The PG Beat: Giants Complete Sweep, Cain Solid, Ishi and Bowker Go Yard, Rowand and Renteria Erupt

Three games. Three wins. You can't complain too much with that. Could it have been a prettier win? Sure. Are the Astros probably going to be competing in the basement of the NL Central with the Pittsburgh Pirates? Most likely. Nonetheless, it's good to see the Giants get off to such a great start in the first series of the 2010 season.

As for today, the Giants bats really came out in a 10-4 victory. Unlike yesterday, where singles and double plays ruled the day, the Giants actually put some oomph behind the ball. Like yesterday though, the Giants got sterling outings once again from their starting pitcher (Matt Cain) and bullpen (Jeremy Affeldt and newcomer, former Dodgers and Prince Fielder disturber Guillermo Mota went 2.1 IP and allowed only one hit, an infield single to Michael Bourne).

Here are some of the notes from today's game.

-- Cain didn't get the victory today in true Cain style. He pitched well the whole game with a tight lead, but had a bad inning in the seventh due to a couple of bad breaks (Rowand almost had Sullivan's triple). When Affeldt came in to hold the lead and get one out, Bourn got a huge break by Uribe not charging it more, thus, tying the game and costing Cain the win.

Other than the seventh though, there wasn't much more Cain could do. In 6.2 IP, Cain had five strikeouts and allowed only six hits. What's even more amazing? Cain had zero walks and threw 66 strikes out of his 98 pitches thrown today (67 percent).

(Incredible stat: in the Giants first three games, the starting pitchers have allowed only a combined one walk. One! Yes, it's early, and yes, it's only three games, but the Giants pitching has shown incredibly command so far in the season, which is surprising because usually this early, they're still working out the kinks from Spring Training.)

Another impressive note about today? Cain neutralized Hunter Pence and Carlos Lee today, as they went a combined 0-for-8 with two strikeouts (each having one). Yes, Pedro Feliz had two doubles, but when you neutralize the three-four hitters like Cain did today, chances are you're going to win.

Was it as impressive as Zito and Lincecum's starts? No, but Cain certainly proved today that he is capable of having another solid season in 2010.

-- John Bowker and Travis Ishikawa both went yard today, a good sign that the Giants young players aren't as bad as Henry Schulman likes to believe. Bowker's hit was an absolute blast, but more importantly, he had a pretty good day, though many would be cautious by his 1-for-4 performance. Bowker didn't strike out and from what I saw he looked very comfortable at the plate. This is a far cry from last year, when he was swinging at everything and anything in his callup mid-season from Fresno. Sure, Bowker might not be playing everyday, but I think Bowker is certainly capable of putting up solid stats in the Majors this year.

As for Ishikawa? Any other park and that's probably a fly out or off the wall. At Minute Maid, it's a home run, but I'll take it. The startling thing was that Ishikawa hit it out on a 1-2 count. Striking out was a big problem with Ishikawa last year (27.3 percent strikeout rate), so to see him not only make contact (72.2 percent contact rate, which was one of the lowest contact rates out of Giants regulars) but make good contact on two strikes is promising. I'm hoping that Ishikawa will get a start sometime during the Atlanta series. Nothing against Aubrey Huff, but getting Ishikawa at-bats wouldn't hurt, especially if he can show that he is capable of hitting like he did in the second-half of 2009.

-- Maybe I reverse jinxed him, but Rowand put up a solid line today. 4-for-6 with a triple and two RBI and a run score. That's a far cry from his 0-for-10 output that he put up in the first two games of the series. Does that mean Rowand should be the leadoff hitter for good? I'm not sure, but it's nice to see that he is capable of bouncing back in a big way after starting out the series so terribly at the plate.

Yet he wasn't the only "underachieving" veteran who had a big game. Renteria was great at the plate. Sure, he still doesn't hit with any power (he hit five singles, and drew a walk in his 5-for-5 performance today), but he showed much better plate discipline today in comparison to what Giants fans have seen from him before. In three games, Renteria has eight hits, three RBI and has scored two runs. Granted, it's only one series, but if Renteria can continue to stay healthy and continue his solid plate approach, then perhaps having him as the everyday shortstop won't be such a bad thing like it was last season.

