This Is Not A Recording: Mets 9, Giants 6

More of the same for the Giants, who basically took the worst of the first two games of the season and combined them in Game 3 -- poor starting pitching over come by good offense, followed by leaving in the starter too long, and bad relief pitching -- especially in the 9th -- plus an extra helping of bonehead managing to lose it.

This time it was the Unit getting the Giants in an early hole, 3-0 to Johan Santana. That would be enough most days, but the Giants fought back to tie it at 3-3. Johnson and the bullpen immediately gave it all back and more, allowing 4 runs in the top of the next inning. Down to Santana again, the Giants looked like toast. Again. But they came back. Again.

The Giants scored 3 to get within 7-6, and got the tying run on base to lead off the 8th. But their rally died when they made an out on the bases (their 3rd of the day) on a busted hit-and-run, which was just a terrible idea by Bochy. It was a 3-2 count, but Travis Ishikawa was at the plate -- a big-time strikeout threat -- and the not-too-speedy Juan Uribe was on base. After the Giants gave up their requisite 2 runs in the 9th, the game was over.

Unfortunately, his is becoming the status quo for the Giants -- doing just enough to give yourself a chance, but not enough to win. It was less than 100 hours ago, they were 4 games over .500, hadn't lost any of their last 9 series, and were going for the sweep against the poor, pathetic Nats to go 5 under for the first time since 1994. Now they are 18-18 and have to avoid their own sweep at the hands of the mighty Mets, who's middle of the order has feasted on Giants pitching. It's not just them, either: The Nats scored a lot of runs, even in their losses (7 each), so it's been all homestand so far. Suddenly, it's the offense which has become their only hope. Strange days, indeed.

TOMORROW: Matt Cain for the block.

Runs!: Giants 11, Nationals 7

I guess the Nats pathetic pitching is worse than the Giant pathetic offense. At least for one game, there's no other explanation for what happened in the opener of the 3-game set at Mays Field. Not only did the Giants score 11 runs, but at one point the team which draws less walks than any team around actually drew 5 in a row -- the last 3 driving in runs. And that came after 2 runs scored when LF Josh Willingham whiffed on a can of corn off the bat of Fred Lewis in one of the most embarrassing efforts you'll see in the outfield. They also got clutch hits, including one from a reliever. So, there's that.

The only downside of the long inning was that The Unit seemed to stiffen up. Up to that point, Johnson had allowed 2 runs (both on solo HR's) through 5 innings, striking out 9 and not walking anybody. Afterwards, he couldn't record another out, going HR, single, wild pitch, double before being pulled. He won -- #298 lifetime -- kept his streak of dominant pitching (yes, he allowed 4 runs in 5 innings, but 9 K's/0 BB's is dominant) at home --to off-set his terrible pitching on the road. It also kept alive the possibility of The Unit going for win #300 at Seattle, which would be pretty damn cool. For that to happen, he'll have to beat Johan Santana and the Mets this weekend, so I wouldn't hold my breath. On the other hand, it is at home.

The bullpen made it interesting in the 9th, and Brian Wilson had to come in for the save after pitching 2 innings yesterday in LA, but he only had to throw 3 pitches -- Strike 1, Strike 2, and Strike 3 to Willingham. Wilson seemed a little more deliberate in doing his post-game crossed-arm salute to the sky, possibly due to the Casey Blake incident yesterday.

Don't look now, but the Giants have crept to 3 games over .500, and are just 4 games behind the Dodgers, and just a half-game behind Cincy for the NL Wild Card lead.

TOMORROW: Matt Cain takes his fast start (3-1, 2.61) to the mound against Nats rookie Jordan Zimmermann, who has a very nice K/BB rate (18/6), but has given up a lot of hits (26) and HR's (5) so far (23 innings), resulting in a 5.48 ERA.

O.M.G.: Giants 7, Dodgers 5

The Giants kept a streak alive by going against a trend. They won another series -- extending their streak of non-losing series to eight -- by winning a game in which they didn't score first. With the victory they're now only 3-14 when failing to score first. They did, however, continue a much happier trend -- scoring a lot of runs (for them) in the final games of series. On this road trip, they put 6 on getaway day in Chicago when needing a win Denver in the same situation, and 7 on getaway day in LA to take this series.

