Anyone Got A 5th Starter?

This Giants off-season has been primarily all about the hitters. I want to change subjects and talk a little about the pitching. It looks like the pitching is in place. Timmy of course is still your #1. Cain, #2. I would put Madison Bumgarner as your #3. Sanchez 4, and you would think Zito has to be your #5, right?

In my opinion, I say no to Zito. The Giants have to keep him on the roster because of his still huge salary. He still has 3 years left in his monstrous 7 year, $126 million contract, and no other team will dare touch that. Unless the Giants just release him and pay it out, or trade him for a scrub and have the other team pay some of it. I know Neukom isn't that dumb. Or at least I hope he isn't!

I say put him in long relief and spot starter and sign someone like a Doug Davis type, or even bring back a more experienced Kevin Correia. I even had a thought of seeing what Dontrell Willis had left. If he is right mentally I think he could still be a very good pitcher. My point is, I think anyone at this point would be better than Zito in the 5 spot. Id appreciate your thoughts.

Edgar Renteria's 3 Run Bomb World Series Game 5

What Happened While I Was Gone?

A lot of interesting things have happened since my last entry! The Water Buffalos are back, Juan Uribe is wearing Dodger blue, Miguel Tejada is now sporting Black and Orange, we have a Rookie Of The Year, and oh yeah, we won a World Freaking Championship!

Uribe had a lot of big hits for the Giants in 2010 and especially in the playoffs, but his loyalty now lies with the hated dogs of LA. It was reported that he was offered one million less by the Giants over three seasons, then in the last minutes, received a matching offer. Uribe declined because he said he was already commited to the Dodgers and was flattered about the way the Dodgers pursued him and the courting process.

Enough about Uribe. Time to turn out attention towards our new SS Miguel Tejada and repeating in 2011! With the pitching staff still intact and our core players coming back, this should be another fun-filled year! Oh yeah, and there will definately be more "torture!"

2010 World Series Game 5 Giants vs. Rangers @ Finnerty's NYC

The Official San Francisco Giants 2010 Post Season Anthem "Black and Ora...

S.F. Giants Going To The World Series! Reaction

Matt Cain Makes It Look Easy As Giants Win Game 3

Well the Giants are just 2 wins away from going back to the World Series for the second time this century and fourth time in their SF history.

They beat the Phillies today 3-0 in game 3 of the NLCS to go up 2 games to 1. It was behind the great pitching of Matt Cain. Cain is what I can only describe as The Rock of the Giants starting staff. He's as solid as it gets when it comes to any starter in Major League baseball. He hasn't had a month all year where his era is over 3.80. You can't get any more consistant than that. Cain had a few shaky moments in the third and fourth innings, but got out un-scathed. After the Giants took the lead in the bottom of the fourth behind an rbi single to left by their new Super Hero, Cody Ross, Cain cruised. He pitched 7 innings giving up no runs on two hits. He struck out 5 Phillies and basically made it look easy.

Tomorrow, the Giants face former A's pitcher Joe Blanton, and counter with young gun Madison Bumgarner. Blanton had a mediocre era this year (4.82) but he has had success against almost all the Giants hitters. Aaron Rowand and Travis Ishikawa have the best success against Blanton, but they probably won't even get an at bat against him. Pat Burrell does have 2 homeruns vs Blanton and Cody Ross (who else) has homered off him. Hopefully those two can jumpstart the offense yet again and the Giants we will be 1 win closer to to the prize by tomorrow evening.

Cody Ross - By Ashkon - Picture To Go With The Lyrics

Cody Ross Tribute By Ashkon

This is a new song by Ashkon to celebrate the night that Cody "The Boss" Ross had in game 1 of the NLCS

Lincecum Fuck Yeah Song!

Barry Bonds Still A Giant At Heart

There has been a Barry Bonds siting! Alert the Giant Nation. Yes everybody, Barry Bonds is still among us. Even though Barry Bonds has only been to a handfull of games at AT&T Park since his retirement, he has remained one of the Giants biggest supporters. Well, at least from his couch in Beverly Hills.

TMZ caught up with him as he and some of his crew were coming out of a gym in LA. When they asked him about his thoughts on the upcoming NLCS, he replied, "I will always be a Giants fan. The Giants are in my heart. The city I love. It's like I always try to tell people...I don't really have fans in San Francisco, I have family. That's my family. So if you think I'm going for Philadelphia...forget it. I'm a Giants fan for life. I love you. Much love to San Francisco." He then blows the camera a kiss. "I hope you beat they ASS"

Hell yeah Barry! We still love you and support you. At least I do. I have been one of your biggest supporters and fans since the first day the Giants signed you. Of course I hated you as a Pirate...but that's just because I knew you were so good. Go Giants!

NLCS Giants Vs Phillies - Pitching Rules

Giants and Philly fans are all sitting here waiting, patiently, for game 1 of the NLCS to start. It's only Thursday night and I'm getting restless! There's already a huge build up of the pitching matchups. Fox commercials are saying that Halladay vs Lincecum is the best and biggest matchup in NLCS history! That's a pretty bold statement, even if they are just trying to build it up.

I think it will be an epic matchup. Timmy is coming off a 2 hit performance with 14 K's against the Braves and Roy Halladay is coming off an even better performance than that. He threw a no-hitter in the opening game against the Reds. The way its looking, both teams will be lucky to get a runner on base. Man, this whole series might be even torturous than the Braves series for Giants fans! Get ready for a lot more low scoring, 1 run games...starting with game #1 on Saturday. We all have to wait, but hang in there, we'll make it!

GIANTS-BRAVES TIED 1-1 LET THE N.L.D.S. BEGIN

As you already know, the Giants and Braves are all tied up 1-1 in this best of 5 series. The first game was all about Tim Lincecum and his historical 14 strikeout performance. In game 2, Matt Cain didn't have a game like Lincecum, but had a very solid performance, going 6 2/3 innings while giving up 7 hits and 1 un-earned run.

The game came down to the final innings, and was put in the hands of the famed "beardpen". The eighth and ninth innings this year have been owned by the men with the mange. Sergio Romo patrols the eighth with his Sasquatch looking whiskers, then hands it off to the league leader in saves, and black hair dye, Brian Wilson.

In game 2 the formula didn't work out. Sergio Romo gave up back to back singles to Derek Lee and Brian McCann to start the eighth inning, then Bruce Bochy did something he didn't do all season long. He brought in Mr. Black Beard to get a 6 out save. Brian ended up giving up the lead as SS Alex Gonzalez lined a double off the left-centerfield wall to tie the game.

The Giants had a great chance to end the game in the 10th but with the bases loaded and 1 out, Buster Posey hit into an inning ending 5-4-3 double play. Rick Ankiel launched a ball into the Cove in the top of the 11th off reliever Ramon Ramirez, and just like that, the series changed from a potential 2 games to none lead by the Giants to a tied up series going to Atlanta for the next two games.

The Giants hopes in game 3 lie in the left arm of Jonathan Sanchez, who had an amazing September. They will be facing tough veteran righty and former Athletic Tim Hudson. I can't wait to see how this series unfolds. Let the series begin!

PLAYOFFS, ARE YOU READY FOR THE GIANTS

It was an awesome scene yesterday after the Giants finally disposed of the pesky Padres. Jonathan Sanchez continued his September dominance with 5 shutout innings. Seeing the veterans like Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez, Andres Torres, and Cody Ross, who have never been through this was heart-warming. You could just see the emotion they had in their faces. Just pure excitement, like 10 years olds at Christmas. Buster's show of emotion, Timmy cussing on live TV, Panda getting the crowd worked up. It was all amazing to watch and experience and the crowd was like I've never seen since the move to AT&T Park.

There has been so many different emotions that this 2010 team has given us over the year. This group of guys I think reach out to even a different audience other than sports fans. With all the antics and all the different personalities that this band of brothers has how can u not want to see what's next?

From all the torture this team has brought, to the Andres Torres story overcoming A.D.D., to Aubrey Huff's red rally thong, to the return of Pat "The Bat", to the phenomenon of The Beardpen with Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson leading the charge, this has been a year a lot of people will remember forever. This group of characters has won over the hearts of a lot of people out there, and not just Giants or baseball fans.

The journey isn't over though, not even close. The G Men need to take care of business and give us SF fans what we've been waiting for all our lives. An actual World Series title!

