According to Giants beat reporter Maria Guardado, Chadwick Tromp appeared to jam his shoulder sliding back into first base during Sunday’s matchup against the A’s. Apparently, the shoulder was tweaked enough to still hurt in the afternoon on Monday and Tromp was scratched.

As per Guardado, Cueto’s “personal catcher, Chadwick Tromp, was a late scratch after tweaking his right shoulder on a dive back to first base on Sunday. The Giants instead started Joey Bart, who struggled to get on the same page with Cueto when they were paired for the first time on Aug. 25.”

I cannot second-guess Kapler because I have no idea how bad the “potential’ was, but Giants beat writer John Shea had, only last week, written a short feature on the unique relationship shared by Cueto and Tromp: Chad even called a shimmy! Potential injury?

Cueto and Bart had trouble communicating last night from the outset and it was apparent to all. The question wasn’t “will this result in Rockies runs?” but rather when? and how many? The answers may have ended the Giants’ hopes for playoff action.

To add insult to injury, there was Tromp, catching the ‘pen in the 8th, hoping to help with his bat in the 9th. Once it was clear Cueto and Bart weren’t in sync, couldn’t we have tried going to Tromp earlier, then? Like in the 2nd? It was like watching a slow train wreck.

I immediately thought of our greatest Manager, future-Hall-of-Famer Bruce Bochy, a catcher, who famously – and often against criticism – always kept three catchers on staff. Often the third was a veteran, a stabilizing presence. If we had that last night – even Tyler Heineman might have done – we wouldn’t have had to turn to a struggling rookie.

We always had a Steven Vogt or Guillermo Quiroz or Eli Whiteside or Bengie Molina for exactly the situation we faced last night: first game of the final and most important homestand of the season.

Can you feel the sting of an absence? Can an absence, sting? Because as my heart sank into my stomach, I felt a sting in my head and realized it was because of the absence of Bruce Bochy at the helm.

And of Gerald Dempsey Posey behind the plate. Because if he were here we’d have three catchers and Bart would have a teacher.

Earlier on this blog I bragged that as a Tamil, I could handle the crazy swing from Boch to Zaidi/Kapler. That sting in my head was the exact measure of how difficult it was last night. It was painful.

The constant shifting and changing of players in-and-out, and experimenting with guys for just six ABs does sometimes culminate in a collision of cultures against the measured commitment of players’ manager Bochy, who shuffled along making Bochy noises, stuck with his plan and adjusted when necessary.

Things get much tougher for the Giants now. We simply have to take all the rest from Colorado.

It’ll be the recently-excellent Drew Smyly tonight against Kyle Freeland, a very good lefty. The Giants’ lefty-facing lineup needs to perform. Hopefully Slater can rip one. We need Yaz back, badly. Talk about a Win Above Replacement leader, they should count his absences double.

Absences. Absent Yasztremski, Absent Tromp, Absent Posey, Absent a third veteran catcher, the Giants were hamstrung.

Absent Bochy? sigh. It’s going to be a long while til we feel that again. Maybe never. Gotta get used to the new thing.

We Miss and Love You, Skip

Bonne chance en France

Au france? aux? je ne sais pas.

Let’s Go Giants!

Pound the Rocks!

Get it back!