2009 season thread

[west coast orange and black]

^
the "OO - REBAY" chants are sorely misguided and misplaced... and i can't stand 'em!

the original - the only - was impromptu at the play-offs.
rip, josé gonzales / juan uribe / josé uribe

[west coast orange and black]

frandsen recently improved to .333 or something like that.

i like the skills of andres torres but he is out with a hammie.
i think he did it while swiping second on the first pitch on his way to scoring the winning run in the 10th.

[west coast orange and black]

game 20 - wednesday, 29 april at willie mays field

giants 9, hated dodgers 3
giants take series 2 - 1

W – tim lincecum (2 – 1)
L – eric stults (2 - 1)

giants: 9 runs, 15 hits, 0 errors
the hated dodgers: 4 runs, 9 hits, 0 errors

giants record: 10 – 10 (3rd, -3)

giants HR: bengie molina (4)

notes:
bengie molina hit for 3 legs of the cycle and powered the giants to a series win over the hated dodgers. oh, what could have been had the giants not handed the middle game over on a platter. all 8 starters reached base safely as the giants played errorless ball.

the biggest of the big men:
bengie molina: 3-fer-5 (homer, triple, 4 rbi)
edgar renteria: 4-fer-5 (double, 2 rbi)
tim lincecum: 7+; 6h, 8k, 3bb; faced 25 batters through the first 7

[KHenry14]

Boy, Bengie leggin out a triple! I've lived to see the day! LOL A pretty good night, not because Timmy did well, but I was happy to see the nine runs!

BTW, did anyone else think it was odd that Torre took out Stultz right before he was going to face the worst hitter in the NL in Timmy? Why not let Stultz get him out and then bring in somebody? No way Timmy was going to get a hit, it just seemed a strange time to do that.

[west coast orange and black]

^
it was fun to see molina chuggin' 'round the bases. haha!

2 outs in the 3rd with lincecum up, but stults had just thrown his 67nd pitch in 2.2 innings / 17 batters.
it was already 5 - zip and maybe torre figured that if lincecum somehow got on the game could get out of reach... especially with the giants pitchers being so hot.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

It's good see Rentaria's hitting coming around with his 4 for 5 night. Suddenly Rentaria is hitting .275/.351/.435 and is second on the ballclub in RBI.

[west coast orange and black]

they're scared to pitch to molina. all 4 of his homers are solo jobs. haha...

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Any word on Sandoval's tight groin he had in the last game?

[west coast orange and black]

the rockies are in town for three:

friday, 01 may
johnson (1-2, 6.16) v jimenez (1-3, 7.58)

saturday
cain (2-0, 2.08) v marquis (3-1, 4.10)

sunday
zito (0-2, 5.24) v hammel (0-0, 5.59)

[west coast orange and black]

heard on the radio this morning that sandoval is slated to start tonight.
hope he's good to go with the dampness/rain and cold.

[west coast orange and black]

game 21 - friday, 2 may at willie mays field

giants 3, rockies 2

W – randy johnson (2 – 2)
L – ubaldo jimenez (1 - 4)

giants: 3 runs, 5 hits, 0 errors
rockies: 2 runs, 9 hits, 0 errors

giants record: 11 – 11 (2nd, -4.5 / -3)

giants HR: none

notes:
brian wilson nailed down the final 4 outs to preserve randy johnson’s career win #397. johnson was dominant struck out the fisrt 5 batters he faced; 6 thru 4; 8 thru 5. pablo sandoval improved to .316 with a single and triple. travis ishikawa put a dent in the popcorn sign that’ll stay there the remainder of the season a bondsian smash.

the biggest of the big men:
randy johnson: win #297; 7 inn; 4 scattered singles; 9 k; 0 bb; 94 pitches to 24 batters.
randy winn: stole third to position himself for the second run; sac fly for the third run.

