Giants 3, Nats 2: My excitement about the four-game sweep is tempered by the state of the sweepees. Them Nats're in a bad way. Half their players and most of the good ones are on the DL, and they had to call up back-to-back AAA fodder to round out the rotation. Still, the Giants made it interesting by not hitting or throwing strikes or playing very good defense in the final innings today, a surefire way to not sweep most of the time.
It's easy to untemper my excitement, though, with the realization that the Giants -- yes, these Giants, the ones I (and you and you and you, and yes, you) thought by now would be about 40 games out of first place -- are five games back and generally playing worthwhile baseball. Not great baseball or dominating baseball, but the $17 face value of my bleacher seat 14 times a year doesn't feel like grand theft larceny.
And with draft gurus raving about the Giants amateur picks for the second year in a row, the nuclear winter of the post-Bonds future doesn't seem so toxic: a little more Marshall Plan, a little less Mad Max. If you hadn't noticed, three of the Giants' five first round picks from last summer are thriving. All are a year removed from high school: lefty and top pick Madison Bumgarner is posting excellent numbers in Low-A. Righty Tim Alderson was assigned to High-A, to one of the nastiest hitters leagues in the minors, and he's doing well, too. Second baseman Nick Noonan is Bumgarner's teammate and his numbers don't scream "thriving" (.288 / .318 / .438), but at 19 years old he gets some slack. Even younger is Angel Villalona, the Dominican babyface and unanimous #1 prospect in the organization this spring. He's struggled a bit but no one seems too worried.
But back to today's game:
PLODAG: Randy Winn with a single, a double, two RBI, a walk, and a key catch in the bottom of the 8th. Funny how these older guys get rejuvenated when a) they're in a contract year or b) their team makes it clear they're looking for excuses to play younger guys. Winn's been hot since the start of May.
The Upside: Brian Wilson with a real save. No three easy outs with a three run lead kind of save. Wilson entered the game in the 8th with the bases loaded, coaxed a screaming line drive that Winn ran down to prevent three runs, then finished it up in the ninth even though Castillo made an ugly throwing error behind him.
