Saturday, August 22, 2009

The PG Beat: Miller and Valdez mercilessly fail, Giants score 11 runs and lose

Man....

Seriously, I do not know what to say.

When I leave to watch the game, it's is 6-1 Giants. Martinez is cruising, and the Giants offense looks like I wished it looked like since the Trade Deadline. Ryan Garko is absolutely killing the ball, and the Giants hitters look absolutely dialed in against a very talented pitcher such as Jorge De La Rosa, who has a history of mowing down Giants hitters (he was 4-0 going into this game).

Then, one two-pound sirloin steak at Cattleman's later, it's an 11-6 game once my family and I get back in the car and turn on the radio. My dad says "I'm not listening to this shit" and turns off the radio. When I get home it's 14-6 Rockies after the seventh, the game, all but lost for the Giants at this point.

Six-run lead? That can be made up. But eight-run lead with two innings to play? Well...that one's a little bit trickier.

Granted, you can pretty much blame this 14-11 loss on one thing: the pitching. Yeah, I know, that's something you don't always say with this Giants team, but this Giants pitching staff, bullpen especially, laid a tremendous duck egg out there tonight.

Martinez went 5 innings, gave up nine hits and six runs. Justin Miller went 0.2 innings and gave up four hits, four runs and two walks. Merkin "I'm a young 28 even though in the D/R everyone is three years older" Valdez went 0.2 innings and gave up two hits, four runs and three walks.

Sorry boys. It doesn't matter if Ryan Garko hits two home runs with those kinds of pitching statistics. When you pitch that poorly against a Rockies team that is pretty good in a ballpark where the ball flies...well...you're pretty much seceding as easily as Czechoslovakia did to the Germans in World War II.

However, I'm not as pissed as many Giants would expect. This offense is turning it around. Garko is starting to show he belongs in the everyday lineup (no thanks to a reverse jinx by me. Am I right? Am I right? Just say yes...fine!) and all those hits that went unrewarded are starting to finally drive in some runs. Furthermore, Panda is starting to look like Panda again and sans one bad inning, Martinez didn't actually look all that bad.

And lastly, Bob Howry. Good stuff from him tonight. For all the crap you get, you sure know how to come in stop the bleeding. Seriously, all those jerkasses who are continuing to dump their ever-amounting frustration on Howry need to ease up. Sure, the guy gives up the walk-off jacks, but he's not our closer, and he can't be expected to be one either. And as far as I'm concerned, Howry is doing us all a favor in those walk-off jacks. He is ending the game earlier for us Giants fans, and he saves us from watching the Giants whiff with RISP for another inning.

At this point, I'm still hopeful for the split, which would be good enough for me. However, the Giants really, really need Freddy Sanchez back in the lineup. We just need his presence in this series, and unfortunately, Juan Uribe and Eugenio Velez simply isn't cutting at the two-bagger.

Please God, if you could, can Freddy get back in the lineup. I would be forever grateful my man.


Postgame box notes:

Winning pitcher: Jorge De La Rosa (12-8) 6 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO.
Losing pitcher: Justin Miller (2-2) 0.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO (That's one crappy outing now, isn't it?)

Giants standouts: Pablo Sandoval, 3-for-5, 2 2B (37), HR (19). Nate Schierholtz, HR (5). Ryan Garko, 2-for-5, 2 HR (2). Aaron Rowand, 2-for-4, HR (12). Bengie Molina, 2B (24). Joe Martinez, 2-for-2, 2B (1).
Rockies standouts: Dexter Fowler, 2-for-3, 2 3B (9). Todd Helton, HR (12). Troy Tulowitzki, 2-for-3. Brad Hawpe, 2-for-5, 2B (35). Ian Stewart, 2-for-4, HR (19). Sean Smith, 3B (3).

Probable starters for next game: Lincecum (12-3) vs. Jimenez (11-9).

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