More than that, they won a game when several important factors broke against them -- Tim Lincecum wasn't as sharp as usual (though he still had great numbers everywhere but the "Runs" column), they continued to flail with men in scoring position (including two particularly poor AB's from Pablo Sandoval, who swung at first-pitch low-and-away sinkers to ground out with ducks on the pond), Juan Pierre could do no wrong, and Brian Wilson blew a save.

They won a game they needed to be able to feel like they're still in the race -- 4.5 out, but 2 over .500 -- even though it took 13 innings, they were on the road, and had every reason to believe they should lose. They scored in the 12th and 13th innings just when you might expect them to pack it in, After Wilson blew the save in the 12th, he came back to get the Dodgers 1-2-3 in the 13th, but that didn't stop him from fuming afterwards over mocking from Casey Blake, who took him deep to tie the game. Twitter, mohawks, mocking -- Brian Wilson is a walking controversy.

TOMORROW: The Giants come home to play the resurgent Nats, as The Unit takes on Daniel Cabrera at Mays Field.

Same Ol', Same Ol': Rockies 11, Giants 1

Not much to say about this one. The offense was non-existant, again. The Unit was bad on the road, again. The Giants yo-yoed between .500 and one game over, again. They lost when not scoring first, again (now 2-13, 11-0 when scoring first).

TOMORROW: If history keeps repeating, the Giants will score first tomorrow and win to split the series.

Unit-ed: Giants 3, Rockies 2

I'm sensing a trend in Big Unit starts -- dominant at home, bad on the road, dominant at home, bad on the road, dominant at home. This is a little worrisome as half his starts this year will come on thee road, but then again, half will come at home. It's too early to draw major conclusions from these results (especially the two bad starts), but this appears a classic glass half-full/half-empty, good news/bad news situation. Or, more precisely, a Good Unit/Bad Unit situation.

On Friday night, he was definitely the Good Unit. The result was 7 innings, 4 hits, 9 K's and no runs, as the Giants won 3-2. The game was well in hand -- 3-0 Giants -- through 7 innings before the Giants set-up men did their best blow the lead. Struggling righty set-up man Bob Howry allowed a leadoff HR to Chris Ianetta in the 8th, and Jeremy Affedt allowed 3 hits (though 2 were of the cheapie infield variety which a better SS then Renteria would've probably turned into outs) while only getting 2 outs.

Then Bruce Bochy did something he's been doing more and more after avoiding it the last season plus -- bringing in Brian Wilson to get a 4+ out save. In this case, Wilson was up for the task, though he needed the help of Renteria, who did a good job to stop Garrett Atkins' grounder in the hole from going into LF to keep the potential tying run from scoring. That loaded the bases, but the situation wasn't quite tough enough for the adrenaline junkie Wilson. So he ran the count to the next hitter, Ryan Spillbourghs to 3-2 before striking him out on a high fastball. Wilson walked one in the 9th (can't make it too anti-climactic) before striking out Ian Stewart to end it.

Again, the Giants offense did just enough to support the good pitching. Leading the way were Pablo Sandoval, who stayed hot, getting two hits (including an earth-shaking triple), and Travis Ishikawa, who stayed both hot and power-unlucky with two hits, including an RBI double, which would've been a HR in almost any other park. Ishikawa could easily have a couple of HR"s this year, but remains stuck on zero because of the park he plays in.

In fact, Fred Lewis, who's been slumping quite a bit lately, also has zero HR's. That gives the Giants three most impressive (and potential middle of the order) young hitters -- Lewis, Sandoval, and Ishikawa -- with 1 HR total. If this trend continues, I don't think the pitching can keep them afloat, but I'll enjoy it while I can. What I won't enjoy, however, is seeing Emmanuel Burriss continue to flail away at MLB pitching. I was in favor of giving Kevin Frandsen the starting 2B job before the season, and am even more so now. At this rate, it won't be long before those two players swap places -- Burriss to Fresno, Frandsen to The City.

.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.

