Game Wrap 08-21-2010: Cardinals 5 Giants 1

For 3 innings, maybe 4, this looked like a pitcher's duel between Tim Lincecum and Chris Carpenter. A couple of key hits by former Giants Randy Winn, who took Timmy deep in the 4'th inning, and Pedro Feliz, who hit one down the LF line that got away from Pat Burrell to drive in Yadier Molina, changed all that. The game was never really in doubt after that, although there was a point in the 8'th inning where a bomb from any one of Burrell, Guillen or Sandoval could have made it close. Key lines:

Buster Posey- 2 for 4. BA= .244. Buster has an 8 game hit streak going, although he made a couple of weak throws to 2B trying to catch basestealers.

Jose Guillen- 2 for 4. BA= .264. Guillen has had two hits in 4 of his last 5 games.

Tim Lincecum- 5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.72. Timmy seemed to have good velocity and good control of the fastball the first time through the Cards' lineup. Winn's leadoff dinger in the 4'th was left out over the plate. Tim got through the rest of the 4'th without any further damage, but then started getting pounded in the 5'th and only recorded 1 more out. Timmy looks like he's added just a bit of bulk in the last couple of weeks. His face looked a but fuller. His uni still kind of hangs on him from the waist down. He definitely needs to do something about that hair too! It kept getting in his mouth after almost every pitch. Yuck! That has to be distracting. The challenge will be for Timmy to add some muscle and bulk to keep his stamina up while not sacrificing the flexibility he needs for his delivery.

With the loss, the Giants failed to take advantage of an opportunity to gain ground in both the NL West and Wild Card races as the Padres lost again to the BrewCrew and the Phillies lost to the Nats. The Giants remain 5 games off the NL West pace and a game behind the Phils.

Barry Zito tries to even the Giants record on the road trip tomorrow against Cardinals Rookie of the Year Candidate Jaime Garcia. Garcia who has struggled a bit in his several starts posting a 4.08 ERA in his last 10 games. There was talk of having Kyle Lohse pitch tomorrow and move Garcia's turn back or even skip a start. I actually think the Giants might do better against Garcia than Lohse who is the kind of pitcher who sometimes gives the Giants fits(don't they all?).