NEW YORK -- As he started a toast for Bruce Bochy on Tuesday night, bench coach Hensley Meulens congratulated his boss for getting to 1,000 wins with the Giants and then told the players that Bochy had a few more to go to get to 2,000 for his career.
"Let's get it for him this year," Meulens said.
They are not off to a good start.
The Giants followed their most emotional night of the year by laying an egg at Citi Field. Tyler Beede got shelled in five innings and the lineup got blanked by journeyman Jason Vargas, who entered with a 4.46 ERA and had not gone the distance since 2017.
Vargas barely broke a sweat in a 117-pitch shutout on a humid night in Queens. Beede, on the other hand, had a night full of trouble as he failed to build off a promising start in Miami. He gave up six of the runs in a 7-0 loss to the Mets.
Afterward, both Beede and Bochy made the same point, independent of one another. Beede has the stuff to be great, but sometimes that isn't what really matters.
"You saw what Vargas did," Beede said. "He commanded his fastball, changed speeds, got ahead on guys. That's something I didn't take advantage of tonight."
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Beede had no command of his mid-90s fastball, walking four and giving up a pair of homers. In the fourth inning, he went homer, walk, walk, homer.
"He was pitching with one pitch it looked like," Bochy said. "He didn't have his fastball command and the walks got him."
For the Giants, this was a disappointing turn after what happened in Miami. They are waiting for Beede to turn the corner, but he continues to be maddeningly inconsistent.
"No question he's got to figure this out," Bochy said. "We all know he's got the stuff and equipment, but I think tonight was a case of you don't have to throw the ball too hard to get outs."