GIANTS HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO GO ALL THE WAY

     The San Francisco Giants have totally transformed their look from the beginning of the season. They went from a  group that was full of question marks mixed with un-proven talent, to what is now looking like a powerhouse American League team. They added more power to the lineup before the trade deadline with Jose Guillen, and the calling up of rookie Buster Posey really added juice. Aubrey Huff has proven all his critics wrong and has had a stellar year. He's been the glue in the 3rd spot that has brought power and consistency to the lineup.

     But the one thing I think has changed the dyamic of this lineup was the signing of left fielder Pat Burrell. Since his call up from the minors on June 4th, he has been on a homerun tear. It's not just the volume of homers (18 in 278 ABs, a 1/15.4 ratio), but it's the spots where he hits them. It seems like most of his 18 homers have been in the later innings and given the Giants the lead. That is the measure of a true veteran professional hitter. When a big moment comes up late in a game, he stays calm, doesn't rush things, and has a game plan.

     He, along with another veteran Juan Uribe, have both lifted this team from the jaws of defeat many times this year. Those huge moments not only win games, but uplift the whole spirit of the players, which carries over from game to game throught the long season. Another important thing it does is teach the younger players how to take professional at bats and win close games. That is what championship teams do. Every team thats going deep in the playoffs has to have very good pitching, and players whom opposing pitcher's fear and who rise to the challenge when it really counts.

     The Giants now have a slew of those kind of professional and feared hitters up and down their lineup. Mix that with the best pitching staff in the game, and we have a championship team on our hands.

GIANTS SMELLING PLAYOFFS NOW - MAGIC # IS NOW "3"

The 2010 San Francisco Giants are a team of destiny. They beat the lowly Arizona Diamonbacks tonight by a score of 3-1 and shaved a game off their magic number. It went from 4 to 3, as the Padres finally won one vs the Cubs at Petco.

The Giants played with their rotation and gave their Ace Tim Lincecum the ball tonight instead of normal scheduled starter Madison Bumgarner. The Giants brass made this decision just in case it came down to the last day of the season with the Giants down 1 game or if the season ended in a tie. They would send Lincecum out there to face the Padres if either of those crucial games come to pass.

This night didn't start off good for Timmy. He began the game throwing 90-91 mph fastballs and had bad location doing it. He gave up a homerun to lead off the game to Stephen Drew on a hanging curve ball. Tim walked a few to make his pitch count grow, but that ended up being the only run that he and the Giants gave up in the game.

The Giants got all 3 of their runs in the fourth inning on a 3 run dagger to the hearts of Padre fans watching all over the World. It happened after Aubrey Huff singled and Buster Posey walked. Pat "Scrap-Heap" Burrell put himself into the historical books of the team he followed when he was growing up in Boulder Creek, CA. By the way, I lived in Boulder Creek for some years, and he must have been GOOD for someone to even notice him! The only thing there is in Boulder Creek is trees, more trees, and.....oh yeah, more trees.

Now back to Lincecum. Tonight he proved to everyone, and more importantly to himself, that he doesn't need to have a blazing fastball to get outs and to make batters swing and miss. The highest reading I saw tonight on his fastball was 92mph, but he kept the balls low and mixed speeds with his breaking balls and changeups, while keeping hitters honest by sticking the fastball on the corners. He went seven innings and struck out 11 batters. He looked every bit like the Giants Ace and looked ready to take this playoff run to a historic San Francisco level!

On another note, Giants closer Brian Wilson got in a little trouble in the 9th, but "The Bearded One", as John Miller calls him, recorded his league leading 47th save, just 1 behind the Giants all time record set by "Shooter" Rod Beck back in 1993.

NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFF SCENARIOS 2010

As the 2010 season comes closer to an end, the playoffs scenarios start to become wilder and wilder. The Philadelphia Phillies just took the the NL East division last night and the Cincinnati Reds are most definately going to take the Central, their magic number is at 1.

That means it's a three team race with the Giants, Padres, and Braves to fill the last two playoff spots. The Giants (88-68) were idle and are 1 game up in the West division right now with the Padres (87-69) )losing last night to the Cubs 1-0. The Braves (88-69) are a half game behind the Giants and a half game ahead of the Padres after beating the Florida Marlins 2-1.

These last six days are going to get really exciting. There are a lot of different scenarios that could happen, let me fill you in. The braves have 2 games left with the Marlins, so lets assume they will split those games to take the series. That leaves them at 89-70 heading into their day off on the 30th. They play Philadelphia at home for the last series. The Phillies will have nothing to play for really and will just be trying to get through those games injury free. If the Braves take the series, their final record will stand at 91-71.

The Giants have a 3 game series at home vs last place Arizona (64-92) starting today, where I'm assuming they will go 2-1. That puts their record at 90-69 headed into the soon to be epic final series at home vs the Padres. Speaking of the Pads, they already lost the first of a 4 game series vs the Cubs at home. Lets assume they take the series and go 2-1, they will still be 1 game behind the Giants at 89-70 going into the final weekend.

The fate of whats going to happen all lies in that last weekend in San Fran. If the Giants take 2 of 3, case will be closed. Giants win the West by 2 games and Braves win Wild Card. In that case, the Phillies would host either the Giants or the Reds, whoever has the worse record of the two. They can't play the Braves because they are in the same division.

It gets very interesting if the Padres win the series. If they sweep the Giants, they are in, but if they win 2 of 3, all three teams (Giants, Padres, and Braves) would be tied. In that case, they will first decide the West division. The Giants and Padres would have a 1 game playoff in San Diego because the Padres would have won the head-to-head matchups. Then there would be another 1 game playoff between the winner of that game and the Braves.

Thats kind of un-fair to the team in the West I think because it's like they are playing a tough, winner go home, all or nothing brawl while the Braves are sitting back just watching and resting. Then they have to do it all over again. The Braves would have a huge advantage because the team they face would be emotionally spent.

And for those wondering, if their is a 4-team tie with the Giants, Padres, Braves, and Reds, the same thing would apply. Nothing would be different, because the Reds win the Central division. They would be in no matter what. It wouldn't be so complicated if there was no Wild Card, but thats why it was put in. I love the Wild Card, and all I can say is, thank you Bud Selig! I never thought I would say that by the way. Anyway, enjoy the last six days, I know I will!

FREDDY SANCHEZ GETS MRI ON RIGHT SHOULDER-GIANTS FACE BIG DILEMMA

Original info from sfgate.com via Henry Schulman and blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs via Andrew Baggarly
As the Giants enter the final six games of the season, they will face a huge medical conflict. Second baseman Freddie Sanchez will undergo an MRI today on his right shoulder, which he injured while turning a double play Saturday.

Bruce Bochy put Sanchez in the lineup today because it was such a big game. Freddy can still hit the ball, but is a huge liability in the field. Luckily only one ground ball was hit to him in the game, and he had to lob the ball to first base to get the out on Eric Young Jr. "Right now, that's what I've got," Sanchez said. "I'd be able to do what I did today," he said. "We'll see. Obviously, I want to do everything I can to be in there. At the same time, I don't want to hurt the team in any way if I can't make a play or turn a double play."

In the Giants big win today, Freddy hit a huge 2 run homerun in the first inning off of Jorge De La Rosa, but he can't keep on playing if his shoulder is really injured. If he does need surgery, him and the Giants would face a dilema. Do you just have him wait to get surgery till the off-season and just have him as a pinch-hitter or end his season with surgery. If, and when, the Giants make the playoffs, they would definately miss his presence.

For the playoffs you have to cut the rosters to 25 players, and if you only have 1/2 a player, it's gonna be hard to put him on there. However, Sanchez has been so hot with the bat, personally I would want him on the roster, even if it's just as a pinch-hitter. Sanchez is a career .299 hitter, and since his low point of the season (.255 on August 11) he's hit at a .380 clip and raised his average 41 points. Thats hard to do late in the season. We will just have to wait and see.

THE MULLETT CAN'T BE KEPT QUIET

There was no way that the Giants were going to escape Colorado without feeling the wrath of the Mullett! Troy Tulowitski was held in check the first game, but he has had a September that not many others have had. He got revenge tonight against the Giants by going 4-5 with 5 RBI, including the game-winning hit in the 10th. He scorched a ball just beyond the reach of shortstop Juan Uribe. It was hit so hard that Uribe hardly even had a chance to move to his right and it was by him and rolling into the left-center field gap. Pat Burrell slid to cut off the ball and relayed it to Uribe, but Carlos Gonzalez, who was on first base from an infield hit earlier, easily beat Uribe's throw home for the winning run. The Rockies celebrated like they just won the World Series, as they should have. This was their make or break game. If they lost this game, they would've fell 5 1/2 games behind the Giants with 8 games left. This win kept them in the race and gave them hope in these remaining games.

