Game Wrap 09-06-2010: Giants 2 D'Backs 0

Madison Bumgarner and Ian Kennedy hooked up in a crackling pitcher's duel that took a scoreless tie into both bullpens and into extra innings. After seemingly forever since the last time Nate Schierholtz made an offensive contribution to a win, he stroked a two run triple up the right-centerfield alley for the game winning hit to atone for getting picked off first base as a pinch runner earlier in the game. Key lines:

Aubrey Huff- 2 for 5. BA= .288. Huff Daddy is slumping. He popped up to the catcher with one out and runners at the corners earlier in the game. He started the winning rally with 2 outs in the 11'th inning. He also made a couple of nifty defensive plays at 1B. Some players find a way to win even when they are slumping.

Buster Posey- 1 for 5. BA= .326. Buster had been having a tough day at the plate, but he dumped a hit into RF to keep the 11'th inning going with 2 outs. Once again, Buster gets a key hit.

Nate Schierholtz- 1 for 2. 3B. BA= .250. When was the last time Nate had a key hit? Boy, did he ever pick a great time to do it! I don't ever want to hear someone say Bochy has given Nate a raw deal. Most managers would have yanked him after the pickoff. It's not like the Giants were out of options for OF's. Rowand, the guy some people seem to think Bochy is in love with, was still available. Boch left Nate in. He hit the ball hard twice and the second time it was the game winner.

Madison Bumgarner- 7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 3.44. Bum's line looks dominant, and he did have his fastball up to 94-95 MPH. He also gave up a bunch of shots that barely stayed in the ballpark. His OF's, particularly Cody Ross and Andres Torres made several nice catches to keep the game at 0-0. Just a thought: If Guillen had started in RH, it is doubtful the Giants would have won this game as I'm pretty sure he doesn't make some of those catches that Ross made.

Bullpen: 3.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K's. Great group effort and props to Bochy for a good job of managing them after Bumgarner came out.

With the W, the Giants move up to 0.5 games behind the Padres pending tonight's contest against the Dodgers. Late word is that Mat Latos has been scratched due to a stomach virus and Tim Stauffer will take the mound. Gotta think that helps the Dodgers' chances. Man, is it weird rooting for the Dodgers or what. I don't see that we have much choice but to hope the Dodgers win at least 2 of 3 from the Padres this week, though. The Rockies pounded the NL Central leading Cincinnati Reds 10-5 to stay lurking just 3.5 games behind the Giants. Anyone else think the Rockies might just be the Giants main competition for the NL West title? In the Wild Card Race, the Phillies dropped the first game of a DH to the Marlins 7-1 to drop to just 1 game over the Giants pending the outcome of the late game.

Tim Lincecum takes the mound tomorrow evening to try to keep it going against Barry Enright, a rookie who has given the Giants fits, but whose peripheral stats would suggest is due for a regression. Sometimes those regressions don't occur as soon as you would like though. Go Timmy! Go Giants!