Giants grind on

"The Giants win a game they probably shouldn't have."

--Duane Kuiper after Brian Wilson struck out Adam LaRoche.


'Tis true, 'tis true. The Giants walked nine guys, hit three, were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, hit into a double play, had a caught stealing by a pinch-runner, and made an error. Their offense consisted of a home run by the backup catcher and a bases-loaded pinch-walk from the benched-for-slumping first baseman. Mike Fontenot started at shortstop. Miguel Tejada got the call at third base with the injury to Pablo Sandoval, the club's hottest hitter. Buster Posey played first base. Jonathan Sanchez teetered on the brink of madness, or rather, I teetered on the brink of madness watching him, and still reeling a bit from all the weirdness, nearly went mad again watching Brian Wilson in the 9th. It was an ugly display by the starter and also by the closer, yet the Nationals only managed two hits and one (unearned) run! Thank goodness the middle guys were nearly perfect. There was some serious weirdness today in Washington as the Giants pulled off an improbable win.

Darren Ford got his first hit, a line drive up the middle just over the leaping Danny Espinosa at second base. He also nearly ran over Cody Ross in right field to catch a deep fly ball. It was fun to watch him jog all the way back to center field after the play. It's hard to fault a guy for trying too hard even if it did seem like he forgot there was another guy out there with a glove! He can sure move. His career minor league line is .268/.349/.374, which is not encouraging, but if he can contribute in the short term and "make things happen" as they say that can't be bad. The caught stealing was a perfect throw from Nats catcher Wilson Ramos.

I was happy to see Buster Posey get two hits, he needs to find his stroke. Mike Fontenot also got two hits. I expect we'll be seeing a lot more of him (it was his error that led to the unearned run, but it came on a high throw from Posey). Ryan Rohlinger was called up to fill the Panda's spot. Eli Whiteside deserves a nod for having a big day. Everyone on the bench is going to get called on in the coming weeks so they better be ready to contribute.

Matt Cain tomorrow. I'm hoping he's really boring, you know, lots of strikes and consecutive outs. I don't want any more high-wire acts. The Giants are a bit of a leaky boat, with some questionable patching material (Emmanuel Burriss?), and they need to stay afloat. They don't come home until the weekend and they don't have an off day until the 9th of May. I'm way past "torture" around here--that was so last year. No, I prefer "the grind." This year is a grind, a long, slow grind, like a goddamn glacier or something. Gird your loins for the long haul, me buckos, nothing is going to be easy or pretty in 2011.

--M.C.

Overshadowed Tim

Do I really have to "tip my cap" to another mediocre pitcher that performs like a Hall-of-Famer against our boys? Come on, this is really getting old...

Tim Lincecum (2-3) did pretty damn well ( game score 58 ) :

7 innings 7 hits 3 earned runs 7 strikeouts 0 walks

but he didn't have a chance as Jason Marquis threw a dominating 5 hit shutout to bring down the Giants, 3-0, in the first game of four in Washington. Tim was hurt by some shaky outfield defense (which is starting to look like a real Achilles heel), a bad call or two, and some weirdness. The last RBI hit by Marquis would have made Bengie Molina proud...it was up in his eyes!

There's no doubt Marquis pitched well (game score 84), but the Giants could not have been more accommodating. It only took 96 pitches to do us in (only 17 in the last two innings, shit, it felt like they were running for the exits). Only one extra base hit. Only two batters forced Marquis to throw SIX PITCHES to them all night. And one of those was Lincecum!!

This kind of embarassing loss cries out for managerial response. What do you think it will be? A meeting...some benchings...maybe an angry outburst! That would be cool...totally out of character and uncalled for, but cool.

And, is this the first time Tim has been below .500? Probably not, but I'm not sure. His first season he went 7-5, so it may have happened then.

Capitol baseball

While the B-squad took care of the Pirates yesterday, the A-team suits up tonight. Big Time Timmy Jim gets the call against a Nationals squad that's eking out a mere 3.92 rpg. Their .662 team OPS is even worse than the Giants pathetic .684. Pitching is holding things together for them in the early going--the team ERA+ is 106, and the 4.42 rpg is just about league-average (4.35). Tonight's starter Jason Marquis has been a steady perfomer. Another righty who bats left, Marquis has made 248 starts in his 12-year career, all in the NL (Atlanta, St. Louis, Chicago, Colorado, Washington). Mark Gardner is listed as his number one "comp" on his B-R page.