This game felt like a pre-humidor Coors Field game. It's funny and ironic to me just one night after Tim Lincecum got caught on camera talking about the juiced balls in Denver, we had an old-school game like this. The final was 10-9 in 10 innings, and it was back and forth all game. The last team to score was going to win, and that just happened to be the Rockies tonight.

The scoring for both teams began in the first inning, as Freddy Sanchez opened the scoring with his sixth home run of the year, an opposite-field drive to right field. The Rockies responded with a two-run, two-out rally as Gonzalez singled and Tulowitzki walked before Melvin Mora scored them with a bloop double inside the right-field line.
 
In the top of the 3rd, the Giants took a 3-2 lead when they hit 2 solo homers, one by lead-off hitter Andres Torres (15) and one by Giants leading homerun hitter Aubrey Huff (26). It was Torres' first start since having an appendectomy just 13 days ago.
 
With the Giants leading 4-2 in the fifth, Colorado scored four runs to take the lead. With 1 out, Jay Payton and Carlos Gonzalez hit back to back triples off starter Barry Zito. The Gonzalez triple was a deep drive to right-center field that Cody Ross, who just replaced Andres Torres, couldn't get to. Torres caught a ball the inning before that was hit in almost the exact spot as Gonzalez' triple, but after that long run, he felt discomfort from his still healing surgery wounds. Thats why Bochy took him out.
 
With the score 4-3 Giants and Troy Tulowitski up, Chris Ray came in to relace Zito. I personally thought that Bochy should've left Zito in there and walked Tulowitski to try for an inning ending double play, but it didn't happen. Bochy's move ended up not working out at all. Tulo crushed a 2 run homer to left, followed by Melvin Mora hitting the third triple of the inning. Dan Runzler relieved Ray and was one strike away from escaping the inning when Chris Iannetta stroked an RBI single. 6-4 Rockies.
 
The Giants battled right back in the 6th. They had six consecutive hits, the first five which came off Esmil Rogers, who gave up singles by Uribe and Mike Fontenot to start the inning. Pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa scored Uribe with an opposite-field single to left that he just lofted out there. Cody Ross followed with his second home run as a Giant, which gave the Gs an 8-6 lead. Freddy Sanchez doubled, finishing Rogers, and scored on Octavio Dotel's wild pitch. 9-6 Giants.
 
San Francisco's bullpen, which had allowed two earned runs in 51 innings spanning September's first 21 games, finally faltered in the eighth as it failed to protect a 9-7 lead.
 
Pinch-hitter Dexter Fowler led off with a single against Jeremy Affeldt. Sergio Romo replaced Affeldt and struck out Jonathan Herrera, but with left-handed pinch-hitter Jason Giambi due up, Bochy opted for lefty specialist Javier Lopez. Lopez broke even, surrendering a single to Giambi before striking out Gonzalez.
Bochy summoned Wilson, who had converted nine of 10 save opportunities of four outs or more this season. Make that nine of 11. Tulowitzki doubled off the right-field wall on a 1-1 fastball, scoring Fowler and pinch-runner Clint Barmes to tie the score. It was Wilson's 5th blown save of the year.
 
That blow fed Tulowitzki's confidence when he faced Wilson in the 10th.
"Anytime you have success off a guy your first at-bat, you like your chances the next at-bat," Tulowitzki said. "I thought he was going to stay away from his fastball because I barreled it up. I was thinking he was going to go slider-cutter and that's what he did. The whole at-bat, it was cutters. It was a decent pitch. It started in and came at me, but I put a good swing on it."

TIM LINCECUM'S JUICED BALL COMMENT

DESPITE "JUICED BALLS", LINCECUM DOMINATES ROCKIES

TIM LINCECUM AND ENTIRE GIANTS PITCHING STAFF DOMINANT
Tim Lincecum helped continue the unbelievable streak from the Giants pitching staff of not allowing their opponent to score more than 3 runs for an 18th straight game. That's a post dead-ball era record, and 2 games behind the all time record set by the 1917 WhiteSox.

Lincecum gave up 1 earned run in 8 innings of masterful work. He only gave up 2 hits while striking out 9 and walking 0 Rockies. He was throwing a perfect game through 5 innings, and I was thinking this might be the night for Timmy to finally get one. Didn't work out for him tonight, but he will get one some day I have no doubt.

PAT THE BAT
The only runs for the Giants came in the top of the 7th inning, when Buster Posey drew a lead-off walk and Pat Burrell did what he was brought here to do. He hit a 2-run shot to left field to give the Giants a 2-1 lead, and that was after getting no hits in yesterday's game, when the Giants had 19 as a team. As soon as he hit it, he knew it was gone. Like the veteran he is, he just put his head down and trotted around the bases, not looking once to see where the ball went in the stands.

The Giants entered Friday leading San Diego by a half-game in the West. The Padres are facing Cincinnati and currently have a 4-3 lead in the 8th inning. Third-place Colorado lost its fifth game in a row and fell 4 1/2 games behind the Giants. San Francisco improved to 3-1 on its two-city trip, which precedes a three-game home series against Arizona before San Diego visits AT&T Park for three games next weekend.

JUICED BALL CONTROVERSY FUELED
Tim Lincecum gave up his only 2 hits in the 6th inning, and something worth noting happened while he was on the mound. After getting a ball thrown back to him, the cameras got a tight close-up on Lincecum's face. He looked at the ball after rubbing it up, and something didn't look right, so he threw it back in to home plate ump Laz Diaz. He looked irritated, then you can see him mouth the words, "F-ing juiced ball it's B.S." or "F-ing juiced balls B.S." 1 OF THE 2. Of course he said the full words, not abbreviated. Lincecum has thrown a LOT of baseballs in his life, and I'm sure he knows the difference as soon as he puts it in his hand.

I saw that comment live and actually wrote a tweet about what I saw. A little later former Giant player and now Giants analyst, and local late-night talk show host F.P. Santangelo, also wrote a Tweet about it. F.P. has had a conspiracy theory for a while now about the Humidifier at Coors Field. His main point is how no one really knows the proccess on which balls are being pulled from the humidor, and which balls are being distributed and being pitched to the home or visiting teams. Seeing how much of an advantage the Rockies seem to have at home, and now this Lincecum footage, it only adds fuel to the fire. It probably won't be such a big deal now that the Rockies have basically fallen out of the race, but it might be addressed at a later date. I will definately keep an eye on that.

THE RALLY THONG LIVES!!!

THE GIANTS STILL CONTROL THEIR OWN DESTINY

I know it feels like the end of the World to Giants fans right now. The Giants lost tonight and the Padres won putting SF back into second place, the offense looks toothless at the moment, blah, blah, blah. But the truth is that the Giants are still in a great position to make the playoffs. They still hold all the cards and they have their fate in their own hands.

I looked at the remaining schedule, the Padres (85-66) have 11 games left in the season with no more days off to rest. 7 of those games are at home, but 3 of them are against the first place in the Central Reds (86-67), and they play a 4 game series against the Cubs who are a very hot team right now. Let's say they lose today to the Dodgers, who have got to take one of these three games, then lose 2 out of 3 against the Reds. It's very hard to take 3 in a 4 game series, even against a bad team, so lets say they split the series vs the Cubs. They go into the last series of the year in San Francisco at 88-71.

To make the playoffs, the Giants (85-67), would just have to do what they have been doing all year long, which is to win series. We can't panic with each loss, we have to look at each series as a whole. If they win today to take the Cubs series, then take the next 2 series from the Rockies and Diamondbacks, they go into the Padres battle at 90-69, 2 games up. Even if they lose the series, the G-Men take the division crown. Even if we say the Padres take both series vs the Reds and Cubs, they would still come into AT&T all tied up.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as frustrated as all of you with the offensive struggles and the impatient at bats, but I'm just saying we can't get too down with 1 loss in a series. Just stay consistent and win 2 out of 3 the rest of the way, and we get to dance and celebrate in the streets of the Bay Area once again!

THE GIANTS WIN PITCHING DUEL 1-0 ON BUSTER POSEY SHOT...ROCKIES FALLING OUT OF IT

It was a wet, breezy night at Wrigley Field. After a rain delay that lasted for over an hour, Matt Cain and Carlos Zambrano finally got the matchup started. Cain has had the September of his life so far and Zambrano has been dealing ever since he came off the restricted list for his dugout temper tantrum.

