Crunch Time

Welp, after an epic slide combined with an epic win streak - -the Giants find themselves 6 back of the damn D-Backs at the start of September.

Rowand and Miggy were DFA'd yesterday (thank God), the Bat (injury) and Brett Pill (AAA) were activated, and today rosters expand.

The Boys start a 3 game weekend series with the first place D-Backs at China Basin tomorrow.  They've got 6 v the Rattlers in the final 22 games.  I think they've got to win 5 out of 6 and 18 or 19 of 22 to have a shot at the division.

In lieu of a playoff/rally beard: this year I am homaging the great Barry Zito #75 and Tim Lincecum #55 in all of their post-World Series/pre-Season-of-Defense glory and I will do a rally/playoff mustache.  I shaved this morning, and I will grow the push broom out until mathematical elimination of championship repeat.

Game 42: Cody Ross comes through, Giants win 8-5

8 runs, only 1 extra base hit.  But that Extra Base hit was a big one.

Giants were winnig the whole time, Cainer was cruising, Bochy got cute in the 8th, and things went haywire.

Weezy is getting raked over the coals for coughing up a 3 run lead in 2 batters, and yeah, Juan Uribe's double with 2 outs in the B8 was Uribe beating Weezy, but Loney's following single was a brain fart and a half by Aubrey Huff. 

A squeaky bouncer towards first base, Huff ran past it like Fred was going to get it.  But it was quite obviously a first base play and just out of Fred's reach.  If Huffy stifled it, even if he didn't get the out @ first, he would have still kept Uribe from scoring.

Luckily, Code-Man went yard with 2 on in the T9, and Weezy walks away with his 4th win in his last 4 appearances. 

DeRo hurt his wrist without even swinging.  I've been bitching about DeRo, but you hate to see him get hurt again.  Nevertheless, at least Burriss gets a crack at the big team again.

Rowand also left.  A little more disconcerting, though, is that Weezy seems to have strained his ab or oblique again.  Still, he gutted out the last three outs while trying not to hold his side.  Extra Baggs sez that he was just rusty.

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Games 32, 33, and 34: Giants sweep Rockies, suddenly back in it

I admit it, by Friday I had lost a little hope.  and, as I was unable to watch the game, I kept checking the score from my cellphone and I saw

COL 2 - 0 SF B7

And I said to myself -- welp, another one bites the dust.

But some late game heroics, spurred on by the Giants' faithful, and the Giants won Friday night.

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Saturday, I missed too: not much reason except that it was Mother's Day Eve and I had to go to the store, besdies that I needed a weekend  because I get really amped up when the Giants lose early and I sort of need to ease into it.

Fontenot's kicking butt, and a nice bit of situational hitting gave the Giants the walk off win.  Situational hitting is what the Giants are in desperate need of, Rowand had been the only one lighting the way, but he's coming back down to Earth.  Luckily little Mikey's picking it up.

We need Torres back.  I appreciate what Rowand has been doing, but he can't keep it up.  In fact, history suggests he's one or two diving catches from a 30 game holiday on the inactive list.

Still, the boys amped it up, and the crowd is giving back.

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I listened to most of Mother's Day's game ont he radio while doing manly chores for the very pregnant woman in my life.

Vogelsong had it on, and Cody Ross looks to be coming out of the dregs.  Just int eh nick of time.  Rossi gave them an RBI single to break the scoreless tie (against Giant-killer Jorge De la Rosa), and then went big donk donk roll a rock that put them up 3-0.

I thought Vogelsong was going to scratch no-no, but he fouled one off his leg or something in his 5th inning AB, and I had a feelign that'd break it up when he went out for the 6th.

And it did, but who cares -- the guy looked great.  Got a little tired there at the end, but the energized bullpen picked them up.

Suddenly, out of the 22 of 31 road game block, the Giants are only a gam out of 1st place.  And are 5-1 vs the Rocks.

