you don\u2019t make sudden movements when the adults are fighting.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Cox became the lead out in a game-ending double play. His presence was completely inconsequential.<\/p>\n

Read more The World Cup, 40 years after Maradona in Mexico: Two hands and plenty of handouts<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d like to get Jonah to go get a bag,\u201d Vitello said.<\/p>\n

Brilliant observation, Skip. So why didn\u2019t he?<\/p>\n

This is the Giants in a nutshell. It\u2019s not just one person\u2019s fault; it\u2019s a beautifully orchestrated symphony of suck.<\/p>\n

Devers has been a massive disappointment all season, and yet he shows zero respect and even less self-awareness. So much for veteran leadership.<\/p>\n

Vitello, meanwhile, just takes it \u2014 macro- and micro-aggressions alike. He\u2019s a substitute teacher who lost control of the classroom.<\/p>\n

All while the kids on the roster just look around, surely thinking, \u201cThis is the big leagues?\u201d<\/p>\n

They shouldn\u2019t be this atrocious. I\u2019m not going full Kenny Atkinson here. And this isn\u2019t fandom speaking, either.<\/p>\n

But whenever they play a team with an actual pulse, their total lack of direction is exposed. They are completely rudderless.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s running this clown car? Is it the manager who has been to fewer big-league parks than the beat writers, or the overpriced, underperforming, out-for-themselves veterans?<\/p>\n

Say what you will about Fake Gabe Kapler, but when Zack Littell tried to show him up, Kapler marched out and dressed him down.<\/p>\n

Vitello? He offers empty public relations spin for a guy who blatantly disrespected him in 4K.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t worry, they \u201ctalk every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

We spend so much time worrying about stats and numbers, and in baseball, those are indeed the drivers of wins and losses.<\/p>\n

But chemistry matters, too.<\/p>\n

And this team clearly has none. Zilch. Nada. Zip. They might be veering into negative territory.<\/p>\n

It manifests on the field, too.<\/p>\n

Because every time this team gets a chance to build momentum, they find a way to jerk the steering wheel to veer off a cliff.<\/p>\n

And when they\u2019re rolling downhill, boy, do they hit the gas.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what you get with two dozen freelancers sharing a clubhouse \u2014 a bizarre cocktail of unproven kids and uncooperative vets with a man in charge who has no cache in the biz.<\/p>\n

Are we surprised this brew tastes bitter?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just Devers\u2019 or Vitello\u2019s or Cox\u2019s fault \u2014 we can go up and down the org chart, from the top to the very bottom. No, it\u2019s a group effort that has brought this team to this sad point.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll brush Sunday off like it\u2019s no big deal. On its own, maybe it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll play the Athletics and Braves this week \u2014 this miserable campaign will keep trudging along. The old chemist\u2019s adage: the best solution to pollution is dilution.<\/p>\n

But when the autopsy of this season is inevitably performed, this ninth-inning showdown will be up there with \u201cCatch the\u00a0bleeping <\/em>ball,\u201d the bizarre roster decisions, and, of course, Willy Adames\u2019 gladhanding at second base against the Dodgers, which resulted in no repercussions.<\/p>\n

A moment like Sunday\u2019s is not the disease. It\u2019s just a painfully obvious symptom.<\/p>\n

Read more SF Giants\u2019 2-1 loss in Miami seals sixth sweep; Devers objects to pinch-runner<\/a><\/p>\n

Someone should probably get that checked out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

San Francisco Giants: Rafael Devers didn’t want to leave. Tony Vitello didn’t stand up for himself. And the Giants lost another game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nKurtenbach: A pathetic ninth-inning conflict perfectly summarized the SF Giants\u2019 miserable season - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=2734\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kurtenbach: A pathetic ninth-inning conflict perfectly summarized the SF Giants\u2019 miserable season - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"San Francisco Giants: Rafael Devers didn't want to leave. 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