Parker Power

Jarrett Parker stole the show today in Oakland with three titanic home runs including a first-pitch grand slam in the 8th to lead the Giants to victory. It was billed as the Tim Hudson v. Barry Zito show but neither made it past the 3rd inning. Both men were well-received and feted properly for their long, successful careers and their connections to both sides of the Bay. I'm not sentimental about ballplayers. They've had their time in the sun and now it's time for the youngsters to get their chance. Enjoy retirement, Huddy. I don't know what Zito has planned for next year, but I wish him well, too.

Parker's day is the first three-homer game for a Giants rookie EVER and the first three-homer game for a rookie in the bigs since Andrew McCutcheon in 2009. I think we can say he is "serving notice" that he wants a spot on the roster next year. You go, kid. Keep on rockin'!

The bullpen somehow managed not to lose the game and the Giants snapped their skid. I was starting to wonder if anyone on the team (besides Bum, of course) could still pitch!

Chris Heston tomorrow. GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

8th inning: 9-9

The Giants pulled off a win over the Reds in Game 144 to finish their 8th seasonal inning. Brandon Belt and Matt Duffy were the hitting stars and Belt flashed some impressive leather as well. I have to say I was also impressed by the work of SS Ehire Adrianza who made a number of Crawfordian grabs and throws. He looks like he's playing with more confidence. The bullpen got it done after Tim Hudson was yanked in the 5th. Here's the seasonal story so far:

1st inning: 7-11
2nd inning: 11-7
3rd inning: 12-6
4th inning: 8-10
5th inning: 9-9
6th inning: 12-6
7th inning: 8-10
8th inning: 9-9

The Giants have won four in a row and seven of their last ten. It's a nice little surge but it's not helping: they are still 7-1/2 back in the West race. Los Angeles has an iron grip on first place going 8-2 in their last ten and 13-4 in their nearly-completed 8th inning. The Dodgers are 32-21 since the Break which bests the Giants 30-25. They went 15-12 in August while the Giants managed only 13-16. September's record is 10-3 while the Giants are at 7-6. No matter how you slice it they've played better ball. And the three-game sweep (August 31-September 2) turned the tide. It was almost as if that series was the Zeroth Round of the Playoffs! At this point the Giants can't really afford to lose any more games. The odds of going 18-0 are pretty damn long, but it's pretty damn close to what they'll have to do. The only realistic scenario is to get within four games by Monday the 28th and then pull off a sweep in the penultimate series at home. LA's magic number is 12. I don't want to contemplate them clinching at AT&T in that stretch of games.

Looks like wunderkind Joe Panik is done for the season. Such a shame. In 100 games he raked to the tune of .312/.378/.455 which translates to a 130 OPS+, 137 wRC+, and a .363 wOBA which is second only to Ben Zobrist for second basemen with 400+ PAs. Add in his glove and he rates 4.1 fWAR (3.1 BB-Ref WAR). That's great work over a full season let alone only 60% of one. I hope this back issue can get resolved in the off-season. The Giants need him at the keystone for 2016 and beyond.

Speaking of 2016, another fellow who is important to the cause is pitching tonight--Chris Heston. He threw 173 innings in 28 starts in the PCL last year. This season in the bigs he's just shy of 160 IP in his 27 starts. With some improved health and fitness (and a better idea what a full major-league season entails) he will likely be counted on for 2+ WAR. What he has done this year is comparable to what the Padres got from James Shields! Get right the rest of the way and get ready for next year Hest-o, the team needs you.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Huddy Hits a Homer

Tim Hudson delivered one of the best starts of this dismal month of Giants baseball and added two hits including a home run to lead the team to victory. The 6-2 win evened up the series. Chris Heston--who could really use an outing like Hudson's--goes tonight. I didn't see it coming. I was not looking forward to watching a 40-year old log his last few trips to the mound before retirement. I was sure he was going to get hammered. But that's why they actually play the game instead of let guys like me predict the outcome. It was a fine performance by the whole team and was marred only by Brandon Crawford leaving the game. He is day-to-day.

