Giants 9, Rockies 5: The quote above could well describe the entire three games this weekend, or perhaps this entire home stand. From four games back Monday, doubled over and spitting blood after a back-alley mugging in the late-night streets of Denver's LoDo district, to tied with the Rockies for the wild-card lead is indeed a big swing.
But the quotee, Dave Flemming, was describing during the post-game show today Edgar Renteria's seventh-inning grand slam that put the Giants up 6-5, oh so improbably, a lead they thankfully padded the next inning. Watch it here. Improbably, I say, because the Giants earlier whiffed several times on scoring chances -- no really, I know it's hard to believe -- and the last thought on anyone's mind was that Renteria would bring them all the way back and then some. I was praying for a dunk shot over the second baseman's head, to be honest.
Wouldn't it be something if the two guys most maligned for underachievement this year, Zito and Renteria, lead the charge down the stretch? Zito's second-half surge is more than just a nice run; he seems to be on a mission. The back to back games he's now pitched against Colorado have been worth every dollar in his paycheck this week, and that's a lotta dollas, ladies and germs.
Did anyone catch Jeff Kent in his guest spot on the radio Saturday night? He said the key to Zito's resurgence is the few miles per hour he's regained on his fastball, plus a little more snap on the curve. We all tittered (and twittered) at the reports of Zito and Brian Wilson bunking together in L.A. this winter and playing long toss across Laurel Canyon (or was it over Mulholland Falls?). We chalked it up to yet more pre-spring training "best shape of my life" jibber jabber. But how you like them now? Zito is rattling off clutch performances by the speedo-full, and Wilson is able and ready whenever called -- nine times in the last two weeks, with his only meltdown the tough outing against Arizona earlier this week when Sergio Romo had to bail him out.
Let's get to the players of the week. On the mound, I have to go with Zito, who pitched twice and delivered both times. Ignore the ugly walk total from the Coors game; three came after Juan Uribe's error and produced a run. When the Rox made contact, they didn't do much. The stats don't do justice to the quality of his work that night. As for Saturday, I hated Bochy's decision to remove Zito after Hawpe's homer broke up the shutout in the ninth. He deserved to finish.
Among position players I declare a tie between Edgar Renteria (8 for 25, grand slam, double, triple) and Juan Uribe (7 for 24, two homers, two doubles, triple). Not only did they combine for eight extra base hits for the week, they each walked four times. Uribe might not win team MVP this year, but he has saved this team's ass time and again. I give a huge honorable mention to Eli Whiteside, who only went 5 for 22 but was in the thick of several rallies. He also threw out four of five Rockies basestealers this weekend.
As we head into the off day and a week in Philly and Milwaukee, the big question is whether the team truly wants Brad Penny. Outbidding the Marlins shouldn't be tough.
