We saw great pitching tonight by Barry Zito. He had the usual assortment of Zitovian lefty-slurvy whatevers, but he put them on the spots he wanted to, and he changed speeds and kept the lineup from getting good swings. And he kept the ball down. The Braves looked over-matched. That was hell of a start against a hot club! The burst of runs was like a surprise dessert after a sumptuous meal. I've no doubt Zito would have won 2-0 if there had been no big rally, but it sure is fun to see them rack up the runs. I'm with Billy Martin: you never have enough runs. Sure, you know you can win when you are up 2-0, but you know you will win when you are up 9-0. I want to bludgeon all opponents into submission. I know that will not happen with this team, but I'm OK with that. The Giants are going to win 3-2 a hell of a lot more than 9-0, so that makes these rare blowouts even better. You know now they can win 9-0, even if they probably wont.
Barry-Z only fanned three, but it shows that good pitching is not always about overpowering the hitters. Zito walked only one and faced three over the minimum in his seven innings. You can pitch in this league--get guys out and be effective--with nothing over 86 mph in your arsenal. It's hard, though. You have to have command and you have to be able to fool guys. Even Tim Lincecum is finding those two things hard to do, and think about the amazing shit he has. Sure, Zeets has a great curve, but the rest is average at best. It shows you that at this level, it's between the ears that counts the most. Let's hope both our lads are masters of their mental games the rest of the way.
No. 75 delivered the VSC, in a place where the Giants usually go to die. Turner Field opened in 1997 and the Giants have already lost more games there than in all other Braves franchise cities combined. You could check B-R, but I'm pretty sure.
Huge road trip, lovely win, fine work on the hill and in the box, keep it rollin', boys.
--M.C.
p.s. 50-40, 5th inning completed; 9-9, 9-9, 12-6, 10-8, 10-8
5 comments:
Zeets has been quietly putting together a pretty decent year. In three of his last four starts, he has allowed a total of one earned run. He allowed four in the other one, against Pittsburg, but got a W for the Giants lone win in their pre-All Star road-trip divefest. For someone who is still in the process of apologizing to neighbors for disrupting their peace with untoward language when Castilla blew the save Saturday evening, it is heartening to see Tim and Zeets throw back to back games that are well pitched and result in wins. You assume that Matt, Maddy and Vogie will give you well pitched games, it makes us look damn potent to get five starters cooking.
The word shpilkes comes to mind when I think about all 5 starters pitching well at the same time.(Well obviously one after another)
Yesterday's big story was the offense from Posey. Apparently when he gets RBIs in Atlanta it's a bigger deal than elsewhere. I'd love to see Buster just go nuts at the plate for a good long hot streak. He's already proved he's a consistent reliable type of hitter. I'd like him to prove that he can sometimes be scary good.
HSanchez DL'd. Eli Whiteside activated.
Yes! When Posey hits bases clearing doubles, it's a good thing. Giants got 13 hits last night and 9 runs, but Pablo went 0-5. Thank about that for a moment. That means that we were able to generate a signficant offensive performance sans Pablo. so when he contributes.... Even Zito got a hit, an rbi and scored a run. Fun!
I've been waiting all season for a big hot streak from Posey. A clutch streak ala Ross is Boss clutchness. Even without a hot streak he has been hitting close to 300. With a hot streak I expect him to carry the team for a few weeks. I'd love to see he and Pablo get hot at the same time. Melky has been consistent all year. When Pagan had his big hitting streak, he barely hit over 300 during that entire streak.
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