Damian Moss joined the Giants in 2003 during a season when San Francisco was trying to stay ahead of the pack without the deep rotation it enjoyed the year before. The team had lost several veterans, and the local media spent much of the spring asking whether the pitching staff had enough depth to support a lineup built around Barry Bonds.
Moss arrived from Atlanta as part of the Russ Ortiz trade, and the reaction was mixed. Reporters liked his toughness but wondered whether his walk rate would catch up to him in the NL West. For a while, he quieted those concerns. Over 22 starts with San Francisco, Moss put up a 3.68 ERA, held opponents to a .248 average, and often gave the club five or six competitive innings when they badly needed stability behind Jason Schmidt and Kirk Rueter.
As the season went on, coverage shifted. Some nights Moss looked like a dependable mid-rotation lefty, and other nights he battled his command, which drew predictable grumbling from the beat writers. Even so, his work helped the Giants maintain control of the division through most of the summer. His stint wasn’t long, but in a year when the team was piecing things together, Moss played a real part in keeping the season on track.