[west coast orange and black]

game 22 - saturday, 2 may at willie mays field

rockies 5, giants 1

W – jason marquis (4 – 1)
L – matt cain (2 - 1)

rockies: 5 runs, 10 hits, 0 errors
giants: 1 run, 5 hits, 0 errors

giants record: 11 – 11 (2nd, -4.5 /-3)

giants HR: pablo sandoval (2)

notes:
the hitting and scoring woes continued as the giants managed but two hits out of the infield and grounded out 14 times against jason marquis, who went the distance. the giants continue to rank last in the league in both runs scored and home runs.

the biggest of the big men:
the defense played another errorless agme.
pablo sandoval prevented the shutout in the 9th with his solo home run.

[west coast orange and black]

game 23 - sunday, 3 may at willie mays field

giants 1, rockies 0 (10 innings)
giants take series 2 - 1

W – brandon medders (1 – 1)
L – manuel corpas (0 - 3)

giants: 1 run, 8 hits, 1 error
rockies: 0 runs, 3 hits, 1 error

giants record: 12 – 11 (2nd, -4.5 / -3)

giants HR: none

notes:
the giants have won their first five home series of the year. it marks the first time since moving to the city in 1958 that they have done so.

barry zito reduced his era to under 4 (3.99) as the giants squeaked by the coloradans in the 10th.

the biggest of the big men:
barry zito: 7 inn; 0 r; 2h; 23b; 101p; 4k; 1bb; 11go
rich aurilia: the game-winning rbi single to knock in steve holm

[KHenry14]

Another solid outing for Zito. That makes three in a row. Jeez, with any hitting behind him he'd be making national news.

But yesterday's game is probably indicative of how the team will win this year. That's why they wont get more than 81 wins this year unless something changes.

Latest internet rumor is Nick Johnson coming to us to take over 1B. I really like this guy but he sure has trouble staying on the field.

[west coast orange and black]

zito's last 3:


4/22 . . . . . .padres . . 6ip; 0r; 0er; 0h; 0k; 5bb
4/27 . . hated dodgers . . 6.1ip; 3r; 3er; 5h; 2k; 3bb
5/3 . . . . . .rockies . . 7ip; 0r; 0er; 2h; 4k; 1bb

totals . . . . . . . . . . 19.1ip; 3r; 3er; 7h; 6k; 9bb

[west coast orange and black]

game 24 - monday, 4 may at wrigley field

cubs 4, giants 2

W – ryan dempster (2 – 1 )
L – jonathan sanchez (1 - 2)

cubs: 4 runs, 5 hits, 0 errors
giants: 2 runs, 6 hits, 0 errors

giants record: 12 – 12 (2nd, -5.5 / -4)

giants HR: none

notes:
jonathan sanchez struggled from the opening pitch - hitting a batter and walking in a run - and lasted but 4+. he ended up allowing 4 earned, walking 6 and striking out as many and saw his era climb from 2.60 to 3.80.
the giants continue to struggle at the plate: they have scored but 4 runs in their past 3 games.
justin miller and bob howry shut the cubs down on no hits allowed in their 4 innings pitched.

the biggest of the big men:
pablo sandoval went 2-fer-4, with a double, to climb to .322. (hitting .380 since 16 april)
bengie molina’s 20th rbi keeps him atop all catchers in that category.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

Sanchez has a lot of time to mature but right now reminds me of what Sandy Koufax once described as the type of pitcher who has to have his best stuff to win. His good games become somewhat spectacular (lots of K's low hit totals, breezing thru innings) and make him seem better than he is (rightnow). But you onlyhave your best stuff every so often and therefore can not hope to be better than a .500 pitcher until you learn to win in the games you do not have your best stuff and struggle. I have hope for him.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I heard today on the radio that the Giants are 10-0 when they score first. And the Giants scored first in today's game vs the Cubs on a tree-run home run by Benji Molina. The Giants are up 3-1 right now in the 4th inning.