The Giants have played 139 games and have 23 remaining. They are 8-1/2 behind the Dodgers who have 24 to play. They are nine behind the Cubs for the wild card--Chicago has 25 games left. Whipping out my slide rule I figure the Giants need to play about .850 ball to have a chance. Them's some long odds, man! Interestingly, the Giants have "underperformed" a bit. They had a losing record in August (13-16) despite scoring more runs (124) than they allowed (114). Overall they've scored 591 runs and allowed 535, that yields a Pythagorean record of 76-63, four games better than where they are (72-67). I'm sure we can come up with a suitable set of reasons for that. Perhaps we should look at the 16-22 record in one-run games.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants Take First Two Falls in LA

In the battle royale that is a Giants-Dodgers series the out-of-towners out-pointed the locals in the first round and pinned them flat in the second. On Friday we were treated to a Buster Posey grand slam in Dodger Stadium, a Ka-Bar to the throat of the Los Angeles horde. The final was 9-5 behind a ragged but effective Chris Heston. Rookie Mike Broadway had a few yips in relief, but you had to like his live arm and dazzling stuff. His nickname is "Bone Crusher."

Today we saw a rejuvenated Tim Hudson get staggered with a couple of big blows early in the match but counter-punch like a champ the rest of the way. The Giants pounded out two-run homers from Justin Maxwell and Brandon Belt in back-to-back innings to seize the lead and never look back. The final was 6-2. Hunter Strickland got five outs, three via strikeout, in an impressive appearance.

Third round tomorrow with Tim Lincecum for the orange-and-black.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants Move Into First

The Dodgers got shut out in St. Louis this evening with that old Giants nemesis John Lackey delivering the goods for the Cardinals.  In San Francisco the old man of the staff, Tim Hudson, tired of the smack-talk here at RMC, kicked some ass of his own and led the Giants to another win against the Braves. Buster Posey was Mr. Clutch with the bat and the home team prevailed 4-2 over Atlanta. The Giants sit at 30-20 for a nice .600 win percentage and have a half game edge over the Dodgers who are 28-19 (.596), falling to 7-12 on the road with the loss tonight.

The Giants have now won five in a row. It's a looooooooong season my friends, we cruised past the one-quarter mark when LA was getting smoked three straight two weeks back. We are creeping up on the one-third mark (game 54) which I believe will be Tuesday the 2nd versus the Pirates. It has been terribly exciting to watch the ballclub do everything right consistently for several weeks now (they are 25-10 or .714 since 4/21), but we know these things are fleeting. They will play stretches of bad baseball in the remaining 112 games, this we know for sure. But damn if they don't look good! What a lineup--I'm not sure I can recall a batting order this tough from top to bottom. In the Bonds Era they had some serious offense, but did they have the one-through-eight we see with these guys?

Tim Lincecum gets the start tomorrow at 7:05 pm. I hate weekend night games--all weekend games should be played in the day time. Save the night games for Monday through Friday.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants Blank Dodgers

Tim Hudson held the line for 6-1/3 with his usual array of sinkers away and four Giants relievers combined to hold off the Dodgers the rest of the way for the team's sixth shutout. It was a nail-biter's dream as the potent LA lineup kept creating chances and their pitchers kept it close all night. Buster Posey poked a single to left to give the home town boys a 1-0 lead in the 3rd, driving in Joe Panik who was on base three times. That was the only scoring until the Dodgers defense gifted the Giants an insurance run in the 8th. Utility man Enrique Hernandez had pinch-run for Adrian Gonzalez and then went to left field on a double-switch where he couldn't handle Brandon Belt's deep fly to the track. It wound up a two-base error and Belt later scored on a wild pitch from Chris Hatcher. Starting LF Scott Van Slyke, moved to first base when A-Gon was taken out, had been picked off by Sergio Romo for the third out in the top of the inning, snuffing a potential rally. Beautiful stuff, man!

