Cain throws an absolute gem, and we let the game get away in 10.
Of course the Gyros' continual lack of execution with runners on base killed us, but in the end, it was a foolish Dusty Baker-eque managerial decision that sealed the deal.
It's not all on Bochy of course, but all of us in Giants Nation feel like Bobby Howry is THE LEAST trustworthy arm in our pen.
Every time Lurch Howry manages to pitch a scoreless inning, we all breathe a sigh of relief. We don't feel that way with Affeldt, Miller, or even Romo and Medders.
I swear to you on my life, I groaned aloud and wondered why Howry was still in the game to pitch a second inning. I bet you all did too. I could feel the uncertainty and was talking to myself the whole time. It seemed inevitable. Then of course, wide-eyed rookie Drew Stubbs, who had a silver sombrero going, crushed a ball into left field.
I wanted to throw out a few musings on the last two games though...
-- Zito pitched one helluva game on Wednesday. I had my misgivings about it. All the signs were there for a less than stellar outing. As you may have read in this article by my colleague PJ, Zito's numbers when working with Bengie Molina are far worse than when he works with any other catcher. That was strike one. Strike two of course is the bandbox known as Great American Ballpark, where balls fly out toward the Ohio River constantly. But, Zeets bucked the trend and threw 6 strong shutout innings.
Perhaps if Zeets had been given the opportunity to work another inning, Howry wouldn't have been called upon to pitch two on Thursday.
-- Not sure why I never noticed this, but Bronson Arroyo's bizzare leg kick reminds me of a pirate. He literally kicks his erect leg straight up and out, like a 2x4 attached to his thorax. I almost pulled my hammy and butt muscles just thinking about doing it...
-- In the second inning on Wednesday, Arroyo struck out Edgar Renteria on three pitches. To call them offspeed is being generous. 66mph, 74, and 76 consecutively on the radar gun. Grab some pine, meat.
-- Bengie Molina walked TWICE on Tuesday... STOP THE PRESSES.
-- Despite Garko's ofer on Thursday, he seems to be heating up. We'll need that in Denver.
-- Oh yeah... great graphic on CSN on Wednesday... The Giants lead MLB in shutouts with 16. The next closest team? Cincy with 11. We're kicking ass.
-- Krukow was in rare form in this series. I'm seriously thinking of compiling a book of "Krukowisms" or "Krookisms". Don't steal my idea, I think this means its copyrighted.
On Matt Cain's multiple bloop hits allowed:
"(Cain) is leaving some of his brain on the broken bat singles"
and of course...
About Jonny Gomes's aggressive approach:
"That's a yank-hack... he's trying to lift and separate."
Love that guy!
-- This Denver series is huge, and will play a huge part in whether Los Gigantes can hang in the Wild Card race. We're currently back 2 games of the Rockpile...
A sweep of course would put us in the lead by two games, with 2 out of 4 bringing us keeping us at the status quo. (God I sound like Tim McCarver... sorry)
Of course if we get swept... we'd be back 6 games. Though not totally insurmountable... that would be absolutely devastating. This is where it counts, boys...
We've got The Spaniard, Money Martinez, and Timmy going against Colorado with Zeets pulling up the rear. Let's do this.
-- ESPN has decided to cover the NL West! Tim Kurkjian (my favorite Armenian sportswriter!) wrote an article about the SF/COL race. The headline is "Giants don't have the bats to keep up with the Rockies".
Well, that may be true on paper, but they don't have the arms to compete with us. We can shut them down in their own yard.
Jay Mariotti and Tim Cowlishaw were slobbering all over the Giants on Around the Horn yesterday. I like it.
Let's kick ass and take names.
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