The two put on a pitching lesson for all in attendance. Cain was basically un-hittable with his pin-point control and movement. Zambrano doesn't throw as hard as he once did, but the movement on his pitches were fooling the Giants batters and keeping them off balance all game. He did get in trouble in two different innings however. In the second, the Giants loaded the bases with two outs as Juan Uribe's single to right field was hit too hard for Pat Burrell to score from second base. Unfortunately, that brought up Matt Cain, who struck out to end the threat. In the fifth the Giants loaded the bases again, this time bringing Buster Posey to the plate. Zambrano got Posey to swing at a high and outside pitch to pop out to right field. Zambrano pitched 6 scoreless innings and struck out 8. He pitched a great game.

Cain pitched an even better game than Zambrano. He also threw 6 innings and only gave up 2 hits. Only one Cub even got to second base on Cain. He looked calm and controlled out there and looked like the ace of this staff, which is exactly what he has been this year for the Giants. Cain ended up with a no decision but he trimmed his ERA to 3.00 and 2.50 in 13 starts since the All-Star break. The lack of offense did another starter's win total in again. With Cain due to lead off the seventh inning, Bruce Bochy removed him for pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa to try and get something going on offense. He grounded out and it turned into a quick 1-2-3 inning.

The only score in this game came in the 8th inning. With 1 out, Rookie Of The Year to be Buster Posey  back-spinned a 3-1 pitch from Andrew Cashner out toward center field and into the basket on top of the outfield brick wall. It was Posey's 15th homer of the year and 62nd RBI.

If the Giants were able to pull this one out, I have all the confidence in the World that they will win this series, if not sweep it. Again the Dodgers gave the Giants no help as they got shut out by the Padres 6-0. The Giants remain a half game up. The Rockies lost tonight to the Diamondbacks, which puts them now 2.5 games behind the Giants. I thought this would happen to the Rockies. No, I swear! OK, you want to see proof? Here you go...

On Monday 20th September 2010, @giantsdan said:
I think the Rockies expended all their energy. They might be done. RT @SFGiants_Rumors: #sfgiants Who are Giants Fans more worried about right now. The #padres or #rockies?

GIANTS FACING CUBS AT THE WRONG TIME

The Giants are in Chicago holding on to their 1/2 game lead in the NL West. The lowly Cubs are out of the race yet another year, and looks like the curse is going to last for eternity. Should be a fun time for the Giants at Wriley right? Of course not! The Cubs have won 6 games in a row and 8 of their last 10. They are hot, and looks like they're having a great time playing the role of spoiler.

Not only is the team hot, but to start off the series the Giants face the hottest pitcher in the league, Carlos Zambrano. He's 6-0 in his past 7 starts with a 1.38 era. But hey, no one said getting to the playoffs was gonna be easy!

ANDRES TORRES UPDATE

The Giants might be getting their sparkplug back sooner than expected. Andres Torres could return to the lineup as soon as this weekend after getting an appendectomy on September 17th. He was originally supposed to be out 2-3 weeks, or basically till the end of the season, but he's making huge progress.

If he comes back by the weekend, that means he would play in a huge three game showdown against the Rockies in Denver. "We have to be smart about this," Bruce Bochy told a reporter. "He just had surgery, so as much as we'd like to have him back we're going to wait until he's ready." Making it back for the Rockies would be a "best case scenerio."

NEW GARY RADNICH AND TONY BRUNO COMMERCIAL CSNBA

GUILLEN BEATS DOWN THE BREWERS

The Giants took back over first place today with a win against the Brewers to salvage a three game series and avoid a home sweep. What was the difference from the first 2 games? Patience! They took 7 walks today, including 2 from Pat The Bat, and 3 from Buster Posey, who I think is the lock Rookie of the Year. This guy is gonna be an All-Star next year and for many years to come, there is no doubt.

They had a good mixture of patience, thump, and great pitching yet again. Barry Zito had another really good outing in September. He went 6 innings and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits. He is now an amazing 110-6 when he gets 4 runs or more of support. He recorded his 1st win since July 16th against the Mets. That was a span of 11 straight starts without a win.

Zito pitches very well with a lead, and it didn't take the Giants long to get him one. In the first inning, after Ryan Braun totally robbed Cody Ross of a lead-off homerun, the offense got it going. Freddy Sanchez, who I think should be in the lineup every day, lined a single to left. After Aubrey Huff flied out to center, Buster Posey crushed a ball off the left-field wall for a double, sending Anchez to third. Pat Burrell took some tough pitches and drew a walk to load the bases. That brought up Jose Guillen, who hit a ball that Ryan Braun couldn't rob. It went in the seats for a Grand Slam. That was the HUGE hit the Giants were looking for in this series, and it was set up by? Yes, a walk.

Guillen had his biggest day as a Giant for sure. In the fifth inning, after there were 2 down and nobody on base, the Giants started a rally. And how? With the walk. Huff, Posey, and Burrell walked consecutively to load the bases again for Jose Guillen. He hit a hard single up the middle off reliever Mike McClendon to score Burrell and Posey. Six rbi in a game is one off Guillen's career high of seven set with the Royals.

Pat Burrell added a cherry topping on this game with a 3-run bomb in the seventh inning after Huff singled and Posey hit another double. Posey reached base in all five of his plate appearances today.

The Giants are guaranteed to stay in first place by the time they hit the field in Chicago on Tuesday. The Giants, Padres, and Rockies are all idle until then.

Let's keep up the offense in Chicago and take this thing!

GIANTS OFFENSE...AND DEFENSE...FAIL LINCECUM

The Giants have lost the first two games vs the Brewers after coming home from a tough 10 game road trip, and in both games it seemed like there was no fight back, no will, and more important, no plate discipline.

The Giants got another great starting pitching performance by Tim Lincecum. It was just one jam shot off the fists did him in. In the fourth inning he gave up a 1 out double, well, single to Prince Fielder. Fielder scorched a line drive to left-center that went past center fielder Cody Ross. Fielder missed first base though and had to go back. Casey McGehee followed with a single to left field, then Carlos Gomez hit a soft blooper to center for a single, loading the bases. Then the key play in the game, a ground ball by Alicides Escobar to 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval. He fielded it right near the bag, but didn't step on it. He threw the ball home to get the out there, but the inning should have been over in my eyes. Escobar is too fast to go to first, but he did have plenty of time to step on third and go home, especially since Prince Fielder was the one running! It gave the Brewers an extra out, and that's when Jonathan Lucroy dumped one down the right field line for a 2-run single.

The Giants offense is ridiculous right now, pressing and trying to swing for the fenses. The only players that are having good approaches at the plate are Mike Fontenot, of course a non-power threat, and Buster Posey. Pablo Sandoval and Juan Uribe are still swinging at anything thrown up there, and even the two most disciplined hitters on the team, Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell aren't giving very good at bats lately.

There is no reason Lincecum should have been taken out after five innings to be pinch hit for because Bochy thinks that's the only chance of scoring! Lincecum did not deserve to lose that game, and its happened to Giants starting pitching WAY too many times this year to count.

GIANTS OFFENSE GETS SHUT DOWN BY RANDY WOLF

Well, not much to say and not much I want to say about this bad loss to the Brewers. Madison Bumgarner gave up a lot hits and baserunners, but pitched well enough to get the win. The Giants defense had a very bad day, throwing the ball all around the in-field. No offense what so ever. They only had 3 hits. Randy Wolf kept the over-agressive Giants off balance all game long to earn his 9th career complete game shut out. The Giants are 4-3 in their past 7 games and in all 3 losses now they have been shut out.

The only good thing that happened tonight was that the Padres and Mat Latos got crushed by the Cardinals 14-4. As I write this, the Rockies are leading the Dodgers in the 9th inning 7-4. If they hold on they will be only 1 1/2 games behind the Giants for the NL West lead. Watch out for the Rockies, as I've said over and over this year.

The Giants better get their offense in gear or they won't be able to call themselves a first-place team for long.

GIANTS TAKE BACK THE DIVISION LEAD

I want to be the first to welcome the San Francisco Giants back into first place in the NL West! They leap-frogged over the Padres who lost in St Louis.