Huddy wasn't overpowering, but he kept the ball down and refused to give in and got lots of help from his big park and stellar fielders. He left after a one-out hit from Alex Guerrero. Jean Machi got his batter, Justin Turner, to hit a grounder but they couldn't turn two as Panik made a rare poor throw. Javier Lopez then walked both Joc Pederson and Jimmy Rollins to crank up the intensity but Sergio Romo got a comebacker from Howie Kendrick to end that threat. The Dodgers put two on in the 9th with two outs against Santiago Casilla but Rollins grounded out to Belt and the win was secured.

Tim Lincecum tomorrow night.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants outlast Padres

The Giants put on a pitching-and-defense clinic tonight in San Diego and came away with a 1-0 win. The bullpen picked up the theme from starter Tim Hudson and worked 5-2/3 scoreless after his 6-1/3 and that gave the club a chance to get a winning hit. Justin Maxwell finally delivered in the 12th and Santiago Casilla closed the door for the victory. Huddy walked five and gave up five hits but four double plays saved the day.

Tim Lincecum takes the hill tomorrow.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants Play Two Games, Win One

I remember thinking when Anthony Rendon got that two-out hit in the 3rd to score a run that it was a key moment. That this game was going to be one of those World Cup soccer things, you know, "one-in-and-done." Sure enough Nationals starter Jordan Zimmerman overpowered the Giants after that, only to walk rookie Joe Panik with two outs in the 9th. The Giants had gone 0-for-20 before then, so even though it brought Buster Posey to the plate it still seemed like a vain effort. And a wasted brilliant start from Tim Hudson, who had only the one lapse and otherwise matched zeroes with Zimmerman. Nats manager Matt Williams took out an ad in Second-guessers Wanted however, and brought in his closer Drew Storen to get the final out. Buster promptly cracked a single and Pablo Sandoval dug out an opposite-field double to bring home the tying run. Buster was thrown out at the plate in a very close play that required review and the game went to extras. I was "oh-no-ing" well before I saw the relay, he could have been out by a lot if it had been on the line. As it was Wilson Ramos had to make a sweep tag and he pulled it off with an inch at best to spare. I guess you can't fault the aggressiveness there, a lot of guys with "an extra step" would have scored. They hadn't done anything on offense for most of the game, so you can understand going for the win with the tie in hand.

So, the epic struggle went on into the night. The Nats scored a run in the 3rd and that was it. They played 15 more innings and could not put something on the board against the Giants. It was an awesome display of bullpen power, with Yusmeiro Petit earning MVP (most valuable 'penner) with a spectacular six scoreless. Washington has a great relief corps as well and they kept the Giants quiet for another long stretch. It got to the point where you knew it would be one of those games decided by a bomb. Brandon Belt, bless his heart, launched a massive home run to lead off the 18th and victory was in sight. Rookie Hunter Strickland blasted his way through the bottom of the 18th to get the save and the Giants went up two-nil in the series. Boch has a lot of faith in that kid--after he got tagged twice yesterday I admit I was scared to see him get the ball. But Strickland quickly asserted himself and showed great poise in a tense situation and got the outs to end it. Way to go, Hunter!

The Giants and Nationals played a nine-inning game that ended in a 1-1 tie. The Giants scored with their very last chance and just missed taking the lead. Then the Giants and Nationals played a second nine-inning game and the Giants hit a home run in the final inning to win 1-0. It was an extraordinary night of baseball that went past the stroke of midnight and featured great pitching and clean fielding coupled with some dramatic scoring moments. And the best thing is that the GIANTS came out on top.

Giants used everyone except Joaquin Arias (and Tim Lincecum). Madison Bungarner gets the ball on Monday in San Francisco with a chance to sweep the number one seed and advance to the LCS.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

The Peave-a-tron

Jake Peavy has been pretty consistent lately. Here are his last seven starts (since August 13):

 

You have to like that. Last night the Giants couldn't get much going offensively and just barely squeaked out a win. If they want to make some noise in their final eleven games and in the post-season they better find those bats again. And they need to hook Tim Hudson up to the Peave-a-tron and see if he can find that mojo he had going earlier in the year.

