Giants squander opportunity to extend NL West lead

BREWERS 3 - GIANTS 0

I know how you feel guys

The Giants offense went MIA last night.  Again.

They were shut out for the third time in the last 7 games.  In 2 other games they scored one and two runs respectively.  Apparently Bruce Bochy's genius only extends for one day as  Edgar Renteria went 0 -4 while the Giants defense looked old and decrepit.   I guess they were too tired from running around the bases last night.

Juan Uribe has been terrible at third lately and good old sleepyhead hasn't promised that Pablo Sandoval will play at all this weekend against the Brewers.  Now I understand the kid is struggling, but I am mystified at the sudden decision to stop supporting and playing him.  Especially at home where he has practically been a mirror image of the guy he was last season.

After the Giants made another bad pitcher look like Cy Young, Wolf's last shutout came back in 2008, Bochy said that he and the staff would get together and discuss lineup possibilities.  I just don't see a lineup combination that can make this team magically find their hitting shoes.  They have scored a grand total of 47 runs in 15 games in September.  They have scored more than 3 runs 5 times out of those 15.  The numbers were even worse before they put up a 10 spot on the Dodgers but they are scoring just slightly over 3 runs a game.

At this point in the season there is no quick fix.  Anybody can should be able to get a chance.  Whether it be Darren Ford, Ryan Rohlinger, Euginio Velez, Nate Schierholtz, or Travis Ishikawa.  I mean seriously, how many less runs could they put up?

The Giants can take heart in the fact that they knocked Joe Torre out of LA the night before.  After seeing the Giants hang 10 on his Dodgers, Torre decided to hang em up.  Don Mattingly took over as manager and Giants fans can take some comfort in knowing they must have had some small part in his decision to call it quits.  After all, he had just watched his team give up 10 runs to a team that got shut out by Randy Wolf the next night.

Bruce Bochy is a genius

GIANTS 10 - DODGERS 2

The Genius at work

Yes, Bruce Bochy is a genius.

As hard as those words were to type, I had to type them.  there is no other way to describe his decision to put Edgar Renteria in the leadoff hole.

Admit it, you probably had the same reaction as every other Giants fan when you saw that ol' Sleepy had Renteria leading off tonight.  As a matter of fact, I was so sure Bochy lost his mind when I saw it that  I tweeted: "Wow, Rent batting leadoff! I hope Sanchez has another no-no in him tonight."  Well Rent proved me wrong by going 4 for 5 and being a table-setter just like a leadoff man should.


Speaking of Jonathan Sanchez....


He absolutely dominated the Dodgers tonight.  The first inning looked pretty scary as Juan Uribe appeared determined to throw the game away again when he air-mailed Ryan Theriot's bunt attempt in the first inning.  This allowed Rafael Furcal to score and sent Theriot to 2nd.  The Dodgers had one run already in and a runner on second with no outs.


The old Jonathan Sanchez would have gone on to fall apart and allow 4 or 5 runs.  But this is Dirty Sanchez we are talking about here.


And Dirty he was.


Sanchez settled down to strike out 12 Dodgers and walk exactly zero.  I will say that another way, Jonathan Sanchez walked ZERO batters in 7 innings!  Five days after walking 7 batters in 5 innings the lanky lefty walked 0.  Striking out 12 batters, a career high for Sanchez, while walking 0 is a feat that has only happened 12 times in Giants history. (Tim Lincecum has done it 3 times!)  So Sanchez has another page in the Gigantes long history books.


And you guys wanted to trade him for that Adam Dunn guy.  


I can't end the article without mentioning the offense.  They finally joined the party today.   After scoring a grand total of 9 runs in their last 5 games, the offense busted out for 10 runs in one game!  Did I mention it was against the Dodgers?


Aubrey Huff continued his MVP push by getting the scoring started with a 4 run homerun off Dodgers starter Ted Lilly.  Meanwhile, back at the batcave, Buster Posey followed him with a solo shot and the Giants were suddenly up 5-1 effectively deciding the game.   But the Giants would pour on 5 more runs and getting a homerun from another guy I'm sure Giants fans weren't too excited to see in the lineup tonight: Jose Guillen.  Guillen went 3 for 3 by the way,  (you genius Boch!)


Tonight the Brewers, who have lost 10 of their last 15 games, come rolling into town.  They have hopefully given up on the season as their record would indicate.  This would be great since the Padres are playing the Cardinals and Tony Larussa and Albert Pujols would never let their team throw in the towel no matter how many games back they are.  


