Sweeeeeeeeep!!!

Early season excitement in San Francisco--the Giants sweep the Rockies behind Ryan Vogelsong and Cody Ross. Another tense, taut, well-played contest and another stirring Giants victory. Vogelsong pounded the strike zone all afternoon, flashing good breaking stuff and keeping the Rockies from making hard contact. He was perfect through five innings! Only a botched grounder by Mike Fontenot in the 7th gave him any real trouble, and Javier Lopez made short work of that, once again inducing a double play (3-6-1) to end an inning. Another superb effort by the bullpen as Brian Wilson made his third appearance in the series, this time getting the save instead of the win. Colorado goes 1-5 on their six-game road trip. I was happy to see Buster Posey get a spell at first base, and I was happy to see Ross look good and get some big hits. He sure likes to hit off lefties! But the real story was Vogelsong. He pitched magnificently (Game Score 74) and was backed up by some stellar plays in the field from Miguel Tejada, Freddy Sanchez, and the irrepressible Ross. Jorge de la Rosa walked four guys in the first two innings but allowed none of them to score. It gets really hard to watch the Giants offense throw away the few scoring chances they get. But today they kept at it and got the breakthroughs late in the game. The Giants (18-16) gain three games and sit in second place one game behind the Rockies (18-14). The Giants have played 22 road games (11-11) and 12 home games (7-5). It looks like it will be Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez, and Matt Cain against the Diamondbacks after the off-day tomorrow. Andres Torres is supposed to be back by Tuesday--I imagine they'll send down Darren Ford to open the roster spot.

--M.C.