Lincecum dominates Rockies, Sabean faces roster decisions

It wasn't the most normal night in Colorado. Nate Schierholtz hit a Heraclean home run into the upper deck of Coors Field. Pablo Sandoval walked 3 times, seeing 17 pitches total and only swinging at 3 of them. What was somewhat normal was seeing Tim Lincecum pitch the way he did, beautifully summed up by Grant at McCoveyChronicles:

Lincecum’s ‘07 velocity + his ‘09 changeup + his ‘10 slider + a sprinkling of improved command = what you just watched.

It was a fun night for the Giants, beating the division leading Rockies. I'm not surprised by the number of people who have jumped on the "Rapril" (yes, that is what some Rockies fans are calling it) bandwagon, because it's natural, but one look at their schedule tells you a lot. Before last night's game, their opponent's combined winning percentage from the 2010 season was .440, and none of their opponents finished over .500 (the Giants 2011 opponents had a .495 winning percentage last year).

Cody Ross is rejoining the team, and any minute now we may know the fate of Brandon Belt. Surprisingly, I'm rather torn about this decision; Nothing about Belt's short time in the big leagues has me doubting his ability. He has shown that the two skills for which he is most lauded, patience at the plate and 1st base defense, are very real. Yet he hasn't been hitting the ball much at all. Some of this is bad luck (Aaron Rowand's great start is benefitting from the opposite kind of luck) but it is true that his power has disappeared since that impressive home run in Los Angeles. He also looks late on a lot of fastballs in the middle of the plate, and there have been quite a few groundouts to 2nd base. These are all things I believe Belt could fix up here. But just as we said he should be on the team because he could help them win, and it's only fair to apply that same urgency when he is struggling like this. What's most important for him (individually) is that he plays regularly.

The only possible players I see being sent down to make way for Ross are Ford or Belt. Rowand was the popular choice at the beginning of the season, and while it'd be foolish to believe he perform like this consistently, it's impossible to cut a player who is making that much money and hitting well to start the season. There's no way they send down Heracles after his home run yesterday. I'm not a big fan of Darren Ford at all, but he's a better bench player than Belt, not only because his skills (running, defense) are bench skills, but because there shouldn't be any concern about him getting consistent at bats as there is with Brandon Belt.

I'm not saying I want Belt sent down. Not at all. But I don't have the strong negative reaction towards it that might be expected. The service time advantage that the Giants could have by sending down Belt is also pretty attractive. All these factors tell me that sending Belt to AAA would not be a disaster. If Sabean and Bochy decide to stick with him and give him regular starts, I'd be ecstatic. It would be a great sign, for us and for him.

COL 10, SF 9: That Was Not Good, Folks

Okay, maybe this game wasn't as bad as that infamous Ryan Spilborghs grand slam in the 14th inning game, but this one was all sorts of messy. Normally, I might write some sad excuse for a recap, but this game deserves some in-depth analysis.

Right away, the Giants got on the board with an opposite field home run from Freddy Sanchez to give them a 1-0 run in the 1st. It was an encouraging start especially because the Rockies starter, Jason Hammel, wasn't looking too sharp. Unfortunately, Barry Zito didn't have his best game either. In the bottom of the 1st, Zito walked 2 batters and gave up 2 hits, resulting in 2 runs. The Giants got solo shots from Andres Torres and Aubrey Huff in the 3rd, giving them the lead, but Zito couldn't protect it.

The 5th inning was a disaster and that's really where the game changed. The Giants now had a 4-2 lead, but Barry Zito gave up a pair of triples to start the inning. With a 4-3 lead and a runner on, Bruce Bochy pulled Zito mid-at bat to bring in Chris Ray from the bullpen. Some didn't like the move to take out Zito so early, but I had no problem with it. He was wild and could never get on a roll. I did take issue with the decision to bring in Chris Ray, though. All year, Ray has been the pitcher that Bochy goes to when the Giants are trailing by a run or two, not with a 1 run lead on the road. It seemed like an odd choice, especially with guys like Casilla, Lopez, Ramirez, Romo, and even Mota and Affeldt available. Anyway, Ray allowed a 2-run homer to the first batter he faced, Troy Tulowitzki, and the Rockies had a 5-4 lead. The inning wasn't over as Ray gave up another deep flyball, Cody Ross slipped, and the Rockies had another triple. At the end of all that mess, the Rockies had scored 4 runs and had a 6-4 lead. There were defensive issues, bad strike zone calls, and questionable managerial decisions. It was the definition of a disaster inning.

