Padres Opening Door for Giants

It seems like we've been waiting all year for it, but it's finally came, and that is a San Diego Padre losing streak. Ever since they've taken reigns atop the NL West, they've been a model of consistency, but now they're finally struggling, and it's time for the Giants to take advantage of it.

The Giants have picked up a few games over the last week, and now sit just 3 games back behind the first place Padres in the West, but they've been struggling themselves lately, and have yet to really jump on the opportunity this Padre losing streak is providing. They did manage to take 2 of 3 from the Rockies this week, but they fell back into the losing column Friday night against Chad Billingsley and the LA Dodgers. Barry Zito didn't really give the Giants much of a chance, as he gave up 4 runs in 4 innings of work. The bullpen did take over in the fifth and held the Dodgers scoreless the rest of the way, but the Giants offense mustered up only 2 hits all night, one of them just happen to be a clutch 2-out, 2-RBI single off the bat of rookie Buster Posey which is the only reason the Giants even dented the scoreboard. That came a day after the Giants only put up 4 hits against Ubaldo Jimenez. They just don't look like they're playing with a sense of urgency, especially at the plate. They didn't look like they were playing for a chance to move within striking distance of first place in their division. I don't now if the guys are just tired, or what (they did have just 2 off days in August), but they looked like they were swinging the bat under water on Friday night. Still though, as I type this, the Rockies are leading the Padres 2-1 in the fifth inning in San Diego and if they can hold that lead, the Giants would have another shot at moving within 2 games with a win tonight.

One great peace of news to come out of that Rockies series was Tim Lincecum's outing in the rubber match on Wednesday. The Giants needed it too, because he was opposed by Jimenez and again, the Giants offense didn't do a whole lot for him. Lincecum didn't need a whole lot though, as he went 8 strong, allowing 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 9. The only blemish on his night wasn't even much of a mistake, just a great piece of hitting by one of the best young hitters in the league, as Carlos Gonzalez took him deep with nobody on base. Brian Wilson shut the door in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning, earning his 38th save and preserving Lincecum's first win since July 30th. More importantly though, it broke Lincecum's personal 5-game losing streak, and hopefully will put the 26 year-old right-handers mind back at ease. It's also worth noting that it was by far Timmy's best outing throwing to rooking backstop Buster Posey, something that has been brought up frequently when discussing Lincecum's 2nd-half drop-off. Anyway, the Giants need their ace confident and ready down the stretch if they are going to be playing in October, there is no doubt about it.

Roster News: The Giants haven't made many add-ons to their roster just yet, but the only positional player they've brought up has already paid some dividends. Speedy 25-year old center fielder Darren Ford, who had a huge '09 season and a nice spring training this year, was called up this week, and scored the game winning run in Wednesday's game vs. the Rockies. Ford, who led the Giants minor leagues in stolen bases and is arguably the fastest guy in the organization, was used as a pinch runner and will be used in that role quite often. The Giants also activated relievers Dan Runzler and Chris Ray.