Are We Having Fun Yet?: Padres 2, Giants 1

Not much to write about this one. Again, the Giants couldn't score (for the second straight night their one run was a pathetic excuse for one which came on an out and nearly a double-play). Again, they left a man at 3rd with one out to cost them the run which could've sent the game into extra innings. Again, they wasted a great pitching performance -- though for a welcome change it came from Jonathan Sanchez, who'd been struggling. Again, the Giants lost 2-1. Again, they lost at San Diego -- 0-5 to start the year.

The Giants fell below .500 for the first time since April, and things are looking pretty bleak from the offensive side. They can hit with no one on, but they can't get a big hit to drive in a run to save their lives, and the panic at the plate in those situations is palpable. The panic in the manager's office is pretty obvious too, judging from Bruce Bochy's comments on the feeble offense on Tuesday, and by the fact he wrote out a lineup for Wednesday with Aaron Rowand leading off. That might have been the one bright spot -- Rowand had 3 hits.

TOMORROW: Tim Lincecum loses 2-1 to ex-Giants Kevin Correia as the Giants set a major league record by stranding runners at 3rd with less than 2 out in every inning.

Sabean FTL: Nationals 6, Giants 3

I'm pinning today's Giants loss squarely on Brian Sabean. He's the one who gave away Shairon Martis, the rookie who's gone 5-0 to start the season while pitching for a team with only 11 wins, and who held the Giants to 2 hits to keep them from sweeping the Nats. It was 2006 when Sabean traded Martis, fresh off a no-hitter in the WBC that Spring, for crusty vet Mike Stanton in a foolish attempt to make a stretch run. The Giants were barely at .500 and were several pieces away from serious contention, but Sabean made a Sabeanic move by trading the future for a futile shot at the present.

Today, the rookie, pitching for the major-league minimum, beat one the highest paid starters in baseball, Barry Zito. And that's saying something these days. Again, Zito pitched well -- though his line is great because he tired in the 7th, and had some his runners score after he left -- but he wasn't as good as Martis. The Giants could get the sweep, but took the series to keep their streak alive, and prepare for a weekend series against the Mets -- including two nationally-televised games (FOX Saturday, ESPN Sunday).

TOMORROW: Jonathan Sanchez tries to find his groove as he takes on John Maine.

Feelin' Frisky: Giants 3, Dodgers 1

Since the Giants started 2-7, they've gone on a 13-6 run fueled by great starting pitching, a competent bullpen, and some of the ugliest offensive baseball you'll ever see. It was more of the same tonight, as the suddenly dominant Barry Zito did his thing against the Dodgers for the second time in a week and a half, and the Giants offense scratched out 3 runs to beat the previously 5-0 Chad Billingsley.

For the fourth straight time out, Zito held the opponent scoreless through the first 5 innings. For the first time in those starts he allowed a run before the 7th, and even then he came within inches -- as Fred Lewis allowed a 2-out RBI double by Casey Blake to tick off the edge of his glove. That tied the game at 1-1, and seemed to be yet another bad break for Zito, who seems to have inherited Matt Cain's poor luck from the last 2 seasons. But for once this season, Zito caught a little luck in the next half inning when the Giants scored 2 runs while he was still the pitcher of record.

So Zito got first first win of the year when Brian Wilson nailed down another 4-out save, in what seems to be a growing trend -- Bruce Bochy going to Wilson in the 8th when the right-handed set-up men (previously Howry, tonight Merkin Valdez) struggle to close out the inning in a tight game. Wilson was up to the pressure, and so were the Giants, an interesting turn in what has become a fascinating sequence of events over the last couple of days: First Manny's suspension, then the Dodgers blow a game they led 6-0 after 1 inning against Washington (the worst team in baseball) to snap their 13-0 start at home, and finally the Giants win in LA against the Dodgers ace in their toughest matchup of the series.

Suddenly, LA looks vulnerable, and the Giants look feisty. Of course, while the Dodgers may struggle to score without Manny, we know the Giants will struggle to score. But if the Giants win on Saturday, and head into Sunday going for a sweep behind Tim Lincecum to pull within 2.5 games, I'll be too drunk on optimism and momentum to listen to that kind of reason.

TOMORROW: The biggest game of the year so far (as if that meant anything) -- Jonathan Sanchez vs. Eric Stultz.

Insert Title Here: Cubs 4, Giants 2

Didn't see the game. Don't plan to either, though I have it on TiVo. It didn't look like much to see -- Jonathan Sanchez too wild again, offense dominated by Ryan Dempster (who shared a flight with my wife and I to Australia, where we were going to get married in 2004). Ho-hum. Move along. Besides, there's more baseball around the corner: I have the next three days off work -- during which the Giants will play two day games, including tomorrow.

