Giantsblog

SAN FRANCISCO– A three-run tenth inning helped the Atlanta Braves complete a sweep of the San Francisco Giants Sunday afternoon behind Jason Heyward.  Brian Wilson struggled in the tenth as he allowed Atlanta to score three-runs off him.

Giants starter, Jonathan Sanchez, did not help San Francisco out by issuing a walk to Atlanta’s leadoff hitter Martin Prado in the first inning.  Following the walk, Jason Heyward doubled to left and scored on the very next batter, Chipper Jones, who hit a ground-rule double to give the Braves an early 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Giants tied the game on two-run homerun from Buster Posey to left.

With a combined seven-run seventh by both teams, Atlanta still trailed the Giants by a run as San Francisco scored four-runs in the inning.  Heyward homered in the top half, a three-run shot that at the time gave Atlanta a 5-2 lead.  But the Giants responded with a rally of their own as they loaded the bases with one out and Miguel Tejada getting walked to bring the first of four runs in.  Nate Schierholtz grounded out for the second out, but scored Pat Burrell from third and cut the lead to one.  With Aaron Rowand’s double to left-center that drove in two-runs, San Francisco finally led for the first time in the game.

But, it was short lived as Dan Uggla hit a solo homerun to left in the eighth to tie the game at 6-all.

In the tenth, Wilson struggled as he allowed the first three Braves hitters to reach successfully. Heyward was called out at home on a force-out by Eric Hinske.  Nate McLouth hit a two-RBI single to center to give Atlanta the lead back.  Brian McCann added an insurance run with an RBI-single that gave the Braves a 9-6 lead in extras.

Jonny Venters earned his first save of the year as he quickly put the Giants away in the bottom of the tenth.  Both the Braves and Giants remain a game under .500.

PHEONIX– Saturday, the San Francisco Giants scored early and never looked back as they went on to win their fourth in a row over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.  Barry Zito left the game early for San Francisco with a sprained right foot; he has been put on the 15-day disabled list.

Zito went down in the top of second after he had an awkward fall to catch a pop out bunt for the second out of the inning.  Guilermo Mota came in for relief and was able to limit additional damage and propelled the Giants to a 5-3 victory.

Aaron Rowand, who is fighting for more playing time, got the Giants off on the right track hitting a lead-off double to center.  After observing the pitches his teammates encountered by Diamondbacks starter, Joe Saunders, Buster Posey did not look shocked when he was thrown a fastball, sending it to the bleachers for an early two-run lead.

Arizona was able to tie the game up in the second before Zito went down with an RBI double to right field by Miguel Montero that scored two runners.

The Diamondbacks took a one-run lead later off an RBI double by Melvin Mora.

Rowand proved again why he deserves more playing time by singling to lead-off another inning with a base hit.  Freddy Sanchez followed by doubling home Rowand on the first pitch he saw from Saunders, tying the game three all.

The following inning, Rowand did more good deeds for the Giants as he got walked by relief pitcher Sam Demel loading the bases up for Sanchez.  Despite two outs, Sanchez did not miss a golden opportunity by hitting a single to left field and scoring Mark DeRosa and Brandon Belt who were in scoring position.

After Sanchez’s two-run RBI single to break the tie, both teams relievers did not allow anymore hits as the Giants relievers threw a perfect last three innings to end the game.  Closer Brian Wilson went 1, 2, 3 in the ninth en-route to his fourth save and return from the DL.  Coming in for relief, Mota was able to earn the win while Joe Saunders night ended with a loss and all five Giants runs being charged to him.

SAN FRANCISCO– Over the weekend, the San Francisco Giants hosted the St. Louis Cardinals in their first home series as defending World Series Champions.  Despite not sweeping the Cardinals, the Giants gave their fans something to celebrate on the more important games of the weekend; the actual home opener and the championship ring ceremony the following Saturday.

Giants starter, Jonathan Sanchez, pitched well in his five innings of play surrendering one run, on four hits, with seven strikeouts.  The only problem was his high pitch-count of 94 in just five innings.  If he can go six or at best seven innings with 90+ pitches the Giants are in good hands with their rotation.  Cardinals starter, Jake Westbrook, however was not so lucky on the mound in San Francisco.  He gave up eight hits and three earned runs in his effort making us wonder can the Cardinals stay in contention without their ace.

