The Giants got good pitching tonight from Barry Zito, but the Diamondbacks got even better pitching from Daniel Hudson. Runs have been in short supply lately, and they look to get scarcer in San Diego. The Giants are one game back of the Padres in the win column, but three back in the loss column. The 78-62 Giants just completed their 140th game, while the 79-59 Padres are two short at 138. Matt Cain goes tomorrow night against Jon Garland. Without an offense, he'll have to be damn close to perfect to get a win. A split doesn't help us much. San Diego will have 20 games left, San Francisco 18. If the Padres are 81-61, a mere .500 record sees them finish 91-71. The 80-64 Giants would have to go 11-7 to tie, 12-6 to win. The last three games of the regular season are in San Francisco on the first weekend of October. That could be an epic series, or just another tease. I can't tell with this club, I really can't. When they can't hit in Arizona, it scares the crap out of me. I know, I've watched the dramatic wins, I feel the magic inside and all that. I've seen this team play like champions. Then I see them break out a new-fangled offense built on Freddy Sanchez solo HRs. Don't get me wrong, I like HRs from unexpected places, but that only works when all the expected guys hit, too. San Diego has a whole army of Daniel Hudson-esque hurlers--how am I supposed to feel about that?
C'mon, Giants, quit horsing around with my heart. Grab a hold of the fucking Padres and beat the goddamn crap out of them!
--M.C.
4 comments:
We have to take at least 3 of 4 from the Pads. The way we have played against them this year we will be lucky to take one game in San Diego. We could find ourselves 6 games back after this series. Bud Black seems to have Bruce Bochy's number. The Padres do it with good pitching, speed, and clutch hitting. The giants seem to choke and tighten-up or tense-up, in important games in their own division. Bochy I don't care if you threaten these guys with Tazers or cattle prods. Get them to beat the pads, and beat them badly.
Unfortunately, it gets no easier after that. We are home against the team from LA that couldn't be bothered to take one from the puds. Then Milwaukee and the cubs, two teams that have nothing to play for, so nothing to lose. Watch out for nobody pitchers who can totally baffle the Giants. Then Colorado in Colorado, who seems not convinced that they will not be in the playoffs, before coming home to finish against the mighty Hudsons and more Puds. No non-pressure games left. But one at a time, boys, one at a time. Anon is correct - it will be an epic series if we can take the first two and then play for first in the final two. But we have to take 3 of the 4.
ps. Anyone else getting tired of the Guillen experiment? If the guy hits home runs, fine, other than that it seems he is always on the front end of a double play or a step too slow in the outfield.
pps. With all the pitching in the NL West, the fact that we have an upgraded offense, thanks mostly to Posey and Burrell, and all of our starting pitching has to be a feather in Sabean's cap. All of the people that wanted to trade Sanchez/Cain/Bumgarner/Lincecum(?) are idiots.
Here is more:
San Francisco this year is tied for first (with St. Louis) in quality starts. We are fourth in ERA, first in Strikeouts and just behind San Diego in Batting Average Against. However, we lead the Major Leagues in Walks. First in K's and BB's? Hmmmm. Sounds like if we could cut down a few of those BB's we could win a few more games. Zito last night comes to mind, walks in the second to Young and LaDouche led to Arizona's first run. Likewise, Affeldt walked Montero who scored Arizona's third run in the seventh.
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