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.

Giants glad to be leaving Los Angeles

The Giants pitched and hit well enough to be 4-0.

They defended well enough to be 1-3.

That really is what the series against the Dodgers boiled down to.  The Dodgers caught the ball when they had to and the Giants didn't.

Even a World Series championship hasn't kept Giants fans from being fatalists.  If you peruse Twitter and take a look at some of the blogs you would probably be convinced that this is going to be the downfall of the 2011 Giants.  Now, this could very well be the case, but I don't think it's going to make a huge impact on the team over the long run.

The reason why I don't think that it's going to be such a huge impact on the season is that the bad defense isn't characteristic of the Giants.  Over the last 2 seasons, they have been pretty good defensively.  The lapses by Pablo Sandoval (despite what fans think) and Buster Posey are uncharacteristic of their play normally.  Miguel Tejada has also been a capable defender of the course of his career.

The only real defensive liability the Giants have right now is Huff in right field.  The game on Sunday put that liability on display for a national audience.  The problem is that the only solution to that situation would be to put Huff back at first.  But then what do you do with Belt?  Put him in right?  I'm not sure if Belt is any better in right than Huff but the idea doesn't appeal to me.

Offensively there are a few concerns.  Tejada has been terrible and his AB with 2 outs and the bases loaded was the picture of getting yourself out by being too aggressive.  Pat Burrell has two homers but other than that he is 0 for 12.  Also, despite his big homer in the second game of the season, Belt hasn't done too much offensively.  Really, other than Freddy Sanchez and Pablo Sandoval, the offense hasn't been too impressive statistically.

Despite all of this, the Giants scored 18 runs in four games.  Which breaks down to about 4.5 runs per game. As long as they are putting up 4.5 runs a game I guess you can't complain too much.  (although if you take the 10 run game out of the equation, they have scored 8 runs in 3 games for an average of 2.6 RPG)

So what does it all mean?

At this point, it doesn't mean a whole lot.  Does anybody really think the Padres are going to continue their success of the first 3 games?  Or Kansas City?  Or Baltimore?  Sure, it's frustrating to a lot of the experts because they "predicted" these struggles but the so called "Giants" experts are the same guys who said the Giants would never win anything with Bochy and Sabean at the helm.

The Giants could stumble this season, there is no doubt about that.  But this is largely the same team that won it all last season, so they deserve some benefit of the doubt.  They had some stretches last season where they were terrible and the pitching has been good so far this season, other than one bad inning by Runzler which was directly related to poor defense(although that didn't show up in the box score).

So, ask me in a week or two if I am worried.

Giants rolling in Scottsdale

I'm gonna start off by saying:  "It's only spring training."

But you gotta admit, the Giants sure look good.

Everything seems to be clicking for the Giants.  Lincecum is striking out tons of guys, Jonathan Sanchez looks like he's ready to be the #2 starter, Buster Posey is Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval looks lean and mean, and Brandon Belt is gonna make the opening day roster decision a tough one for Bochy, Sabean, and crew.

Even the negative stories seem to be minor.  Matt Cain's elbow inflammation seems to have subsided, the ridiculous talk about the Giants eating the rest of Barry Zito's contract has gone away, and Freddy Sanchez is already playing in games and looks to be ready for opening day.

The only real concern with the team that I have at this point is Miguel Tejada who has been pretty horrible defensively and not so great offensively.  Tejada says that he is always a terrible spring training player and I vaguely remember this to be the case during his days with the A's, you really have to be worried since our backup SS is who?  Emmanuel Burriss?  Brandon Crawford?  Ryan Rohlinger?  None of these choices instills any confidence.

But as I said before, it's only spring training and any of these positives can become negatives or the negatives can become positives.  But at least baseball is being played!

Giants shock even themselves while stunning the Rangers!

GIANTS 11 - RANGERS 7

Ever since the San Francisco Giants clinched on Saturday night, I had a nagging feeling that there would be a game like this in the World Series.  Never in a million years did I expect that it would come with Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum on the mound.

The Giants pounded out 14 hits last night, 8 of them off of Lee, and 11 runs, 6 off of Lee, to defeat the Rangers 11-7.

