A disappointing night

Orioles 4 - Giants 1

Not a lot went right for the Giants tonight.

They faced a pitcher making his second start of his career and were only able to muster 3 lousy hits off him.  They weren't able to get a single hit off the Oriole relievers since Arrietta left them so confounded.  The Giants performance prompted Orioles closer David Hernandez to tell the media: "No offense to the Giants, but they don't have the Yankee firepower," Hernandez said. "I think that enabled him to go out there and pretty much pitch his game. He definitely has the quality stuff to do that." when asked about Arrietta's performance. 

Spot starter Joe Martinez pitched OK.  He just happened to be pitching on the wrong night.  If he had pitched on any of the last 5 nights and had the exact same numbers, he would have received a W for his efforts.  The giants got exactly what they wanted from Martinez tonight.  They wanted a starter to pitch relatively deep into the game and to keep it close.  In fact, if it wasn't for a few bad breaks, Martinez should have walked away with a W.

The only offensive positive was the fact that Pablo Sandoval hit his 6th homerun of the season.  It appears Pablo is heating up as that was 2nd homerun in the last 4 games.  I know a lot has been made of Pablo's struggles but consider this:  Last season, through June 1, Pablo was hitting .301 with 3 HRs.  This season, he was hitting .286 with 4 homers.  He was only hittng 15 points higher coming in to June lst year than he is this year.  In June, he hit .394 with eight HRs!  Now he hasn't quite matched that production so far this June, but he's showing signs of heating up and his track record shows that he hits in the summer months.

Bruce Bochy never ceases to amaze me.  The San Jose Mercury News reports that Bochy didn't want Posey catching Martinez tonight because:  “if it’s going good, you don’t’ fix it.” Added Bochy: “You keep playing your hand if it’s a good one. We want to keep things pretty much the same, and hopefully we’ll keep scoring some runs.” 

I'm not sure how putting Molina in the lineup, after a game in which the Giants scored 10 runs for the first time in forever, can tell us that:   A. Bengie Molina is a "hot hand" or B. Molina contributed at all to the offensive outburst last night. Now Whiteside was 0 for 1 but he did score 2 of the 10 runs last night.  Although I guess Bochy has been preaching the "hot hand" all season long he's not gonna stop now.

On the farm:

Look at this kid: 

Does he strike you as someone who as a guy who is hitting a Bondsian .394 with 8 homeruns and a .509 OBP? 

No? 

Well he is.

Who is he?  Well that's Brandon Belt.  He is currently the first baseman of the San Jose Giants who just captured the California League North 1st half division title.   He was the Giants 5th round pick last season and is hitting better than even Buster Posey did in San Jose.

In more encouraging future San Francisco Giants news Madison Bumgarner won his seventh consecutive decision.  After limiting Portland to 2 runs in 6 innings.  John Bowker hit another homerun and Tyler Graham collected 2 hits to raise his average to .407.  Edgar Renteria, in his rehab assignment, went 2 for 2 with 2 RBIs. 

Nate watch:

Nate rotted on the bench some more tonight.  Travis Ishikawa was going to pinch hit for Mota and then Aaron Rowand pinch hit for Ishikawa and wound up getting HBP.

Sweeeeeeeep!

GIANTS 6 - A'S 2

With their 6-2 victory over the A's today, the Giants completed a 3 game sweep of the A's.

Isn't revenge sweet?

The A's swept the Giants in Oakland last month in what had to be the lowest point of the Giants season so far.  Well besides maybe losing 7 in a row to the Padres.  But during the 3 game series against the A's the Giants only managed one single run.  Matt Cain lost a complete game 1-0 in which the only run given up was unearned.  It looked like the beginning of a long, slow, painful, downward slide for the Giants.

They came home, Freddy Sanchez got comfortable, Buster Posey came up, and since that sweep the Giants are 13-6,  They have scored 3 runs or more in 11 straight games, and they finished their last road trip with a winning record!

Matt Cain pitched his usual good game going 7 strong and allowing 1 earned run.  His ERA for the season is 2.05 which is good for 5th in the NL.  His 6-4 record is a crime.
Yesterday's game may have been the arrival of Aubrey Huff.  Huff's 2 homers in the same game at AT&T are noteworthy enough but even more so because he is a left hander according to Andrew Baggerly of the San Jose Mercury News.  They are even more noteworthy because he hit both homers to left center field which is was the spot where only Barry Bonds used to hit homers with consistency.  Earlier in the season, after Huff hit his inside-the-park homerun, Huff noted that it was going to be tough to hit homers at AT&T park.  He admitted the park got into his head: "First month of the season, I tried to beat it," he said. "I got in some bad habits. but then he decided to play the park: "I just gave up (on trying to pull the ball), said I'm going to try to hit .300 this year." Well he's hitting .303 to lead the Giants in the average department and he's tied for the team homerun lead with Juan Uribe.

