The Giants Baseball Blog

For the first time in three weeks, the Giants received a much needed off-day Thursday after taking two of three from the Diamondbacks at AT&T Park. Needless to say, some of the players were running on fumes and looked it lately, so this day off couldn't have come at a better time. Cabrera up to .373 The Giants got off to a good start in their series with Arizona, taking the first two games and holding the D-Backs offense to just 2 runs in 2 games. Then the much anticipated match-up of Tim Lincecum vs. Ian Kennedy came around Wednesday, and the Giants bats were nowhere to be found. For the first time in almost a month, Lincecum pitched solidly, allowing just one earned run over 7 innings of work, but he did walk 5 batters and couldn't quite match the D-Backs ace. All the Giants hits came out of the top-5 slots in their lineup, and their problems with the bottom half of the lineup continue to bite them in the worst possible situations. Luckily for them, they may have f...

After a tough battle in Miami in which the Giants salvaged the series and ended up splitting with the Marlins in a close game Sunday, San Francisco returned to AT&T Park Monday to play host to the D-Backs for 3 games. Belt Goes 2-4 Monday Game one went a lot like Game four went in Miami, a pretty low scoring affair in which the Giants jumped out early and their strong pitching made the lead stick. Barry Zito continued his home dominance, improving his record to 4-2 and ERA to 3.33 after a 7-inning, 2-run outing in Monday's game. It was largely the same recipe for success that the team has been having lately, as once again their outfield helped carry the offensive weight for the team. Melky Cabrera (.368) and Angel Pagan (.309) each went 1-3, and Gregor Blanco (.290) had a 2-4 day at the dish, but perhaps the guy that needed a big day with the bat the most, finally had one. We all know how second base has been a black hole for this team ever since Freddy went down last Jun...

Well, just when it appeared the Giants were starting to put together a nice string of ballgames, they again witnessed their ace get knocked around Friday night, then saw the same happen with Madison Bumgarner Saturday. Lincecum's ERA: 6.46 After Thursday's blowout win, and the team taking an early lead in Friday's game, it went all down hill. Lincecum started out the game pretty nicely, going into the 6th with a 3-1 lead, just what he needed to take some pressure off. However, like he has so often the last month, he came unraveled in the 6th inning, surrendering 5 earned runs, never to make it out of that horrendous 6th. It seems like it keeps on being one huge inning in which Timmy just loses everything, command to the zone and perhaps most importantly, confidence. You can read it in his body language that the dude is just not in sync out there right now. I mean, he was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Friday, looking brilliant through 5 innings, then out of nowhere just...

The Giants put out their best offensive performance of 2012 Thursday in Miami, as they backed Ryan Vogelsong's strong outing with a 14 run, 15-hit parade in their series open win vs. the Marlins. Giants Beat Miami The Giants made their first appearance in the new Marlins park, which has been one of the most pitching friendly confines in the Major Leagues early on in the season, but you wouldn't have known that by watching the Giants hit Thursday. The Giants beat Miami with a football score, 14-7, and the big reason behind their offensive surge was the play of their 3 outfielders. Blanco, Cabrera and Pagan combined for 7 hits, 7 runs and 8 RBI in Thursday's win, accounting for half the team's hits and over half the team's runs scored. The 3 outfielders have continued their steady play throughout May and have really given this team an offensive identity in absence of Pablo Sandoval and while Buster Posey was getting going. Now, Posey's heating up, and Panda...

Madison Bumgarner provided one of his better starts of the season, but it still took the Giants 14 innings to take game one of their series in Milwaukee thanks to a tough defensive mistake. The normally sure-handed Brandon Crawford committed his 9th error on the season in the 8th inning, leading to a big blow that cost Bumgarner the win and a shot at a complete game. Bumgarner and Buster Brandon Crawford and Joaquin Arias each came up with crucial errors late in the game to help allow Milwaukee climb back from a 3-1 deficit. The Giants got on the board early with a big swing of the bat by Buster Posey, as their star backstop connected for his 5th home run of the season in the top of the first inning, giving MadBum some breathing room right off the bat. Bumgarner hasn't won since May 5th, but the left-hander went 7 2/3 strong, allowing 1 earned run on 5 hits while striking out 10. Unfortunately, Bumgarner was also charged with 2 unearned runs, which cost him a shot at his 6th ...

The Giants had their first interleague series of the 2012 season this weekend as they played host to their cross bay rival Oakland Athletics. Unfortunately, they couldn't manage to pull out a victory in Sunday's game to sweep the A's, but they did take 2 of 3 from Oakland and have beaten the A's 11 out of the last 12 times they've played at AT&T Park. Lincecum's ERA Raised to 6.04 It wasn't all a cake walk though, as the Giants ace was once again knocked around in Sunday's start, and it cost the Giants a chance at a sweep. Tim Lincecum had perhaps his most frustrating start of this season Sunday, lasting just 4 innings while giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks. He also got his clock cleaned at the plate by Colin Cowgill while covering on a past ball, which had everyone holding their breath for a moment there. He appears to be fine physically, but his effectiveness is not there right now. His last good start and victory was over San Diego on ...

The Giants offense once again hid under a shell for Madison Bumgarner in Wednesday night's mini 2-game series opener vs. the Cardinals. However, they rebounded just in time in Thursday afternoon's match-up to avoid being swept by the reigning World Champs. Crawford's 2-Run Single Matt Cain did not provide one of his better starts of the 2012 campaign, but the Giants offense showed up in bunches throughout Thursday's game in order to overcome an early deficit and take the game over in the late innings. They took big advantage of some defensive mistakes by St. Louis, and it was finally good to see the opposing team struggle in the field for a change. The Cards put up two early runs against Cain in the first, but as he does so often, he got stronger as the game wore on. He left after 6 innings, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits with 6 K's, but the Giants did manage to score enough for him to provide him the victory. The two Brandon's each really stood out in this bal...