The good news from tonight: Pablo Sandoval is back where he belongs -- hitting .320+ with gap power -- and so is Fred Lewis, who's hitting .312 and taking his fair share of walks. Though I'd love to see him take a couple of trots around the bases before too long, if you catch my drift (Chicago and Colorado aren't bad places to find your power stroke -- hint, hint). Another bright side: The 'pen. The Giants got 2 shutout innings out of both Bob Howry, who's been struggling, and Justin Miller, who'd been surprisingly good.

TOMORROW: An awesome fucking display of baseball -- Tim Lincecum at Wrigley Field in an 11:20 PDT start. God bless America!

.500 And Loving It: Giants 5, D-Backs 3

The streak of great performances by the Giants starters is over, but the Giants ability to do just enough to win continued. Of course, it was the D-Backs, so I'm not sure just what that really means yet, but a win is a win. And when you take 6 of 7, you don't ask questions. You just keep smiling. And when a win gets you back to .500, that goes double.

The Unit was malfunctioning tonight, unable to throw strikes consistently, walking 7, and getting yanked in the 4th inning. It being his first start back in Arizona, I'm willing to cut him a little slack, but his ERA is 6.16 after 4 starts, and one of those a 1-hitter for 7 innings. Johnson was able to hold the damage to a minimum -- 2 runs -- and keep the Giants in the game. This allowed the Giants to storm back with 4 runs in the 5th to take the lead. The big blows were a 2-out 2-run double by Renteria after a great AB, and a HR by the very next batter, Randy Winn.

Though they tacked on another run later, that was all the Giants would need. Justin Miller allowed a run in his 1.2 innings, but Jonathan Sanchez, Bob Howry, Jeremy Affeldt, and Brian Wilson are held Arizona scoreless. The pen has been mighty for some time now -- especially the Affeldt, Howry, Wilson troika -- but it's been overshadowed by an even more impressive rotation.

TOMORROW: The Giants go for the rare road sweep behind Matt Cain, who will attempt to raise his record to 3-0. John Garland will start for the D-Backs.

In The Zone: Giants 5, D-Backs 1

Again, this was how Brian Sabean drew it up before the season -- great starting pitching, decent enough hitting, and solid defense. The defense and the hitting haven't been very dependable this year, but the pitching is starting to look like something the team can count on.

Counting on opposite-field HR's by Edgar Renteria, and getting 12 K's from your starter is not something they can do on most nights, but when Lincecum pitches it's certainly not surprising. Unfortunately, it's also not suprising to see the Giants leave runners at 3rd with less than 2 out again and again. Tonight, Aaron Rowand did it twice himself, and he wasn't alone. But when Lincecum is on, it doesn't matter much, as long as you score him a couple.

Rowand helped him off to a good start with a fabulous play to save a run in the 1st inning, cutting off a Stephen Drew double into the gap with a quick slide, then popping up and, in one motion, hitting the cutoff man with a strong throw. Lincecum then struck out Mark Reynolds to keep him there, and got out of the inning unscathed, going 8 innings and allowing only a single run and walk to go with the dozen K's (he struck out 13 D-Backs in SF less than a week ago).

The Giants managed to score 5 runs despite their lack of good situational hitting, mainly because of Bengie Molina, who hit one HR with the bases empty, and one ringing double with the bases full, driving in 3 runs total. He may not be the ideal cleanup hitter, but he's our cleanup hitter, dammit. Other highlights included Pablo Sandoval's 2 hits and a walk (yes, you read that right), and Fred Lewis chipping in 2 more hits to raise his average to .360.

For six straight games, the Giants have had dominant starting pitching -- not just in terms of results, but also peripherals -- and have won 5 of those 6 games. Lincecum has been the poster boy of the rotation, and for good reason, but it's nice to see all 5 guys contributing so well at once. It's gotten so good that the team can skip Jonathan Sanchez after a great start and not skip a beat., there might have been some controversy over choosing him and not Zito, but not when The Albatross goes out and mows down a division rival in a 1-0 extra inning win. It's too early to take these types of numbers too seriously, but there's no reason we shouldn't enjoy it.

Impotent: D-Backs 2, Giants 0

It's good to see the pitching is back. Not that there was any question in my mind Lincecum would bounce back, but it was still nice to see. Of course, it was not nice to see that performance wasted by the Giants offense, which continues to be anemic on a good night and non-existent on a bad one. Tonight was a bad one.

Both teams are playing so poorly offensively, it's to know how much to credit the pitching. When Dan Haren continues to dominate while getting no support (1 run in 3 starts), it's clear he's that good. The same can obviously said for Lincecum, especially on a day when he tied his career-high with 13 K's.

