Matt Cain didn't have his best stuff today, but he showed what an ace does under those circumstances by gutting out 7 innings and allowing just 1 run. Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe broke out back-to-back dingers to give Cainer the lead just in time for the W, and Huff went yard again to give the bullpen some breathing room. Key lines:
Pablo Sandoval- 1 for 2, 2 BB. The Giants have played 62 games this season and I'm guessing that this was the 60'th different lineup Bochy has put out there. Panda did his job in the 2 hole today by getting on base 3 times and scoring ahead of both of Huff's dingers.
Aubrey Huff- 2 for 4, 2 HR's(10), OF Assist. Huff showed off some prodigious power today. Neither HR was a splash hit, but they were both to right-center, especially the second which left the yard just to the right of the 421 ft. sign.
Juan Uribe- 1 for 4, HR(10). Uribe hit 4'th today again. Love it!
Matt Cain- 7 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 2.05.
Santiago Casilla- 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K's. ERA= 0.96. Casilla was an unsung hero today getting the Giants out of a 2 out bases loaded jam in the 8'th when the lead was just 2 runs and then hanging in there after a leadoff single by Rajai Davis to finish the game and give Brian Wilson a breather, although Wilson did warm up twice.
With the W today, the Giants gained a full game on both teams ahead of them in the NL West standings. The Padres lost to the Mariners and Felix Hernandez 4-2 while the Angels held on for a 6-5 win to sweep the Choking Dogs. A big thank you to the Angels!! Colorado knocked the Toronto Blue Jays around 10-3 while Arizona beat St. Louis 7-5. The tightened up NL West standings have the Pads in first place at 37-26. The Dodgers are 1 game behind at 36-27. The Giants remain in 3'rd place, but move up to 1.5 games behind the Pads at 35-27. The Rockies sit 4 games out of first at 33-30, and the D'Backs bring up the rear 11.5 games behind the leaders at 26-38.
The Giants now take the Baltimore Orioles, 3 games in SF, Orange and Black vs Black and Orange. I've had soft spot in my heart for the O's ever since they swept the Dodgers in the 1966 World Series, but I won't be rooting for them this week! The O's currently have one of the worst W-L records in baseball, but they have some good players. A couple of their young pitchers could break out at any time, and the Giants have a history of having pitchers with terrible ERA's suddenly get well against them.
I like where the Giants are right now. They seem to have figured out a pretty good 1-4 in the lineup. Posey looks like he may be cooling off, but maybe Pat Burrell or Bengie Molina will get hot and pick up the slack? Or maybe Nate will eventually get another chance to play? At any rate, the offense seems to be in a pretty good groove of scoring 4-6 runs/night which gets it done most games with the Giants pitching. They will obviously have to find a way to beat the Padres and Dodgers down the road and they will need a 5'th starter to give them chances to win. If they can do that, they are in a great position to make the playoffs. After that, their pitching can take them a long ways.
Go Giants! I'm stoked!
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Yes, Go Giants, I'm stoked too!
ReplyDeleteAnd shame to all those fans who wanted to trade Cain to the Brewers for Fielder, who, BTW, has been struggling all season to hit and to hit for power, before smashing two out yesterday.