Did you ever say something that you later regretted and wished you could take back? Chances are pretty good that Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong is wishing that very thing right about now.

On Thursday afternoon, the day before the first game of a crucial three-game series against the Dodgers at AT&T Park, the 37-year-old Giants right-hander was being interviewed live on KNBR, the Giants flagship radio station. During the interview Vogelsong said “I think we’re better than them” about the Dodgers.

Vogelsong’s comment didn’t go unnoticed by ESPNLA.com’s Dodgers beat reporter Mark Saxon, who was in town to cover the weekend series between these two archrivals. Saxon did what any respectable and responsible Dodgers beat writer would do – he posted the comment on Twitter.

While it’s perfectly understandable and acceptable to share your confidence in your team with others, trash-talking the other team, especially on live radio, always seems to have a way of coming back and biting you.

Oh sure, Vogelsong may have come across as a prophet when the Giants routed the Dodgers 9-0 in the series opener on Friday night, but it’s probably safe to say that he was seriously eating his words after the Dodgers pummeled the Giants 17-0 on Saturday night and even more so when the Dodgers won again on Sunday 4-2.

It hard for Dodger fans to look at this and not chuckle at Vogelsong’s comment.

But wait, there’s more!

To add insult to injury, Vogelsong, in his first start since making his ill-advised comment, coughed up a grand slam home run to Arizona Diamondbacks slugger Mark Trumbo on Monday night en route to a 6-2 loss to the fourth-place Dbacks to put his “better” team four games behind the Dodgers in the NL West standings with only 12 games remaining.

Mark Trumbo absolutely crushed Vogelsong’s hanging slider for a grand slam on Monday night.
(Video capture courtesy of dbacks.com)

Vogelsong isn’t the first Giants player to put his foot in his mouth. If you recall, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt made a fool out of himself during a pre-season fan fest event in 2013 when he said that the Giants had “chemistry” and the Dodgers did not. The Dodgers, of course, went on to win the NL West title by a commanding 11-game margin over the second place Diamondbacks with the Giants finishing a distant third at 16 games back. It appears that both Brandon Belt and Ryan Vogelsong failed chemistry.

Perhaps Vogelsong should let the standings determine who the better team is.

As my father often told me when I was a boy: “Son, you missed a perfect opportunity to keep your mouth shut.”