This pitching matchup didn't have quite the anticipation that the Lincecum - Halladay matchup had, but it was pretty well hyped.  Lee was an astounding 7-0 in postseason play and he had just come off of a masterful performance against the Yankees.  The Giants, on the other hand, had  struggled to put runs on the board all season long and were not an offense that anyone expected to defeat the mighty Lee.  As a matter of fact, the Giants were such underdogs that an ESPN poll had 49 out of 50 states picking the Rangers to win this world series.

But this is a Giants team that has handled Ubaldo Jimenez, Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cole Hamels, Adam Wainright, and manhandled most of them.

Now they can add Cliff Lee to this list.

On a night when Tim Lincecum didn't have his best stuff (good thing they got the early series lead because I doubt that at this point Timmy could be effective on short rest) the Giants offense picked him up.  Lincecum did battle however because the game could have been easily 6-0 after the second inning rather than 2-0.

But the offense is really the story here.  Led by Freddy Sanchez whose 3 doubles set a world series record with three straight doubles in their world series debut.  Juan Uribe chipped in with a 3 run homer in the 5th that basically put an end to the contest.  Cody Ross chipped in with his usual RBI and Aurey Huff chipped in 3 hits of his own.

I do have to give a special shout out to Edgar Renteria.  He is rapidly making up for all of those days on the DL.  His performance last night in the field and even at the plate made me wonder if this was the same guy who the Giants have been trotting out at shortstop every so often, when he was healthy, for the last 2 seasons.  He is earning those 12 million dollars now.  That play he made on Ian Kinsler was a play that I wouldn't have believed he could make if I hadn't seen it myself.

Overall it was a great win.  I really wish that the Giants wouldn't have let the Rangers have those 3 runs in the ninth but they did.  The Giants even make blowouts torture don't they.  This Giants team has shown time and time again that they do what it takes to win games and they did it again last night.  No we are fooling ourselves to think that the Giants are going to put up double digits every night, but the Giants offense has been struggling for a while now and it was time for them to get hot.  Boy did they ever pick the right time to get hot!

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.

Giants score two touchdowns and add a safety for good measure

GIANTS 16 - REDS 5

The Giants have been putting up video game numbers 

Yes, I'm talking about the San Francisco Giants.

The Giants continued their hot-hitting ways last night.  One night after scoring an impressive 11 runs on 17 hits, the boys in Orange and Black scored a ridiculous 16 runs on 18 hits.  

Just because it's fun to do I will tell you that they scored 27 runs over the last 2 nights, on 35 hits, and they hit 6 home runs over those games.  The 16 runs were only 1 run less than the Giants scored in all 6 games against Philadelphia and St. Louis!

Look, I'll be the first guy to admit that you can't take a whole lot from a 16 run game.  It's a fluke thing that doesn't happen very often.  As far as I could tell the last time that the Giants scored at least 16 runs in a game was on Sept. 3, 2004 when the Giants put up 18 on the D-Backs Barry Bonds and everybody's favorite Giant Edgardo Alfonso went deep in what had to be the game of his career since he pounded out 5 hits that night!

So what can we take from these two games?

Well the Giants have embarrassed a legitimate post season contender in the Cincinnati Reds.  Who, by the way, were the highest scoring team in the league coming in to the series.  They also have picked themselves up off the ground, yet again this season.  

Am I convinced they are back yet?

No, but there is still a lot of baseball to be played and they are still tied for the wildcard.  Also, with tomorrows game, they will be able to get their record to an even .500 over their last 12 games against contenders.  Which is what you need to do over the course of a long season if you want to have a shot at making it to the postseason.  

This could be the start of a nice little winning streak since the hapless Diamondbacks are coming into town tomorrow.

By the Way, Pablo Sandoval's homerun last night was an absolute BOMB.  If you think the Panda isn't back then consider that he is Hitting .306 with 5 homeruns for the month of August.

