Giantsblog

San Diego– The Giants used eight great innings from starting pitcher Matt Cain along with four home runs to pull within one game of their opponent, the San Diego Padres on Thursday night. That’s right, Friday night in San Diego the NL West will be up-for-grabs as the Giants look to earn a share of the lead from the Padres.

Thursday night in San Diego the Giants used the long-ball to take game one of the four game set. Huff, Uribe, Posey and Burrell all went deep.  Homers weren’t the only big hits the Giants produced in the game, Andres Torres began the game with a lead-off triple and was brought home by a Freddy Sanchez single.This gave the Giants an early lead and some confidence in PETCO Park, who were 1-5 on the season in San Diego coming into the game.

Freddy Sanchez is heating up just at the right time of the season. Sanchez, who began the season on the DL with a shoulder problem struggled until recently. Sanchez is carrying a nice four game hit streak into Friday’s game, and has also hit .391 in the last month of the season. With Torres and Sanchez setting the table for professional hitters to the likes of Huff, Posey, Burrell and Uribe, the Giants look to have consistent offense the remaining three and a half weeks of the season.

At this point in time the Giants are one game out in the NL West and Wild Card, trailing the Padres and Atlanta Braves, respectively. With 21 games to go the Giants have to play superb baseball, with no room for error. This continues tonight with a win and a share of the division.  The Giants will hush critics of their up-and-down play with a solid run earning a trip to the postseason. This is a great experience for a ball club who have the chance to be in the hunt for a championship for many years to come.

Jonathon Sanchez takes the mound versus Clayton Richard on Friday night. This may be the biggest games of both pitchers careers, with so much at stake. Sanchez must go six strong innings and the Giants have to be disciplined at the plate.

Go Giants.

On a side note, we would like to send out our best wishes to the people in the Bay Area who experienced the tragic  natural gas explosion. Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval’s mother lived in the region, and was evacuated safely.

San Francisco– Tim Lincecum picked up his first win since July 30th as the Giants beat divisional foe Colorado by a score of 2-1. Lincecum went eight strong innings and earned his 12th win of the season. This is the first time Lincecum has gone more than seven innings since his last win. Lincecum totaled nine strike-outs and only one base-on-balls. Lincecum got help from outfielder Darren Ford, who stole third base in the eighth and scored on a errant throw by Rockies catcher Miguel Olivo. This was Ford’s first ML experience, what a story for the grand children. Welcome to the big leagues, Mr. Ford.

Wednesday’s win by Lincecum  may give the Giants just the boost they need as they need as the head into LA to face the rival Dodgers. Now all the Giants need to do is get some run support for pitcher Barry Zito. Zito has not won a game since July 16th.( That’s one in his last 10 starts)  Zito comes into Friday’s match-up with an 8-10 record.  With the way things have been going for the Giants #1 &#2 pitchers they are lucky to still be in the playoff hunt.

The Giants head to LA for the weekend match-up just three games behind the San Diego Padres, who are enduring a season high seven game losing streak. The Giants are lucky to be in this position considering their only 3-4 in this time period. The Giants also trail the Philadelphia Phillies by 1 1/2 games in the NL Wild Card chase.The Dodgers with be looking to play the role of spoiler for their hated enemies to the north.

If the Giants are to make the playoffs they will have to be consistent, something they have struggled with all season long. The team will look great one week, and look like the 1962 Mets the next. One day they will score a plethora of runs, the next they will score one, maybe two. One week the starting pitching and bullpen will look stellar, the next they’ll look like they belong in the cellar.  With 28 games left on the season the Giants must buckle down and play the best baseball of the season. The season is over in one month from tomorrow’s game. No time to slip-up, time to man-up.

Go Giants.