At least that's what my Daddy always said...of course, he was an insurance salesman. Tonight, the entire Giants fandom could not agree more as the Giants outlasted the doggers, 2-1, and pulled back to 0.5 games behind San Diego.
Matt Cain (12-10) outpitched a worthy opponent as he continues a dominating second half of the season. Rather quietly, the Giants have won a remarkable 10 of Matt's last 12 starts. That's damn close to a sure thing! Tonight's version was a sizzling 76 game score; 7 innings, 0 runs, 3 singles, 0 walks, and 5 strikeouts. If I'm not mistaken, Matt never allowed a runner in scoring position. However, a tie score led to pinch hitting for Cain in the bottom of the seventh. I doubt Bonehead thought much about this rather bold move (I might have left Matt in) and he was a right! Little-used Travis Ishikawa doubled and ended up scoring on a soft liner by Rarely-used Mike Fontenot. Glory, Glory: We Scored! Then, in the eighth, almost as an afterthought: a Huff double, a wonderful wild pitch, and a weak RBI grounder by Pablo gave us a second run. What an uprising! Could we actually relax? Don't be silly. With two outs, Ethier homered (just to reach the minimum required torture level, I guess) but The Zeus Beard rebounded to "K" Gibbons for save #43. In the post-game show, Kuip or Kruk called this game a "Giants laugher."
One more bit of man-love toward Matt: Congratulations our your 4th straight 200+ inning season. You join Jack Sanford, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry and Jim Barr as the only SF Giants to pull off that feat of studliness. Keep up the good work...you make us proud to carry your name here at this humble blog.
Reason #2 why insurance is good: The usual (and more more skilled) author, MOC, took a nasty spill while biking and needed a quick trip to the local ER. So he missed the game! Bummer, huh? Fear not, the last I heard everything seems OK and I'm sure he'll be chiming in soon.
--JC Parsons
8 comments:
I hope that he is ok. What a great game, I believed in us. Go Giants!
Cain the bums!
How about that Sandoval grounder for the game winner! You can almost always count on The Great Panda to hit a grounder when you need it, or least need it. I would like to see him used more in his best role, bench cheerleader! Time to see more of Uribe at third, Fonty and Renteria at short. Then, if we have less than two outs and need a ground ball to score the winning run, we let The Great Panda do what he does best. And, while we are on the subject, my brother says he needs to lose his chew, that he is so cranked up he can't think straight. Perhaps a few bamboo leaves might help!
Hope you are not hurt to bad Marc. Don't pick your scabs.
Thanks for the thoughts, guys. I'm OK. I have a concussion, but the prognosis is good. The bruised ego is a lot worse. I have a penchant for crashing on my mountain bike. Maybe I need a safer sport.
I missed Matt's awesome start!!!! I was confident he would pitch well--he almost always does--but I was worried he would get "Cained" again with no run support. Alas, we prevailed!
And t'anks to my mate JC for "having my back."
Mark! You're old! Slow down!
This is turning into a red-hot pennant race. Or do they even call it that anymore? A "race to get into the playoffs" doesn't have the same pizazz, does it?
We have a nice streak of quality starts going, even though a couple of those ended up as 1-0 losses. Whatever funk our starters were in last month, they sure seem to have gotten over it. I have to believe it had to do with getting used to a new catcher, and him getting used to them.
Hey, my dad sold insurance too!
Mark, Don't slow down, keep riding your bike, and show your bro how to stay fit! Now is the time to get into the best shape of your life, so that one day you can really enjoy retirement!
I think the reason the pitchers are getting better is because it is September and they have too. It's about going out there and believing in your stuff and winging it.Zito sure had it going, and has many times this year. Matt was exceptional, good win, and a race to remember! Go Ginats!!!!!
G-24, thanks for the encouragement. Just for the record, BroB is JC's big bro, not mine! (But we won't hold that against him.)
You have to love our guys stepping it up in September. We just need to get the hitters on board!
Those stationary bikes darn, at least yours had a video view of Mountains.
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