Game Wrap 08-08-2010: Braves 6 Giants 3

The Giants were flat as soda pop left out for 3 days in a game they needed to win and should have won. Key lines:

Andres Torres- 1 for 3, BB. Still doing his job at the top of the order.

Travis Ishikawa- 2 for 4, 2B, HR(3). BA= .293. Adding fuel to the thought that he might have contributed more than, say, Aaron Rowand in yesterday's game.

Jonathan Sanchez- 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.55. The Braves dinged the Giants pitchers with long balls this series and they added two more against Sanchez. Continues he maddeningly inconsistent ways.

Todd Wellemeyer- 0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 5.68. I'm sure Bruce Bochy is thinking he's going to need Wellemeyer in the rotation before the year is over, but my goodness! Do you really keep him on the team over, say, Santiago Casilla?

Santiago Casilla- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 2.57.

Ramon Ramirez- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 4.23. I'm pretty sure Ramirez ain't going anywhere.

With the L, the Giants dropped a game in the standings to 2 back of the NL West leading Padres who crushed Arizona 10-1. The Colorado Rockies topped the Pirates 8-4 and stayed at 6.5 games behind the leaders while the Dodgers took care of the Nats 8-3 to stay 7 games back. Arizona dropped back to a 22 game deficit with their loss. In the Wild Card race, the Phillies edged the Mets 6-5 and now trail the Giants by just 0.5 games while the Cards game got rained out, so they gained 0.5 games to 1 game off the Giants pace.

The Giants get no break as they return home for a Monday night game against the Cubbies. Madison Bumgarner takes the mound against the enigmatic Carlos Zambrano who is capable of pitching a no-hitter or of getting bombed. Which is more likely against the Giants offense? Hint, if he was on my fantasy team, I'd start him.