Real Sunshine, Real Grass, Real Baseball: Giants 1, Padres 0

It was great to see a giants game live today, great to see a businessman's special -- my favorite games -- and great to see Barry Zito pitch like something more than a shadow of his former self. He was far better than that -- throwing 7 shutout innings, striking out 5 and walking none. it was the second straight game in which a Giants starter with control issues had 5 K's with no walks, and the 5th straight game a Giants starter pitched very well.

Luckily for the Giants, they avoided dropping a second of those five by being shutout when they scored the game's lone run with 2 outs in the bottom on the 10th. As Jon Miller said on the postgame show, right now the best way to describe the Giants is "If they score, they win".

It seems I was wrong on my prediction of Schierholtz getting his first start, but I was close: Andres Torres got his first start instead, and scored the winning (and only) run. I would've gone with Nate, who is now the only Giants position player yet to start a game, but Bochy's hunch paid off.

Hell, he even put Pablo Sandoval in catching gear for the first time today, and gave Bengie Molina the day off (the day after Steve Holm was brought up to provide a real backup catcher -- I'm sure if that timing makes sense or not), and had both players play major roles in their victory. Sandoval caught a 10 inning shutout and made a couple of nice plays (and one bad throw as well). Molina came off the bench to win the game with a double, scoring Torres, who had singled and stolen second.

Torres showed today how much better he is than Eugenio Velez -- he made a great defensive play, helped with the bat, and looked fantastic on the bases. Meanwhile, Velez has shown to be a terrible defender and baserunner (despite his great speed). In the 10th alone, the difference between them was clear. After Torres got himself in scoring position, Velez had a chance to play the hero, and struck out. Worse, than that, he realize it. After swinging and missing at strike three, he waited around at home plate as if he thought he got four strikes. The ump had to tell him to go away, holding out three fingers as if to say, "Can't you count to three, moron?" Because Velez still has options, I wouldn't be surprised to see him return to AAA.

TOMORROW: Off-day.

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.

This Year's Jason Ellison?

In my first spring training post, I said exhibition games meant that "some prospect/reclamation project will become the dazzling phenom who hits .460 and fools you into thinking they might contribute this year (see: Ellison, Jason)." Well, it's starting to look like this year's prospect/reclamation project is 31-year-old OF Andres Torres, a 10-year minor leaguer who's spent the vast majority of the last six straight years in AAA.

In fact, in that time Torres has had more AB's in AA (305) than the majors (257). His line in the majors --.210/.258/.276 -- doesn't bode well for his chances. Nether does his pedestrian minor league line of .272/.363/.396, or his age, though he has had decent lines in AAA the last couple of years. Still, on most teams, Torres just sniff a roster spot. But on this Giants team, anything's possible -- especially when you're hitting .433 with as many AB's as any plater on the team.

It's a nice story for now, and will be a really nice story if he makes the opening day roster. A nice story for him, that is. For the Giants, not so much. They already have OF spots held for Randy Winn, Fred Lewis, Aaron Rowand, and Nate Schierholtz. That's four, right there. Though the waiving of Dave Roberts would seem to open a spot for a 5th OF/pinch-runner type, that would likely go to Eugenio Velez. So, could they keep six OF's? Sure -- like I said, anything's possible with this roster. And Velez's ability to play 2B makes him more than a pure OF. John Bowker could be in the running for that six OF spot, but he's young, still has options left (unlike Schierholtz), and could probably use a full year at AAA to see what he can do. Torres has already had that year at AAA -- five times or so -- and the Giants might take that, and his spring, to heart. That's just the kind of short-sighted, bone-headed crap they do.