Giants grind on

"The Giants win a game they probably shouldn't have."

--Duane Kuiper after Brian Wilson struck out Adam LaRoche.


'Tis true, 'tis true. The Giants walked nine guys, hit three, were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, hit into a double play, had a caught stealing by a pinch-runner, and made an error. Their offense consisted of a home run by the backup catcher and a bases-loaded pinch-walk from the benched-for-slumping first baseman. Mike Fontenot started at shortstop. Miguel Tejada got the call at third base with the injury to Pablo Sandoval, the club's hottest hitter. Buster Posey played first base. Jonathan Sanchez teetered on the brink of madness, or rather, I teetered on the brink of madness watching him, and still reeling a bit from all the weirdness, nearly went mad again watching Brian Wilson in the 9th. It was an ugly display by the starter and also by the closer, yet the Nationals only managed two hits and one (unearned) run! Thank goodness the middle guys were nearly perfect. There was some serious weirdness today in Washington as the Giants pulled off an improbable win.

Darren Ford got his first hit, a line drive up the middle just over the leaping Danny Espinosa at second base. He also nearly ran over Cody Ross in right field to catch a deep fly ball. It was fun to watch him jog all the way back to center field after the play. It's hard to fault a guy for trying too hard even if it did seem like he forgot there was another guy out there with a glove! He can sure move. His career minor league line is .268/.349/.374, which is not encouraging, but if he can contribute in the short term and "make things happen" as they say that can't be bad. The caught stealing was a perfect throw from Nats catcher Wilson Ramos.

I was happy to see Buster Posey get two hits, he needs to find his stroke. Mike Fontenot also got two hits. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of him (it was his error that led to the unearned run, but it came on a high throw from Posey). Ryan Rohlinger was called up to fill the Panda's spot. Eli Whiteside deserves a nod for having a big day. Everyone on the bench is going to get called on in the coming weeks so they better be ready to contribute.

Matt Cain tomorrow. I'm hoping he's really boring, you know, lots of strikes and consecutive outs. I don't want any more high-wire acts. The Giants are a bit of a leaky boat, with some questionable patching material (Emmanuel Burriss?), and they need to stay afloat. They don't come home until the weekend and they don't have an off day until the 9th of May. I'm way past "torture" around here--that was so last year. No, I prefer "the grind." This year is a grind, a long, slow grind, like a goddamn glacier or something. Gird your loins for the long haul, me buckos, nothing is going to be easy or pretty in 2011.

--M.C.