You have to like that much-maligned Aaron Rowand has stepped up and delivered some big performances when the club really needed a boost. The Ryan Vogelsong story is also a good one, winning his first big league game in six years (actually 2,412 days). The Giants are limping along, certainly not firing on all cylinders, yet they are still .500 and only 4-1/2 off the pace. The Rockies were 12-3 when they faced the Giants, they've gone 4-4 since then. When the Giants get everyone healthy and up to full speed I'll expect a few 12-3 stretches--that will put some distance between the contenders and the wannabes.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Pirates play like Giants, win 2-0

It looked like the teams switched uniforms. The Pirates got a great start, made all the right bullpen moves, got an early run and a late run, and made some sharp plays in the field to seal it. They looked like the 2010 Giants. The Giants looked like the Padres. Whenever the Giants get frustrating to watch on offense, which is all too often, I think "at least we ain't the Padres." I'll have to re-think that. James McDonald was the star on the mound tonight--he gave up 21 ER in his previous four starts. He also throws right and bats left like Tim Lincecum.

Madison Bumgarner had his best outing and that's a good sign. I don't want to write any more about this game.

--M.C.

Darren Ford: difference-maker

That's what Kruk & Kuip called the speedy youngster after his performance tonight, and it's hard to argue. He went from 1st to 3rd on an errant pick off throw in the 10th inning, then dashed home on Freddy Sanchez' ground ball with a drawn-in infield to score the go-ahead run. He'd already scored the tying run as a pinch runner in the 8th, going from 1st to 3rd on another little ground ball by Freddy Sanchez, this one squirting into left field when the shortstop covered second on the play. Darren Ford got on base and made things happen and the Giants stole a win in Pittsburgh.

Pirates starter Charlie Morton pitched well, and deserved better, and looked poised to get the better of the career leader in Deserved Better, Matt Cain. The Pirates made Cain pay for his only walk. With two outs in the 6th, Matt Diaz worked his way on and alertly stole 2nd base, just ahead of a high throw from Posey. Lyle Overbay, down 0-2, fought back to 2-2 and then singled him home. It was only a little lapse by Cain, but it was almost enough to lose the game. He faced 23 batters in his six innings, throwing 97 pitches, good for a Game Score of 61.

Aaron Rowand deserves some notice for his two big base hits. All three of the Giants runs came from the lead off spot. Rowand doubled and scored in the 6th, and singled to open the 8th when Ford replaced him. Ford was safe on a fielder's choice in the 10th and scored the eventual game-winner. This was a tough, hard-fought game. The Giants ground out a gutty win on the road. It feels good after the rotten weekend.

--M.C.

Fun facts for funk relief

Like the Giants, I'm in a bit of a funk. I could use a distraction. Here's something from Chris Jaffe (The Hardball Times)--anniversaries of lots of fun baseball facts. Tell me which ones you like the best. (I like the one with Chris Speier and Steve Carlton.)

The main article is about a Giants-Padres game with Craig Lefferts sporting the brown. Check it out:


Silver anniversary of one of baseball's most incredible homers (4/25/11)

--M.C.

Braves walk away winners

The Easter Sunday crowd in San Francisco could be forgiven for thinking they'd seen a resurrection today. Aaron Rowand, 0-for-the-series, crushed a fat breaking ball from rookie reliever Jairo Asencio in the bottom of the 7th inning for a bases-clearing double to give the Giants a 6-5 lead. It was the last of the miracles, however. Sergio Romo promptly gave the lead back, surrendering a laser-beam shot to Dan Uggla on a fat breaking ball to make it 6-6 in the 8th. The Giants could not score the go-ahead run, and Brian Wilson surrendered three runs in the 10th to hand the game back to the visitors. It's always nice to go into a tailspin right before a 10-game road trip.

Jonathan Sanchez walked Martin Prado to start the game and he scored on a hit by Chipper Jones. Jeremy Affeldt walked two in the top of the 7th inning in front of Jason Heyward who crushed a fat breaking ball for a three-run homer to give the Braves a 5-2 lead. That looked like the game right there, but the home lads had some fight left in them before giving up the ghost. The Giants walked 16 guys in the three games. Braves rookie starter Brandon Beachy gave up a two-run homer to Buster Posey in the 4th but was otherwise impressive, striking out seven in his seven innings. The Braves are a very good team and proved it this weekend in San Francisco. The Giants look like shit and need to put together a winning streak. Maybe playing the Pirates, Nationals, and Mets will be just the ticket. Let's hope so.

--M.C.