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One month review: Outfielders

There are only 3 left fielders with more errors than Pat Burrell (2), and none of them play in the National League.  But  Burrell is the only outfielder on the Giants with an error .

Defensively, the Giants outfielders are great (especially now that Huff is back in the infield [phew!])

Batting: Burrell is living up to his rep all home run and strikeout: but all of his ding dongs are solo shots.  So he's gota low RBI total, also means he's probably striking out with guys on.  He started in the .100's but lately has climbed back up to the mid-.200's, plus he's leading the club in bases on balls.

Torres went down early and that hurt, but Aaron Rowand has really stepped up.  When it counts, he gets on base. 

Cody Ross is off the DL and totally underwhelming.  Totally!  But let's not forget that he's not a NL MVP, he's an NLCS MVP -- over the course of 6 games in October he was good, but going into post, he was average.  In fact, there was talk of leaving him off the team in favor of De Jesus.

He's at 33 A Bs and still under.200, if he doesn't turn it around like by the end of this Washington series, I'd hook him inf avor of Nate the Great, who seems awfully comfy these days.

Darren Ford's up, and with DeRo on the DL, Panda on the DL, he might stay up a while.  Gothis first ML Hit today.

Burrell:
My calls: .265/35/95, 550 AB, < 120 Ks (batting 5th)
Actuals: .247/5/8, 10 runs, 10 BB ; .348 OBP (primarily bats 6th)

Torres
My calls: .280 and with several doubles and triples ; .280/12/60, 25 SB, 90 R, 2 Errors (batting 1st)
Actuals: .286/0/0, 1 SB, 0 errors, 8 games ; DL (bats 1st) ;

Rowand
Actuals: .294/1/8, 1 SB, 23 games out of 26 ; .333  OBP (batting 1st)

Cody Ross
My Calls: 270 BA with 15 HRs, 60 runs, and 15 SBs ;
Actuals: .182/0/1, 0 SB, 9 games out of 26; primarily bats 7th

Nate Schierholtz
Actuals: .278/1/3, .444 SLG, 21 games, 36 AB

Game 24: A long time coming -- Vogelsong wins his first MLB game in 6 years, 5-2

Despite hitting .083 with RISP, despite grounding into 5 double plays, despite leaving 18 on base, The Giants get out of Pittsburgh with 2 out of 3 (they should've swept dammit)

Watched the dots on MLB.com today because the building I work in has super secret Cobra Commander FM signal blockers in the ceiling.  Vogelsong pitched well, 8 ks in 5.2 is Lincecumian.  He only gave up a couple runs too. 

Lopez pitched another scoreless inning.  He's got a 1 ERA after 9 IP this year, and Ramirez pitched a scoreless 7th, he's also sitting at 1 and a quarter.

Weez brought his ERA down to 7.71 with 3 Ks in an uneventful 9thank god) 7th save of the year.  That puts him near the top in the NL. 

Offensively, though the boys had 10 hits, Rowand had both hits of the game (and series) with RISP, a 2 run double in the 3rd and an RBI single in the 7th. 

Panda Bear got an RBI shoudla been DP that he beat to turn into a fielder's choice.  Thank God for Camp Panda.

Game 23: God Damn Fucking Hell!

God damn fucking hell!

2-0 (and it was almost 1-0).

Madison Bumgarner finally almost gets back on the horse, and the Giants go for 0 for 6 with runner in scoring position, hit into 2 double plays -- including one to end the game with 2 on and one out (TEJADAAAAAAA!!!!!)

This always freaking happens in Pittsburgh.  0 for 17 with RISP.  OH FOR EFFIN SEVENTEEN!  OH FOR SEVENTEEN!

I am so god damn frustrated.  TOMORROW!  Tomorrow they have to win (with Ryan Voglesong on the mound by the damn way).

Rowand's coming back down to Earth.  So is Sanchez.