And then the Rockies had their own version of a disaster inning. After losing the lead in such a disgusting way, the Giants didn't seem affected by it. Juan Uribe and Mike Fontenot lead off the inning with singles. Pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa then blooped a single to score a run. The next batter, Cody Ross, hit what seemed like a flyout to left field, but it turned out to be a home run. Freddy Sanchez then doubled and advanced to 3rd on flyout, eventually scoring on a wild pitch. Five runs and a 9-6 lead. Life was good again.

But then there was more weirdness. I'm sorry for the back and forth, but this is how it felt. The Rockies scored in the bottom of the 6th to make the score 9-7. Fast forward to the 8th inning when the Rockies had two runners on with 2 outs and Brian Wilson was brought in to try for a 4-out save. The batter was Troy Tulowitzki, who hit that 2-run homer earlier to give the Rockies the lead. This time, Tulowitzki lifted a high flyball to right field that hit off the wall. The Giants were lucky that it wasn't hit out, but in any case, the Rockies tied the game and gave Wilson his 5th blown save in 50 opportunities. No one scored in the 9th, so it was on to extras.

Extra innings were no different. Tulowitzki screwed the Giants again. One out, a runner on 1st, and Tulowitzki hits a ball to the left-center gap. It took extra long for Burrell to get to the ball because he was playing the line. He had no chance, and the Rockies won the game.

Besides the constant lead changes, this game was weird on so many levels. After a pitcher's duel the night before, this was a typical Coors Field game. The Giants' streak of 18 games allowing 3 runs or fewer is over. The strike zone was kind of ridiculous and inconsistent all night. It could be argued that in the 5th inning and 10th inning, bad balls and strikes calls affected the game, but I won't make excuses. Andres Torres had to leave the game early with slight discomfort. He hit a home run and it doesn't seem too serious, but you have to wonder if he was rushed back too soon. That's a huge deal. The Braves, Padres, and Rockies all won today, and the Giants are no longer in first place in the West. But I find myself not too upset about the game and I don't really know why. Maybe it's because it was unlikely that the Giants were going to sweep on the road at Coors Field, and out of all the games, this one was the one they were most likely to lose. Of course, that means they need to win tomorrow, but I might have more confidence in Matt Cain than any other starter on the staff.

It was a loss, but this being the most important series of the year so far, it's really lived up to expectations. We've known that this race would probably come down to the wire and this game felt like playoff baseball. It doesn't even matter that much that we're half a game back in the standings because it goes back and forth almost everyday. This is exciting, intense baseball.

Sorry for the very long recap. There was so much to cover and I wouldn't be surprised if there mor then a few errrs in their.

SF 2, COL 1: Pitcher's Duel at Coors. Huh?

Both pitchers tonight, Tim Lincecum and Jhoulys Chacin, were great. Fortunately for us, Chacin made one mistake in location and Pat Burrell made him pay. With a runner on 1st, Chacin hung a fastball and Burrell smashed it for a no doubt homer to give the Giants a 2-1 lead. And it was glorious.

The mistake pitch came after the Rockies were able to get a run off of Tim Lincecum in the 6th inning. Lincecum actually had a perfect game going through 5 innings until he gave up a leadoff double to Seth Smith. On a groundout, Smith moved to 3rd and scored on a single that Aubrey Huff couldn't quite get to. At the time, 1 run from the Rockies seemed like a death sentence, as the Giants were showing no ability to score. It only made Burrell's homer that much sweeter.

The Giants did win, but let's point out that the same lineup that scored 13 runs last night could only manage 2 tonight. So many people are so quick to criticize Bochy's lineups these days, but I don't see what he's doing wrong. Everyone was so happy that he used the same lineup again tonight, but that lineup mostly failed to score. What is he supposed to do? What batters would people rather see? Maybe you wanted him to bench Pablo Sandoval in favor of Renteria or Fontenot? He did that, but really, how much of a difference is that going to make? The fact is, Bochy is playing the same guys he's been playing all year. Huff, Posey, Burrell, Guillen, Uribe, and Sanchez are in there every day. For whatever reason, they aren't consistently scoring runs right now. That's not on Bochy. With Torres out, the Giants are not going to have a good leadoff hitter. You can't expect Bochy to come up with a magical replacement for him. It sucks, but sometimes star players get injured and teams have to overcome it. There's nothing Bruce Bochy can do besides relying on this historic run by his pitching staff. Rant over.

