Cain dominates Dodgers

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GIANTS 2 - DODGERS 1

Matt Cain twirled 7 shutout innings, allowed 3 hits and walked none.  The Giants beat the Dodgers 2-1 at AT&T park last night.  They also moved back to within .5 a game of first place.

It looked like a repeat of last night.  Great pitching and nobody scored any runs until late.  But this time the Giants came out on top.  Even though he allowed more hits than the night before, Cain and the Giants' bullpen didn't issue a single free pass all night long.  the only run came on a solo Andre Ethier homerun off of Brian WIlson in the 9th who, oh by the way, came in and picked up his 43rd save.

Tonight the Giants face Ted Lilly and counter with Jonathan Sanchez.  I wish Boch would just leave the lineup that he threw out last night in tact, but he has already said that Pablo will get a night off.  I bet Fontenot and Nate go back to the bench too.  I know a lot of people thought Bochy was crazy for throwing out that lineup, but why not?  The other guys he was trotting out there weren't getting the job done either..

Giants sweep the Dodgers in SF for the first time since 2003!

GIANTS 2 - DODGERS 0

It was a night of firsts.

Matt Cain's first win in 9 decisions against the Dodgers, Giants first sweep of the Dodgers in SF since 203, Javier Lopez's first appearance of the season, and Edgar Renteria's first clutch hit as a Giant!

Well OK, maybe Rent has had a few clutch hits as a Giant, but this one is the biggest this season.  (this one was the biggest last season)  But it didn't make it any less surprising.  I loved Joe Morgan's comment early in Rent's at bat when he mentioned that Renteria has had a repuutation throughought his career for being a clutch hitter.  Probably one pitch before Rent drilled his triple into the left centerfield gap that Matt Kemp totally misplayed from a double into a triple.

The fact that Rent was up with 2 runners on at all made me question Joe Torre's status as a great manager.  Torre, for some reason that I still can't figure out, intentionally walked Aaron Rowand, who was hitting a robust .230 against LHP this season, so that lefty Clayton Kershaw could face Edgar Renteria, who was batting .333 Vs. lefties this season.  Edgar promptly ripped the triple into the alley and scored the only 2 runs of the game and single handedly was responsible for the offensive side of things in tonight's victory.

And they say Bochy is a bad manager!

The battle of the trade deadline acquisitions was decidedly in the Giant's favor as well.  Javier Lopez made his Giants debut and threw 2 pitches to the new Dodgers leftfielder, Scott Podsednik, who he got to ground out to end the 8th inning.

It doesn't get any easier for the Giants.  Starting Tuesday, they face the Colorado Rockies in Colorado.  They will be throwing Sanchez, Bumgarner, and Lincecum at the team that has won 4 games in a row after losing their previous 8.  Then it's off to Atlanta to face the always tough Braves and to have the 2 top NL ROY candidates face off against one another.

Link of the Day:

John Bowker is in a better place now.  It seems that after the initial shock of being traded wore off .  john Bowker realized that the Giants have done him a favor by sending him to Pittsburgh.  He wasn't going to get a chance to play everyday in San Francisco while they were in contention.  Hell, he wouldn't have even put on a Giants uniform until September at the earliest.  But in Pitt he will get a chance to play.  The Pirates aren't going anywhere and they play in a more hitter friendly park than the Giants do.  Good luck Johnny B. and hopefully Bowkermania will catch on in Pittsburgh!

Zito hard luck loser once again

DODGERS 2 - GIANTS 0

I think Barry Zito is still pissed.

After being pulled while being just one out away from a victory the start before last, Zito has been excellent on the mound.  He has only given up 3 runs in his last 16 IP.  The Giants however have only managed to scratch across one run for him in that time.  I'm not sure why this happens to certain guys, although until recently almost everyone on the Giants staff could say the same thing, but Zito and Cain seem to be bitten by the lack of run support bug especially hard.

The lack of offense was troubling.  Especially since the Giants struggle with their offense so much.  I'm not going to panic too much since the Giants also had trouble scoring against the Mets in the first 2 games of that series and were still able to take 2 out of 3.

The Giants head to Arizona where we will see the power of good pitching on display.  The D-cracks, despite having guys like Chris Young, Adam Laroche, and Mark Reynolds, are 19.5 games back because they have horrendous pitching.  I expect this series to be similar to the series in Milwaukee at the end of the first half!

The only other Giants news last night involved Buster Posey stretching his hitting streak to 15 games.  The Giants record for a rookie hitting streak is 22 which is held by Willie McCovey.  Buster's hitting streak is the longest rookie hitting streak since the 15 game hitting streak put together by one of my favorite all-time players, Mr. Mullet himself, Dan Gladden from way back in 1985! 

Looking for a Gladden picture was kinda disappointing since A. I remember him as  more of a power hitter than a guy who only hit 74 homeruns in 11 seasons.  B. Most of the pictures of him online were of him as a twin.  Oh well.

Link of the day:

Aubrey Huff has a blog now.  I guess someone in the Giants PR department decided that they just couldn't do without a player blog since the trade of Bengie Molina.  I can't be happier with who they picked to write this blog, although I think he probably dictates it to someone who then writes it for him.  How do explain Bengie Molina being able to write in perfect English while hardly being able to speak it? 

Anyway Aubrey's inaugural entry offered some insight into how the Giants perceived the Dodgers reaction to the beanball war last night and once again proved how the media bias towards the Red Sox - Yankee rivalry is bad for baseball.

Giants win their 7th in a row! Oh. wait. They BEAT L.A.!

GIANTS 5 - DODGERS 2

Well they should have won 7 in a row.

Although a good whippin put on the Dodgers will make me feel a lot better about things.

Once again, it was the kids leading the charge.

Posey extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI single, he later scored on Nate The Great's 2 run HR, Madbum only gave up one earned run in 5 2/3 IP, and Pablo Sandoval chipped in with 2 hits and an RBI of his own.

About Pablo.

I know it's only 5 games, but he looks a lot sharper since the All-Star break than he has in about 2 months.  He has hit safely in each of those 5 games and is hitting .470 over that span.  he is hitting with pop, 4 doubles, and is driving in runs with 3 RBIs.

This is the hitter that the Giants need.  They need a guy who can bat 5th, drive in some runs, and keep the hitting going after Posey and Huff.  Uribe needs to just keep doing what he is doing and if Nate can sniff .280 while playing amazing defense then we have the team in place that we need from an offensive standpoint.  Then Sabean can go out and do the unsexy thing and pick up a few middle relievers because that is our most glaring weakness at this point.

A roster move to report. 

The Giants recalled Eugenio Velez and sent down Joe Martinez.  I must admit that the move was a little confusing.  But they need infield depth.  Especially with Freddy Sanchez and the .160 hitting (since June 19th) Juan Uribe are the only 2 guys who can play second.  Not everybody is happy with the move.   But maybe they are showcasing him for a possible trade?  As long as he doesn't drop any balls during Madbum's starts I will be O.K. with that.

Lincecum V. Kershaw tonight should be a pitcher's duel!

 

Link of the day;

Since I couldn't find any interesting links today I thought that I would post a pic of the day.  This pic has to be one of the most horrible ballpark giveaway ideas of all time:

 Yes that is a Manny Ramirez action figure.  I have no idea what his special power must be but I think it has something to do with being extra fertile....

Although I kinda want one so I can have my kids Pandoval Bobblehead sit on it!