Round one goes to the Braves

BRAVES 3 - GIANTS 2

The game started off good.  The Giants had Jair Jurrjens on the ropes in the first inning and were unable to deliver the knockout blow.  The same in the second.  As a matter of fact he was on the ropes in almost every one of the first 5 innings.  But one of the things that has plagued the Giants all season long came back to bite them.

Hitting with runners in scoring position.

The Giants were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position,  They hit 5 doubles and were only to get Andres Torres home in the 1st.

Tim Lincecum did not pitch too poorly either.  He went 6 1/3 innings gave up 6 hits, walked 3, and struck out 7.  He hung a curve to Alex Gonzales which landed in the left field bleachers and Eric Hinske took a high fastball over the centerfield fence on a flyball that just seemed to keep carrying and carrying and landed maybe 2 feet over the wall.  In fact, both homeruns Timmy gave up just barely made it out.  That's how close this game was.

This has led some people to theorize that their great July was against subpar competition and not against any first place teams.  They say that August will be much tougher and the Giants will be exposed against teams like Atlanta, San Diego, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.

What they fail to realize is that, other than San Diego, the Giants have winning records against all of the teams mentioned.  The Braves did tie the season series at 2-2 last night, but the Braves have the best record in the NL and the best record in baseball at home.  A split in this series would be a huge success and is still very possible.

Link of the day:

We should know the fate of Adam Dunn sometime today.  Apparently the Giants put in a claim on him but a team lower in the standings blocked them.  It could really be any team other than the Padres and Braves since they are the only 2 teams with better records than the Giants.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was St. Louis.

The Royals DFA'd Jose Guillen yesterday as well.  The Royals have 10 days to trade, waive, or release him.  I guess that the Giants are internally weighing their options with him but nothing is concrete.  I, for one, would not be too disappointed if we didn't get him because the more I think about it, the more I think he duplicates Pat Burrell and he could possibly not be a good fit in the clubhouse.