Huge Win! Tim Lincecum was huge when he needed to be, and so was Pat Burrell. Let's all root for the Reds tonight!

SF 9, MIL 2: Jose Guillen Is Relevant

When the Giants acquired Cody Ross, I declared Jose Guillen redundant, irrelevant, and useless, and said that he should be relegated to a pinch hitting role. Guillen hasn't completely caught fire since then, but he's had some good games and big hits, none bigger than his 1st inning, 2 out grand slam against Milwaukee today. The Giants never looked back, scoring 5 more runs, including 2 on a Guillen single later in the game.

Guillen is a better option for the Giants not just because he's hitting lately, but because Cody Ross is failing to do so. In a very small 47 PAs, Ross' Giants slashline is .195/.277/.220/.496. Means nothing, really, because of small sample size, but still, may Andres Torres return as fast as possible. Ross' slashline may have looked a little better after today if a leadoff home run hadn't been brought back by Ryan Braun. Braun made an amazing play, and he let everyone know that he thought so too. What a hateable player he is.

Barry Zito did a good job of shutting the Brewers down after the Giants scored 4 runs in the 1st inning. He hasn't always been successful doing that, sometimes giving up a little momentum after the offense scores. Braun homered in the 6th to make the score 6-2, but Zito was able to finish the inning, and Bochy wisely got him out of their before any weirdness happened.

A big part of the Giants offense today was the patience they showed, in stark contrast to the past 2 games. They drew 7 walks as a team. Buster Posey had 3 himself, and Pat Burrell 2, both helping set up Jose Guillen's RBI situations. With the win today, the Giants moved back into 1st place in the West. The Padres just aren't the same team anymore that they were for 5 months, and Colorado gave up a 6-1 lead to the Dodgers, losing in the 10th inning. But I don't expect either team to completely go away. The Giants' postseason chances are gonna all come down to the final series against each of those teams. On Friday, the Giants travel to Denver for a weekend series. If they play well, it could mean a playoff spot. If not, it could be another "This is not good, folks" moment.

SF 2, COL 1: That Feels More Like Giants Baseball

Ah, low scoring offense and dominant pitching, we have missed you. You bring so much tension, torture, and excitement. And you are especially great when you work together to squeeze out a win.

The first thing that needs to be mentioned about this game is Tim Lincecum's performance. He was absolutely dominant again and it was beautiful. Forget Pablo Sandoval being back, forget Freddy Sanchez being back. The guy who really needs to be back is Tim Lincecum. Really, the Giants are going to need Timmy to be an ace and lead the staff if they are going to go anywhere in the playoffs and he looked like an ace once again tonight. His beautiful stat line from tonight looks like this: 8 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, and 9 K. It's so important that the Giants take advantage of the Padres' losing streak (now at 7 games) and I know I keep saying it, but the pitching is going to have to lead the charge. That's now 4 quality starts in a row and hopefully Zito can make it 5 on Friday. With these starters pitching as well a they have throughout the last turn in the rotation, the Giants will go on a run. I feel like I'm saying the same thing over and over again, but the the idea of the pitching staff being it's dominant self again gets me so excited. I'm giddy.

Now I'll talk about the little offense that there was. In the 4th inning, Carlos Gonzalez hit a solo home run off of Lincecum to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead. Whatever. Then in the 5th inning, after a Jose Guillen single and a Buster Posey walk, Mike Fontenot had an RBI single, tying the game at 1-1. With the game tied and it seeming like the Giants were never going to score again off of Jimenez, Mike Fontenot drew a walk. The next batter, Tim Lincecum laid down a sac bunt getting Fontenot over to 2nd base. Then, September call-up, Darren Ford, came in to pinch-run. Right away, on a wild pitch from Jimenez that barely got away from Miguel Olivo, Ford stole 3rd and on a throwing error from Olivo, went home. It's too bad he can't hit, but the guy can RUN. It was amazing that he came home all the way from 2nd on that play. The Giants led 2-1 and Brian Wilson closed it out with a perfect 9th. Simple. Business as usual. Whatever.

