Giants 1, Reds 0: If you care deeply about a pitcher's win-loss record, you might think Barry Zito got shafted tonight. He threw six beautiful shutout innings that could have been no-hit, save for a couple excuse-me bloopers. There was every reason to believe he could have gone nine, but Bochy pinch-hit for him in the top of the 7th.
It was the right move. No score, Giants had men on second and third with two out, their best chance to finally score, and Fred Lewis, swinging well lately, pinch-hitting. He popped out.
But if you don't care about a pitcher's won-loss record, tonight you call Barry Zito a winner because more than any other Giant, he helped his team win. He got a no-decision, but he won the game for the Giants.
Guess who got the RBI double to push across the only run of the game in the 8th? No peeking. Nate Schierholtz. And if Nate isn't starting tomorrow...well, as they would say over at
McCovey Chronicles:
/throws self down stairs
Since Freddy Sancehz is scheduled to be off again tomorrow it seems to me to be very likely that Velez will once again be playing 2B instead of LF. I will be shocked if Bochy chooses to go with Uribe at 2B moving Velez to LF and thus benching Schierholtz against a righthanded starting pitcher like Harang.
3-2, 2.36 since the break. Holla!
(Kudos to Bochy for figuring out exactly how far the Zeetzer can go before imploding)
Howry needs to be put down.