The fog rolled into Pac Bell Park tonight, and with it must have came a magic spell for the Giants bats. We saw 3 homeruns and 10 runs in a 10-2 victory over the Dodgers. They only had 2 runs in the first 2 games combined. Aubrey Huff hit a 3-run homer in the third and Buster Posey followed that with a tape-measure shot 3 quarters of the way up the left-field bleachers. Jose Guillen hit the third Giants homerun of the night in the 5th inning when he crushed a curve ball by Jared Weaver way up the left-field bleachers.

Stock up:
+Jonathan Sanchez: threw a very good game and looks like he might have finally figured it all out. Armed with his new pitch, the split-finger/change-up, went 7 strong innings and struck out his career high 12 batters.

+Edgar Renteria: went 4-5 including a bunt single in the leadoff spot and scored twice. He showed Bochy why he should be in the lineup in these big games. He has done it over and over in his long career.

+Jose Guillen: looks like he's finally getting comfortable in a Giants uniform. After getting hit on the right foot in his first AB, he went 3-3 including the 2-run bomb he hit in the fifth inning. He hit the ball very hard and looked like the player Sabean imagined he would be getting.

Stock down:
-Aaron Rowand: looks like we are gonna see a lot of Cody Ross in center field to end the season. Rowand is demoted to the eight spot and looked horrible tonight. He went 0-4 and looked like he was just pressing to do anything to get in the action.

GUILLEN READY TO PLAY VS LILLY - DIRTY SANCHEZ TID-BITS

Outfielder Jose Guillen took an epidural shot in his neck after an MRI exam revealed a "disk issue," manager Bruce Bochy said, adding that he expects Guillen to be ready to play tonight. He better be, facing a good lefty in Ted Lilly.

Jonathan Sanchez makes the start tonight as the Giants try to take the three game series against the Dodgers in about an hour from now. Against the Dodgers in 2010 Sanchez has started 2 games, going 1-1 with a 3.00 era. He's given up 9 hits in 12 innings, while striking out 13. He did have a relief appearance this year vs L.A. He threw a third of an inning, hitting a batter and striking out a batter. Giants starters have a majors-best 1.58 ERA in September. In August, their 4.55 ERA was last in the National League.

In another quick Jonathan Sanchez note, he needs 2 strikeouts to surpass his career high which is 177, set last year.

MATT CAIN AND THE GIANTS GET REVENGE AND BEAT L.A.

This is becoming like Dejavu lately! The Giants are getting great pitching performances nightly in September, but a lot of them have been wasted because of terrible offense.

Well, we finally broke free from the "curse of Billingsley" with a 2 out, broken bat bloop from the bat of Mike Fontenot in the bottom of the 7th. No one else on the Giants could get the big hit with runners in scoring position, so I guess that's why we had to rely on a former Cub! He knocked in Emmanuel Burris who was running for Travis Ishikawa, who pinch hit for Matt Cain earlier in the inning.

Matt Cain and Chad Billingsley both threw great games. Cain went seven innings, allowing no runs, only 3 hits, while striking out 5 and walking none. it was his second career victory over the Dodgers, both coming this year. Billingsley, who had a 0.61 era vs the Giants this year, did it again. He went seven innings giving up 1 run on 6 hits, striking out 7 and walking 2. He took the tough loss.

The Panda failed twice in this game with runners in scoring position, but he hit a key ground ball to second base in the 8th inning to score an insurance run with Aubrey Huff at 3rd base and Buster Posey at 2nd. The Dodgers infield wasn't playing in all the way, so when Pablo's ground ball was fielded by second baseman Ryan Theriot, it was too late to throw Huff out at the plate. Huff beat the high throw with a slide.

That ended up being the game winning play because in the ninth inning Andre Ethier hit an opposite field homerun off of closer Brian Wilson. Wilson ended up striking out Jay Gibbons to end the game and putting the Giants a half game back of the first place Padres in the West. They are also a half game behind the Braves for the Wild Card lead.

Tomorrow the Giants will try to take the series with Jonathan Sanchez and his new toy, the change up, going to the mound to face tough veteran lefty Ted Lilly. The Padres start a tough series against the Cardinals, so it could be a great time to make a run at the division title.

BRIAN WILSON ON ROME IS BURNING

GIANTS OFFENSE CAN'T HELP ZITO OUT...SO WHATS NEW?

The penant race has officially begun. Now players and managers can actually admit that they are scoreboard watching. The Giants had a restful day off and were finally back at home from a long 10 game roadtrip. While the Giants were looking at the Padres win again, the Dodgers pushed a splinter under the fingernails of the Giants and their fans, winning the game 1-0 and pushing them 1 1/2 games behind the Padres in the West.

The hated Dodgers came to town ready to play. No matter how bad the Dodgers have been or how good the Giants have been, there is no way LA is gonna come and just lay down for the Giants. It's always been like that, even when the roles have been reversed. When one of these teams has a chance to play spoiler and hurt the other, they always come hard and leave everything on the field.

It was a pitcher's dual as I predicted it would be. Barry Zito and Clayton Kershaw were matching zeros through 5. Then in the 6th, Zito got himself in trouble. He hit Reed Johnson and after Kershaw sacrifice bunted him to second, he walked Rafael Furcal and Andre Ethier to load the bases. That brought up the righty Casey Blake, who has hurt the Giants with a lot of big hits in his short Dodgers career. He hit a hard ground ball up the middle that Zito slowed down. Short-stop Juan Uribe got to it, but couldn't handle it cleanly. The Dodgers scored the first run of the game on an error. That was it for Zito, who pitched another gritty game vs the Dodgers this year. Bochy brought in Santiago Casilla who got the final out of the inning when he struck out Matt Kemp.

Zito ended up going 5 2/3 innings, only allowing 1 hit and no earned runs. The Dodgers ended up only getting that 1 hit all game and won, which is the second this year that the Giants lost a game giving up only 1 hit. Unbelievable! It's the 20th time this year that he has got 2 runs or fewer. What's with this offense? Jekyll and Hyde is the best way I can describe it this year.

Clayton Kershaw was awesome tonight. He mixed his pitches and kept the Giants off balance the whole game. There was hardly even a threat against him all night. He threw the first complete game and shutout of his career. The heart of the Giants order, Aubrey Huff, Buster Poset, and Pat Burrell, went a collective 0 for 9. That's not going to win any games down the stretch here. They need to get it together fast, and that won't be easy as they face Chad Billingsley tomorrow night.

Tell me again, how are the Dodgers in last place again? I can't understand it. It seems like they send out a Hall Of Fame pitcher every game! Or is that just because they're facing the Giants?

GIANTS-DODGERS PREVIEW: TONIGHT ZITO VS KERSHAW

Tonight's game: Barry Zito (8-12 4.14 era) vs Clayton Kershaw (11-10 2.99 era) 7:15 pm. CSNBA

Wednesday 9/15: Matt Cain (11-10 3.91 era) vs Chad Billingsley (11-9 3.65 era) 7:15 pm. CSNBA

Thursday 9/16: Jonathan Sanchez(10-8 3.29 era) vs Ted Lilly (8-10 3.58 era) 7:15 pm. Ch 11

Even though the Dodgers are out of it and crawling towards the finish line, it's still the Giants/Dodgers! The Dodgers still want to play spoiler and I believe they are gonna play the Giants tough. They did no favors at when they laid down for the Padres at Petco Park Sept 6-8th, getting swept and only scoring 3 runs. They play the Rockies 6 more times this season, let's hope they play a little harder against them and help the Giants out a little.

Barry Zito has pitched very well this year vs the Dodgers. His record isn't good at 0-2, but that's because he couldn't get any help from the offense (what's new). His ERA in those starts is 2.84. In 31 2/3 innings he has given up 23 hits while striking out 24. It's a similar story for Clayton Kershaw against the Giants. He is 0-1 in 3 starts but has a 2.25 era. He is one of the toughest pitchers to hit in the Majors. This should be a tight contest, as all three games probably will be.

Zito's last road win of the year was on May 5th against the Marlins. This will be his 13th try for a road win since then! What a great time for the Giants for him to get it rolling again.

BIG TIME TIMMY JIM IS STILL THE HEADLINER

It was the matchup of aces. Tim Lincecum vs Mat Latos. Latos has come on this year in a huge way. He came into this game a Cy Young award candidate with a 14-5 record and leading the Majors in era at 2.21. He's the new kid on the block trying to gain his respect, and he definately has. He is a big strong guy, 6-6" 225lbs, and only 22 years old. He's gonna be a tough customer for years to come in this league.