So, you think the Giants ought to go after Peavy for 2015? He's a free agent. My two cents? Yes.

MadBum this afternoon.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Tigers Take Finale

Before the All-Star Break Tim Hudson made 18 starts: 119 IP, 112 H, 43 R, 78 SO, and 19 BB. That averaged out to about 6.6 IP, 6.2 H, 2.4 R, 4.3 SO, and 1.1 BB per start. The outcomes haven't been as good in his 10 starts after the Break: 59-2/3 IP, 67 H, 29 R, 34 SO, and 12 BB. So he's averaging just a hair under 6 IP per start, with 6.7 H, 2.9 R, 3.4 SO, and 1.3 BB. Huddy gave up only seven homers in those 18 pre-ASB games. Cabrera's two-run shot tonight that proved to be the big blow was the seventh he's allowed in the 10 post-ASB games. Huddy did manage to deliver his 18th Quality Start, only one behind team leader Madison Bumgarner. The lineup couldn't get anything going, unfortunately, and with the bullpen meltdown the Tigers avoided a sweep.

Here are Hudson's GameScores for the first seven starts of the season: 80, 62, 57, 57, 68, 72, and 72. That was quite a stretch. Maybe he can find that mojo again for the final push. Looks like two of his final three starts are against the Dodgers. Unfortunately LA won again and pushed their lead back to three games. Giants go to Detroit and get two clutch wins but lose ground! That's baseball.

Looks like Petit gets the start at home on Tuesday against the D-Backs.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Buster Plays Hero Again

Buster Posey rescued the Giants again with a two-run shot in the 9th to beat the Rockies 4-2. It's fun to see him return to form. Last year he had two homers total after the Break. I wondered why Boch took out Hudson, but I was cool with Casilla, he's been deadly. It didn't work out. I suppose they want to keep the old guy fresh. I wondered why the Giants couldn't score more than two runs in eight innings against the goddamn worst road team in the world. I'm still wondering. When they get good start against a weak team they should thrash 'em. Speaking of good starts, that's three in a row. Yusmeiro Petit gets the ball this afternoon.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

p.s. This is pretty cool:

Cain and Giants get a "W"

Matt Cain wasn't overpowering, but he called upon his deep reservoirs of VSC and kept the high-flying A's offense from putting up any crooked numbers. They are patient and be they .220 or .320 hitters they seem to be able to work counts and wear down pitchers. If you can keep the highest-scoring team in baseball to only two runs you are doing something right. It was enough as the Giants put together a few odds-and-ends to beat Oakland in San Francisco. The A's wild-pitched a run in, and Man of the Match Hunter Pence smoked one over the center-field fence and into the fancy-schmancy new section of the Park and added another run with an infield hit. That's just so Pence-ian, getting a bomb and an RBI squibber in the same game! Joe Panik and Buster Posey had run-scoring hits as well. Make that a habit, gents. And nice to see Sergio Romo whiffing two guys with the fascist groove thang working beautifully. Find your mojo, lad. And how about Santiago Casilla's 8-pitch save?

Cainer racked up a Game Score of 56 which is the 7th highest of his 15 starts this season. For those of you counting, he has two losses and four no-decisions in those six games. Matty blew a bunt chance tonight and made a throwing error. That's so not Cain-ian! He gave up a homer, which seems to be what he does these days--one gopher ball per game. As long as they are solo shots I can live with it. A little run support helps, too, and this time the lineup obliged.

Over in the East Bay, the A's slapped around the Giants like Germany did to Brazil.* At AT&T, it felt more like Argentina-Holland with extra time and penalty kicks and all that. You know, one of those wins. One where it looked like they had to work way too hard. I'm not picky, and neither is the ball club. The Giants will take any win at this point including forfeits due to sabotaging the other team's bus. Win, win, win, and keep winning. That's it. That's what the Giants need to do--win ballgames.  The Dodgers (51-42) lost and the Giants (50-41) are in a virtual tie for first. (They didn't get their 50th win until the first week in August last year.) The team has won only 8 of its last 28 games, but they are still in the thick of the race. God Bless America.