Overall, a great way to start the year for the Giants. The team isn't winning pretty, but the promise of Bowker and the solid play from Renteria, the starting pitching and the bullpen these three games definitely bodes well for the Giants as they continue to progress during the 2010 season.

Now, the Giants come back home to AT&T for their home opener where they will face a very ballyhooed Braves team (Cox's last year; dark horse to make playoffs) who have a very ballyhooed player (Jason Heyward). Jonathan Sanchez will be on the mound in the home opener. Though I'm optimistic he can have a solid start, I'm not optimistic that he'll have less than two walks in Friday's opener. Sorry, I'm just not ready to believe that yet (though I wouldn't be surprised to see him have over seven strikeouts).

The PG Beat: Two in A Row, Zito and Relievers Solid, Offense Unspectacularly Gets It Done, Huff Continues

All right Giants! 3-0 win over the Astros! 2-0! That's how you do it to start off the 2010 season. Combine that with a Rockies loss and a "likely" Diamondbacks loss to the Padres and we're looking at the Giants being in sole position of first place in the NL West (update: Padres take down the Diamondbacks 6-3; Giants in sole possession of first place!)

Granted, it's only after two games, but dang it, I'll take it for now. You can't ask for anything more if you're a Giants fan. (Well...other than a decent leadoff hitter, but we'll leave that for another time. After all, it's only two games, right?)

Anyways, great ugly victory by the Giants. I have a lot of respect for Wandy Rodriguez as a pitcher, so to squeak out a win against him in my mind is no small feat. Heck, taking two from Houston's two best pitchers (Roy Oswalt and Rodriguez) is a pretty good feat, especially considering the pitching drops off so quickly after Rodriguez. Is Oswalt the same pitcher as last year? No, but he's still a solid ace when he's on.

In true PG Beat fashion, let's check out some notes from today's game against the Astros.

-- First off, Zito looked great. Seriously, this is not something Giants fans are used to seeing out of Zito. Usually in the beginning of the year, Zito looks like a wreck. His velocity is down, his breaking balls hang and Giants fans are usually happy if opponents ONLY score three or four runs against him in a game. Well, Zito surpassed those expectations and then some. Six innings, five strikeouts, three hits allowed, and only one walk.

Yes, Tim Lincecum set the bar pretty high last night, but Zito pretty much reached it in my mind. He was going against a better opposing pitcher, a better lineup (Chris Johnson is an upgrade over Geoff Blum in my mind) and he still got the job done. I know it's only one start and it's the beginning of the year, but don't be surprised to see Zito actually be in the All-Star discussions. He may not reach it, but if he is anywhere close to his second-half self from last year, he may reach it.

Today, he made Giants fans believe he is still that "2009 second-half" Zito against the Astros. I haven't said this in a while, but I'm really, really optimistic and happy to have Zito on the Giants roster.

-- Also, I know I have been critical of the Giants bullpen. I have been hard on Brian Wilson, and I actually have lauded the Dodgers for having a slightly better bullpen than the Giants because of Jonathan Broxton and George Sherrill.

I take that all back. The Giants have the best bullpen in the NL West. Wilson has put the nail in the coffin with ease twice already and looks to be worth the cash the Giants handed to him before the season began. Sergio Romo has looked great in two outings. Waldis Joaquin and Dan Runzler weren't perfect, but they certainly got the job done and it was nice to see them get some innings.

And the most amazing thing? The Giants haven't even strolled out their best setup man (Jeremy Affeldt) yet this season. That's how deep the Giants bullpen is. That's why they are better than the Dodgers bullpen.

I deeply apologize to Giants nation for thinking otherwise.

-- Tonight's game offensively for the Giants was a struggle to watch: eight hits, eight singles, three double plays (Rodriguez isn't necessarily an exclusive groundball pitcher, but he still sported a solid 1.21 GB/FB ratio last year, so this isn't necessarily a surprise), no extra base hits.

Yeesh. And I'm not even counting our leadoff batter's performance (another 0-for-5) or the fact that we only had one guy with a multiple hit game (Aubrey Huff, more on him later). However, you can't argue with the results. Three runs is three runs and win is a win, so you can't complain too much.

