Hard Luck Zito

ARIZONA 3 - GIANTS 1

Barry Zito pitched well enough to win.  He went 6 innings, gave up 3 runs, and struck out 7 against the Diamondbacks.  If you had told any Giants fan that this was going to be Zito's line before the game they would have jumped up and down.  If you would have told them that Freddy Sanchez was going to hit another homerun they would have said the Giants were gonna go into San Diego riding a five game winning streak.

If I told  that same Giants fan that they would continue their terrible hitting with runners in scoring position by going 0 for 6 then they would have groaned.

That's what the Giants did last night and as a result they only managed to scratch one run across the board last night on Freddy Sanchez's solo homerun.

I'm not going to lie, it wasn't the type of performance that I want to see the Giants have on the eve of the 4 game series in San Diego against the suddenly hot Padres.  It's actually the type of performance that the Giants have had in just about every game against San Diego this season.

The Giants sit 2 games back of the Padres in the NL west and the only way that they can even leave San Diego tied is to win 3 out of 4 games against the Padres in Petco park.  It will be the toughest task that the Giants have faced yet.  The Giants pitchers are all coming off of solid starts so it's safe to assume the Giants pitching won't be the concern in this series.  

Although it hasn't been in the season series against the Padres so far.

There is hope.  The Giants and Padres talent level is just about even.  Odds dictate that the Giants should not continue to get dominated by a team that is so similar on a talent level.  But then again this is baseball and since when do odds mean anything?  Consider this:  The Giants and Padres have played 11 games so far this season and the Giants have faced Matt Latos and Clayton Richard in 8 of them!  Yes they will both be facing the Giants in this series.