I'm listening to the post-game wrap and Duane Kuiper just said that Alex Hinshaw was sent down and Steve Holm brought up right after the game. The Merc is reporting that Pablo Sandoval will catch tomorrow, and Hank Schulman wrote the same thing today, noting that Sandoval sort of became Barry Zito's good-luck catcher last year, but no word yet of the roster switch. UPDATE: KNBR just played a post-game clip of Bochy talking about the roster move: "A safer way to go right now."
On to tonight's game....
Giants 8, Padres 3: I almost wrote this afternoon before the game that a split of the Padres series would make me feel warm 'n' fuzzy, but the day job and the prospect of Jake Peavy and Chris Young pitching for San Diego made me shrug it off.
But whaddya know -- tonight it was Edgar Renteria vs. Jake Peavy, it wasn't close, and now the Giants are guaranteed at least a split. Renteria hit the first ever grand slam off Peavy. First ever! I can see why this became #1: a first-pitch slider that hung longer than John Holmes in a Finnish sauna.
Travis Ishikawa also had a great game with the bat: a double and a walk off Peavy and a two-run single off Luis Perdomo, the Giants' Rule 5 reject. Ishikawa's walk perhaps was the at-bat of the game, as it loaded the bases just before Renteria's slam in the fourth.
Matt Cain wasn't dominant but somehow shrugged off nine hits in six innings. It helps that he didn't walk anyone. For those keeping an eagle eye on Bochy's pitching management, Cain was removed after the sixth and 102 pitches, and it was absolutely the right move. Cain threw 21 pitches in the sixth, with batters fouling off a ton of two-strike pitches.