My main problem right now with this offense? It just doesn't seem to be much better than last year. The Giants still don't seem to take advantage of situations (e.g. grounding into double plays). They still don't seem to hit with much power. They still don't work counts. And lastly, they're still pretty much a station-to-station team with no speed and not willing to play small ball. If the pitching blows up, chances are the offense this year isn't going to cover it, much like last year.

Is that a bad mode of offense? Not really. The Giants won 88 games with this model last year, so I guess if we did it before, we can do it again. However, it makes me wonder: are the Giants just getting incredibly lucky and their luck is going to run out at some point? Or is the Giants pitching so dominant that an around-league average is enough to make the playoffs?

The Giants fan in me wants to believe the latter. The pessimistic baseball fan? Well, I think it's pretty obvious.

-- Speaking of Huff, I'm convinced more and more Huff is going to be a Sean Casey clone with the Giants tis year. I think Huff is going to put up a solid average (in the .270-.300 range), and he's going to get respectable RBI totals (though that really doesn't matter, but for most baseball fans and fantasy guys, let's just pretend it does), but as far as the power, I just don't think Huff is the answer. I'll be surprised if he hits 15 home runs, let alone 20. The power doesn't seem to be there, and I don't know if it'll be there for the rest of the season.

It's early, and maybe Huff is still tweaking his swing. I'll stick with that for now as an optimistic Giants fan, but just so you know, in the back of my mind I'm still thinking "Aubrey Huff: Sean Casey 2.0." (And if you don't believe the comparison, check out Huff's swing on his RBI single tonight and a Casey double in 2008 against the Blue Jays...eerily similar, huh?)

The Giants are 2-0 and that is good enough for me, right now. The Giants have Matt Cain on the hill tomorrow, so I feel even more optimistic than I did yesterday. The fact that the worst case scenario at this point could be the Giants taking two of three in Houston is still a solid way to start to the season.

Let's hope Cain can keep this momentum going.

The PG Beat: Whiteside unleashes the fury, Martinez wins first start, Sandoval batting crown?

Eli Whiteside (left) and Joe Martinez were unlikely heroes in the Giants' 10-6 win over the Astros. Whiteside hit a grand slam, and Martinez earned the win.

For the first time since September of last year, the Giants came back and won a game when facing a three-run deficit. I don't know if that's a sign of offensive ineptitude this season, our hard luck when playing behind, or just how weird this year has been. Whatever conclusion you want to come to, I'm happy that this streak was finally broken, and I'm even happier with the team that is hitting the field everyday this past week.

As most of you know, I wrote a post this afternoon on why I think Sanchez is going to put us into the playoffs. Then again though, while Sanchez is the catalyst, there just seems something special brewing with this team. When Eli Whiteside hits a grand slam in the top of the sixth inning in a 10-6 win over the Astros at Minute Maid Park, then you know there might be some chips falling the Giants' way. Listen, I know we had a good June, but I have a feeling August could be even better. We finally have stability at second base, and this team as a whole seems to exhibit a rare kind of confidence since the Sanchez trade. They're loose, they're having fun again and they expect to win, which is something I don't think we really had in June (I think we were more pumped to win, but we didn't expect to).

Case in point, the Giants are down 3-0 in the second inning, and the first thought that crosses my mind is "Oh crap, this is where the Giants unravel and they get killed 8-1." However, Martinez pitches great for the next three innings, holding down the fort, and the lineup doesn't go into a shell, but instead explodes and puts this game out of reach for the Astros by the seventh inning. I think Bip Roberts in the post-game commentary said the Giants totaled 40 hits this series. 40 hits! In three freaking games! I don't think we totaled 40 hits in the 10-game road trip we had to start off the second half of the season.

Speaking of Martinez, what a great outing from the kid. In my mind, his start today shows why he is an upgrade over Ryan Sadowski. If that was Sadowski on the hill in the second inning, he would have unraveled in the third, game would have been seven to zip, and the Giants wouldn't have had the mojo to come back. I think the score could be misleading because I think some fans who didn't see the game might say, "Well, Martinez had a big lead. Big woop." However, Martinez never pitched with a lead. In fact, he pitched with the team behind the whole game (the Giants took the lead in the top of the sixth, and he was taken out after the fifth, but because they scored those runs in the top of the sixth, Martinez still got the win). What Martinez did was keep the Giants in the game after the second inning despite the lack of run support (as always) initially. He kept it close, to allow the Giants chip away by each inning before they had the huge outburst. That speaks volumes to how tough a kid Martinez is. Never mind he is already tough for taking that line drive in the head and coming back to pitch on the mound with no fear. This guy is also a gamer on the mound, and should be a solid mainstay in the five-spot until The Big Unit comes back in September.