On the other hand, Tim Lincecum has had a tough year. His first eight starts of the season he looked like the 2-time Cy Young winner that he is, going 5-0 with a 1.76 era. Since then he hasn't been the same pitcher. He wasn't staying focused on the mound, and he couldn't hit any of his spots. Then August hit. That month was an all-time low point for Lincecum, he went 0-5 with a 7.82 era and a WHIP of 1.82.

Then something changed. Not just the calendar month, but something in Lincecum's head. He is way too much of a competetor and athelete to just take this slump laying down. His first 2 starts in September were spectacular. He was 2-0 with a 2.45 era, giving up 10 hits in 14 2/3 innings and striking out 20.

Lincecum showed everyone, especially the Padres, and Mat Latos, that he is still the ruler of this NL West kingdom. He shut the door on the Padres, giving up 1 run and 7 hits over 7 innings while striking out 9 and walking only 1.

Buster Posey set the tone early when he hit a 97mph fastball on the outside corner from Latos into the section of the stands that jets inward right near the foul pole. It was right in the section that Yorvit Torrealba hit his game-winning homer the day before. That ended up to be all Timmy needed.

Lincecum also made a statement with his bat, slicing a 2-run single to left field in the 4th inning off of Latos. That was after Pablo Sandoval walked and Juan Uribe doubled him to third. Later in the eighth inning the Giants scored an insurance run on an error by center-fielder Luis Durango.

Even though they had a five run lead in the ninth, Bruce Bochy wasn't taking any chances. Jeremy Affeldt came in to finish off the ninth, but gave up 2 hits. Bochy brought in closer Brian Wilson even in a non save situation to get the last out. They have Monday off so he thought, why not. These games are way too important to take any chances.

Now we begin again. It's come down to an 18 game season for the Giants. They have a very favorable schedule, having 12 of the 18 at home. I figure if they go 12-6 down the stretch, they will be headed to the playoffs on a date with destiny.

ANDRES TORRES HAS SURGERY...OUT FOR TWO WEEKS

We Just learned that Giants super lead-off hitter and center-fielder Andres Torres went to a San Diego hospital this morning to get an appendectomy. He will be out 10 to 14 days. I think he was gonna be out of the line-up today vs the Padres anyway to try to get his slump worked out, but this will be a big blow to the Giants.

We will probably see a platoon of Aaron Rowand and Cody Ross in center until he is back. What bad timing for this to happen to the Giants. Torres was in a major slump at the plate, but his Gold Glove play in center-field will really be missed in these very important games down the stretch. He has saved a lot of runs this year running down balls like a mad man! He will be missed.

GIANTS FALL BACK AGAIN

I guess the Giants and Padres love these 1-0 games! They played their second in a row today and fourth this season. This time the teams reversed roles as the Padres won, going back up by a game in the National League West. I love 1-0 games too. Every pitch means somethin, every at bat, every inning. This is like playoff baseball. But it's because every pitch means something that I am so frustrated with this game.

Home plate umpire Jerry Crawford had a bad day. The Padres starter today Tim Stauffer, a converted long-reliever, has a 2-seam fastball like Greg Maddox used to have. It's like a hard screw ball that he can throw off the plate and it comes right back over the outside corner for righties or inside corner for lefties. But today, Yorvit Torrealba was setting up way off the outside corner and if Stauffer hit the glove, it was a strike.

The Giants were frustrated all game long with the strikezone. Buster Posey struck out in his first at bat on the fastball off the plate. He was calm about it, but when he came up for his second at bat, it was a different story. The first pitch was called a strike on that same outside pitch, he got heated. He started arguing with Crawford, and I read his lips a little. He said something to the effect of, I can't hit that pitch, not in those words, but you get the point. Then the bench started arguing and Crawford got into it with them.

Madison Bumgarner pitched his most efficient game to date and was in no trouble all game. He gave up 3 hits in seven innings of work, only throwing 79 pitches, 55 for strikes. Unfortunately, Bumgarner is a different pitcher than Stauffer. He doesn't throw that come-back 2-seam fastball. The only blemish was a homerun right into the cheap seats down the right-field line by Giant killer Yorvit Torrealba. It seems like. He does something every game he plays against his former team. He did it when he was with the Rockies too. Not only did he get the game winning hit, he got the game ending out when he threw out Darren Ford for a double play when Heath Bell struck out Buster Posey on the pitch.

Ford was running for Aubrey Huff, who washit in his right elbow by Heath Bell, in basically the same place that he got hit in last night's game. Hopefully he will be ok to play tomorrow. I haven't heard any word about that yet.

Tomorrow is going to be the best pitching matchup of the series. Revived Tim Lincecum faces the Major League leader in ERA, Mat Latos. The Giants will either be tied up again in the West, or be right back where they were when this series started at 2 games back. Everybody ready for another 1-0 game?

1-0 GAMES WEAR ME OUT

Who said that 1-0 games were boring? Not me, that's what September games are all about when you are in contention. You might ask why I'm writing this so late after the game, after all, it's 5am right now. Well I'll tell you the truth, I fell asleep. Hey, I had a long day and I got up early. By the way, this game wore me out too! This is for people that want to get up in the mornin and want to read about the game they missed, which I'm sure most of you didn't.

Well, Jonathan Sanchez looked like Jeckel and Hyde, the offense couldn't do a thing against Clayton Richard, and they wasted opportunities with runners in scoring position late, but the Giants still overcame it to beat Padres for the second night in a row to draw even atop the NL West with 20 games left.

This was a little different than the first game where the Giants played homerun derby. This was the old stlye "ground attack" that I was talking about. The only run was scored in the seventh inning. It started off when Aubrey Huff got hit with a pitch by Clayton Richard. It hit him in the funny bone, and when trainer Mark Gruesbeck came out to look at it, Huff ran away from him. He wanted nothing to do with it. After the game, he talked about it, saying he had to "just suck it up. I didn't want to Roger Dorn it too much out there." A quote referring to one of the greatest movies of all time, Major League! He then stole second base as Patt Burrell struck out. Jose Guillen then hit a sharp ground ball in the hole between 3rd and short. Huff thought it was going to get by Miguel Tejada so he took off to 3rd. Tejada fielded the ball and threw to 3rd but Huff just beat the tag. If Tejada went to 1st he would have had Guillen, who runs just about as fast as Bengie Molina out there. Bruce Bochy then put in Nate Shierholtz to pinch run for Guillen, which was a big move in the game. The next batter was Juan Uribe. He hit a ground ball that might have been a double play, but Shierholtz went into second base hard and got a little piece of David Eckstein. The ball was slowed down a little and Uribe was safe at first, scoring Huff.

This was an agonizing game, watching Jonathan Sanchez struggle through 5 innings, walking 7 batters which tied his career high. He did the best he could while not having his best stuff out there. "I wasn't throwing anything over the plate they could hit. I didn't have my best stuff today. I just threw what I had." "I went five innings, but we have a pretty good bullpen and they did the job."

Santiago Casilla, Ramon Ramirez, Sergio Romo, and Javier Lopez bridged gave up no runs and bridged the gap to closer Brian Wilson, who just came in and got a ho-hum 5-out save. This is the 10th time this season he has been asked to save a game of more than 3 outs, way more than any closer in baseball. He is 9/10 in those situations. This was his 42nd save, tyin him for the Major League lead with Tampa Bay's Rafael Soriano. He is now 6 behind Rod Beck for the Giants single season record in saves and 3 back of Rob Nenn for second all time.

PRAYERS FOR SAN BRUNO FAMILIES

The Giants were in San Diego last night, but just before their game vs the Padres, a tragedy was happening right here at home. About a half hour before the game started, a natural gas line ruptured and exploded in a residential area in San Bruno. It was a 30 inch diameter pipe and it made a 30 foot wide crater. 38 houses were destroyed and 7 other properties were damaged. There is an estimate of 4 fatalities.

All my prayers are going out to the families that lost loved ones and lost their homes. It's crazy knowing that you can just be minding your own business in your own home, and something like this could happen to you. I'm always worrying about all the bad in the World, but never think that I can be in danger while locked up in my house. I feel kind of close to the situation because a few weeks ago I was right by where the tragedy happened. I was at Skyline College right off of Hwy 380 and Skyline Drive. My heart and mind are with all of you.