Speaking of Uribe, he hit another homer yesterday to keep pace with Huff and he is leading the team in RBI.  Huff and Uribe are making Brian Sabean look like a genius again.

Next up for the Giants is the Baltimore Orioles who just snapped their 10 game losing streak.  They are also chasing history.  As in the 1969 New York Mets who had the worst record of all-time.  Also, In case you didn't know, the Orioles are the only other team in baseball to wear orange and black.  This has led the Giants marketing wizards to come up with the lame marketing campaign: "Halloween in July" Although they will be wearing the cool orange uni's!

The matchups look to favor the Giants.  But when a club is 17-46 they almost never match up well do they?

Tonight:

Chris Tilman 0-2  Vs. Jonathan Sanchez 4-5 2.82

The only Giant to face Tilman is Pat Burrell who is 2 for 6 with a homerun so expect a Burrell, Torres, Huff OF today since Whiteside should be catching Sanchez.  Sanchez should rack up a lot of K's so as long as the Giants score a few runs he should even up his record at 5-5.

Tuesday:

Jake Arrieta 1-0, 4.50 Vs. Joe Martinez  0-0, 0.00

This will be Arrietta's second start in the Majors.  He did pretty good in his first start.  He held the Yankees to 3 runs over 6 innings and got the W.  Joe Martinez will be making his first start in the bigs his season.  He was both pretty good and terrible in his short stint in the majors last season.  In the minors this season he was pretty good going 5-2 with a 3.07 ERA.  His last start for Fresno was a complete game in which he only allowed 1 run and struck out 7.

Jeremy Guthrie 3-7, 3.83 Vs. Tim Lincecum 6-2, 3.13

Guthrie has been the Orioles most consistent pitcher this season having quality starts in all but 4 of his starts.  Lincecum should be Lincecum.  If that happens then expect double digit strikeouts from the freak.

On the farm:

The Grizzlies beat Tacoma 7 -3 and the offense just kept rolling.  Brett Pill and Brock Bond each had 3 hits.  Pill hit a HR and had 3 RBIs.  John Bowker had 2 hits and a HR.  Pill and Bowker also each stole a base.  Tyler Graham only went 1 for 4 and his average plummeted all the way down to .404.

Paul Konerko:

It's been a week since MLBTraderumors and ESPN's Buster Olney reported that the White Sox are ready to deal.  No word from the Giants camp but I really think that the Giants need to do everything in their power to get Paul Konerko. 

Konerko is a lifetime .278 hitter with the potential to drive in 100 runs and hit 40 HRs a season.  He has a championship ring so he brings that postseason experience to the club.  He would be one of the few players on the Giants to have rings.  The others are Burrell, Rowand, and Uribe.  Rowand and Uribe's came with the same White Sox team that Konerko got his with.

He does have a no-trade clause in his contract so any deal would probably come with an extension but with Lincecum only signed through next year and Matt Cain due a raise from $7 million to $12 million in 2012 add that to Barry Zito's $19 million for 2012 and the window of opportunity for these guys to win a championship together is reeeeallly small. 

We have the prospects to get a deal done.  It's just a matter of if the Giants brass have the guts to get a deal done.  If they pulled the trigger they would instantly become the favorites in the NL.

I started a facebook group named: IF the Giants get Paul Konerko they will win the World Series.  Come over and join and hopefully we can get enough people to pressure Sabean into making the deal.

Nate Watch:
Nate was 0 for 1.  Although I have to admit that while the Giants are scoring 6 runs a game, it's getting harder and harder for me to keep complaining for Nate to play more.

So close yet so far

Freddy Sanchez was unable to get the ball in a spot where it was uncatchable for one of the few times this season. In fact, it was only because of a tremendous play by Lastings Milledge that the ball didn't fall in for a hit. But the Giants ultimately fell to the Pirates 6-3 behind yet another shaky road start from Todd Wellemeyer.