While the game had an onslaught from a variety of players, the main guy everyone kept an eye on was no other than Pablo Sandoval. After today, Sandoval's average rose to .334, which puts him less than 10 points behind the current Batting Average leader Hanley Ramirez. Now, I don't know if he can pull off the batting crown, but with Sanchez in the lineup, and with Sandoval seeing and swinging at the ball as well as he currently is, it certainly is possible. If everybody thought the whole "Vote for Pablo" All-Star campaign was big, then I can't imagine what the support would be like if he and Ramirez are neck and neck in the last couple of weeks in the season. That would be a flat-out unbelievable feat for Sandoval if he pulls it off: NL Batting Crown at 22 years old. Wow. I get shivers just thinking about it.

Some good signs for Giants fans with the way this team is playing after their ten-game road trip disaster to start off the second half. They took two games in Houston, which didn't look so likely after Cain lost game one of the series. They also not only remain in the thick of it in the Wild Card, but they are keeping within striking distance of the Dodgers.

I know, I should give up hope in catching the Dodgers, but with them coming into town next week, I still believe we can catch them. If things go well Aug. 10-12, the NL West may be one of the most interesting stories in baseball.

Why? Let's just say "1951" will be a heavily-referenced year if the Giants are able to catch the Dodgers.


Postgame box notes:

Winning pitcher: Joe Martinez (2-0) 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO.
Losing pitcher: Brian Moehler (7-7) 6 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO.

Giants standouts: Freddy Sanchez, 3-for-5. Pablo Sandoval, 3-for-4, 2B (32). Ryan Garko, 2-for-4, 3B (1). Aaron Rowand, 2B (28). John Bowker, 3B (1). Eli Whiteside, GS (1).
Astros standouts: Hunter Pence, 2-for-5, HR (14). Carlos Lee, 2-for-5, 2 2B (23). Jason Michaels, 2B (9).

Giants probable starters for Friday's game against Cincinnatti: Bailey (2-3) vs. Lincecum (12-3).
Astros probable starters for Friday's game against Milwaukee: Villanueva (2-8) vs. Rodriguez (10-6).

Potent Preview: San Francisco Giants (59-48) at Houston Astros (53-54)

Probable starters:
SFO: Joe Martinez (1-0) 6.75 ERA (first start). HOU: Brian Moehler (7-6) 4.99 ERA.

Big win yesterday and quite the offensive output. Pablo Sandoval made me eat my words after the bomb he hit yesterday after I wrote that Sandoval piece for Bleacher Report, and Freddy Sanchez also went yard for the first time as a Giant. Add that with Jonathan Sanchez absolutely dealing yesterday against a very good Houston Astros lineup, and it was a great bounce back win for the Giants after Monday's embarrassing loss with Matt Cain on the hill.

That being said, today by no means is an easy slam dunk for the Giants. The Giants have rookie Joe Martinez making his first start of the year, and he's coming off the 60-day DL, which he got on in April after getting plunked in the head with a line drive off Mike Cameron's bat. From what I've heard Martinez isn't pitching with fear, and has been looking good in Fresno, so I guess Martinez is the most logical decision to replace Ryan Sadowski in the pen. That being said, I would have liked to see Kevin Pucetas, but apparently the Giants brass doesn't feel he is ready yet for the major leagues despite his impressive year this season in Fresno. If Martinez falters as a starter, look to Pucetas or even veteran Ramon Oritz, who is tearing up Triple-A, to replace him.

With Brian Moehler pitching for the Astros, the Giants certainly will have an opportunity to keep the bats going in Houston. Granted, I have this bad feeling that Moehler is going to shut us down (after all, washed up pitchers seem to do real well against us as evidenced by Mike Hampton's start on Monday), but I think if the Giants can just build on the momentum they got yesterday, they can take this series after dropping an easily-winnable game in the first game of this series.