Tim Hudson gets his shot tomorrow afternoon.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


*World Cup reference.

Hudson, Giants snap streak

It was close for a while this afternoon, but Tim Hudson's ground ball sorcery ultimately made the difference and the Giants finally beat the Nationals. Brandon Crawford made a sweet catch, step and throw double play to end the 5th with the home team clinging to a 2-1 lead that seemed to turn the corner, and the lineup added runs in the 6th, 7th, and the 8th to nail down the win 7-1. Angel Pagan and Buster Posey went 0-for-10, but Mike Morse and Hunter Pence went 6-for-7. Pagan made a nice grab to rob Jayson Werth, but Buster allowed a passed ball that led to Hudson's lone unearned run. Clutch RBI hits from Tyler Colvin, Brandon Crawford, Gregor Blanco and Hector Sanchez (the latter two as pinch-hitters) picked up the slack.

Once again the story was Hudson who has logged at least seven innings TEN times this season. This was the eighth time he racked up a Game Score over 60--today's 7  6  1  0  2  5 line was good for a 66.

The Rockies come to town tomorrow night and Tim Lincecum takes the hill. Check out the piece from FanGraphs about Huddy.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Three of Four in St. Louis

The G-Train keeps rolling with another big win against a formidable foe. Tim Hudson went seven strong, allowing only three hits and not giving up a run to the defending NL champs. The lineup stroked 14 hits and plated eight and the fielders handled everything perfectly. Speaking of the lineup, Buster Posey was back and he looked great, getting three hits. Super-sub Joaquin Arias got the start at first base and he came back from the dead with three hits, a walk, and three batted in. He's been struggling and it was nice to see him get it going. The Giants jumped on Lance Lynn in the 1st and never let up, BABIP'ing the home team with lots of well-placed grounders and sharp liners and seizing the initiative after an error by second baseman Kolten Wong. Gregor Blanco pulled one into the RF corner for an RBI triple in the 6th and that was the furthest a ball traveled today for the Giants. Looks like they can score whether they hit home runs or not! Brandon Crawford has been slumping and he got on base twice and drove in two. He also robbed rookie phenom Oscar Taveras of a hit in the 6th with one of those phantom scoops (plus a spin-and-throw move) on a hard hit ball up the middle. It's amazing how many would-be hits he turns into outs.

I'm still in a bit of shock as the Giants respond to yesterday's shutout by the Cardinals with a shutout of their own. Four games, three wins, combined score 23-11. San Francisco pitchers have allowed 190 runs in 57 games, exactly 3-1/3 per game. 190 is the third-lowest total in baseball behind only Atlanta (183) and Oakland (178). Mike Morse sat out after fouling a ball off his foot yesterday which is why Arias got the nod. He's expected to be back in the lineup after the off-day tomorrow. David Huff got in an inning of scoreless work in the 9th after his ugly effort on Friday night. I'm a member of the Church of Three Lefties in the 'Pen and I think the team is going to need him over the long haul so I was encouraged. He has good-looking stuff but seems to have some command issues so let's hope he gets those worked out.

Tim Lincecum will get the call on Tuesday in Cincinnati. The Reds are 25-29 and 7-1/2 back in the Central, but were 90-game winners last season so you have to figure they will improve.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Even It Up

Giants square the series with the Cubs behind another strong start from Tim Hudson (Game Score 70). Throw in some clutch hitting (two two-out run-scoring hits) with some superb infield defense (B-Craw!) and the San Francisco home formula delivers another win. The local lads up their record at AT&T to 18-9 which is just behind the 20-8 Marlins and 16-7 Rockies and just ahead of the 15-8 Cardinals. Win big at home and break even on the road usually works. The Giants are 15-10 in away games so far and that's a good thing as it looks like the race in the West will be a tight one.

Tim Lincecum goes tomorrow afternoon. It's the team's 54th game, one-third of the season. I'll throw out a few "third inning" thoughts after JC's post.