Near Miss-tory: Giants 2, D-Backs 0

All my life as a baseball fan I dreamed of seeing a no-hitter. I've had a lot of close calls -- 8 2/3 innings from Scott Garrelts at a game I was at in 1990, 8 from Trevor Wilson, and several close calls by Matt Cain -- but never seen one. In that time, I've seen the Giants no-hit 5 times (three straight by guys named Kevin -- Gross, Brown, and Millwood). When the Giants signed Randy Johnson, I briefly considered the possibility he could be the one to break the streak, before writing it off due to his age and injury limitations. Today, he made me reconsider that dismissal.

The Unit went 6 no-hit innings before allowing a hit, and completed 7 innings in just 73 pitches. He was dominating and efficient, a rare at all, but especially so on the Giants notoriously wild staff. If he'd still had the no-no, he could've gone the route, and I still wonder why Bruce Bochy pulled him with such a low pitch count. No matter, though, as the struggling Bob Howry threw a perfect 8th inning, and Brian Wilson tossed a dominating 1-2-3 9th with 2 K's.

The pitching is in full domination mode right now, the last three starts all fantastic, but you must factor in the opponent. The D-Backs have had as much trouble scoring runs as the Giants, which showed itself this weekend: Each game resulted in a shutout, all decided by identical 2-0 scores. Six runs total.

Though they scored twice what the D-Backs did, the Giants were almost more inept, consistently leaving men at 3rd with less than 2 out. This has been an especially trait, seeing how the team doesn't hit for power and thus must rely on the little things. Still, a win is a win. And the Giants can use all of those they can get right now. And a 1-hit shoutout to preserve a series win might be is the highlight of the season so far.

TOMORROW: Off-day. The Giants will look to avenge their sweep at the hands of the Padres on Tuesday when they visit San Francisco. Matt Cain will take the hill, and with his luck, he'll probably be facing Jake Peavy. Well, what do you know, it is Peavy.

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.

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.

Nothing To See Here: Brewers 4, Giants 2

In their first game of the season, the Giants heralded starting pitching looked bad, but they won. In their second, it looked great, but they lost. It's not quite that simple of course -- Lincecum actually had good stuff on Opening Day, only lacking command, and Randy Johnson may have looked great, but he still gave up four earned runs in only five innings in a 4-1 Giants loss.

But don't pay too much attention to the Big Unit's 7.20 ERA, that stat betrays all the others -- only four hits and one walk to go with seven K's. His fastball was in the low 90's and crisp, the slider was breaking, and his change -- which he threw more tonight than he did all Spring, according to Mike Krukow -- was devastating. Johnson was done in by just two pitches -- they resulted in two HR's which knocked in all four Brewers runs. The first was a mistake: a hanging slider to Mike Cameron (previously 2 for 29 vs. the Unit) in the 2nd inning for a solo shot. The second was a fluke, a devastating one.

Johnson was cruising with two outs and nobody on in the 5th, when he gave up a double to Bill Hall (previously 0-14 vs. Johnson for his career). He followed by intentionally walking punch-and-judy hitter Jason Kendall to get to pitcher Yovanni Gallardo, which seemed like a decent move until you realize Kendall has had 3 HR's in 789 AB's (1 every 263 AB's) over the last two seasons while Gallardo has had 2 HR's in 49 AB's (1 every 24.5 AB's) over the same period. Make that 3 HR's in 50 AB's. Johnson made the pitch he wanted to -- an chest-high fastball -- but Gallardo went deep, becoming the first ever pitcher to take the Unit out of the park (I did say "fluke").

Suddenly a 1-1 game with 2 out in the 5th and the Unit dominating in his first start as a Giant, turned into 4-1 Brew Crew and the Giants wasting every good opportunity to score. Molina hit into a double play (shocker!) with men at 1st and 3rd with 1 out, and they wasted a 1st and 2nd, no out situation as well. Finally, they scored to pull within two runs and loaded the bases for Molina with two out, but he failed to come through. In other words, it was typical baseball -- your pitcher looks great, you bunch baserunners for the meat of your order, and you still get beat. Back at 'am tomorrow. Speaking of which...

TOMORROW: Matt Cain takes on Manny Parra in a rare 4:05 start at Mays Field. Twilight games often make for low-scoring affairs, and so do Matt Cain starts. But now that I've written that, look for a 12-11 game.

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: