While I was flying home from Hawaii on Saturday, Barry Zito was in San Diego getting his brains beat out. Did he revert to form or just have one bad day?

I believe he reverted. He is the kind of pitcher who must be perfect to succeed. If he’s not perfect, hitters — even Padres hitter — murder his mediocre stuff. It is difficult for great pitchers to be perfect every time and Zito hardly is perfect. Jonathan Sanchez is a better longterm option than Zito.

As you know, I said on Comcast Zito doesn’t “stand a chance in hell” of winning more than 5 1/2 games this season. Lots of readers thought I was hard on the guy. We’ll see. He could lose six in a row and fall into oblivion.