Cubs 4, Giants 2, 10 innings: Barry Zito ‘07 had his second straight strong outing, and he faced a pitcher who did his best imitation of Barry Zito ‘03. Lefty Rich Hill has a huge curveball that sets up his high-80s/low-90s fastball, and tonight Hill was throwing strikes with the yakker at will. Nasty stuff. Rookies Davis and Ortmeier were the top two slots for the Giants, and they went a combined 0–for-10 with 7 Ks. Misch didn’t pitch well in the extra inning, but he was done in by bad defense — a passed ball by Molina and a brutal error by Aurilia at second. Without those misplays, I might still have my headphones on.
PLODAG: Zito. I give him this personal goal for 2007: Do not set a new career-worst ERA. If the Giants stay on rotation, he has six, perhaps seven more starts to drop below 4.48, his 2004 mark. He’s at 4.74 after tonight. If he averages a modest 6 innings per start, he’ll need to surrender fewer than 11 earned runs. If he averages a more robust 7 innings per start, his upper limit is 14 runs. 
Runner-up: Another strong inning from Brian Wilson, who apparently took his team picture after applying his N’Sync Facial Hair Halloween Kit. Crazy kid! Will he joke around and still dig those sounds when he grows up to be a man? Now he’s young and free, but how will it be…won’t last forever, it’s kind of sad.
