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.