[west coast orange and black]

game 25 - tuesday, 5 may at wrigley field

giants 6, cubs 2,
2-game series tied, 1-1

W – tim lincecum (3 – 1 )
L – sean marshall (0 - 2)

giants: 6 runs, 11 hits, 0 errors
cubs: 2 runs, 5 hits, 0 errors

giants record: 13 – 12 (2nd, -5.5 / -4)

giants HR: bengie molina(5)

notes:
the giants improved to 11-0 when scoring first, which they did in the first frame on bengie molina’s 3-run home run. the bats fell silent ‘til the 8th, though, when 3 runs crossed home.

the biggest of the big men:
tim lincecum faced 26 batters in 7; 2er; 4r; 7k; 2bb; he lowered his era to 3.05.
bengie molina went 2-fer-3 with the 3 rbi; leads league in game-winning rbi; leads nl catchers in batting average and home runs.
renteria, aurilia, molina, winn and burriss collected 2 hits apiece.
merkin valdez and jeremy affeldt pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th, respectively.

[KHenry14]

Is it me, or is Merkin finding a place as the RH set up guy? It's nice to see him come back after what he's been through.

[west coast orange and black]

game 26 – wednesday, 6 may at coors field

rockies 11, giants 2

W – ubaldo jimenez (2 – 4 )
L – randy johnson (2 - 3)

rockies: 11 runs, 13 hits, 0 errors
giants: 2 runs, 5 hits, 0 errors

giants record: 13 – 13 (2nd, -6.5 / -5)

giants HR: none

notes:
randy johnson was in charge through the first three, then the wheels fell off in this game that had few bright spots for the giants. this is truly one to try to forget.

the biggest of the big men:
bengie molina picked off ryan spilborghs at third base a few pitches after spilborghs was called safe on a close play at third.

[west coast orange and black]

game 27 – thursday, 7 may at coors field

giants 8, rockies 3
2-game mini-series split, 1-1

W – matt cain (3 – 1 )
L – jason marquis (4 - 2)

giants: 8 runs, 12 hits, 0 errors
rockies: 3 runs, 4 hits, 3 errors

giants record: 14 – 13 (2nd, -6 / -5)

giants HR: bengie molina 2 (6,7)

notes:
the giants continue to hover ‘round .500 baseball, as they once again go up one game.
matt cain walked three in the first inning but was saved when todd helton bounced into a 6-4-3. the giants improved to 12-0 when scoring first.

the biggest of the big men:
bengie molina went 3-fer-5 with 2 home runs and 4 rbi. his average climbed to .310.
big man cain gave up no runs through 6 on 1 hit and 7 strikeouts. he did walk 5, though.

[west coast orange and black]

khenry14: Is it me, or is Merkin finding a place as the RH set up guy? It's nice to see him come back after what he's been through.

i think that bochy is gonna go with the hot hand, ken, and right now, it ain't howry.
though howry started out ok he has a couple'a blown saves while lefties are batting .400 against him and righties are near .300.

it has been nice, yer right, to see valdez out there after his tommy john surgery and so few games the last two seasons. i have always liked his stuff - he rares back and throws! - but am eager to see if he can stay within himself and gain a bit better control.

[west coast orange and black]

game 28 – friday, 8 may at dodger stadium

giants 3, hated dodgers 1

W – barry zito (1 – 2)
L – chad billingsley (5 - 1)

giants: 3 runs, 10 hits, 0 errors
hated dodgers: 1 run, 9 hits, 0 errors

giants record: 15 – 13 (2nd, -4.5 / -3)

giants HR: none

notes:
barry zito picked up his first 2009 win as he blanked the hated dodgers through 6 while scattering 8 hits and walking 2.
the giants improved to 13-0 when scoring first.

the biggest of the big men:
barry zito: 6ip; 1er; 8h; 2bb; 5k; 126p to 26 batters
the giants infield turned 3 double-plays.
brian wilson went 1.1 for the save

[9RoyHobbsRF]

who has less confidence?

ishikawa or sanchez?

god it is brutal to watch either of them