Squeakin' out a sweep!

Giants score 11 runs in four games and win them all. Today they once again benefited from poor fielding by the Cubs. Starlin Castro lost track of the outs and let a run score that tied the game. He may not have made the DP, but we'll never know because he never made the effort since he thought the inning was over. Giants go 6-1 on the homestand. Important stat: one error. Total. The Giants made only one error in seven games. They won six of the seven. If you build your team around pitching, you have to make the plays. Catch the ball, throw the ball, catch the ball, etc. And keep track of the outs! Not much scoring once again as the starters on both sides were very tough. I really like Chicago's righty, Jeff Samardzija. A converted reliever, he looks like he just might be putting it together at age 27. The Cubs got great pitching in the series and had nothing to show for it but painful losses. Ryan Vogelsong didn't walk anyone today--first time all season. He's been superb since coming back from his injury, but the bases on balls (26 in 68 IP) were a concern. He gave up a lot of hits (8) and didn't strike out many batters (3), but he did what he always does which was go seven and keep it close. The Giants have won the last six games he's started.

--M.C.


p.s. Giants draft a big, hard throwing pitcher from Mississippi State. Chris Stratton. I like it.

p.p.s. Not this again.

Barry-Z makes it three

Barry Zito did something today against the Cubs that his teammates Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain could not do, and that was get an out in the 9th inning. Giants starters have thrown 24-1/3 innings in the first three games against Chicago and have allowed only three runs. Zito, so far, has thrown the best game! Check out these Game Scores: 69, 73, and 78. The Giants have flashed excellent leather in the series as well, and benefited from some fielding lapses, particularly by left fielder Alfonso Soriano, who is clearly hobbling. A run also scored today when catcher Koyie Hill could not handle a good throw by right fielder Reed Johnson. The Giants aren't doing much with the bat, but when they pitch this well and catch the ball and make their throws they can win by scratching out runs. The Cubs are the second-worst team in the league but have kept it close this weekend with some fine pitching of their own. The Giants, once again, have a shot at a series sweep. Tomorrow at 12:45 Ryan Vogelsong gets his tenth start of the season. The San Diego Padres come to town on Tuesday, and they are the worst team in the league.

The Giants find themselves only three games back of the NL West leaders after three innings (54 games). At the one-third mark, the Dodgers are 33-21 and the Giants are 30-24, quite a turnaround after LA's blistering start. In the last 18 games the Giants have gone 12-6, a big improvement on their two previous 9-9 innings. The team seems to have found its way out of the .500 rut. The outfield of Melky Cabrera, Angel Pagan, and Gregor Blanco has become a clear team strength on both sides of the ball. Blanco made two fine plays today and scored one of the team's two runs after a walk. Pagan had a leaping catch on the track and scored the other run after a one-out double. Cabrera, naturally, delivered the hit in the 8th that scored Blanco. It is an interesting collection of ballplayers--unlike most outfields there is not much home run power. But there is lots of speed, good D, and excellent on-base skills, and that seems like a winning combination, especially at AT&T Park. The bullpen has continued to excel despite the injuries, and the starters are racking up loads of quality innings. The Giants are only 12th in the NL in runs scored, but fourth-best in runs allowed.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Retro Matty

Matt Cain looked good in the throwback uniform, and except for back-to-back batters in the 4th inning, looked good mowing down the Cubs as well. I thought Ol' Boch might let Matty get a complete game for the sake of Retro Day at the Yard, but Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo were called upon after a leadoff walk and they got the three big ones in the 9th to save the narrow win. Good call, Skipper, 117 pitches was a Retro effort. Guys used to do that on both ends of a doubleheader back in the day, right? Back when "relief pitchers" were called "sissies." The Giants put together an almost comical rally in the 6th that clearly infuriated Matt Garza and chased him from the game. Chicago left fielder Alfonso Soriano circled around Melky Cabrera's pop fly with Ryan Theriot on first base and it hit the glove and fell for a single. Angel Pagan, with one out, hit a little dinker to third that he beat out. Aubrey Huff walked to tie the game, and another dinker to third by Joaquin Arias brought home the go-ahead run on the fielder's choice. We've seen it happen to Cain too many times, but today the baseball gods smiled upon us and made it happen to the other Matt. Not much offense, but how about the defense? The Giants caught the ball and made the plays and didn't mishandle any chances (unlike their opponents). They have to keep doing that if they want to win these close, low-scoring games. Both Eric Karros and Dick Stockton on the Fox telecast talked about how they like this year's San Francisco team and how they can "grind it out." Karros even went so far as to say they reminded him of the 2010 club. This team lacks that team's home run pop, but with Pablo Sandoval back in the lineup that will pick up a bit. This team lacks that team's great defense, but they may be turning a corner. This team lacks that team's dominant ace Tim Lincecum, but they've got Big Time Retro Matty, the staff WAR leader, on the job. Game 54 tomorrow, the one-third mark of the season.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.


p.s. Matt Cain was 15-13 after his first two seasons. He went 15-30 in the next two. He's gone 45-32 since then to finally get back to .500 (75-75). Let's hope he blows past that!

This is why you score FOUR runs

It's that magic number for the Giants. I'm pretty sure Barry Zito is 149-4 in his career when his team scores four runs. Maybe it is 149-5, but I'm close. And the Giants, if they scored four runs every night, they would be playing .700 ball. Wait--they average four runs a night?

No way!

Way.

        R/G 
SFG     4.00 
LgAvg   4.16


Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/1/2012.



Madison Bumgarner is damn awesome. Not just regular awesome, but better. Higher grade of awesomeness than the usual, run-of-the-mill awesome.

GO GIANTS!

M.C.