Add to Lincecum's dominance the performances of Cain and Sanchez, and there's plenty of reason for excitement about the Giants young pitching. Unfortunately, until they trade for Albert Pujols the offense comes around, they will suffer many wasted efforts and earn lots of undeserved L's and ND's. Today, they left two men at third with less than two outs, one in the 1st inning. Conversely, Arizona did really come close to scoring until the 9th, when they plated two to win it.

Also unfortunately, the Giants haven't gotten much from the older guys in the rotation -- Zito and Johnson. They'll never get anything from Zito, but I'm still holding out a lot of hope for Johnson. Speaking of which...

TOMORROW: The Big Unit takes on D-Back youngster Max Sherzer as the Giants try to avoid a third straight series loss.

Dealin': Giants 2, D-Backs 0

Now that's more like it.

Pitching, defense, and just enough O -- that's what this team looked like in the catalog when I ordered. Jonathan Sanchez was dominant against a team who's hit him well in the past (and shut down Connor Jackson, who'd owned him). Fred Lewis kept hitting, and stopped misplaying flyballs (at least for one night). The bullpen finished off the effort, Wednesday night's goat Bob Howry getting a key strikeout when it was needed to pick a Bengie Molina error, and Brian Wilson notching his first save of the year. Just like they drew it up.

That doesn't all mean a lot -- certainly not as much as the six piss poor outings which preceded it -- but it was nice all the same. It was also nice to see longtime minor leaguer and 31-year old rookie Andres Torres hit just his second career HR and then sprint around the bases as if he thought he was on the 24 second clock. It was also good to see my first KNBR post-game wrap (featuring Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, Jon Miller, Dave Fleming) of the year. Unfortunately, the post game show this year looks worse than ever -- some forgettable guy and a stumbling, mumbling JT Snow (Sorry, JT).

The Diamondbacks were struggling almost as bad as the Giants coming in, so hopefully they can get well against Arizona. Speaking of which...

TOMORROW: Ace Tim Lincecum tries to get well -- from a slow start, and from an ailment which has caused him to lose some weight and velocity -- against Doug Davis.

A Giant Problem: Padres 6, Giants 3

It's much too early in the season to make any kind of long-term judgments about the Giants, but an alarming trend has begun to show itself. We all knew thee starting rotation could be a huge strength for the team, but the dirty little secret no one wanted to mention were all the questions on the staff -- three youthful, relatively inexperienced starters, two old folks (one in age, the other in stuff) with decline questions.

So far, we've a little bit of everything -- Lincecum and Sanchez were amped and wild, and wasted great strikeout stuff by falling behind hitters. Zito still looks done, and while Randy Johnson looked good, he could break down at any moment. Cain was solid, but he hasn't proven to be over the occasional youthful wildness, either. Because they're not eating very many innings -- only Cain got past the 5th -- the bullpen is being taxed. This is a recipe for disaster, especially with so much youth in the 'pen -- Valdez, Hinshaw, Martinez*.

Sanchez's performance on Saturday night was maddeningly familiar. He was very successful when he got the ball over the plate against the Padres -- at least when he wasn't pitching to Henry Blanco -- but he spit the bit in the 5th, done in primarily by a walk to Jake Peavy. He almost recovered to get out of it, retiring Brian Giles on a shallow fly with the bases loaded, but got burned on a game-deciding, two-out, three-run double by Adrian Gonzalez. Sanchez tempted fate and lost, and when you're up against Peavy that's all it takes to lose.

The Giants offense didn't pick him up, and can't be counted on to bail out many starters from big deficits. They look a little feisty, like they could be decent, but they're not carrying anybody. That means the starters need to pull it together quick or the Giants could find themselves at the bottom of the NL West. Which is kind of like being the flabbiest, most bruised up stripper at the club. Bottom of the barrel time.

* According to the excellent Andrew Baggarly, Joey Martinez is still in the ICU for precautionary reasons, but could be back pitching as early as the end of May.

TOMORROW: The Giants send their top dog out to avoid the embarrassing sweep at the hands of the downtrodden Pads as Lincecum takes on the crafty Chris Young.

The Big Ugly

This year's Giants team intrigues me. They should be mediocre at best, and bad if a few things (namely, age and injury) don't go their way. Their offense is well below average, not boasting one legitimate middle-of-the-order hitter. Their defense is nothing special, with a few real question marks. Their bullpen is still largely unproven.* But their rotation, on the other hand, looks to be a strength, and could be a tremendous strength.

Everybody knows about reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum. Matt Cain has been one of the most underrated starters in baseball over the last few years (mainly because of the bad record he's compiled due to fact the team scores an average of -1.6 runs a game in his starts). Jonathan Sanchez seems to be an up-and-comer, and was one of the top strikeout pitchers in baseball among starters last season. Barry Zito is probably a lost cause. That leaves Randy Johnson, and on his left may hang much of the potential and intrigue for this Giants team.