In a related Giants story, Pablo Sandoval's mother Amelia was safely evacuated from her home in San Bruno. She is living in a home that Pablo is renting for her, and it was close enough to the explosion to warrant the evacuation. Pablo didn't know about the situation until after the game. He was very relieved that she was safe. When asked about the property being destroyed, he wasn't concerned at all, saying, "only my family." "My family is the most important thing to me." She is now staying with Pablo's older brother Michael in San Jose. Michael is currently playing 1st base for the San Jose Giants.

This is a heavy reminder to me that sports aren't everything. They mean nothing when it comes to tragedy and family. They are a great break from the normal grind of life, and a great form of relaxation, but even the players themselves would drop everything and give up all the money they make for the people they love.

GIANTS MAKE STATEMENT

It's not good enough just to beat the Padres, the Giants wanted to beat them down. They wanted to flex their muscles and bully them into submission. Tonight at Petco Park, that's exactly what they did. They showed the Pads that things have changed from earlier in the season. They were tired of being pushed around and they were going to push back.

They did something that they never did before, they hit 4 homeruns at Petco Park. Aubrey Huff, Juan Uribe, Buster Posey, and Pat Burrell, in that order,all hit bombs tonight. And I mean BOMBS. All four were crushed way out of the park. Without those power threats in the line-up, the Giants would be going nowhere this year.

Last year the Giants were scratching and clawing for runs. Remember "the ground attack"? I despised that saying, and that kind of play. The Giants organization has a history of feared power hitters. From Ott, to Mays, to McCovey, to Clark, to Mitchell, to Bonds. We are used to having that threat in our lineup. Ever since Bonds retired, we have had no serious threat. No one to get the opponent thinking, "when is his turn coming up in the line-up?" Well now we have a lot of those kind of guys in the line-up. There is consistensy throughout. And consistent power. From leadoff hitter Andres Torres, with 14 homers and a slugging % of .481, to Juan Uribe, who has been hitting in the 8th slot recently. He hit his 20th hr of the season tonight.

This was only the first game of a 4 game series, but the Giants made a big statement to the Padres. We are going to take over, and you aint gonna stop us!

DEAR ROCKIES, WE DIDN'T FORGET ABOUT YOU

The Giants fell to 2 games behind the Padres tonight with their loss in Arizona, and the Padres win over the Dodgers. The Giants now head to San Diego for a 4 game series. But while the 2 top teams in the west fight it out, the team just on the outside will be licking their chops.

The Colorado Rockies are a scary team right now. Carlos Gonzalez, the man they call CarGo, has been the hottest hitter on the planet. He is a triple crown candidate leading the league in batting average (.340) and rbi (100). His 32 homers are 4 behind Albert Pujols, the league leader. He is currently on a 16 game hitting streak, batting .516 with 7 homers and 21 rbi. Troy Tulowitzki, the man I call Papa Tu-lo, is just as hot right now. In the past 7 games he's hitting .400 with 5 homers and 13 rbi.

We all know the Rockies recent second half history, and no one is over looking them! They are only 4 1/2 games behind the Padres now and sneaking up behind the Giants for 2nd place at 2 games back. They also play 3 games each vs those 2 teams, so they are in a great spot right now to make their move.

BUSTER POSEY IS THE GIANTS MVP

I just looked at the numbers. I know anyone can make a great case for a lot of players. Aubrey Huff has brought back a threat of power to the line-up. They finally have a legit lead-off hitter who is a speed and power threat with Andres Torres. Brian Wilson has been not only the best closer in the league, but the best reliever in baseball period.

But I am a man who looks at the bottom line. Buster Posey has not only come in to the Major Leagues at one of the toughest positions in baseball, but he has come in and dominated. His bat and his hitting stats speak for themselves, and he has taken just taken control of the pitching staff. He acts like a veteran out there already.

The numbers don't lie, and before Posey got called up on May 29th, the Giants record was 25-22, a .532 winning %. Since his call up, they are 53-39, .576 winning %. And more important than that, since he took over as the man at catcher when Bengie Molina was traded on June 30th, the Giants are 38-22, a .633 winning %.

BARRY ZITO PREDICTIONS

Going into tonight's game vs the Diamondbacks, Barry Zito is the only starting pitcher that hasn't got it together down the stretch run in September. I for one am predicting that his professional and personal pride will drive him to pitch better. He is a veteran who has been there time after time, and these young pitchers are going to need him the closer they get to the post-season.

I don't know how the rest of the season will play out for Zito, but here is my prediction for the game tonight vs the D-Backs.
7 IP 5 hits, 1 ER, 7 Ks, 1 BB.

Post ur predictions below.

EVERYONE BREAK OUT YOUR RED THONGS...GIANTS WIN AGAIN IN ARIZONA

After the Giants win tonight in Arizona, I'm really starting to believe. I'm about to break out the red thong like Aubrey Huff and play "The Thong Song" before every game for luck! Hey, maybe that can be the 2010 Giants rally song, like "Don't Stop Believing" for the 2005 Chicago White Sox. Hell, whatever it takes to win the Series, right? Maybe not...

This team is getting stronger and stronger at a time when the pretenders are getting weak and tired and just fading away into the off-season. The Giants are clicking on all cylinders. They have balanced hitting, with a different hero every night, and their relief pitching has been outstanding. The only thing that wasn't going well was the starting pitching.
And besides Barry Zito getting back on track, it looks like that has turned around too.

The most important piece to that starting staff is Tim Lincecum. Ever since May, they have been waiting for the REAL Tim Lincecum to show his face again. The 2-time Cy Young award winning Tim Lincecum. Well, looks like they got their "FREAK" back! He looked dominant through the first 6 innings, giving up 0 runs and only 1 hit, while striking out 10. He hit a little bump in the 7th inning, not hitting his spots and leaving the ball up. He gave up a 2-run homer to Chris Young after giving up a lead-off triple to Kelly Johnson. After an rbi triple by Bobby Abreu, Tim's night was finished.

It was a great night for Tim's confidence though. He struck out 11 D-Backs, but even more importantly, walked zero! And with the help of the 2 Water Buffalos Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell, who each had a 2 run homer, Lincecum won his second straight game and 13th of the season.

The Giants remained 1 game back of the Padres, who beat the Dodgers for the second night in a row, but they did get a little closer to the Wild Card leader. With the Phillies winning and the Braves losing, the Phillies took over the lead in the NL East, and the Braves dropped into the Wild Card spot. The Giants are 1 game behind the Braves for that spot.

NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR...POSEY VS HEYWARD

Everyone knows the story of "The Tortoise And The Hare". The moral of the story is it's not how you start, it's how you finish, consistancy is the key to success, slow and steady wins the race, and don't underestimate your opponent. There is no other sport where this concept is more true than baseball.

Baseball has a long, long, season and usually teams that start off like a blazing inferno, always cool off at some point. It's Newton's law to the core. What gets hot, must cool down. It is very rare when a team is hot throughout a whole season.

The same law applies with Major League players. If your in a zone, you just have to ride it and try to hold on as long as you can because eventually it's going to end. No one can explain it.

This years N.L. Rookie Of The Year race is playing out the same way. Basically it's a 2 player race to the finish, with the hare, Atlanta Braves 5-tool phenom Jason Heyward, and the tortoise, San Francisco Giants sweet-swinging, rifle-armed rookie catcher Buster Posey. The only real legit pitcher in the race is the Cardinals Jaime Garcia, who is 13-6 with a 2.35 era and a 1.291 whip. He is having an outstanding year, but the Cards are probably going to cut down his innings and he probably won't do much more in terms of stats. The Nationals Stephen Strasburg was looking like a front runner until his season was cut short with an elbow injury.

Now it's just Heyward vs Posey. A battle to the death, oh, I mean battle for the National League Rookie Of The Year!

Heyward had a huge head start over Posey. He got the starting right-field spot right out of spring. He had all the buzz at the beginning of the season, and he was playing like an All-Star. In fact, he played so well that he was voted in as a starter on the All-Star team. He has all the tools, great power, speed, plate discipline, and a great arm in the outfield. a groin injury early in the season, and a thumb injurythat kept him out of the All Star game have slowed his season down a little. He's not having near as good of a second half, but he just turned 21 years old and he will be a star for many years to come.