For game updates check out the SJ Mercury's Andrew Baggarly's Giants blog at Extra Baggs. For live game thread and chat, check out the McCovey Chronicles.

The PG Beat: 8 Runs, 16 Hits, and No...Matt Morris was not pitching for the Giants

The new Dynamic Duo in the Bay Area: Freddy Sanchez and Pablo Sandoval. Get used to this image a lot the next year-and-a-half in San Francisco.

In some ways, I tried to reverse jinx the Giants today in my Potent Preview. I tried to downplay today's game, tried to downplay how Paulino was pitching and how the team might get swept by a Houston Astros team sans Lance Berkman.

Well...guess what? It kind of worked! The Giants killed the Astros 8-1 in the second game of this series and, in the words of Harry from Dumb and Dumber, "Totally reedemed themselves!"

Seriously, I have forgotten all about the pain of yesterday's agonizing loss. The offense did what they were supposed to do against a lousy pitcher like Felipe Paulino: they worked the count, they looked for pitches to hit and they cashed in with runners on base. Furthermore, Jonathan Sanchez learned how to pitch with runners in scoring position, and looks like he could be a major factor in the Giants' rotation during this stretch run in August and September. And the Freddy Sanchez-Pablo Sandoval back to back home runs? Let's just say I felt like I did when I was reaching puberty and I saw Carmen Electra in a red dress in the movie "Good Burger" (I actually Tweeted this after the game).

Overall, this is the kind of offensive showing that exhibits what the Giants are capable of. Sure, on paper they don't look great, but any time they can get Bengie Molina and Sandoval going, this offense is certainly dangerous. I think the one player that can really push this team over the top is Freddy Sanchez. He really is swinging a good bat since coming over to San Francisco. He is hitting everything hard, and he could have easily gone three-for-four instead of just one-for-four today (though his one-for-four day certainly spoke volumes as he crushed that home run). I think the Sanchez trade in the end will not only be worth it (even though I liked Tim Alderson) because of what he will be able to do this year, but next season as well. Sure, Sanchez isn't exactly young, but he's not some old geezer either. He's only 31. I think he could have a very big impact next year, and his impact can be even greater once his knee gets fully healthy (though he's not showing much slowdown so far this year, but the knee will always be an issue for the rest of the season).

Another great development that Giants fans need to take quick note of is Eugenio Velez at the plate. This guy is just tearing it up. Seriously, once Schierholtz comes back healthy, the Giants are going to have serious issues...not in terms of what they are going to do with Velez, but rather in terms of what they are going to do with Randy Winn. In my mind, Winn is the weak part of this team right now. Velez is hitting the ball better than him, Velez has better speed and Velez is getting on base more (and he's been our best leadoff option in quite some time). The only advantage Winn has over Velez is defense, but as Velez gets more comfortable playing outfield, I think that advantage will be less noticeable. Then again, with Rowand and Schierholtz in the outfield, how good do we need Velez to be? It's not like he's Adam Dunn or Carlos Lee out there. He can cover decent ground.

Just a great overall effort from the Giants tonight. Both Sanchezes look great. Jonathan is earning his keep in the rotation not only this year, but next year as well (even though we lost the opportunity to see him go hit less for an entire season. Now that would have been a record: the first National League pitcher to throw a no-hitter, and get no-hit for an entire season). As for Freddy? He looks like he can be a Giants fan favorite in the future. Granted, we still can lose this series, but we avoided the sweep at the very least and we're going against a very vulnerable pitcher in Brian Moehler tomorrow (by the way, how the hell is he still in the league? I remember pitching with him when he was on the Tigers in MLB '99 on the Playstation).

Then again, we went against a vulnerable pitcher in Mike Hampton a night ago, and during that game we had a solid pitcher in Matt Cain pitching, not a rookie in Joe Martinez who is coming off the 60-day DL, and is making his first career start.


Postgame box notes:

Winning pitcher: Jonathan Sanchez (5-9) 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 SO.
Losing pitcher: Felipe Paulino (2-6) 4.1 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO.