When the Giants signed Johnson this year, it seemed like a good deal -- he still strikes out a lot of guys, had decent overall numbers last year (3.91 ERA, 1.24 WHIP), and stayed relatively healthy (184 IP). But the deal has gotten better and better ever since. First it came out that Johnson's back wasn't completely healed from surgery last season, and is much better now. Then he showed up in camp and reportedly started teaching Matt Cain all sorts of tips on pitching. Now, he's started actually pitching in games, and the results are dominating. Today, pitching against his old club, the D-Bags, The Unit dominated, putting up this line: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 7 K.

If he can stay healthy and put up numbers as good as or better than last year (playing half his games in a much better pitcher's park), he could give the Giants a powerful, potentially dominating top three starters with Lincecum and Cain. If Sanchez can continue to harness his potential, they could have four starters who strike out as many as any in the game (all in the top 22 of the NL last year in K/9). Reports out of Arizona even have Zito throwing harder this year and looking much more athletic after his rigorous off-season training program ("He's in the best shape of his life!!!"). If he could stay even around league average, and the others thrive, they could potentially have one of the best rotations in baseball. In their park, that could keep them in contention for a bad NL West even with a weak offense.

Of course, the more likely scenario is Johnson is effective, but misses time due to injury. Sanchez probably puts up some great outings, but also suffers through some growing pains. Cain could easily continue to suffer from poor run support. Lincecum could... No, I refuse to admit that Lincecum is anything less than super-human. The team very well suck, they may go weeks between home runs, but we will always be able to rely on little Timmy for entertainment. Speaking of which, here's Tim (and Randy Johnson) in the entertaining new ad for the video game MLB 2K9 (for which, Lincecum is the cover boy):



* The 'pen suffered a potentially major blow today when it was announced that Sergio Romo is hurt. Romo was fan-freakin'-tastic as a rookie last year (3-1, 2.12 ERA, 34 IP, 16 H, 33 K, 8 BB), and the team was/is counting on him to play a big role this year, so all us Romosexuals need to keep our fingers crossed.

BREAKING NEWS: GIANTS SIGN RANDY JOHNSON

The Giants just got a whole lot uglier. They also now have three Cy Young winners in their starting rotation (the last team to boast that was the 2002 Atlanta Braves, with John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux).

That's right, the Giants have signed Bay Area native and future Hall of Famer, Randy Johnson. The five-time Cy Young Award winner has 295 victories, so if he can stay at all healthy next year, he should rack up his 300th in in a Giants uniform, and has a shot at 5,000 K's (His 4,789 strikeouts are second most in history to Nolan Ryan).

According to the San Jose Mercury News' Andrew Baggarly, it's a one-year contract worth a base salary of $8 million, with incentives with could add another $5 million. Not bad for a guy who went 11-10 with a 3.91 ERA in 30 starts last year with the D-Bags (2.41 after the All-Star break). He also had some good-looking peripheral stats -- 3.93 K/BB, 8.46 K/9 (6th in NL). So far, The McCoven generally seem pleased, with a only a few of the "OMG! He's 45! Sabean raids AARP again!" variety.

The Giants aren't exactly building their 2009 squad like they're re-building. It's more like they're trying to ad the final pieces to a championship puzzle -- a couple of experienced bullpen arms in Bob Howry and Jeremy Affeldt, An aging SS in Edgar Renteria, and an ancient SP in Randy Johnson. But none of those players are signed for more than two years, and none for as much as $10 million in any season. Sure, it would've been nice to have Teixeira, but that kind of money -- along with the growing albatross that is The Barry Zito Contract -- could've hamstrung the team for years if it didn't work out. And if they happen to over-perform, then all the better.

These lesser deals, while they may be lipstick on a pig -- or worse -- should not affect the team's long-term development. In other words: So far, so good. But Sabean did say recently that a deal for Johnson could open up the door for a trade of Jonathan Sanchez for a bat. If the bat is young, quality, plays a corner infield position, and has a reasonable contract, then so be it. If he ends up panicking that the offense may suck, and unloads Sanchez for a Jorge Cantu-like stopgap, then I will be greatly displeased.

In the meantime, though, I'll maintain my (slightly) improved opinion of Sabean. And the thought of this rotation makes me feel very excited:

Lincecum
Johnson
Cain
Sanchez
Zito

That's the NL leader in K's followed by #13, #8, and #22. < cough >Then Barry Zito< /cough > Again, my excitement is tempered by the possibility of a trade -- and because I'm afraid Bruce "Old School" Bochy will look at that list and see Zito as the #2 starter. But until then -- or another move the D-Bags or Dodgers -- the Giants have the best rotation in the NL West. And that makes me feel very much like this: