Game Wrap 5/6/2012: Giants 4 BrewCrew 3

It looked like another dominant performance by Matt Cain would come to naught as the Giants defense once again failed to make key plays in the 9'th inning to cause a Blown Save for Santiato Casilla.  The defense rallied to make some great plays in the top of the 11'th and Hector Sanchez delivered a walk-off hit to end it in the bottom of the 11'th.  Key Lines:

Gregor Blanco- 0 for 3, BB.  It doesn't look like much of a line, but Blanco led off the the bottom of the first with the Gaints already trailing by a run and scored when Conor Gillaspie pulled, that's right, pulled a double into the RF corner.  You need some speed to score from first on a double to RF in this ballpark.

Melky Cabrera- 1 for 5.  BA= .313.  This also does not look like much of a line but Melky's hit advanced Gillaspie to 3B and set up a second score on a FC by Pagan.  Melky also made a nice runing catch on shallow flyball to LF and doubled up Corey Hart, who was running on the pitch, with a one hop throw to Brandon Belt at 1B.  I'm not sure who has the stronger arm, Nate or Melky, but Melky's is more accurate.

Angel Pagan- 2 for 4, 2B, SB(4).  BA= .267.  Pagan stretched his hitting streak to 20 games.  This is the first time the Giants have had two 20 game hit streaks in one season and it's only May!  Pagan had a rough day on defense, whiffing on a drive to the CF wall that looked like he misjudged, and on a flyball to left-center that he took a bad route to that drove in the tying run in the 9'th.  I could be wrong, but think both Rowand and Torres would have had both of those balls.

Brandon Belt- 0 for 3, 2 IBB.  BA= .278.  Strange game for Belt as the BrewCrew clearly respected his power and disrespected the hitters coming up behind him.  Belt has apparently gained some ground with management too as Bochy has said Huff will be mostly playing LF when he comes back.

Hector Sanchez- 1 for 1.  BA= .271.  Sanchez delivered the game winning hit against an unconventional defense  with 5 infielders and 2 shallow OF's.  I think the hit, a poke down the LF line would have been a hit against a conventional defense though.  OK, let's talk about love of veterans here.  The Giants had both Eli Whiteside, who was a veteran of 3 seasons as the Giants backup catcher and Chris Stewart,  a guy who had done a good job last year and who Bochy worked with in San Diego that they could have chosen to be the backup catcher this season.  Instead, they went with a guy who started last year in A ball and got into just a handful of games at the MLB level at the end of last year.  Does THAT sound like a slavish, knee jerk devotion to playing veterans over kids?  What's better is the move is paying big time dividends.

Matt Cain- 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 10 K's.  ERA= 2.38.  Another tremendous effort by Cain.  It was a  QS, but the peripheral stats were dominant.  Put THAT in you xFIP and smoke it!  I think we're witnessing Cainer taking it to a new level right before our eyes.  Oh yeah.  Matt Cain IS a horse!

The Win evened the Giants record once again, now at 14-14.  The Dodgers game against the Cubbies was delayed by rain and they ended up losing 4-3 in extra innings on getaway day.  Hehehe!  The Giants now trail the Dodgers by 4 games heading into their 3 game series this week in sole possession of 2'nd place.  The D'Backs lost to the Mets 3-1 to remain 4.5 games back now in 3'rd place in the NL West.  The Rockies lost to Atlanta 7-2 to stay 5.5 games behind in 4'th place while the Pathetic Padres lost to the Miami Marlins 6-3 to stay 9.5 games back and in last place.

Barry Zito takes the mound tomorrow evening facing lefty Ted Lilly.  Go Giants!  Beat LA!

BTW, Matt Kemp missed today's game in Chicago with a tight hamstring.  Most likely an excuse to get a rest on getaway day, but we'll see.