Looks like Buster's going to be hitting around .275 this year too, which might be his Sophomore slump. 
Huffy goes 1 for 4.  Need him to start hitting.  He's under .220.

Fact is they went against a guy that has a 10 ERA and made him look like Cy damn Young.

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Game 22: A running Ford gets the Giants the 3-2 win in extras

Cainer pitched well.  The Giants were offensively stagnant until Darren Ford came into the game as a pinch runner for Rowand in the 8th.

He scored after going 1st to 3rd on a Fred single (that maybe 2% of the league would be able to go 1st to 3rd on) and then a Huffy sacrifice.

Then he scored after reaching on a fielder's choice, going from 1st to 3rd on a pick off over thrown, and booking it home on Fred's ground out to 2nd base (Pirates Walker fielded a ground ball, looked Ford back, through to first and that's when Ford broke for home).

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Game 14: Zito gets hurt just as he started making the game interesting, Giants win 5-3

Giants clinch the series with their 4th consecutive win Saturday night. 

Buster hit a 2 run ding dong in the 1st, and the Giants jumped out to an early lead.  But 2 runs is not a safe lead with Z on the mound and he promptly gave up 2 in the second (one on a Zito error).

2 batters after giving up the lead, Z lunged after a bunt back to the mound, came down funny on his right foot and sprained it.

Mota came in and pitched 1 run ball over the next 4.1.  His longest outting ever.

Offensively, the Buster dinger might have been the lone highlight, especially after they hit into 5 double play over the 5 innings that followed Buster's blast.

But Fred doubled in Rowand in the 6th to tie the game at 3, then singled in a couple runs the next inning to put the Boys up for good.

Rowand got 3 hits.  He seems to be hitting for average this year and might be making a claim to create more drama in the outfield.  (or perhaps increasing his trade value)  Rowand is 7 for his last 17 at bats in the last 4 games -- impressive enough, but then take into account that on Friday he was 0 for 5.  Thusfar, Row-Waaand is hitting .359.

Belt might be climbing out of his start-of-the-career funk.  A pinch hit last night put his average up to .217.  About 60 points higher than this time last week.

The Boys are starting to play well, get on base.  If only we could cut out the double plays -- Oh how frustrating.  I would have rather won today over yesterday, so I guess they're just going to have to sweep the D-backs in their own house.  Ha ha.

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Game 10: Kershaw dominates, Bumgarner flounders, Giants play like shit

It's only the 7th, but the Giants are playing like shit. 

Not a whole lot that they could do against Clayton Kershaw tonight, though.  Currently it's 6-0 and the way the Dodgers are hitting (one single after another single), it could go higher.  The Giants won't get anything going unless Kershaw gets out of the game.

Miggy's leading off, not in love with that -- especially considering the terrible terrible game that he had on opening day against this same pitcher.

Aaron Rowand is hell off the bench, but he is the shits int he lineup.  His one tiny little glimmery streak of quality at bats came over the course of about 40 games when he was leading off.  If he's got to be in the lineup: LEAD HIM OFF!

Burrell got dined twice for errors.  He looked like he was doing damn jumping jacks when he misplayed a shoulda-been base hit that turned into an olé triple.

Nobody hit the ball well tonight.  Someone who needs a hit is Brandon Belt.  O'fer tonight as of the B7th, he's sitting right on .147.  When Ross comes back, I wouldn't have a problem dropping Belt for a few weeks to Fresno and letting him find a swing.

He's grinding right now, so much that he doesn't even work counts anymore.  And he's noticeably suckered on every single snapper and hook that he sees.

Only one double play, of course they only had 2 rallies.  One killed by a Fred SAnchez double play, the other killed by a  Brandon Belt strike out.

Game 7: That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, Giants win in extras 5-4

Dude, 4:28 I thought the last batter was coming to the plate.  I thought I'd be able to leave work as soon as this last guy gets out and Giants would win 3-2.

