One way to look at the weekend sweep at the hands of Arizona: The Giants are 8–3 in their last 11 games. Another way to look at it: No one’s running away with this division, the Giants most obviously.
I didn’t see much of the action, to be honest. I caught a few innings Friday night at Murio’s, with surprise guests Elbo and Boss, before I ducked into the Red Vic to see Notes On a Scandal (disappointing, but I’m hard to please when it comes to the cinema); I saw none of Saturday’s game and only the first half yesterday.
I’m still concerned with the pitchers’ walk rates. Morris again walked more than he struck out, and many of the 12 hits he surrendered came after falling behind in the count. (Leaving him in for the seventh? Bad move of the game, Boch.) Cain walked four, only K’d two, and pitched himself out of the game early, leading to the bullpen meltdown, which begets a question:
Does Cain give up so few hits (12 in 35 IP) because he’s often wild? In other words, if he threw more strikes, would some of those strikes get hit hard? If so, he’s what baseball people call “effectively wild,” but it leaves you with the feeling that a better pitcher — or Matt Cain with another year or two of experience — will stretch those 100 pitches over 9 innings, not 6.
As for the bullpen choke, if the relievers surrender a lead only once every two weeks, I’ll take it. One hiccup every 13 games or so. That’s an excellent ratio. I don’t have the numbers, but I suspect it’s also an impossible ratio. So I’m not too bent out of shape about Saturday’s game.
(The pain of the weekend was softened somewhat by my reward for the Giants’ sweep in L.A.: Erin’s ode to Barry posted Saturday on Blue Thoughts. High-five to Erin: a good sport, a great writer, and an unparalleled sense of humor.)
Friday, it was all about Doug Davis pitching slightly better than Barry Zito (3 walks, four Ks) and Ray Durham having a bad day at the office. Nuff said. It happens. Again, no reason to panic, never mind the title of this post.
Quick Rockies preview: It’ll be interesting to see if Durham, after getting spiked yesterday then staying in to homer off the Unit, plays tonight. He has excellent numbers against tonight’s starter Josh Fogg. If Durham doesn’t play, the Frandsen Watch officially commences. The Giants can’t afford to be short in the infield. Aurilia has played in every game and is starting to show the effects (6 for 35 and one XBH in the last nine games). Tomorrow: Ortiz v. rookie Taylor Buchholz, against whom the Giants are hitting 11 for 22 with six extra-base hits. Wednesday: Zito v. Jeff Francis, who almost never pitches well in S.F. (27.1 IP, 27 ER, 10 HR). Time to get back on track with at least two of three.