Not to boast, but as time goes on, I love the name of this blog more and more. I will admit that Reza and I were a little iffy on the name 8thInningWeirdness when we first started the blog, but it's the perfect name for a Giants blog because there will always be 8th Inning Weirdness.

SF 5, COL 2: Weirdness of the 8th Inning Variety

I am responsible for this win. This is your proof.

Yes, things were looking all too similar to last night until Andres Torres saved the day. I'll start from the beginning of the story. The Giants immediately showed how powerful their offense is by scoring early on a balk from Esmil Rogers in the 1st inning. Unfortunately, the Rockies came back to score on a sac fly in the 2nd inning, making the score 1-1. The score stayed like that for a while, as the former Cy Young winner, Rogers, was dominating the Giants lineup. Rogers never won the Cy Young because he's not very good but at least me imagining him as a former Cy Young winner makes our effort against him today feel less pathetic. Anyway....in the 5th inning, the Giants were able to score again on Madison Bumgarner's double and Bruce Bochy pondered permanently moving him to 3rd in the order. Now the score was 2-1, Giants. Here comes the "here we go again" part. In the 8th inning, with a 1 run lead, Melvin "I'm Not Good But I Hit Cleanup" Mora hit a homer off of Jeremy Affeldt. Tie. Game. Once again it seemed like the offense's inability to score was going to cost us. But wait, there is more weirdness.

The first batter in the bottom of the inning, Andres "I Carry A Big Stick If You Know What I Mean" Torres, glorious man that he is, belted a home run to right field giving the Giants a 3-2 lead. If that wasn't enough, Buster Posey followed it up by hitting a 2-run double with the bases loaded. There was a collective sigh of relief among the fanbase. Nice of you to finally join us, offense. Brian Wilson closed out the 9th with an 8-pitch save and everyone lived happily ever after.

Madison Bumgarner pitched the 3rd consecutive quality start from a Giants starting pitcher tonight. It wasn't always pretty, as he walked 3 batters and struck out just 2 while going 6 IP, but hey, it was a nice bounce back after his disaster start last week, and he only allowed 1 run. Like you can read about in this post, this pitching staff may be coming back to dominance, which is the best news a Giants fan could hear. Let's see if Lincecum joins the party tomorrow night. I'm sure there's no one happier than him that tomorrow is the first day of September.

The Padres lost tonight, so the Giants are 4 games back in the NL West. Maybe they're finally slowing down, as they've lost 6 games in a row. It's about time! I'm completely tired of them. It doesn't add up. They should not be the best team in the National League. No.

Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the Comments section.

COL 2, SF 1: August is the Cruellest Month

What a shock that the most crushing defeat of the season would come against the Colorado Rockies. Surprised I didn't hear Kuip uttering "This is not good, folks...". The Giants had a beautifully pitched game, a disastrous 9th inning, and, forgotten in all of this, a horrible day at the plate. What will be talked about below might never have happened if the Giants could have scored a few runs. 1 extra base hit. 4 RISP. 3 double plays. So it goes for the Giants...

A lot happened in that 9th inning, so before we dissect it all, let's appreciate the gem that Jonathan Sanchez pitched tonight. 8+ innings, 5 hits and 2 walks, with 6 K's. He was fantastic. It was the fourth start he'd made it through 8 innings, each time giving up 1 ER or less. He's not near perfect, but damn can he dominate sometimes. One of those starts was quite recent, August 19th in Philadelphia. As he would in this game, Bruce Bochy decided to let Sanchez go out for the 9th inning, in a 5-0 game. Sanchez allowed a single, and was promptly taken out of the game.

I think I'll try to second guess Bochy and defend him on his decision to let Sanchez go out for the final inning. Should he have surmised, from past experience, that Sanchez just isn't cut out for the 9th inning, and that sending him out in a 1-0 game was especially dangerous? Maybe. On the other hand, Sanchez had been dominant all night, and Brian Wilson had thrown 30+ pitches yesterday. I don't think I can disagree with Bochy taking Jonathan out after the walk to Fowler. After getting ahead 0-2, he missed BADLY multiple times. He looked terrible suddenly.

Apparently the broken bat on Carlos Gonzalez's flyball fooled Cody Ross. Whatever. Still gotta make the catch. He had trouble with another flyball later in the inning that turned into another triple. Right field at AT&T Park is apparently tricky to play, and it is tricking Cody Ross. Still, no excuses. Makes you appreciate Randy Winn all of a sudden.

