Putting the Giants on the couch

As Yogi said, 90 percent of the problem is mental. The other half is physical

The Giants have gone mental.

This does not come as breaking news to anyone who has been watching the baserunning blunders, stranded base runners and self-inflicted pitching futility.

For a capsule synopsis of what we’re talking about we offer the above vignette from Sunday’s loss to the Mets (video courtesy of my laptop, as you can clearly see.) In it, Heloit Ramos, an All-Star mind you, inexplicably sets sail from second base, despite the clear evidence that third baseman Ronny Mauricio is holding the ball.

Ramos is out by five feet. And 30,000-some people turned to the person next to them and said, “What was he thinking?”

It is, of course, far from the only example. Earlier this month, pitcher Haydon Birdsong lost control of the strike zone. In a start against the Atlanta Braves, Birdsong walked four, hit a batter, threw a wild pitch and did not record an out.

The weird things is, there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with his arm. He’s still cranking it up at a 96 mph.

At one point in another game he threw ten consecutive balls and said he was starting to feel like there was a “force field” making it impossible to throw strikes.

Which sounds a heckva lot like someone who is way too far into his head. (Birdsong was sent down to Triple A.)

Or Raffi Devers, the blockbuster trade coup of the year. He was the team’s new thunder, the big bat that could turn games around. Hell, he already had almost 20 home runs when he joined the team.

So now, to see him swing right through fastballs right down Broadway, is kind of shocking.

Of course, in this amateur’s view, if he wasn’t swinging like he was not only trying to hit every ball into McCovey Cove, but over it, he might make more contact.

It’s not that he is swinging at bad pitches. He consistently earns walks, almost 80 so far. But when he gets the fat one, he’s missing.

And based on the video of him slamming his bat in the dugout, it is starting to get to him mentally too.

Years ago I played on a beer-league softball team and one of our guys couldn’t buy a break.

“I just feel like I can’t get anything going,” he said to our coach.

“Well, you just have to keep trying,” he said.

“But I feel like I am trying as hard as I can,” the guy said.

“Well,” coach replied, “maybe you are trying too hard.”

The Giants are trying too hard.

Ramos, to his credit, came right out and said it after another blunder on the basepaths (picked off from second despite the infield fly rule). He’s overthinking.

“All that I have in my mind is that I don’t want to mess up,” Ramos said at his locker. “And I think that’s a wrong thought. … I just feel like I have been messing up a lot and I’m in my head. I just have to let it go and get better every day.”

Hoping not to mess up is no way to play ball. As Yogi Berra said, “You can’t think and hit at the same time.”

The evidence that they’re getting in their own way is pretty convincing. It’s not like these guys are call-ups from Double A.

Ramos has been one of the pleasant surprises of of the Giants farm system. Once he got the chance to play he’s been a big offensive contributor and, as mentioned, was an All-Star last year.

Devers is even a clearer case.

AI tells us: Devers is a three-time All-Star (2021, 2022, 2024), a 2018 World Series champion with the Red Sox, and a two-time Silver Slugger Award winner (2021, 2023).

And if you are wondering if he’s lost his power, check out this swing from about a week ago. (Double click the play button, then hit play when the box appears.) Pitch is six inches off the ground and he hit it one-handed. Home run.

He’s a proven Major League slugger.

But he’s pressing.

Even Birdsong, as young as he is, has an impressive skill set. He zipped through the minor leagues and made his ML debut last year at the age of 22.

He can pitch. But he’s thinking about the “force field.”

And please, let’s take a minute to not pretend that mental stress isn’t a real. Sports, particularly at the big-money, always-on level, are incredibly nerve-racking.

Simone Biles, probably the greatest female gymnast who ever lived, had to withdraw from some events in the 2020 Olympics because of the mental discomfort.

And there are plenty to examples of golfers and tennis players needing to take time away from their sport for a mental reset.

And ok, playing baseball in the regular season isn’t the Olympic Games. But even America’s pastime can get in your head.

Pittsburgh pitcher Steve Blass had a nice ten year career until 1972, when he suddenly lost control of his pitches. It essentially ended his career in a snap of the fingers. The inexplicable plummet was so severe that it has been dubbed “Steve Blass disease.”

It isn’t like this is rare. In the 80s, second baseman Steve Sax developed the yips on the short toss from second base to first. In 1983 he committed 30 errors and, naturally, became a meme as the “Steve Sax Syndrome.”

The Giants, it says here, are victims of their own mental mindset. The frustrating part, and you hear the players saying it, is that they feel like they have players, they just keep making Little League mistakes.

So, what can be done? How can the Giants solve this?

Uh, unfortunately that’s all the time we have today.

Naw, of course there’s a way out. After all, even Steve Sax found a path from the wilderness. After several years of enduring jokes and insults — fans who were sitting behind first base took to wearing batting helmets — he turned it around.

Five years after the “syndrome’ started, he cured himself and ended up leading the league in fielding percentage and double plays.

So it can be done. The Giants have another two months of the season and it wasn’t that long ago they were way over .500 and in the NL West hunt.

Can that can happen again? Sure, baseball is a funny game.

If we were given the use of a magic wand, the first thing we would conjure up for the Giants is a water-spraying, jersey-ripping, pogo-sticking walk-off celebration at home plate. Nothing lightens the mood like a crowd-roaring, dugout-clearing win.

So let us know when that happens.

Failing that, we’re going to have to suggest they go with the boring and mundane.

Don’t make the risky extra effort. Don’t take the extra base gamble. Don’t — Heliot! - get thrown out at third base. Keep the ball in front of you. Don’t try the miracle throw.

Keep it simple. Make the routine plays. Avoid the unforced errors.

It’s a game of patience and tactics. Bob Melvin has the lads bunting runners over, getting them in score position. So far it hasn’t worked.

But that’s still the right thing to do.

Because you never know when a guy like Devers is gonna yank one over the wall.

He’s done it before. They all have.

They just need to get out of their own way.

Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Twitter and Threads @cwnevius