The Giants have only beaten the Padres twice this year in ten tries. Fortunately, today was one of those two wins. It looked pretty bleak after six shutout innings by Giant killer Mat Latos, but Pablo Sandoval, leading off the bottom of the 7th, broke through with a home run. Coming in to today's game, Latos had only allowed 11 hits and 2 runs in 22 innings against the Giants. He pitched very well again, and the Padres turned to their league-best bullpen to finish the job after Sandoval's aquatic blast. Ernesto Frieri and Joe Thatcher finished the inning, and Giant nemesis Luke Gregerson loomed for the 8th. Gregerson had faced 17 Giants hitters this season over a span of five games, yielding only ONE hit. Today the magic finally wore off as the first two men he faced (Mike Fontenot and Aubrey Huff) hit a single and a double. Pat the Bat's RBI groundout knotted the score and the Giants suddenly had life. It took until the 11th for the Giants to put together another rally (against Tim Stauffer), this one led by Buster Posey, who scored the winning run on Juan Uribe's single. The home crowd was thrilled by an epic come-from-behind victory. The Giants trail the Padres by one game in the win column and four in the loss column. I'm pretty excited about our chances tomorrow since we got past their ace and get to throw ours at them. I think The Franchise is going to pitch a great game and we are going to pound Wade LeBlanc. The Giants faced LeBlanc in May, getting him out of the game in the 5th after 94 pitches, 6 hits and 4 walks (the Padres won 3-2 with stellar bullpen work).
--M.C.
p.s. Friday night was an agonizing affair with sloppy play on both sides. JC and I had a great trip and got to see an old Cal roomie in the bargain, so it was a good time, but goddamn it was a frustrating ball game. Today's win sure takes the sting away, though.
p.p.s. I'm not the only one who thinks Fred-D Sanchez is killing us with his bat. Fer chrissakes, hit him 8th--that's what you do with a defensive specialist. Or sit him down and play Mike Fontenot (today worked out well, eh?). And put Pablo Sandoval in the two-spot. Or leave him at 5th or 6th and move Posey there, putting Huff third and Burrell or Uribe fourth.
5 comments:
I like the idea of a platoon at 2nd base.
Recently I've been noticing how Pablo has been waiting for the ball to come to him instead of just lunging at it. I mean, he's still been swinging at everything, but, now he's using a fraction of a second that would have been lost by going forward and instead using it to wait and see the ball a little longer. I mean, I could just be making stuff up, but that's what it looks like to me. After trying too hard for the last couple of months, he's finally starting to calm himself down in the box. He looked too anxious. But his stance (especially those ABs when he hit those two DEEP home runs) looks different; like a man on a mission. He looked calm and focused and I don't want to jinx anything, but, I don't want to jinx anything. Go Giants!
Pablo has greatly reduced his leg lift in his stride. That, and he's added an extra stroke to the bill of his batting helmet during his pre getting in the box dance.
He adds any more they'll hit us with delay-of-game penalties. Regardless, he sure is loooking better, let's hope it keeps up.
Did you get to see Posey's winning dash from second base? He ran beautifully, touching third in stride and not losing any speed on the turn. He's a ballplayer--he looks like he can do everything well. He wasn't on the team when San Diego was whipping our asses.
Go, Tim!!!
@ Anon:: I really enjoy your obvious love of the Panda. After being up close during pre-game on Fri, I can certainly understand why he is loved. Loads of positive energy that envelops everyone around him. I'll try to post some pictures for you.
I didn't get to see him in batting practice, but during the game on Fri he looked like he was under direct orders to take the first pitch...and it was driving him crazy! The day before and after he went deep, but not when I was there...sigh. We won those games...Pablo could turn out to be the key to our stretch drive.
I try 8)
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