Randy Wolf Vs. Madison Bumgarner tonight.  Stay hot Madbum!

Cain dominates Dodgers

Image via Wikipedia

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..

The curse of Barry Zito

DODGERS 1 - GIANTS 0

7 yrs $126 million.

The Giants and Barry Zito cursed themselves when they blew up the market for a former ace pitcher whose best years were behind him.  They doomed themselves to a guy who has an ERA over 8.00 in his last 7 starts and has lost all 7 of them despite the fact that he allowed 2 runs or less 3 out of those 7 starts.  The Giants are just going to lose with this guy on the mound.  It's that simple.

Last night was the second time this season that the Giants have 1-hit an opponent and still lost the game? (the first time was April 20 with Jonathan Sanchez on the mound against SD) This has had only happened 46 times since 1920.  This happening one time in a season is a statistical oddity.  Twice in a season is a curse.

Adding insult to injury, the Dodgers scored their only run on an error which would have ended the inning with no runs scored.  Zito would have been in the Giants dugout with a tie and we probably would still be watching this game since neither team looked like they really wanted to score any runs tonight.

Also, if the Giants do make the playoffs this season,  I vote that nobody on the offense gets a playoff share.  The Giants offense has scored 2 runs or less an astonishing 51 times this season.  They have been shutout 13 of those times.  They have also won exactly twice when scoring 1 run this season.  one of those games came against SD last Friday.

You want to know something that will really blow your mind?  Barry Zito has been on the hill for 13 of those 51 games where the Giants have scored 2 runs or less.  They have scored 3 runs or less in 21 of his 31 starts.  he has actually given up 3 runs or less in 22 of his 31 starts.  So in order for his record to be 8-13 the Giants offense must have had to work really hard to not score any runs for the guy.  I mean seriously, how many pitchers hold the opposition to 3 runs or less in more than 2/3 of their starts and still have a losing record?  The hitters  must be mad that he makes waaay more money than they do.

Talk about cursed.

It's Pablo Sandoval's time to shine

There is no way to argue that this season has not been a huge disappointment for Pablo Sandoval offensively.

Last season the guy was a revelation.  It seemed like just about every other game he was getting a big hit or homerun.  He was easily the most exciting player, offensively at least, on the Giants in 2009.  His .330 BA, 25 HRs, and 90 RBIs were numbers that hadn't been put up by a player in San Francisco since that guy named Bonds left town.  He narrowly missed making the All-Star team last season(and he would of if it weren't for that ridiculous Bran-Torino marketing campaign) and he would have won the 2009 rookie of the year award had he only had like 10 less ABs in 2008.

2010 started where 2009 left off.  As late as May 4th he was still batting over .330.  Then in the 61 games from May 5th through July 11th Pablo hit .231 with 3 HRs and 24 RBIs.  He turned into Mr. GIDP and the man who created a cottage industry for Panda hats was suddenly a fat guy trying to play third base.

He looked like he was going to break out of his slump early in August but he floundered.  His struggles have come to a head on the most recent road trip in which he hit a weak .136.  He had 1 RBI in 8 games and was benched for 2 of the games in the Padres series.

Why will he shine now?

The Giants play 12 of their final 18 games at home.  He must like the Rice-a-Roni or something because he has raked at home this season.  He is batting .336 at home, 8 of his 12 HRs have been hit at AT&T, and 37 of his 59 RBIs have been picked up on the shores of McCovey cove.  The numbers get even more ridiculous at home for Pablo.  His home OBP is a Bondsian .391, his home OPS is .926, and he even has 3 triples at home this season!

All the games for the rest of the season for the Giants are going to be huge.  With the Padres, Rockies, Phillies, and Braves are all battling for the Wild Card in addition to the 3 team race in the west.  The Giants can't afford to lost ANY games let alone the ones against division rivals.  Pablo Sandoval will have the chance to join the Buster Poseys, Aubrey Huffs, Juan Uribes, and Andres Torreses who have each stepped up to carry this team at different point this season.

The injury to Andres Torres provides a hole offensively that the Giants need to fill.  If Pablo steps up and produces in his absence and during these super important games he will be able to win back the hearts of all of those Giants fans who abandoned him while he was struggling.  He has struggled this season and he has even been the goat in a few games this season.  But the guy is 24 years old.  These are the most important games of the season.  He will prove that he has the heart of the champion.

He has to if the Giants want to make the postseason.