Giants demolish Reds I'm still not sure I'm back on the Bandwagon

GIANTS 11 - REDS 2

Oh you Giants.  You are like the sexy girlfriend who I just can't leave no matter how bad she makes me feel.  Just when you do something to me to make me think that I am done with you for the season, you lay the smack down on a team, a first place team no less, and you lay it down good.

But I have been hurt too many times to come running back.  Sure you started the season with a 5 game winning streak, but then the Dodgers and the Padres came to town.  They whipped the crap out of you so bad that you could only muster one win against the two teams in the span of 6 games.  Then you battled admirably and were right back in the thick of things.

But then there was that 7 game losing streak.

It looked like it was the beginning of the end.  The Giants weren't hitting, they weren't pitching, and they were 7 games out of first place.  With the lack of offense this team was displaying who in their right mind would think that this team had a chance in hell of making some noise come August?

Then came the trade to send Molina packing and make Buster Posey the full time catcher.  This led to an amazing July.  The Giants scored more runs and won more games than any team in all of baseball.  Hell they even swept the Dodgers.

Then August started.  A tough road trip through Colorado and Atlanta got the month off to a bad start, a home series with the Cubs was a little harder than it needed to be and then the Padres came to town again.

The emotions ran the gamut in the series with the Padres.  From a frustrating 3-2 loss in game one, to an amazing, come-from-behind extra inning win in the second game that had us thinking the corner had been turned, and finally an embarrassing 8-2 ass whipping at the hands of the same Padres.

Things got worse in Philly but you were able to ride a great performance from Jonathan Sanchez to an impressive win.  This was followed by another great effort from the youngest player on the team, Madison Bumgarner, and hope started to blossom.  But that hoped was quickly squashed by Chris Carpenter and Jaime Garcia.  Hell, even the Buster Posey Rookie of the Year odds took a huge blow from the complete game 3 hitter that Garcia twirled.

So, I refuse to get excited over one game.  I refuse to be excited that Aubrey Huff, Buster Posey, Freddy Sanchez, and Pablo Sandoval all had multi-hit games.  I refuse to be elated over the fact that Matt Cain showed us why he is the best pitcher on the Giants staff this season not named Brian Wilson.  I refuse to take heart in the way the Giants showed a team who had won 8 of the last 10 who the real contender is .

But come Friday I could be excited again.

While you are waiting for tomorrow's showdown between Jonathan Sanchez and Travis Wood , take a minute to go and read Aubrey Huff's blog.

I'll bet you a dollar it brings a tear to your eye.

Giants lose to Padres again. It's getting ridiculous

PADRES 3 - GIANTS 2

The Giants lost to the Padres for the 8th time in 9 games.  If the Giants had managed to win 3 of the 8 games they lost, which is less than half by the way, the Giants would be sitting in first place right now.   But no, the Giants can't even win a game against the Padres pitcher, Clayton Richard, who has been struggling in his last few starts.

Jonathan "Mr Guarantee" Sanchez pretty much lost the game by way of his horrible bunting in the second inning.  With runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out, Sanchez bunted right back to the pitcher which enabled the Padres to throw out Juan Uribe at third base.  This is like the 8th time that Sanchez has been unable to execute a bunt properly this season.  I think 7 of those came against the Padres.

The Giants must win these next two games against the Padres.  If they don't they will be 5.5 games back.  They still play the Pads 7 more times after but if they can't win these next two games then I have no reason to believe that they can win any of the other 7 games they will play against them.

Oh and don't think that Bruce Bochy didn't have his hand in this debacle.  For some unexplained reason, Aaron Rowand was in the starting lineup again.  Not only did Rowand get picked off of second base in the 2nd inning, he struck out to end the game with the tying run on first base.  Rowand should be nowhere near the starting lineup at ever again this season.  If the Giants want to win this thing they can't keep trotting out the closest thing to an automatic out that the Giants have.  I am actually glad that the Giants got Guillen now if it means that Rowand will get even less playing time.

The other bonehead Bochy decision?  Batting the slumping Freddy Sanchez second.  In the 40 games since Sanchez was last at a .300 average, Sanchez is batting .223 with a horrendous OBP of .289.