Meanwhile, Buster Posey was also putting up All Star numbers, only thing was, he was doing it in Fresno. Posey didn't make the opening day roster, not because of his bat, but because the position he plays. The Giants organization felt like he needed more work calling his own games and he didn't have enough experience doing that yet. But as the days went on in May, Posey was getting more experience behind the plate, and he was just on fire at the plate. By the end of May, he was hitting around .350 with an on base average of .440 and a ops around 1.000. Giants fans were desperate for a big bat in the line-up and were clammering for Posey to come up. Giants GM Brian Sabean finally complied, and on May 29th, Posey was finally brought up. He mainly started at first base and got some spot starts at catcher. On June 30th, the Giants gave the reigns to Posey completely when they traded starting catcher Bengie Molina to the Rangers. He, and the Giants, have taken off offensively ever since. His opposite-field approach, level swing, and level head have impressed all of his team mates and coaches. He already acts like a veteran and he is handling one of the best pitching staffs in the league seamlessly.

Now let's get down to the numbers...
As of today, September 6th, 2010, before their games, these are the 2 contender's stats:

Jason Heyward has played in 117 games, in 431 at bats is hitting .281 with 16 homers and 65 rbi. He has 27 doubles,4 triples, and 9 stolen bases. His on base average is .389, slugging .473, an ops of .863.

Buster Posey has played in 84 games, and in 314 at bats is hitting .328 with 11 homers, 55 rbi, 19 doubles, 2 triples, and 0 stolen bases. His on base average is .374, slugging .506, an ops of .880.

If you calculate those numbers out to 162 games, the power numbers actually favor Posey, the only stats Heyward would have Posey on would be triples and stolen bases.

Well, there's the facts, now you can decide for yourself who the Rookie Of The Year is. Please leave your comments below.

GIANTS HAVE A NEW WEAPON TO PLAY WITH DOWN THE STRETCH

Well, well, well. What do we have here? A new weapon at starting pitcher perhaps? Everyone knew Jonathan Sanchez had all the stuff in the World to be a number 1 starter. He just had to put it all together. Well, looks like he's finally starting to. And the key to it all, the confidence and control of his change-up. With that 3rd equalizer pitch in his control, he might be unstoppable. I wasn't sure if I was looking at Jonathan Sanchez, or Johan Santana out there!

Like Tim Lincecum, Sanchez uses a split-finger fastball as his change-up, and like Lincecum, it is the pitch that will make him an elite pitcher in this league. Since Sanchez has started utilizing his new weapon more the past 2 starts, he is 1-0, should have been 2-0, pitched 15 innings, allowed only 8 hits, while striking out 15, and walking only3, with a 0.60 era.

With the help of Juan Uribe, who hit a huge 2 run homerun for the second night in a row, and flawless performances by Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson, Sanchez won his 10th game of the season. That is his career high in wins.

Brian Wilson saved his league leading 40th game, 1 off his career high and 8 away from the Giants all-time record set by "Shooter" Rod Beck in the 1993 season.

With the Padres falling off the face of the Earth and losing their 10th straight game, the G Men are right on their heels now, only 1 game back. They are starting to get hot at the right time, and it looks like they just put 2 more bullets in their revolver for the stretch run in the names of Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez. Now all they have to do is see if they can take the saftey off the Zito gun.

GIANTS PLAY LONG BALL IN WIN OVER DODGERS

I only have 5 words to say about this game..."chicks dig the long ball"! And so does every Giants fan after the display they put on tonight. There hasn't been too many games this year where they have hit 4 homers, but they did tonight, and that was just enough to edge the Dodgers in another torturous game.

It didn't start off very good for the Giants. They only had 1 hit through the first 6 innings, and I thought, here we go again. But the Giants R.O.Y. front-runner Buster Posey led off the top of the seventh with a monster homerun over the left-center fiel wall. It went halfway up the bleachers, which is a tape-measure shot at Dodger Stadium at night, when the ball doesn't travel as well. It seemed like that shot put a little juice into the guys on the bench.

Edgar Renteria led off the top of the 8th with another bomb off Lilly that almost went into the second deck right down the left-field line. This was his first game since August 10th, coming off the disabled list. Bruce Bochy then sent up Pat Burrell to pinch hit for Matt Cain, who after giving up 4 runs in the bottom of the 4th, including a 3 run homer to Jay Gibbons, really settled down to throw what baseball calls a "quality outing".

After that, Ted Lilly came out and Octavio Dotel came in. Burrell gave Dotel a battle, then on the 8th pitch of the at bat, he launched one over the left-center field wall. Not as impressive as Posey's, but just as effective. It was Burrell's 3rd career pinch hit home run.

After Javier Lopez shut down the Dodgers in the eight, Jonathan Broxton came in to try and close it out for the Dodgers. He over powered Jose Guillen with fastballs to start the ninth and struck him out. It was the fourth time Guillen struck out in the game. The next batter was Cody Ross. He just barely beat out a slow roller up the middle that Rafael Furcal made a great play on. That brought up Juan UUUU-RIBEEEE. On a 1-0 count, Broxton threw a breaking ball and got too much of the middle of the plate. Uribe crushed a line drive over ;again; the left-center field wall for the go ahead home run. Uribe has been in a little slump, but always is a threat to do just what he did tonight. That was the biggest at bat of the season so far for the Giants for sure!

Brian Wilson gave every Giants fan the heart attack performance that it seems he thrives on, and got the final out on a ground ball by Reed Johnson to 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval. As Wilson said after the game, 1 batter gets a hit, 2 batters get a hit, you just have to "sack up" and get the last out.

Now with the San Diego Padres losing their 9th straight game, the Giants are right at the back door and about to bust in!

WASHINGTON NATIONALS - FLORIDA MARLINS BRAWL 9/1/10

IN A TIME WHEN HE USUALLY TURNS IT ON, ZITO GETTING WORSE

Well, September is here and it's time for big game Barry Zito to turn it up right? Way wrong! Zito had another short outing, only throwing 4 innings and giving up 4 hits and 4 runs. It marks the 5th straight game he hasn't pitched over 5 innings. His era in that span is a whopping 11.42, giving up 22 earned runs and 28 hits in 17 1/3 innings pitched! Some big game pitcher huh?

He gave up a gut twisting 2 run single to the opposing pitcher Chad Billingsley, who also threw another great game against the Giants. He is now 2-0 with a 0.61 era against them this year in 4 starts.

The only runs that the Giants scored were un earned. They scored on a 2 out, 2 run single to left-center field by Buster Posey. You have to give credit to Posey, the only bat that actually showed up tonight for the G Men, as that was 1 of their pathetic 2 hits tonight! Billingsley had 2 hits himself!

There was an in-consistent strike zone, but it was going that way for both teams so I can't really blame home plate ump Rob Drake. The Giants bats just looked sluggish from their day off and have to turn it back on starting tomorrow.

Matt Cain will make the start. He has been the Giants overall best and most consistant starting pitcher this year, and has looked terrific lately. He has a 4-2 record with a 2.61 era over his past 9 starts.

He will face experienced left hander Ted Lilly, who is also no walk in the park. The Dodgers have very good starting pitching and the Giants better be ready for a battle in the next 2 games, and for that matter, the remainder of the season.

The only positive that happened tonight for the Giants was that the Padres lost to the Rockies. S.F. is still only 3 games back of the NL West lead. But tonight is open season on Zito, so feel free to leave any comments about the game or Barry Zito. The floor is all yours.

GIANT'S MIKE KRUKOW MAKES BOLD PREDICTION

This morning on the Giants home radio station, KNBR 680, Mike Krukow made a bold prediction for the 2010 season. He said that the Giants would win the West by 4 games! When asked why he thought that, he said that the ball club was just exuding confidence and he had the feel that they were gonna roll through September and the Padres would continue on their downward spiral. "We love you Kruk and hope you are right"! GO GIANTS!

GIANTS START BIGGEST ROAD TRIP OF THE SEASON

The San Francisco Giants have put themselves in a prime position to make their move in the NL West race. With their big win against one of the top pitcher's in the game Ubaldo Jimenez on Wednesday, along with a big 7 game slide by the West leading Padres, the Giants find themselves just 3 games back of the Division lead.

This road trip will make or break the Giants season, as the final 4 games of the trip are against the Padres. That will mark the last time they will face the Pads this season and the last time they will have control of their destiny.

But fist things first...the hated Dodgers! Barry Zito has a tough task against the Dodgers young core hitters Matt Kemp, James Loney, and Andre Ethier. Luckily for him it's a night game and the ball doesn't travel well at all at night at Chavez Ravine.

The Giants will be facing young 26 year old righty Chad Billingsley. He is tough, but suprisingly he is not as tough at home. He has a 4.63 era at home and a 2.93 era on the road. It should be a great game and a great series. Stay tuned.