Game Wrap 5/7/2011: Giants 3 Rockies 2

The Giants celebrated another walk-off thriller tonight behind a solid start from Madison Bumgarner, a bullpen that was nails and some timely hits. Key lines:

Aaron Rowand- 2 for 4, BB. BA= .276. One night after going 0 for 5, Gamer got on base in 3 of 5 plate appearances.

Freddy Sanchez- 3 for 5, 2B. BA= .270. Freddy had been in a slump. Him getting hits really helps set the table for the offense.

Mike Fontenot- 1 for 4, 2B, SF. BA= .264. Fonty failed to make a play in the hole at one point, but later made a couple of sparkling plays to help the Giants get out of an inning. His SF in the 9'th was the game winner.

Madison Bumgarner- 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 4.21. Bumgarner had a sparking game through 6, but gave up a pair of singles to open the 7'th. He then got a comebacker that should have been a DP, but there was a mixup on 2B coverage. Instead of getting the sure out at 1B, he threw wildly to 2B and was lucky Sanchez was backing it up. Helton followed with a slicer down the LF line to drive in 2 and Bum was out of the game with no outs and runners on first and third .

Ramon Ramirez- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 1.17. The hero of the game as far as I'm concerned. Ramirez entered the game with no outs, runners at the corners and 2 runs already in, game tied. I got the first batter to ground to 3B with Tejada nailing the lead runner at the plate. He then struck out the next two batters with some of the filthiest stuff I've ever seen. Maybe Timmy, in his last start, had better stuff, but that's it. Nobody else has had nastier stuff than what Ramirez took out there tonight. And to think I was wondering if he should have made the team out of spring training!

Javier Lopez- 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.73. In a way, Lopez was just as clutch as Ramirez tonight, except the mess he cleaned up was of his own making. Nice inning though!

Brian Wilson- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, W(2-1). ERA= 5.02. Well, I guess we know Bochy's strategy if the Giants are tied at home going to the ninth inning. Willie gets the W for the second straight night.

The Win enabled the Giants to climb above .500 at 17-16 and moves them to 2 games behind the NL West leading Rockies who lost their 3 'rd consecutive walk-off game. The surprising D'Backs blanked the Padres 6-0 to get to 3.5 games behind the leaders in 3'rd place. Meanwhile, the Dodges lost their 4'th in a row and 5'th of 6 to remain 4.5 games behind the Rockies in 4'th place.

The Giants send Ryan Vogelsong to the mound tomorrow against Jorge De La Rosa. The Giants have yet to close out a sweep this season despite several opportunities. DLR is a tough hombre. Anything can happen on any given day in baseball, but you've got to favor the Rockies salvaging one W out of the 3 game set.

Around the League: Justin Verlander pitched the second no-hitter of the season. Francisco Liriano's no-no earlier in the week was a bit fluky with 6 walks and just 2 K's. Verlander's was the real deal. Ball four to the one batter he walked was a ball, but it was close and a lot of umps would have called it a strike. He struck out 12 in the process of ringing up the no-no. Pretty darn dominating!