Keep it rolling, Giants!

--M.C.


p.s. Correction: the Giants play Game 54 on Thursday against the Cardinals. Game 48 was suspended!

Crazy Eights

Big hits from #8 Pence, #28 Posey, and #38 Morse helped Matt Cain (#18) beat the Marlins in San Francisco tonight. Matty struggled early, giving up two homers and four runs in the first three innings, but found his groove late and pitched into the 8th inning. The final tally was 33 batters, 107 pitches and 23 outs, the first time this season Cain has gone that far. Jeremy Affeldt got a strikeout to end the 8th and Sergio Romo only needed nine pitches for a 1-2-3 9th and the save. Giants win 6-4 over a persistent nemesis, the once-Florida-now-Miami Marlins, who seem to bring the big sticks whenever they come to AT&T.

The momentum swing happened in the 5th, Giants down 4-3, when Angel Pagan worked a walk from an 0-2 count, forcing 10 pitches out of Nathan Eovaldi. Hunter Pence then hit a dribbler down the first base line that he ran into and it kicked into foul territory off the side of his foot. He should have been called out as he was clearly inside the line and it was a live ball. The home plate umpire, Lance Barksdale, ruled it a foul however, and thus Pence got another shot. The umps got into a huddle but let the call stand, and it apparently is not reviewable under the new video replay guidelines so the Giants got a huge break. Buster Posey capitalized by crushing the next pitch into Triples Alley and drive in the go-ahead runs. The Giants seem to be in the middle of all the interesting calls this season! You have to believe the replay rules will get tweaked after that one.

Mike Morse blasted an opposite-field homer in the 3rd with two outs and a man on to help the team claw back from a 4-1 hole. He had an RBI single in the 5th as well for the final run. He's cooled off quite a bit from his torrid start, so it's nice to see him finding his stroke again. The Giants lineup faced some serious heat tonight yet they pounded out 12 hits and wrested victory from the jaws of defeat. That's 16 runs and 27 hits in the last two games!

Cainer has three starts out of seven total where's he's allowed multiple homers--two with two and one with three. The team has won two of those three games, and lost the two back-to-starts where he went seven in each with a run apiece (Game Scores of 70 and 73!) and zero homers. Go figure! It's the crazy world of Matt Cain baseball. Giants are rolling right now and have the most wins (27) in baseball. They were 11-10 after a loss in Colorado on April 22nd and have gone 16-5 since.

Tim Hudson was scratched due to injury, soreness in his hip apparently. Hey, he's an old man (38) in baseball years. A little rest for the current ace of the club is not a bad idea. Yumeiro Petit gets the start--this is a potent Miami lineup, he'll need to be sharp.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Relentless Giants Outlast Dodgers

It's only May, fer chrissakes, I can't take this. It felt like a September showdown for first place. The Giants kept battling today in Los Angeles, surviving two seemingly catastrophic events and pulling out an impressive series win. Ehire Adrianza and Brandon Hicks misplayed a ground ball in the 6th and Adrianza then had a "whoops, where's the base?" moment and the Dodgers capitalized and tied the game. Either he needs more time in the minors or it was just what he needed to up his game--I'll let the sports-writers decide. Welcome to the bigs, kid. You can't give an inch or someone will take a mile. It was much like the momentum-shifting miscues in yesterday's 6th inning. In fact, Bochy took out Hudson after that inning, the first time this season he hasn't gone seven. Brandon Crawford made another ridiculous play after going in on the double switch, which underscores Adrianza's gaffe even more. What doesn't kill you makes you tougher, right? Sergio Romo couldn't hold the lead with two outs in the 9th, giving up a game-tying bomb to Hanley Ramirez. Those were both wicked blows, the latter one particularly cruel, but the lads showed moxie and fought on, piling on three big runs the very next half inning to seal the win.