There, of course, was a 2nd part of that play that got screwed up. The Giants looked to have a legitimate shot at getting Carlos Gonzalez at 3rd base. Instead, Freddy Sanchez bounce passed the baseball over to Pablo Sandoval, and it went into the dugout, allowing CarGo to score. Shocking. Like I said, Freddy Sanchez just can't field and hit at the same time. Apparently Wilson may not have been backing up the play, but I haven't been able to verify that. My MLB app refuses to play the Gonzalez "triple". Who knew smart phones understood and practiced mercy?

Game Recap: COL 6, SF 1

You can't win 'em all, and the Giants were never close to winning this one.

The offense never got going. Against Ubaldo Jimenez, it seemed like they were just going through the motions. Maybe they resigned themselves to the fact that they couldn't beat Jimenez. That doesn't make too much sense, though, because so far in the 2nd half he has a 6.41 ERA and 1.744 WHIP. Anyway, they managed to get just 5 hits, most of them with no runners on and 2 outs or something like that. Any hit they got just didn't come in an important spot. This says it all: Andres Torres was 0-for-4 with 4 K's. That's just not normal. The offense did one thing right, when Buster Posey doubled to score Aubrey Huff, but...that was all. Nothing more. I guess they were too tired from scoring 10 runs a night ago. Sure would've been nice to save some of those runs for today.

Madison Bumgarner also wasn't very sharp. He threw lots of strikes and maybe too many. He never fooled anyone while allowing 9 H and 4 ER with just 3 K's. It was bad. Everything was bad. I don't want to talk about it anymore.

I can't help myself though. I like feeling depressed. So here's something else. Denny Bautista came in and was...you guessed it, terrible. He hit 2 batters and gave up 2 HRs in his 1 2/3 IP. He's gone pretty soon right? I really don't know. We've said it before, but Bochy seems to like him, which should tell you a lot about Bruce Bochy.

Buster Posey won the NL Player of the Month, by the way. That's something to be happy about. Congratulations to him, he deserves it. He is a manchild.

Like I said, the offense just looked tired and unenergized today, just the 2nd game after a day off. We are on an unbelievable hot streak right now, but it doesn't mean we'll never lose. I'm not worried about that. I just hope we don't look this sluggish in Atlanta against a very good Braves team.

Game Recap: SF 10,000,000 COL 0

When we look back at the amazing, unlikely, and heroic career of Brett Favre, we are reminded that even the most improbable of dreams can come true. In light of the reports today of Brett's surprising and somewhat premature retirement today from the National Football League, we at 8thInningWeirdness thought it was finally time to show you the side of Brett that so few know. What is that side, you ask? It's not Brett the quintessential quarterback, but Brett the son, brother, and father. So now, the story of how a scrawny kid from Kiln, Mississippi made it all the way to the Super Bowl and beyond, but never forgot where he came from.

When Irvin and Bonita Favre learned that they would be having a 2nd child...

I'm sure by now everyone is screaming "We get the joke, Reza, get on with it!" Okay, here's the recap.

The Giants could still really benefit from acquiring another bat via the waiver wire, but today was a great day for everyone in the lineup not named Edgar. I wonder when Renteria will don the costume of Tom O'Bedlam (King Lear, anybody? Anybody?) The Giants did their best Freddy Sanchez impersonation in the 1st inning, scoring 4 runs with singles and walks. Freddy Sanchez himself hit a flyball to left, which turned into his 12th extra base hit of the season when God helped it get over the wall. Pat Burrell and Andres Torres also homered. All starters other than Renteria and pitcher Jonathan Sanchez had 2 or more hits, with the Giants totaling 19 hits and 10 runs. It was a good day.

Jonathan Sanchez tied a franchise record by striking out 7 Rockies hitters in a row. The other Giant to do it? Juan Marichal of course. And while Sanchez was very good tonight, he only went 6 innings, so let's stop it with all the "would have been a mistake to trade him" nonsense. If the right offer had been out there (not Jose Bautista), it would have been perfectly justifiable to trade Jonathan Sanchez. The Giants will probably not add a bat to this offense, and we'll see how it goes. Just don't let one night in Denver make you think we're all set for October.