Madison Bumgarner boarded the team plane with a sling on Sunday night. He was quiet. He feels like he’s let so many people down.
All of that info is from Mike Krukow, who called into the Murph and Mac show to discuss the impact of the injury, and the Giants’ 6-13 record — the worst in the National League.
“When he went down, you could just feel the balloons start to lose air,” Krukow said. “Now, it happened when Buster Posey was injured. It happens when you take an emotional hit as a team. It always comes back. But it’s a matter of how long it takes to get the air back in the balloon. And I didn’t feel it coming back into the balloon at all in all those games. It just felt like they were disoriented. They had lost the big man, the big brother that fights your fights. They lost that guy. And there’s big question marks surrounding them because they don’t know how long he’s going to be gone. I think it had everything to do with the flatness in the clubhouse and on the field.
“That’s as big of a hit as I’ve ever seen a team take. It’s catastrophic. It could’ve been worse. It could’ve been massively worse. We could’ve had a Jose Fernandez moment there. So we kind of count our lucky stars that he is injured, he will come back, but it was devastating over the weekend. And we all watching the games felt it.”
What about Bumgarner personally? What about the Giants’ mindset? Can they dig out of this hole?
“He has regret, massive regret,” Krukow said. “He feels as if he’s let not just everybody in that clubhouse down but everybody that has ever rooted for the Giants down. He’s feeling that. But the players have to move on. They have to get going. I mean, it’s part of the game, unfortunately. Injuries are a part of the game. It remains to be seen as to what’s going to happen. There’s some big question marks around the clubhouse right now.
“Because of the (Bumgarner injury) and because of the situation where they’re at in the standings, they are fragmented mentally. It really gives you an insight on how powerful the mind is in a clubhouse. The mindset of a team is so vitally important. I mean, you felt it going through the Rockies clubhouse — they’ve got a high going. Music’s loud, they’re all laughing, they’re all on the same page. And mentally, they feel like they’re invincible. And right now you go to the other side in the Giants’ clubhouse and there’s none of that. That has to be found. You have to find a way to create that.”
The Giants begin a series Monday at AT&T Park with the Los Angeles Dodgers.