They followed up the opener with another ugly loss Friday night, but the Giants are finally got themselves on track Saturday, behind a strong outing from Matt Cain and an offensive explosion.
They're still in the middle of play as I write this, but with a 9-0 lead in the 9th, It'd be a a tough one to blow. The Giants bats finally got going Saturday afternoon, and it started with Mark DeRosa's single to center field in the 5th. I couldn't stress enough how important DeRosa would be this season if healthy, and he showed why.
Miguel Tejada came up later in the inning with a professional at-bat, driving in DeRosa with an RBI ground-out to put the Giants on the board. Tejada is such a key component to this team, it's so crucial to get him going especially. The Giants have no other options at short, so if he tanks, they're stuck with Fontenot and he was right in the middle of that rally too, with the hit that drove in Rowand. That was followed by one of Freddy Sanchez's 3 hits (3/4, HR, 3 RBI), a double off of the 3rd base bag. Then it was Aubrey Huff's turn to contribute, and Huff-daddy got going with 2 hits and 3 RBI. For the first time in the 2011 season, the Giants put up a crooked number in an inning, and they did it with a barrage of hits, not the 3-run homer. Nearly everyone got involved, with the exception of Pat Burrell. "The Bat" has hit one of his rough stretches since his opening day home run off Broxton, as he's just 0-10 with 4 whiffs without that big fly. I'd be willing to bet he'll get a day off Sunday against Kuroda with DeRosa or Rowand getting another starting nod.
Speaking of Rowand, it will be Sanchez, Huff, Tejada and DeRosa that will get a lot of the credit for the offensive breakout, but as much as we bash him around here, you have to applaud him when he plays well, and Rowand played well Saturday (2-4, 1 R). It also wouldn't surprise
me to see Rowand play again tomorrow afternoon especially with Burrell needing rest. Boch plays the hot hand, and when his team scores 8 runs after combining for 4 in the first two games, why not re-play the lineup? But as good as that lineup was Saturday, it all would be for not without Matt Cain's outing. He was nails, like he normally is after Giants losses, and actually got some run support this afternoon. He kept the Dodgers off the board and when the Giants finally got that run for him, Cainer' looked like he was determined to carry this team on his back. Cain finished the afternoon with a line of 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, and 3 K's. The big zero here is in the base-on-balls column. Obviously, the zero in the run column is the one that really counts, but the zero free passes is what allowed him to keep LA off the board. I'm glad Bochy took it easy on him and didn't put him back out there in the 7th. No need to stretch Matty out in his first start of the year after his short spring.
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Quick Points on Friday's Game: Hate to re-visit a low after such a good outing, but I just wanted to point out a few quick items from Friday nights game (didn't re-cap).
*Don't get why Bochy is so set on the R-L-R-L combo from his rotation. Matt Cain should have started game 2 of the season, he's their second best pitcher, simple as that.
*The worst was why did Bochy go to Guillermo Mota, the 12th man on the staff when Affeldt or Runzler could have turned Furcal around?
*On a good note Brandon Belt was the silver lining. He's the real deal. I think it's pretty clear he'll be at first and Huff will be in left when Ross returns.
*The Giants need Cody Ross back ASAP!
They're still in the middle of play as I write this, but with a 9-0 lead in the 9th, It'd be a a tough one to blow. The Giants bats finally got going Saturday afternoon, and it started with Mark DeRosa's single to center field in the 5th. I couldn't stress enough how important DeRosa would be this season if healthy, and he showed why.
Miguel Tejada came up later in the inning with a professional at-bat, driving in DeRosa with an RBI ground-out to put the Giants on the board. Tejada is such a key component to this team, it's so crucial to get him going especially. The Giants have no other options at short, so if he tanks, they're stuck with Fontenot and he was right in the middle of that rally too, with the hit that drove in Rowand. That was followed by one of Freddy Sanchez's 3 hits (3/4, HR, 3 RBI), a double off of the 3rd base bag. Then it was Aubrey Huff's turn to contribute, and Huff-daddy got going with 2 hits and 3 RBI. For the first time in the 2011 season, the Giants put up a crooked number in an inning, and they did it with a barrage of hits, not the 3-run homer. Nearly everyone got involved, with the exception of Pat Burrell. "The Bat" has hit one of his rough stretches since his opening day home run off Broxton, as he's just 0-10 with 4 whiffs without that big fly. I'd be willing to bet he'll get a day off Sunday against Kuroda with DeRosa or Rowand getting another starting nod.Speaking of Rowand, it will be Sanchez, Huff, Tejada and DeRosa that will get a lot of the credit for the offensive breakout, but as much as we bash him around here, you have to applaud him when he plays well, and Rowand played well Saturday (2-4, 1 R). It also wouldn't surprise
me to see Rowand play again tomorrow afternoon especially with Burrell needing rest. Boch plays the hot hand, and when his team scores 8 runs after combining for 4 in the first two games, why not re-play the lineup? But as good as that lineup was Saturday, it all would be for not without Matt Cain's outing. He was nails, like he normally is after Giants losses, and actually got some run support this afternoon. He kept the Dodgers off the board and when the Giants finally got that run for him, Cainer' looked like he was determined to carry this team on his back. Cain finished the afternoon with a line of 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, and 3 K's. The big zero here is in the base-on-balls column. Obviously, the zero in the run column is the one that really counts, but the zero free passes is what allowed him to keep LA off the board. I'm glad Bochy took it easy on him and didn't put him back out there in the 7th. No need to stretch Matty out in his first start of the year after his short spring.----------------------------------
Quick Points on Friday's Game: Hate to re-visit a low after such a good outing, but I just wanted to point out a few quick items from Friday nights game (didn't re-cap).
*Don't get why Bochy is so set on the R-L-R-L combo from his rotation. Matt Cain should have started game 2 of the season, he's their second best pitcher, simple as that.
*The worst was why did Bochy go to Guillermo Mota, the 12th man on the staff when Affeldt or Runzler could have turned Furcal around?
*On a good note Brandon Belt was the silver lining. He's the real deal. I think it's pretty clear he'll be at first and Huff will be in left when Ross returns.
*The Giants need Cody Ross back ASAP!
Comments
But they need to take tomorrow's game. Why isn't Bumgarner starting? We need to win, that would really blow to go down 1-3 to LA to start the year. I know it's not how you start, it's how you finish, but talk about a swing of momentum out of the gate if that happens. Didn't Zits just get into a car accident too, why are they forcing him back so soon? Makes no flippin' sense to me.
Losing 3-4 to LA after winning the Series! How?