Game Recap: ATL 3, SF 2

Shame on the Giants for misleading us. Andres Torres led off the game with a single. Freddy Sanchez then doubled, and Huff grounded out to bring Torres home. Three batters in, the Giants had a 1-0 lead. Then in the 2nd inning, Torres doubled to score Aaron Rowand. 2-0 Giants. Looking good, right? Wrong. That was all for the offense. They did manage to scatter 8 hits, but were just 1-for-10 with RISP.

Tim Lincecum had an okay start. He didn't go to deep into the game, just 6 1/3 innings, and all of his 3 ER scored on home runs. There's a big perception that he does pitch well when it's hot and humid, which was the case in Atlanta tonight, and I'm not sure how that affected him. Early in the game he was a little wild, giving up a couple of 4-pitch walks, but he seemed to settle down and ended with 7 K's. Good, not great start from Timmy.

I'll say one last thing. The Giants had a great July. They went 20-8, but they didn't play any first place teams during that entire span. I like to be optimistic, but it's important to be objectively optimistic. I'd love if the Giants were as good as their July, but we can't know that yet. August is going to be a good test. Playing Atlanta, San Diego, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Cincinnati will tell us where this team really is. I know I've said it before, but I still think we need another hitter. I think people are saying Pablo Sandoval is back mostly because they WANT him to be back, but there aren't really any signs that he's going to re-gain his 2009 form. I'd maybe even be able to accept signing Jose Guillen if we couldn't get anyone better and he was used only in PH situations. I have a feeling Bochy would give him a few starts though, which I'm not really in favor of. The Giants are much better than last year, and I do think they can be a playoff team, but to be a GREAT team, improvements still need to be made.