Giants standouts: Eugenio Velez, 3-for-6, 2B (4). Freddy Sanchez, HR (7). Pablo Sandoval, 2-for-3, HR (17). Bengie Molina, 3-for-5, 2B (20). Randy Winn, 2-for-4. Aaron Rowand, 2-for-5, 2B (27).
Astros standouts: Jeff Keppinger, 2-for-4. Carlos Lee, 2B (21).

Probable starters for next game: Martinez (first start) vs. Moehler (7-6).

Potent Preview: San Francisco Giants (58-48) at Houston Astros (53-53)

Probable starters:
SFO: Jonathan Sanchez (4-9) 4.81 ERA. HOU: Felipe Paulino (2-5) 7.04 ERA.

Last night's game really killed me. It was the kind of game I feared going in: Cain didn't have his best stuff, the offense wasted opportunity after opportunity with ducks on the pond (key stat: 2-for-10 last night with RISP) and the Astros did just enough (e.g. lucky home runs) to win the game. Add that with Hampton looking like his old days in Houston pre-2000, and it was really hard to sleep last night after the Giants dropped the game 4-3.

That being said, that game is over, I'm flushing it out of my system and moving on. The good news? Roy Oswalt is hurt, so he won't pitch tonight and we'll get Felipe Paulino on the hill, a pitcher who the Giants rocked when he pitched against the G-Men at AT&T Park back in June.

The bad news? Jonathan Sanchez is on the hill.

I'm not trying to be pessimistic here, but Sanchez hasn't exactly been sparkling on the road this year, or in his career for that matter (don't believe me? Check out the game preview from the blog West Coast Bias). Furthermore, he's playing in a hitter's park, and judging by his last performance at a hitter's park, that doesn't bode good things. Granted, Sanchez may have some help. The last time the Giants faced Paulino Sadowski was on the hill and he looked increidble mainly because he was pitching with a seven-plus run lead after the third, so it is certainly plausible to think that even if Sanchez's road woes continue on the hill, the Giants offense can certainly pick him up. Let's hope they can continue their offensive output, only this time...let's hope they get hits with runners on base rather than with the bases empty.

I'm going to be pessimistic and think that after last night's loss, the Giants are going to drop two out of three in this series, as much as that pains me to say that. However, I think tonight's game is very key in determining whether or not things get much worse after that. If the Giants and Sanchez get killed, this could be a sweep. That is how bad things are looking after that Cain loss last night (or maybe that's just the evil, pessmistic-side of me seeping through).

For game updates check out the SJ Mercury's Andrew Baggarly's Giants blog at Extra Baggs. For live game thread and chat, check out the McCovey Chronicles.

The PG Beat: Hampton pulls out more times against the Giants offense than a frat boy having sex and not wearing a condom

Kaz Matsui, the biggest ESPN the Magazine "Next" athlete bust not named Darko Milicic, killed the Giants with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth.

Does the headline make sense? Probably not. But I don't care. This loss doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Let me run down the list of "Why" questions I asked myself after this game was over.

• Why did Tim Flannery send Edgar Renteria home when it was obvious it was a hard hit ball and Hunter Pence has a cannon?
• Why do we strike out looking three times when we had a chance to break the game wide open in the top of the sixth?
• Why did fans automatically think this was an automatic win going into this game?
• Why does Bengie Molina still bat cleanup when every statistic he has offensively is pathetic?
• Why can't Pablo Sandoval work the count more so instead of just getting singles, he can wait for his pitch and hit with more power?
• Why does Randy Winn still play right field when he has a worse arm out there than Sandoval throwing left-handed?
• Why did those home runs have to go out?
• Why does Eric from Entourage have to continue to go out with this Ashley girl, and why do I get the feeling that the writers are way overblowing this whole Jamie Lynn Sigler-Turtle relationship?
  
• Why did Matt Cain not stomp his hitters' faces in?

Okay, the last two were out of line. I can't get Entourage out of my mind, and the last one I got from Full Metal Jacket. Nonetheless, the rest of those questions are legitimate. The Giants had so much momentum going into this series and they simply laid an egg, plain and simple. It was really just a frustrating game. Everything was set up for the Giants to win this one. They were hitting Hampton, Cain was taking care of business and then...the wheels fell off. After the sixth when we got nothing with the bases loaded, I just knew we were going to lose this game. You don't get opportunities like that in a game more than once. If you don't take advantage of them, chances are, you squandered that only opportunity to do something real damaging to the opposing team.

