Game Wrap 5/6/2011: Giants 4 Rockies 3

I have to admit, this is a game I came close to giving up on. Matt Cain was not at his best tonight, but hung in there and ended up with a quality start and gave his team a chance to come back. Nate Schierholtz hit a clutch, clutch 2 out, 2 strike, 2 run double down the LF line to tie it up in the bottom of the 8'th inning. Then, Cody Ross led off the bottom of the ninth with a double down the RF line and came home on Freddy Sanchez' single up the middle. This is the first game this season where I felt the Giants played with the determination and enthusiasm of last year's championship team. The celebration when Ross scored the game winner looked every bit like they had just won another NL West Championship. Great come from behind win in a game the Giants really needed to win. Key Lines:

Aaron Rowand- 0 for 5. BA= .268. Gamer may not have had a good game at the plate, but his play in CF was, once again, absolutely scintillating as he made several excellent catches that helped keep the game close.

Mike Fontenot- 1 for 3, 3B, BB. BA= .265. Fonty scored the first run after tripling up Triples Alley. Right now, he's the most consistent hitter on the team. He made some nice plays at SS too!

Pat Burrell- 1 for 1, 3 BB. BA= .239. The BA may not look like much but Burrell was on base 4 times and set up Nate's clutch double with a double of his own to put runners at 2'nd and 3'rd.

Nate Schierholtz- 1 for 4, 2B. BA= .278. I know there is not such thing as clutch, and I'm sure Bochy knows that too, but these kinds of hits tend to stick in manager's minds. I'm thinking Nate just earned himself a few more starts than he would have had otherwise with this hit tonight.

Cody Ross- 1 for 1, 2B. BA= .217. Cody Ross is swinging the bat better. Man, what's going to happen when Torres comes back?

Matt Cain- 7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 K's. ERA= 3.38. Cainer has had better games but as I said in the intro, he hung in there and gave his team a chance to come back.

The win moves the Giants back to .500 and 3 games behind the NL West leading Rockies. The Dodgers lost to the Mets 6-3 and fall to 4.5 games back while Arizona has sneaked up to 4 games back, pending the outcome of their extra-inning game against the Pesky Padres.

Madison Bumgarner tries to keep his recent success going tomorrow against Esmai Rogers, although there is talk that Clayton Mortensen could get the start instead.