Sunday, August 2, 2009

Best home team in the league

The Giants beat Cole Hamels and the defending champs today to finish the homestand 6-1 and stay tied for the Wild Card lead with the Crockies. A nice antidote to a 3-7 road trip, wouldn't you say? Tomorrow the Cain Train rolls through Houston, we'll see if the lads can conjure up 12 hits in a foreign park against Mike Hampton. When Barry Fookin' Zito gives you a "quality start" (Game Score 55), you know your pitchers are holding up their end, so the batters have to come through. I sure hope FSanchez can hit lots of doubles, his 29th today ties him for 4th in the NL, and it wasn't long ago he hit 53 in a season. I can live with a singles hitter who hits a lot of doubles. He seems to be the sort of player The Rental once was, and I hope he's more than just Rental Redux, and is actually something closer to Rental the Younger. But I'm fouling the mood with sour thoughts--it is never bad to be a hero in front of a sellout crowd on your debut. Other than Friday night, the Giants had stellar bullpen work, you add a super start and some steady stuff from the southpaws, and you get a series victory. The high-flying Phillies offense averages 5.3 runs per game, yet they could only put 10 total on the board in these 4 games, 7 fewer than the Giants.

My lovely bride and I are off tomorrow morning to the coast for a few nights. I'm cutting the cyber-cord: no e-mails, no Facebook, no blogging. I hope we'll catch Matt's start on TV. Just like the Giants, I'll be back on Thursday.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...
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alouredux said...

Saw Freddie as a Lowell Spinner nine years ago, and followed his pursuit of the batting crown with a scholarship I couldn't tell friends about.

JC Parsons said...

So FSanchez was a Red Sox farm hand? I like what I see so far and I remember him being a tough out for us. The pirates have beaten us a bit lately and Freddie did his share. The stats may not generate too much excitement (as evidenced by MOC's rather tepid welcome) but I think that's deceptive. His value may show in weird ways like making Rowand happy or helping young guys get better approaches at the plate. I read one of the Giants reporters blog wherein they called Sanchez' batting practice the best they EVER saw. This team definitely needs a more cerebral approach to hitting...except Pablo, just keep doing what you are doing Panda.