27-4

That's a good weekend of baseball. Yesterday Mike Leake gave up two triples, a double, and a homer in the first two innings but nothing--only a walk--after that. The highlight of course was his MadBum impersonation with the stick: a three-run homer to make it 4-3 San Francisco in the 2nd. I think the Giants need to sign this guy for a few more seasons. He's a steady performer, not overpowering, but at age 28 next year and over a 1000 innings as a starter he's a good bet to be a reliable 30-start, 2-WAR guy. What do you guys think?

San Diego fielded two men who clearly make the All-Name Team with Odrisamer Despaigne on the mound and Yangervis Solarte leading off and playing third base. Otherwise they didn't have much going on. At ten games under .500 and 16 back in the race it's another lost season. They remade the club last winter and all they got for it was a chance to replace their manager. As disappointed as we are with the Giants this year we can always remind ourselves about the days when third place was real achievement.

I hope everyone got to watch Madison Bumgarner's one-hitter. That was something. There's a post by Owen Watson at FanGraphs that talks about him using his off-speed stuff more effectively by throwing slower, that is increasing the spread between the curve and slider ("slutter" in Krukovian) and the fastball. He's topping out at the same place, but taking something more off the breaking pitches. In essence he no longer needs his changeup which he has mostly stopped throwing.

The Reds are in town for three starting tonight. Tim Hudson gets the call. Go Giants!

--M.C.