"Bonds also walked to start the rally in the 7th. As he trotted to first and the crowd booed, I said to the guy next to me, “It’s a good thing when your guy walks to lead off an inning. Sheesh.”"

I like the booing. I really do think that the loud booing when a pitcher walks Bonds gets into their head, especially if they don't immediately get the next guy out. I think Setup Men and Closers need a degree of cockiness, and the booing says "Oh, so you aren't actually good enough to face our best guy"

I agree with you that Brad Hennessey looks (or for me, a radio guy, sounds) better out of the bullpen. Listening to Jon Miller call those two strike outs made me a believer!

Hennessey is definitely making strides. He isn't wasting time nibbling. He's just going after 'em.

As much as I agree with Josh about the booing getting inside pitcher's heads, there is nothing more deflating when the guys around Barry start producing. And when our pitching keeps us in games, the issue of walking him becomes that much more stressful for managers.

Can we thank Bochy for Hennessey's new-found niche? Setup man, who'd have thunk it?
But Benetiz! [picture of Wiley Coyote's jaw dropping to ground] WHIP down to 1.30, no BBs for the 5th game in a row! Is it time to believe? Is it time to knock on wood??!?

Actually Reeky, Hennessey was a set-up man at the end of last season as well, and looked as good as I'd ever seen him (2-3 mph more on his fastball, harder, sharper break on his slider, and a more aggressive style). This year, he's just picking up where he left off, and has even been quoted as saying it has helped his approach, forcing him to do just what BawLa talked about above: going right after guys instead of nibbling.

Barton: I was wrong, you were right (re: how to get to 93 wins). Since there are 27 games a month (to get to 162) I will double up, 2 months, 54 games. My (wrong) thinking was 2 games over 500 X 2 was 29 wins, 25 losses. Clearly, over 6 months, this gives 87 wins. To get to 93 wins, a team would have to finish two months with a record of 31 - 23. Sol, after Aoril, we were on a path to win 87 games, not 93 as I claimed.

Josh, you should check your memory. I think of a setup guy as 8th, maybe 7th inning when ahead or tied, followed by the closer. Below are Hennessey's last 12 games of 2006...6 starts, and the relief appearances always followed by 2 or more random pitchers. Not a typical setup man. I don't think ol' Cream of Wheat liked the setup/closer system.

Oct 1 - 6th inning after Schmidt, 3-3 game, gave up run to lose, 3 pitchers after him
Sep 22 - 3rd inning after Sanchez, 4-5 game, gave up 2 runs, 4 pitchers after him
Sep 20 - 5th inning after Schmidt, 0-3 game, no runs, 3 pitchers after him
Sep 15 - started
Sep 4 - started
Aug 30 - started
Aug 24 - started
Aug 19 - started
Aug 14 - started
Aug 9 - 6th inning after Morris, 2-3 game, gave up run, 2 pitchers after him
Aug 5 - 10th inning after Lowry/Wilson/Kline, 1-1 game, gave up run to lose
Aug 2 - 7th inning after Schmidt/Kline, 6-3 game, gave up 3 runs in 2 innings, 2 pitchers after him

Man it was tough looking at those old box scores, with all those pitching changes...it may not be perfect, but it's better this year!

I remember just fine, Reeky.

2006 Hennessey in relief: 22 G, 40.2 IP, .211 BAA, 3.32 ERA

2006 Hennessey starting: 12 G 58.2 IP, .276 BAA, 4.91 ERA

Ooops, somehow the last part of my above comment was cut off:

I think you chose the wrong cross-section of the season. In the 3 weeks prior to the game log you showed, Hennessey pitched 5 straight times in relief (in addition to the three straight you showed), all of which occured in the 6th inning or later:

7/9 -- 7th and 8th innings
7/23 -- 6th and 7th innings
7/28 -- 8th inning
7/30 -- 8th inning
7/31 -- 9th inning

9 IP, 5 H, 2 ER

Sorry Josh, I just don't see the pattern. You say "Hennessey was a set-up man at the end of last season" and I give you the end of last season. Then you cite 5 of the 8 games in July. It's no big deal, except Bochy might be trying to find his Linebrink -- which I never connected Hennessey to in any way -- while Papa Alou seemed to throw the righties/lefties out there randomly.
Of course, tonight's Lincecum et al game looked more like those 2006 box scores, with short painful outings and lots of them. I hope we can just chalk it up to experience!

When the Giants used a 1st Round draft choice on Henny (picked before Lowry and Linden in 2001) the scouting report was he had a devastating slider. Two back tumor surgeries later that slider seemed to have been removed as well. Are we finally seeing the resurrection of the pitch that made him the #19 pick in the draft?

Oops, sorry my computers going a little funny on me (you know, in the head).