Game Wrap 4/22/2011: Braves 4 Giants 1

Tommy Hanson, a graduate of Redlands East Valley High School, dominated the Giants through 7 innings while Madison Bumgarner continued a pattern of becoming hittable after getting squeezed by the home plate umpire. The Braves scored 4 runs while chasing Bumgarner in the 3'rd inning and Hanson cruised the rest of the way to the 4-1 win. Key lines:

Madison Bumgarner- 2.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 7.79. Last year, the concern was about Bumgarner's mysterious loss of velocity. That was definitely not the problem tonight as Bum was smoking it past Braves hitters in the first 2 innings at 94-96 MPH. The ump had a tight strike zone that was none too consistent and seemed to favor Hanson a bit. Bumgarner walked a couple of batters in the 3'rd and the route was on with Chipper Jones driving in the last two with a double off the right centerfield wall. At times, especially in the 3'rd, Bumgarner looked like he was trying to throw the ball right through the strike zone, Buster Posey and the ump, a common reaction by young pitchers to adversity. He needs to get back to what brought him success last season, great fastball command and location backed by effective off speed stuff.

Ryan Vogelsong- 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, GO/AO= 5/1. ERA= 0.00. Vogelsong has been nothing but impressive in his two relief appearances. Maybe the Giants would have been better off if he had taken Zito's regular place in the rotation tonight?

Tommy Hanson(Braves)- 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 3.21. Not to take anything away from Hanson. He pitched a great game, and the ump was fairly tight and inconsistent with both pitchers. I guess the one pitch that really stuck in my craw was a called third strike to Posey that was clear out on the chalk of the opposite batter's box! The whole idea that catchers can get called strikes out of the zone by moving two feet either way so the pitcher "hits the target" and therefore it must be a strike is BS. It's the ump's job to figure out what the catcher is doing and not let it distract his eye from the true strike zone. In this case, McCann was set up so far outside, you could see the entire ump behind home plate. There was no part of him being blocked from the line of vision by McCann.

The loss dropped the Giants record to 10-9. They remained 3 games behind the Colorado Rockies who were the victims of a 1 hitter by Anibel Sanchez of the Florida Marlins. Meanwhile, the Dodgers moved into a second place tie with the Giants with a 12-2 romp over the Cubs in a day game.

Tim Lincecum tries to be the stopper tomorrow afternoon taking on Tim Hudson who is always tough on the Giants.