With a one run lead entering the top of the ninth, the Giants called to their recently re-activated closer, Brian Wilson, to get the last three outs and earn his first save of 2011.  Wilson could not accomplish this though, as he walked Yadier Molina with two outs.  Pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso followed with a single and another Cardinals pitch-hitter was hit by a pitch loading the bases up for Ryan Theriot.  After a battle at the plate, Theriot was able to punch out a single to left field on the 12^th pitch he saw, scoring two Cardinals and giving them a one run lead.

Down to their final out, Giants outfielder, Aaron Rowand came up big singling on a ground ball to center field.  Rowand was able to move to second on a wild pitch from Ryan Franklin to Buster Posey who was eventually walked.  A batter later, Pablo Sandoval hit a grounder to right field, scoring Rowand and tying the game at three all, sending the game to extras.

Though Nate Schierholtz hit into a force out in the bottom of the twelfth, he was able to reach third on a catching error by Albert Pujols which allowed Andres Torres to reach first safely.  Again with two outs and the bases juiced, Rowand had the pressure on him again.  And again, he succeeded, singling to left field and earning a game winning RBI.

Saturday was followed by more magic.  Not only did the Giants get their World Series rings, but, they won another late game thriller.  Trailing again, 2-1, in the bottom of the ninth the Giants needed some more magic to beat St. Louis.  With two men on base and two outs, Miguel Tejada was the Giants last hope, and he did not disappoint.  Tejada hit a game winning two-run RBI double off Ryan Franklin to make sure the Giants went home with two things; a win and their rings.

The Giants magic ran out though Sunday afternoon as they could not complete a sweep of the red birds as St. Louis scored six unanswered runs to win 6-1.  San Francisco managed just six hits on one run while St. Louis roughed up Barry Zito for four runs in 5 1/3 innings.  This loss has now dropped the Giants into last place in the West, but, with 153 more games to go, I think the Giants will be okay come late September.

SURPISE– In a day of number two starters, both pitchers were strong in the early innings in of the game, but, as the game progressed the runs began to appear.   Jonathan Sanchez, a top rotation man for the Giants, pitched effectively till the fourth inning when he allowed four Kansas City runs.

Melky Cabrera opened up the rally doubling and eventually scoring on a single by Billy Butler.  Wilson Betemit cracked a three-run home-run into left-field after Sanchez issued a walk giving the Royals a 4-0 lead.  The Giants responded with a run in the top of fifth on a sacrifice fly from Mike Fontenot, but still trailed the Royals by three.

Kansas City starter, Jeff Fancis, pitched five innings allowing one run on six hits with six strikeouts as we went on to earn the win.  Kansas City added two more runs in the eighth as Alex Gordon’s two-run home-run gave the Royals a 7-3 cushion.  The Giants squeaked out another run in the top of ninth, but could not do any more damage as the Giants went on to lose 7-4.  Sean O’Sullivan earned the save for Kansas City.

Final note, it will be interesting to see what the Opening Night roster looks like as it does not appear that either Cody Ross or Brian Wilson will be on the 25-man roster by the time the regular season begins this Thursday.

LOS ANGELES — The defending World Series Champions San Francisco Giants finally looked like the team who made that special run in October blowing out their rival 10-0 Saturday afternoon.  Despite losing the first two games of this four game series by a single run, the Giants sent another one of their top starters in Matt Cain, who put his team in a strong position to win and avoid an 0-3 start since 1984.

Matt Cain pitched a beautiful six inning game in which he struck out three Dodgers and allowed five hits and only totally 87 pitches for the day.  Southpaw Ted Lilly of Los Angeles however would have to take a lot of the damage as the Giants seemed to be playing a revenge game after dropping the first two of the season.  Lilly gave up four earned runs on six hits in only 4 2/3 innings.

San Francisco got on the board in the third inning after Mark DeRosa’s leadoff line drive single to center field allowed him to score on a Miguel Tejada groundout later in the inning.  For the most part of the game, Lilly kept Los Angeles in this game, as the shut down the Giants in order in the first, second, and fourth inning.  However, the Giants got to the Dodgers putting up crooked numbers in the next the fifth and sixth inning.  Aaron Rowand got the offense going in the fifth as they went on to score three runs.  In the top of the sixth, San Francisco batted around the order as Brandon Belt led off the inning with a walk and DeRosa followed with a double to center field.  They went on to score three more runs and took an 8-0 lead after six innings.

The Los Angeles Dodgers though could not put any runs up as no one could get past second base to a start a rally.  With the blow victory San Francisco did not need to worry about closer Brian Wilson coming in for his first save yet.  Now throwing simulated games, Wilson should be back in the Giants bullpen soon, ready to repeat his dominance from 2010 though it will take him a couple of games to get adjusted.   So be patient beard lovers.