Pablo Sandoval has been having his own struggles this season but he has been coming on in August.  Even if you go back 40 games with Pablo he is batting over 40 points better than Sanchez .265 to .223.  During the month of August, even with the 0 for 3 last night, Pablo is batting .326.  this would make him the perfect guy to bat in the 2 hole.

Bochy is a fan of saying that he likes to "Play the hot hand" yet for some reason the "hot hand" was hitting 6th and the stone cold hand was hitting 2nd.  A lineup that makes more sense, now that Guillen is in SF, looks more like this:

Torres, Sandoval, Posey, Burrell, Huff, Guillen, Uribe, Sanchez

Oh and the Padres even broke the Giants' Orange Friday mojo by handing them their first loss in the Orange unis.

Giants muscle up! Are they better than last year?

Giants 9 - Blue Jays 6

If you told me before today's game started that the Blue Jays were going to score 6 runs I would have told you that the Giants were going to lose.  However Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez, and Pat Burrell each hit homeruns to make up for a shaky start by Jonathan Sanchez on the way to the Giants scoring 9 runs in their 9-6 victory in Toronto. 

This Giants team is tough to figure out.  In the previous 4 games they had been held to 2 runs or less 3 out of the last 4 games.  One of those games they were shut out and another they only scored one run.  This stretch prompted everyone to wonder if the offensive explosion that the Giants flashed on the last homestand was a fluke. 

This made me wonder if the Giants are a better team than they were last year?

It's still tough to tell even after the Giants scored 9 runs today.  It brought their season record on the road to 14-18 which isn't as bad as their 36-45 record on the road last season but it's not much better. They have slightly increased their runs per game from 4.1 last season to 4.3,  their team ERA is down to 3.31 from 3.35, and their team batting average has gone from .257 up to .263.  All this has translated to a record right now of 38-30, last year they were 37-31 after 68 games so they are exactly 1 game better this year at this time than they were last year.

The Giants brass really will need to make a splash at the trading deadline to significantly change this team over the rest of the season.  There aren't that many big names out there.   Right now we have David Dejesus, Lance Berkman, Miguel Tejada, Derrek Lee, Carlos Lee, and Paul Konerko.  Kelly Johnson is possibly available too but it's tough to see Arizona dealing him within the division.

So what options do the Giants have out of those guys? Berkman and the two Lees are all batting in the low .200s.  I don't think the Giants can afford anymore automatic outs since they already have Rowand and Molina.  Tejada is batting a decent .271 and Dejesus is batting .331 but these two have combined for 9 home runs total and pop is what the Giants need right now. 

This leaves Paul Konerko as the guy the Giants MUST get.  I know I sound like a broken record but this guy is hitting .294/.396/.974 with 17 HRs.  he is the best option on the market.  Sure, his arrival will finally send Bengie Molina to the bench, but the Giants need this kind of power in the lineup rather than hoping that Pat Burrell can provide it.  With him you have a potential lineup of:

Torres CF, Sanchez 2B, Huff LF, Konerko 1B, Uribe SS, Sandoval 3B, Posey C, Schierholtz RF.  However more likely we would see a linup along the lines of: Torres CF, Sanchez 2B, Huff RF, Konerko 1B, Sandoval 3B, Uribe SS, Posey C, Burrell LF.  Either way I like it a lot better than what we are throwing out there right now.

Nate Watch:
Nate got in the game and did not get an AB.  Rowand on the other hand got 5 ABs collecting a hit in one of them.  He is batting a robust .220

Freddy Sanchez is doin some work!

Giants 6 Pirates 5
Freddy Sanchez is on a ten game hitting streak.  During this streak he has easily been the Giants best hitter.  He's hitting .500 over those 10 games and seven of those games have been muli-hit games.  This is an example of a Brian Sabean trade gone right.   Before you think of arguing all of the potential lost in Alderson, consider that the Giants got an All-Star caliber player for a guy who projects to be an end-of the rotation pitcher at best.  Don't believe me?  His career minor league ERA is 3.49 and he only averages 5.9 K's per 9 IP. Sure, Sanchez was hurt to start the season, but he has practically carried the team since he's been back.  The additions of Sanchez and Buster Posey have transformed this offense dramatically from what it was two weeks ago.

