Nate the Great tied it and Freddy Ballgame won it!

With Tim Lincecum getting the start for the Giants against the Nationals, you would have expected this game to follow a different course than it did.

You wouldn't have expected Timmy to give up 4 earned runs in just over 5 innings.  You also wouldn't (well actually you might have expected) the Giants were going to be held to two hits through 6 innings.  If someone told you that was going to happen before the game started you probably would have said that the Giants were going to leave with a loss.

I know I thought it was going to be a tough night for the guys in orange and black.

Nate Schierholtz and Freddy Sanchez are the stars of this game.  Nate's clutch, pinch-hit, 2 out, 2 strike, game tying RBI tied the game in he bottom of the 8th.  Then, 5 innings later, Freddy Sanchez poked another 2 out single to win the game.

This team has so much heart and character.  With the amount of injuries they have had and the amount of games that they have fallen behind in early, they shouldn't even be sniffing first place.  But they know they are good.  They know how to win ugly.  This team got a taste of the promised land last season and you can tell by the way that they are playing their asses off that they are going to do their damnedest to make it back there this season.

Good.  That's what good teams do.

Some Giants fun

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First place Giants keep rolling!

After taking 3 out of 4 from the Central division leading St. Louis Cardinals and regaining sole possession of first place in the NL West.  The Giants came home last night and took care of business against the Colorado Rockies.

For some reason, the Giants can't score until after their opponents do.  But as long as they keep winning I guess that it's OK.  I no longer get too upset over the other team scoring first as it seems that the Giants' offense doesn't realize that there is a baseball game going on until that happens.

The lineup that Bochy put out there last night may just be the best offense that the Giants have.  At least until Pablo Sandoval returns.  The outfield of Ross, Torres, and Schierholtz are easily the best offensive and defensive options that the Giants have in the outfield.  Oh and that guy Schierholtz only had one hit, but it came during the three run fourth inning and he eventually scored.  Just sayin...

As for the infield, Burriss definitely earned another start with his 3 hit performance and Crawford was right in the mix as well.  I hope this is the beginning of the end of Miguel Tejada's time in a Giants uniform.  I loved the guy in Oakland (hell I even have his rookie card), but as Bob Costas said during Thursday night's game on MLB network, Tejada "is a shadow of his former self."  Also, according to Carl Steward, I'm not the only one who feels Miggy might be done.

Cain didn't have his best stuff, he did walk four guys, but he made up for it by striking out 7 and holding the Rockies to just one run.  Cain has always been a good pitcher.  He has never been a dominating pitcher.  He has just always found ways to win games.  I know his last few starts has caused some concern, but he really has always had hiccups like these along the way.

Tomorrow's forecast calls for rain.  That's a bummer.  Hopefully they can squeeze the game in but we will see.

Go Giants!

Is Nate Schierholtz the Giants MVP?

Last night's game was amazing.  It had a 3 run comeback, multiple lead changes, and extra innings.  Through all of that, one guy emerged as the star.

Nate Schierholtz.

I seriously believe that this guy is the Giants' MVP so far.  At least as far as position players go.  Nobody else on this team has contributed offensively, defensively, and on the basepaths.  OK well maybe Burris or Ford run  a little better than he does, but that's about all that they do so far.

Hell, Schierholtz even leads the team in homers since Pablo went down.  Sure he's only got 3 over that time but when the team leader has 5 and he hasn't played in over a month that is huge for an offense.

Look, I know that Bochy likes to let veterans play and try to get hot.  But he also showed last season that he isn't afraid to replace an underperforming veteran with an up and comer when he replaced Rowand with Torres. The time has finally come for Boch to give Nate the starting role in right field.  Ross has played well enough to play left and of course Torres is the guy in center.  Burrell is not much more than a bench guy at this point and he may even need to be an emergency first baseman.  I know I would feel more comfortable with him there than I would with Burriss over there.

Nate has been getting the majority of starts in right but now it's time for him to be there permanently.

In other news;

Brandon Crawford has hit just enough to convince me that he is an upgrade at this point over Miguel Tejada.  I am sure that Crawford can hit .217 and play a whole lot better in the field than Tejada can.  I floated the idea on Twitter during the game and I want to get it out there here.

I think the Giants should release Tejada when Pablo Sandoval comes off the DL.

I'm pretty sure there is zero to no chance of that happening, but I can hope.  Besides, the way the Giants players are getting injured maybe Tejada will go on the DL.  It has to happen sometime in his career.


Maybe I should have read Andrew Baggerly's blog before I wrote mine.  You can read it here.

Maybe there is some magic left inside!?!

The second game after "the incident" regarding Buster Posey had Giants fans, and probably Giants players, fearing the worst.  After all, it had been 18 innings since the Giants had scored a run and Shaun Marcum was dealing.

Then, Andres Torres singled, stole second base, and scored on a single by Freddy Sanchez.  Despite this development many fans were still unsure that the punchless Giants could score 2 more runs and even tie this game much less win it.

They were proven wrong in the 7th when the Giants loaded the bases against Marcum and the guy who was taking only his second major league AB showed that the magic is still there if you look hard enough.

Now, I'm sure that most rational Giants fans don't expect that Brandon Crawford is going to be yanking balls out of the yard like Jose Bautista (I can't believe I just said that) but this is the stuff that legends are made from.  Crawford has always been regarded as a slick fielding. light hitting shortstop.  This season he was batting .322 with 3 homeruns but he had only played in 3 games.  But the Giants really don't have any other option at SS so he is going to get a lot of time there.  At least until someone comes off the DL.

But regardless, the Giants formula from last season was there.  Good pitching, although Lincecum gutted it out with less than his best stuff, and a different hero every night.  Last season this team got a boost from a rookie.  This season this team got a boost from a rookie.  

Even if was only for one game