The lesson learned from this victory? Two actually. One, never come in too cocky into a series with a team that seems to be nearly broken. You come in and take care of business, no gloating needed going in. Fans were gloating and after the Phillies series win, I'm sure the Giants were like "Hey, we're going to steamroll these guys." The good teams take care of business and do it without doubt. That's why the Red Sox own the Orioles and are a great team, while the Giants lose to an Astros team minus-Oswalt and Berkman and aren't one. Until they learn to have that killer edge all the time, this team will never been better than what the stats show: a good pitching team that can occasionally muster up a run and a win here and there.

Sorry, I hate to be pessimistic, but this loss was agonizing for me. I really thought after the first inning we had the right approach in place, but unfortunately, hitting coach Carney Lansford's old "Swing at everything and look at the good pitches with two strikes" approach is really wearing me thin. It's not like I don't expect this. I prepare myself for these kind of offensive outings all the time.

Still, no matter how much I try to psyche myself out for them, they hit hard nonetheless. To quote somebody off of McCovey Chronicles, this statement is pretty accurate in terms of describing this loss:

"That game was like being fed a cake made out of babies, pointing out that you object to baby consumption and then being shot in the balls by the enraged cook." -Alex_Lewis.

Well said Alex. Well said.


Postgame box notes:

Winning pitcher: Mike Hampton (6-8) 6 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 SO.
Losing pitcher: Matt Cain (12-3) 8 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO.

Giants standouts: Eugenio Velez, 2-for-5. Pablo Sandoval, 3-for-5, 2B (31). Ryan Garko, 2-for-2. Edgar Renteria, 2-for-4, 2B (16).
Astros standouts: Michael Bourn, 2-for-4, 3B (9). Kaz Matsui, HR (5). Geoff Blum, HR (6). Carlos Lee, 3-for-4, 2B (20). Hunter Pence, 3B (5).

Probable starters for next game: Sanchez (4-9) vs. Paulino (2-5).

Potent Preview: San Francisco Giants (58-47) at Houston Astros (52-53)

Probable starters:
SFO: Matt Cain (12-2) 2.12 ERA. HOU: Mike Hampton (6-8) 5.36 ERA.

This is going to be an interesting series. First off, the Astros look bad on paper. They're 52-53, they have Mike Hampton on the hill, they play in the home-run hitters paradise they call Minute Maid Park. If you just look at this from a distance, this should be the Giants' series easy, right?

Well...I'm not so keen on that. With Cain, Sanchez and whoever Bochy decides to make the No. 5 starter pitching this series, I'm a little worried about how this series will go (just because I'm so suspect in the last two. Yes, I fear the unknown). Did we pick up some much needed momentum after the 3-7 road trip to start off the second half? Yeah, but we still are a bad road team, bottom line, and I'm wondering if the Giants are due for a letdown after going 7-1 in last week's homestand.

The good thing about this series? We should at least win one game. Cain is on the hill and I have a feeling that he is going to continue to deal today. He really has looked great in his last four outings, and should already be the NL's first 13-game winner (unfortunately, the Giants offense forgot there was a game in Cain's last outing against the Pirates until the 10th inning). The Astros lineup is scary, but I think Cain and the Giants bullpen is more than capable of handling them, even in their own ballpark. The key will be keeping Michael Bourne off the bases (which they did in San Francisco) and getting run support of their own right off the bat (which they did in San Francisco as well). If the Giants are in a tight game after four or five, I don't like our chances, even if we are up, simply because of the ballpark. However, if we are up by four or five going into the fifth, I'm more confident just because the Giants don't blow leads very often, if ever.

It was a great week last week to be a Giants fan. Hopefully, the Giants can pick it up and make themselves a little more respectable on the road during this trip in Houston. Cain has to set the tempo. If he struggles...well...I just don't want to think about that.

For game updates check out the SJ Mercury's Andrew Baggarly's Giants blog at Extra Baggs. For live game thread and chat, check out the McCovey Chronicles.