Aubrey Huff was 1 for 3 with an RBI and he showed off his blazing speed while swiping 2 bags.  He is also another good move by Sabean.  Consider that he's only making $3 million this season and he has been one of the most consistent hitters on the club.  He's also provided us with some great quotes like he did on Friday night when he practically fell on his face while tracking down a fly ball out and left when after the game he quipped: "My athleticism allowed me to recover" and then “I was getting worn out by the fans for it. They were sauced tonight. It was pretty brutal. One guy asked if I need a walker.”  I think $3 million is worth the price of one-liners like that all season long!

Giants VS Reds

Big time road test coming up for the Giants.  They will be facing their old skipper in Dusty Baker, although Matt Cain is the only active Giant to have played for Dusty.  The Reds own one of the best offenses in the league and currently sport a 33-24 record which is good for a tie for the NL Central lead with the Cards.  The matchups are Barry Zito Vs. Johnny Cueto, Matt Cain Vs. some guy named Sam LeCure, Jonathan Sanchez Vs. Aaron Harang, and TBA Vs. Mike Leake.  The matchups seem to be in our favor for the most part.  None of the Reds Pitchers are very good even with Cueto's 5-1 record he is still sporting a 4.09 ERA and is coming off a start in which he allowed 10 earnies to the Cardinals.  This is his first start in his career Vs. the Giants. 

The most intriguing matchup in this whole series is on Thursday when TBA takes on Mike Leake.  Leake is the kid who completely skipped the minor leagues after being drafted out of Arizona State.  I'm interested in seeing this kid since it's not too often that guys skip the minors and almost unheard of among pitchers.  On the Giants side of things Mr. TBA is also intriguing.  Are the Giants gonna drag Todd Wellemeyer out to torture us, and I'm sure himself, again?   Are they going to call up one of their minor league guys?  If they bring up a minor league guy, who will it be?

Joe Martinez just threw a complete game the other night and only gave up one run.  Eric Hacker just came off of a horrible start where he gave up 6 earned runs in 5 IP which was also the third of 3 not too good starts in a row.  Kevin Pucetas has has been placed on the DL with an ankle sprain.. 

The Giants could also move Tim Lincecum up a day but I think they would rather stick hot coals down their pants than do that.  Also, Madison Bumgarner is scheduled to start tomorrow so if he is the guy, we will know it tomorrow because he would be unavailable for Thursday if he pitches tomorrow.

The most likely scenarios are either Joe Martinez or Wellemeyer.  A lot depends on how the first 3 games in the series play out so we probably won't know anything until Wednesday at the earliest unless Madbum doesn't pitch tomorrow.

On the farm:

The Grizzlies inproved their record to 37-20 with an 8-6 win over the Sacramento River Cats and have an incredible 11.5 game lead over the Cats.  They have been doing it more on offense than on pitching which is ironic when you consider the big club's offensive woes.

John Bowker was 2 for 4 with 3 RBIs.  Eugenio Velez belted 2 HRs and is hitting .333 so you can bet we will see him dropping more balls in the outfield again this season.  Brock Bond, who I think will be the Giants second baseman of the future, hit a HR and scored two runs.  Mark DeRosa did not play in what Giants Beat Writer Andrew Baggerly said on Twitter is a routine day off.  Still no word on the wrist.

Fun fact of the day:  Today's starters for Fresno Matt Kinney (0-2) and Sacramento John Halama (1-1), have combined for more Major League starts than Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez- 177 to 156, including Timmy's start this morning.

Nate watch:

Nate got in the game when he pinch ran for Posey in the 8th.  He drew a walk which gives him 5 walks in the last 10 games the Giants have played.  Of those 10 games, Nate has played in about 8 of them and he has only played more than an inning or two in about 3 of those.  Aaron Rowand has 5 walks all season.  However that Andrew Baggerly guy also reports that Bochy may be starting to get frustrated with Rowand.  Hopefully that means a couple of starts for Nate with Torres in center rather than going with Burrell in left, Torres in center, and Huff in right which would be the worst defensive outfield the Giants could possibly throw out there.