Of course, Brian Wilson was pitching.  And he really tries to make things exciting.

2 runs scored, Cards primed to win 4-3.  2 quick outs in the bottom of the ninth and defensive sub Aaron Rowand (playing left field!) coming up.

Rowand singles, gets to second on a wild pitch, and Panda Bear knocks him in with a base hit.

PANDA freeeeking BEAR!

Larussa pulled some tricky crap in the 11th: 5 infielders.  And a lead off Torres double turned into a really weird inning.  Torres got out in a rundown, Larussa walked bases loaded, and DeRosa gets called out on what seemed to be a suspact call.

Meanwhile the bullpen is seriously shutting down Pujols and them.  Javi Lopez did a very decent job shutting down these guys.

Bottom 12, Giants load the bases (Pujols error started it) and Rowand smacks a ball off the fence to finish the game.

Extra innings are the best, aren't they?  They totally wash away the sins of the regulation period.  After all, we forget that Sanchie had some decent stuff, but walked too many early on and was at 94 pitches after 5 innings.

Burrell and Buster hit into double plays, but at least Burrell went yard.

I hate double plays.  They kill like three innings.  Even a home run doesn't wipe away a double play (maybe a 3 run homer, but Pat the Bat only hit a solo shot).  Burrell made a *ahem* nice play (tumbling over like a water buffalo) on the warning track.

SEVENTEEN RUNNERS LEFT ON BASE!  4 for 18 WITH RUNNERS IN SCORING POSITION.

You have got to do better than that.  They should've been up by 7.  So, once again they come close to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  And this time, it's the B-team that keeps them in line (that's 2 out of their 3 wins that belong to the B-team).

I like it; it's exciting baseball.  Not particularly good baseball, but exciting baseball.

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Game 3: Freddy Sanchez leads a 10-run outburst, Giants win 10-0

First and foremost, the last time that Matt Cain allowed and earned run, my 2 1/2 year-old son only knew about 4 words.  Now, the kid speaks like and damn....speaking.....guy who know..... a lot of words.

I missed the game, had a family day to the Roaring Camp in Felton, but I kept checking in ont he ol' cell phone.

Looks like all of the old guys (led by F Sanchie) drove the bus today.  Rowand must've been chomping 'cuz he got a couple hits, scored a couple runs.  Sanchez went yard and got some other RBI's.  Tejada, batting lead off, got a couple hits, scored a couple, got a couple RBI's.  In fact, Burrell was the only starter that didn't get on base, and Belt was the only other starter without a hit (but he walked twice).

10-0, Giants score in bunches again, that was their M.O. last year, lose the one-run gmes, and score a shit-ton for the guy that tosses a shutout.

Cainer only went 6, gave up 5 hits -- I can only figure that Boche didn't want to waste him this early in the season in a route.  Personally, I believe in letting pitchers finish shut outs.....

But I'm between managerial jobs.

Like I said earlier, leaving LA with a 2-2 record would be just fine by me, Z's really gotta come through tomorrow out of the 4-hole.  I think it's a perfect place for him, v Kuroda.

Player Preview -- The Outfielders

My second nugget breaking down the team before the season begins.  Previously, it was the Infielders, now it is the Outfielders

(read more below the fold)

Cactus League: A Flash in the Suppan?

Belt hit a monster.  So did Rowand.  And Jeff Suppan sees an opening on the rotation so he answers.

I am only a tiny bit concerned with how well the Boys are doing this Spring.  Posey's hitting like .700 and Pablo's hit more home runs in the last week than Duane Kuiper did in his entire career.

Great, right?  Well, not necessarily if those knocks are coming off of a guy who'll be bagging groceries next week.  An MLB pitcher is good enough to make you miss those pitches just enough that they die on the warning track.

Still, Jeff Suppan's 3 scoreless is umpteen times better than Z's 5 walks and 5 outs outing on Monday. Well, Z going tonight in the split squad game. Let's see how he does.