Bruce Bochy raised some eyebrows before the game when he filled out his lineup card and he had Pablo Sandoval hitting 8th. I guess he was sending a message to his young, free swinging, slugger. Which I have no problem with, but at the same time he lets Bengie Molina, who is in an even bigger slump, continue to hit cleanup!?!?! I'm just going to leave it at that.

Buster Posey got yet another hit and also got some time behind the plate. Why not let Buster bat third? Not sure but I bet it has to do with how he handles the pitching staff.

Pat the Bat began his Giants career as a bench player by starting in left field. He went 1 for 4 which is consistent with his career .250 average!

A few words about everyone's favorite Panda: Don't worry. He is 23 years old. He will work it out. I really believe that his current struggles are more from a mental standpoint than any physical issues. He just needs to mature as a hitter and hone those incredible skills he has.

On the farm:

The Grizzlies defeated the Sacramento River Cats 4-3. Bret Pill hit his 7th homerun of the season and knocked in 3 runs. Tyler Graham went 3 for 3 with a walk and raised his season average to .385. John Bowker and Mark Derosa each went 0 for 4. No word on how Derosa's wrist is feeling.

The Nate report:

Nate finally got a plate appearance. He walked as part of the near rally in the 9th inning. Once again, he illustrated his value to the club by getting on base at a time when they needed baserunners.

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The arrival of Pat the bat?

According to the San francisco Chronicle John Bowker was optioned to AAA last night.  No corresponding roster move was immediately announced, but it has been highly speculated that Pat "The Bat" Burrell will be the guy who takes his place on the roster.

It's kinda hard for me to get excited over the addition of a guy who's career BA is is .253.  A guy who was released by the Tampa Bay Rays after batting .202 with 2 HRs in 84 ABs to start this season.  All of this after he hit a whopping .221 last season.  Bowker was hitting .207 in 82 ABs this season with 3 HRs.  He did at least hit .342 with 22 HRs last season for AAA Fresno.  I don't know what the Giants gain here.  It seems to me that they swap 2 guys who are performing about the same.  The only differences that I can see are A. Burrell bats right handed while Bowker is a lefty.   B.  Burrell is 7 years older than Bowker.  C. Pat Burrell's wife is HOT!
But not so fast.

Mark Derosa went 3 for 4 while playing DH for the Grizzlies last night.  He did show a little pop by hitting one double and he had an RBI.  This development is somewhat surprising since the other night after going 0 for 4 for single A San Jose, DeRosa really sounded like he was convinced that he would not be back with the team until after he had another surgery.  Could the Giants be delaying the roster move until after DeRosa tests his wrist on the morning after?  I'm not sure but  I guess stranger things have happened.

I'm becoming increasingly perplexed with the Giants roster moves.  If Burrell joins the club like a lot of people, including me, expect and DeRosa comes back from his injury then the Giants really have a dilemma.  Edgar Renteria is also expected to come back from the DL in about a week or so and then some unpopular decisions have to be made. 

If Renteria comes back first, the guy who gets sent down is almost assuredly Matt Downs.  This will get some fans upset but if Renteria can play anything like he did before he was hurt then it will be a good move.  If DeRosa comes back next, the Giants will have to make one of the most unpopular moves of the season.  The outfield at that point would consist of: DeRosa, Rowand, Torres, Schierholtz, Burrell, and Huff.  The guy who would appear to be the odd man out would be Schierholtz.  However, if the Giants send nate down he would be Designated for Assignment and I'm not sure the Giants are quite ready to lose him.  (although by the way they have handled him I'm not totally sure if that's true.) 

So what happens?

That means Buster Posey goes back to Fresno.  He has options and there is no way the Giants are going to release either Bengie Molina or Eli Whiteside.  They said from the beginning that he was only up temporarily and they really want him to learn how to catch. Even though being mentored by Bengie would be the better way for that to happen but since these are the Giants, they do things whatever way they damn well please.

Down on the farm:

Eric Hacker took his third loss of the season, giving up 6 runs on 9 hits in 5.0 innings.  He is now 7-3 with a 4.42 ERA after starting the season 7-1.  He's been bumping around the minors for 7 seasons.  This is his now or never moment.  He started the season looking as if he may get called up before Madison Bumgarner but now he looks like a guy who has spent 7 seasons in the minors.  If he can make an adjustment and get back to where he was a few weeks ago then he is still a prospect. However, if he has 2 or 3 more starts like this, he may not even be with the team any longer.