Posey, Burrell are each making some noise.

Maybe this kid is the savior?

Buster Posey had 3 more hits today against Ian Kennedy who, in case you forgot, held the Giants to 3 hits over 8 innings 11 days ago.  Two of those were doubles so he actually improved over last night in the power department.  But he only drove in 1 run and his average dropped from .750 to .667.  I guess this kid will never make it.

Obviously I'm joking.  It sure is nice to see someone actually making some things happen for the Giants.  Over the last few weeks leading up to this homestand it seemed that every player on the Giants was just kind of taking things as they came. Nobody went out there and took control of things, well except maybe Andres Torres who I keep expecting to turn into Eugenio Velez any day now.  Posey is doing that.  What a story this kid could be if he really does stick with the big club and reignites this offense.  This club has always been lacking the big hit.  Not necessarily a homerun but something as simple as a 2 out RBI of which Buster had another today.  I'm trying to not get too excited in case this kid comes back to earth but nothing he has done at any level he has played at indicates that he will.  Tomorrow is his biggest test yet against Mr. Ubaldo Jimenez who is trying to replace the Freak as the Cy Young award winner in the NL.

In other news, Pat Burrell went 2 for 5 with a HR and 2 RBI for the Fresno Grizzlies today.  This means one of two things: 1. Brian Sabean is right about the quality of pitchers in the PCL or 2. Pat the Bat is getting ready for a comeback story with his hometown team.  I find it highly unlikely that Burrell is going to lead the Giants to the playoffs by single-handedly transforming the Giants into a feared offense.  Playing at AT&T usually lowers the power numbers of anyone not named Bonds but more troubling is his career .253 average.  The last thing this team needs is another .250 hitter who will be just another easy out while the Giants are getting one hit by some middle of the rotation guy. 

Now I'm not saying that Burrell wasn't a safe gamble in case he can magically find his stroke.  I just wonder what guy with potential gets the shaft once this guy gets called up to the big club.  Mr. Schierholtz and Mr. Ishikawa I'm looking at you!  I don't believe that Bochy will let this guy come off the bench.  I believe he will start.  What proof do I have?  Look at all the ABs Aaron Rowand gets.  His career numbers are just like Pat Burrell's with less power and a better glove.  Although, to be fair, Rowand never batted .209 or .221 in a season in which he was given 400 plus ABs.

I'm also starting what I'm going to call the Nate watch.  It's where I will break down the contributions that Nate Schierholtz makes for the team whether he hits or not.  It's called the Nate watch instead of the Schierholtz watch cuz I don't want to type Schierholtz over and over!

Today Nate went 0 for 4 with a walk and a strikeout.  Not much to write home about offensively but he has been hurt and hasn't been allowed to play consistently since he has been declared healthy.  Nate was however responsible for the two most crucial plays of the game.  In the top of the 7th with the game tied 2-2 Adam Laroche drew a walk and Gerardo Parra hit a one-out single to right.  Nate got the ball in to Freddy Sanchez who gunned down Laroche at 3rd.  The next batter, Chris Snyder, singled to left which would have scored Laroche had he still been on 3rd.  In the 9th inning Kelly Johnson singled to right .  This time it was Ryan Roberts who got thrown out at third.  The next batter, Justin Upton hit a double that scored Johnson.  Which would have also scored Roberts and made the score 7-4 at that point.  Since the Giants only scored 6 runs today I would have to say that Mr. Nate was the difference in the game today. 

That's something that none of the coverage I saw of the game even gave more than a passing mention to.  The most I saw was "Almost lost in the valiant comeback were the solid defensive efforts of right fielder Nate Schierholtz (two outfield assists) and Sanchez who, in the sixth inning, threw out Arizona's Kelly Johnson after Johnson tried to stretch a ball that ricocheted off first baseman Buster Posey into a double."  Even when they did mention it Sanchez's play got more credit than Nate!

Do you really think that John Bowker, or Andres Torres, or even Pat Burrell makes those 2 plays?