The Giants' rotation was considered one of the better ones in baseball coming in, and they certainly haven't disappointed through the first 4 games of the season.
After Matt Cain's solid outing in the opener that the Giants couldn't support offensively, things have gone all good for the Orange and Black. Madison Bumgarner followed Cain's start with 8 shutout innings of baseball
in game two, and although he didn't do it in spectacular fashion, Tim Lincecum got the W in his 2013 debut in the rubber match with LA and didn't allow a run despite walking 7 over 5 innings of work. All these performances led up to another big one, as the Giants came home to raise the flag for their 2013 home opener, and Barry Zito picked right up where he left off in last years game 5 vs. St. Louis in the NLCS. Zito went 7 shutout innings, and displayed a lot of the traits that made him successful in the 2nd half of last season and in October. He was in the strike-zone constantly, and he had pretty good command of all his pitches. The fastball was being located on the corners, the curveball stayed down in the zone and the change and little slide/cutter he throws were on point. We still have Vogey's 2013 debut to go on Saturday, but so far, fans have to be pleased with the way the Giants are throwing the baseball.
Offensively, they were once again quiet on Friday, after scoring just 8 runs in the 3-game set in LA. The lone run of the game came on a bases loaded walk to Angel Pagan, and that was it. Granted, Jake Westbrook had his sinker working and wasn't exactly an easy assignment, I would have liked to have seen a bit more
offense. Most the runs the Giants have scored this season have been attributed to opposing team mistakes, and I'm still waiting to see guys like Scutaro, Posey and Belt really get going. Brandon Crawford had a couple of solid at-bats today which was intriguing to see, and Belt actually tied into one today early in the game but unfortunately top-spinned one out to right that just missed being a cove shot by about a 1/4 inch. Overall though, I'm not overly concerned with the offense yet. They're not scoring as much as I'd like, and as much as they'll need to once their pitching comes back to earth a bit, but I have a feeling things will lighten up after this weekends festivities and they can completely put the 2012 season behind them. And after all, it's tough to bicker too much at a 3-1 start to the season, especially when Romo and the bullpen have looked as good as they have.
After Matt Cain's solid outing in the opener that the Giants couldn't support offensively, things have gone all good for the Orange and Black. Madison Bumgarner followed Cain's start with 8 shutout innings of baseball
in game two, and although he didn't do it in spectacular fashion, Tim Lincecum got the W in his 2013 debut in the rubber match with LA and didn't allow a run despite walking 7 over 5 innings of work. All these performances led up to another big one, as the Giants came home to raise the flag for their 2013 home opener, and Barry Zito picked right up where he left off in last years game 5 vs. St. Louis in the NLCS. Zito went 7 shutout innings, and displayed a lot of the traits that made him successful in the 2nd half of last season and in October. He was in the strike-zone constantly, and he had pretty good command of all his pitches. The fastball was being located on the corners, the curveball stayed down in the zone and the change and little slide/cutter he throws were on point. We still have Vogey's 2013 debut to go on Saturday, but so far, fans have to be pleased with the way the Giants are throwing the baseball.Offensively, they were once again quiet on Friday, after scoring just 8 runs in the 3-game set in LA. The lone run of the game came on a bases loaded walk to Angel Pagan, and that was it. Granted, Jake Westbrook had his sinker working and wasn't exactly an easy assignment, I would have liked to have seen a bit more
offense. Most the runs the Giants have scored this season have been attributed to opposing team mistakes, and I'm still waiting to see guys like Scutaro, Posey and Belt really get going. Brandon Crawford had a couple of solid at-bats today which was intriguing to see, and Belt actually tied into one today early in the game but unfortunately top-spinned one out to right that just missed being a cove shot by about a 1/4 inch. Overall though, I'm not overly concerned with the offense yet. They're not scoring as much as I'd like, and as much as they'll need to once their pitching comes back to earth a bit, but I have a feeling things will lighten up after this weekends festivities and they can completely put the 2012 season behind them. And after all, it's tough to bicker too much at a 3-1 start to the season, especially when Romo and the bullpen have looked as good as they have.
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