SAN FRANCISCO — Giants manager Bruce Bochy, a catcher by trade, was asked the other day about the challenge rookie catcher Buster Posey is facing handling a pitching staff in the heat of the playoffs.
“I don’t think it’s any challenge, to be honest,” Bochy said.
So much for that story. So much for any notion of Posey struggling to develop karma with the Giants’ staff after the trade that sent longtime starter Bengie Molina to the Rangers in early July.
“He seemed to blend right in without them missing a beat,” Rockies pitching coach Bob Apodaca said. “I was very, very impressed. You saw very little shaking of heads, very little disagreeing of minds when he was calling pitches.”
This is the Giants, where pitching success is second nature, no matter who’s calling the game. There’s a reason they’re playing the Phillies this afternoon in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, tied 1-1. They have a way of developing starting pitching. One way and only one way.
It starts at the top, with general manager Brian Sabean, whose 14 years on the job make him the longest-tenured GM in the industry. Then there’s pitching coach Dave Righetti, an 11-year veteran who is one of five Giants coaches since 1900 to last a decade or more with the organization.
It’s called stability. Giants scouts have found several power arms in recent years, developing homegrown products such as Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez.
The Rockies in recent years have begun preaching what Righetti has for years, starting with commanding the fastball early in the count.
“They really come after you early in the game as far as establishing the fastball,” Apodaca said. “They go after you with fastballs, then start improvising with off-speed pitches, even on three-ball counts. You see very, very few 3-2 fastballs from them. You’ll see 3-2 changeups, 3-2 breaking balls.”
Just as hitters saw them from Righetti during his playing career, during which he threw a no-hitter as a starter and saved 252 games out of the bullpen.
“He was aggressive, and he threw anything in any count,” Sanchez said. “That’s what he wants from us. We’ve got the (guts) to throw a 3-2 breaking ball. We’re not scared to throw it. If you walk him you walk him, but make sure you challenge him.”
By now, the Giants have reached perfect-storm status in which their starters have a friendly competition. It’s something they credited with helping them reel off 18 consecutive starts in September in which they allowed three runs or fewer, something that hadn’t been done in the big leagues since 1917.
“If Lincecum strikes out 14, Cain wants to do the same thing,” Sanchez said. “If they get 14, I want to strike out 15. That’s who we are. We challenge each other.”
For all the strides they’ve made in recent years, Rockies pitchers haven’t matched the Giants’ success. And given the dynamic of pitching at Coors Field compared with AT&T Park, one of the best pitcher’s parks in the business, they probably never will. But they’ll continue to try.
“Where we perform, we’re not going to have the same type of success, but we have the same desire,” Apodaca said. “That helps you develop pitchers who are able to perform at home and on the road.”
There are distinct similarities between the two teams’ approaches to building pitching. Continuity, for one thing. When Clint Hurdle was fired during the 2009 season, Apodaca stayed. He has completed eight years on the job for a franchise that went through five pitching coaches in its first 10 seasons.
The Giants led the major leagues in team ERA at 3.36 this year, one year after finishing second at 3.55. They’ve also led the industry in strikeouts the past two seasons after not doing it once since moving to San Francisco from New York in the late 1950s.
The Rockies? They’re not in those conversations and never will be. But gone are the prehumidor days when the Rockies would play to slow-pitch softball scores in LoDo. Their 4.14 team ERA this season was the lowest in franchise history.
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