Clayton Kershaw has started, including today, 22 times against the Giants. Only four times have the Giants scored three or more runs. Once in 2010, once in 2011, and once in 2013. And today. What's interesting is that the Dodgers are 'only' 13-9 in those 22 games, you'd think with the way Kershaw has pitched it would be much more lopsided. He's the best, and his teammate Zack Greinke may be the second-best, but the Giants pulled off a split against those two in their yard to cap a strong (7-3) road trip.

Atlanta comes to San Francisco tomorrow night--they'll face Tim Lincecum.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants fail to hit home runs, win anyway

Two weeks ago the Giants gave up 10 runs to the Colorado Rockies and yet won the game in 11 innings by a score of 12-10. Jean Machi was the winning pitcher. Matt Cain started. Last night the Giants gave up 10 runs to the Pittsburgh Pirates and won in 13 innings by a score of 11-10. Jean Machi was the winning pitcher. Matt "The Knife" Cain was supposed to start but was DL'd beforehand. In between those two contests in extras the Giants went 8-1 and allowed only 16 runs (6 in the one loss), sweeping two teams and taking two of three from the other. The Giants were 6-2 after their Home Opener and I remember thinking I liked a fast start. I mean, your team can have a crappy start and still have a great season, after all it takes six months and 162 games (and sometimes 163) to settle everything. But given the choice between a good start and a bad one I'll take the good one. Wins are wins and the team with the most, wins. Right? Giants are 15-9 since their 6-2 start.

Tim Hudson tonight.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Petit, Pagan, Posey Pound Padres

Matt Cain apparently had a little problem with a knife while making a sandwich. He cut his finger and was scratched! Matt, lad, you make $20M/year to throw a baseball--use your left to make sandwiches. Better yet, hire the bat boy. Naturally the CSN guys kept trying to get us a picture of Cain and his wounded digit, and they did capture Matty and His Finger, just not the one they were hoping for. I missed the moment, damnit, as I had to piss, but I could hear my lovely bride laughing in the other room. Super-sub Yusmeiro Petit stepped in and calmly shut the door (Game Score 70) on the pesky Padres. He retired the first nine he faced, and thanks to solo shots by Buster Posey and Angel Pagan in the 1st was cruising comfortably when the Giants broke it open in the bottom of the 3rd with three more runs. Hector Sanchez racked up three more RBI and he now has 11 to go with his 16K and .171 BA! Hanchez caught Petit and Posey manned first base with the lefty Eric Stults on the mound. Struggling Brandon Belt came in on a double switch in the 8th. Both Jean Machi (6 outs) and Santiago Casilla (3 outs) were perfect--the Padres only managed three hits off Petit and had no other baserunners all night.

Brandon Crawford made a beautiful play in the 8th on a hard grounder from Nick Hundley that was headed for the 5-1/2 hole and into left field. He ranged to his right and speared the ball cleanly, then turned his body and threw to first in one motion, not taking the time to set his feet. He was still moving away from the play when he uncorked the perfect line drive right to Belt's glove. B-Craw has a hell of an arm! It was a difficult play, but what makes all those Crawford gems so impressive is the effortless grace with which he pulls them off. You have to watch the video if you haven't seen it.

Tim Hudson tonight. He's gone at least seven innings in all five of his starts.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

FNGs Deliver!

Tim Hudson was outstanding in his Giants debut, mesmerizing a potent D-Backs lineup with a panoply of sinkers and changeups. He allowed only three hits in 7-2/3 scoreless innings. He needed help on a few hard hit balls but Angel Pagan made two nice catches and Hunter Pence chipped in one as well. Otherwise Huddy worked quickly, threw strikes (he struck out seven), and kept the hitters guessing. It was an impressive display of that greatest of virtues, Veteran Savvy Clutchness. Hudson also contributed a sacrifice bunt in the 5th, moving up rookie Ehire Adrianza who had walked with one out. Angel Pagan cashed in the chance with a single to right and the Giants had all they needed. Newcomer Michael Morse added his own two-out hit in the 6th, a booming liner that just eluded Tony Campana in center and scoring Hunter Pence for an insurmountable 2-0 lead. Pitching, fielding, and situational hitting: sounds like Giants baseball.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.