Attempting to remedy a struggling offense, the San Francisco Giants acquired first baseman/outfielder Ryan Garko from the Cleveland Indians in exchange for Class A starting pitcher Scott Barnes.  Garko, 28, was batting .285 with 11 home runs and 39 RBIs in 79 games for Cleveland.

In other roster moves, the team recalled infielders Eugenio Velez and Jesus Guzman from AAA Fresno while shipping out second baseman Matt Downs and outfielder John Bowker. 

What does this mean?  First of all, I think that Travis Ishikawa might soon be traded as a result of these moves.  The only way that this doesn’t happen (and I hope it doesn’t) is if they look to Garko to play left field.  Hey, stranger things have happened.  Second, the team’s patience for John Bowker might have reached an end.  He’s done little with the bat this season.  We’ll see what the future holds for him.  Another reason for the recalls of Guzman and Velez might be to prove that they can play at the major league level.  In other words, they might be trade bait.  I can’t say that either of their departures would make me too bummed.   Also, can’t say that Barnes will be greatly missed, as yet. 

Guzman and Velez both start tonight.  More to come. 

The San Francisco Giants rode incredible pitching efforts in taking three of four home games from the San Diego Padres and finishing the homestand preceding the All-Star break with a 7-3 mark. 

Easily the jewel in the crown of the four game set was the second game, where former rotation stalwart Jonathan Sanchez, pitching in place of an injured Randy Johnson, tossed a no-hitter, facing just one batter over the minimum, as the Giants cruised to an 8-0 victory.   With his father in attendance, Sanchez (3-8) struck out eleven, walking none.  The only base runner for the Padres was Chase Headley, who reached on a fielding error by third baseman Juan Uribe in the eighth.  Pablo Sandoval backed him with a three run homerun in the fifth, his fourteenth, off Josh Banks (1-1).  Aaron Rowand also drove in three.  Sanchez’s no-hitter was the first for a Giant since John Montefusco in 1976. 

In the first game of the series, Tim Lincecum almost preceded Sanchez’s night of greatness with one of his own, taking a no-hitter, 29 inning scoreless streak, and a 6-0 lead into the seventh inning before fading, allowing three runs and giving way to the bullpen as the Giants ultimately prevailed, 8-3.   Benjie Molina (11), Travis Ishikawa (7), and Juan Uribe (3) struck homeruns in support as the Giants made a loser of Josh Greer (1-4).  Lincecum, (10-2) struck out eight and walked four in his final start before he leads the National Leaguers into action as the starting pitcher in the 2009 All-Star game on Tuesday night. 

In the third game, the Giants survived a scare as Matt Cain took a line drive off the bat of Padres starting pitcher Tim Stauffer (0-1) to the right arm in the second inning.  After tests, it was determined that the All-Star, who was subsequently named inactive (by the team) for the midsummer night’s classic, suffered from only a deep bruise and shouldn’t miss a start.  Pablo Sandoval blasted his fifteenth homerun of the season, a two run variety, off Stauffer in the fourth.  The bullpen did the rest as Justin Miller (2-1) went three and one third innings and combined with Brandon Medders, Sergio Romo, Jeremy Affeldt, and Brian Wilson to limit the Padres to one run on three hits for the rest of the game, as the Giants prevailed, 2-1, with Wilson pitching the final four outs, striking out three, for his 23rd save.

In the final game, the Padres offense erupted on Barry Zito (5-9) for nine runs over four and one third innings.  Homeruns by Kevin Kouzmanoff (12) and former Giant Eliezer Alfonzo (2) made a winner of another former Giant, Kevin Correia (6-7), who threw into the sixth, giving up three runs.  The only bright spot for the Giants was John Bowker, who picked up his first hits on the season, an RBI single and solo homerun, his first, in a losing effort. 

First of all, in the first three games, the Giants pitching ruled.  Awesome job.  I don’t care if this is the Padres, they’re still major leaguers out there.  Great efforts by Sanchez and Lincecum.  Equally to the bullpen in lifting up Cain.  Very fortunate for the Giants that it was only a bruise on his golden right arm.  Way to go for Sanchez in sacking up in place of Johnson.  If he can continue in a similar manner, it will minimize the damage from the loss of the future hall of famer.   Oh, and Sandoval’s awesome at the plate.  The league is starting to develop a healthy fear of him.  That’s only good for whoever bats behind him.  Ishikawa went 0-2 on Sunday, ending his hitting streak at ten games.  Zito was slapped around.  Hey, it’s alright.  That’s what happens with number four starters.  They have two good games and then one bad game.  Too bad he costs this much. 

On a transaction note, before the series, in order to get a better look at Bowker, the Giants optioned rookie starter Ryan Sadowski to Class A San Jose.  This also was to allow the youngster to keep his scheduled start on Monday as the Giants had no need for him in the rotation until after the break. 

The Giants are off until Friday for the All-Star break.  After that, they’ll play in Pittsburgh against the Pirates.  The Padres will host the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night.   Enjoy the All-Star game!!!

The San Francisco Giants enter spring training 2009 with roughly the same feel at first base as when they entered in 2008.  In 2008, the heir apparent for to start was Dan Ortmeier, fresh off an impressive 2007 season.   To back him up was Rich Aurilia.   After the youngster suffered through a poor spring training, riddled with defensive lapses, the seasoned veteran snapped up the position for opening day. 

2009 isn’t that much different, as yet. 

This time around, Travis Ishikawa is the man to watch.  And yes, the slugger is a rookie this season.  After a strong 2008 on the farm and a eye opening cup of coffee with the big league club, the slick fielding Ishikawa appears ready to take the job.  Mark my words as they are important.  He can ‘take’ the job, if he wants it.  It is ’his’ to lose.  If he performs adequately in spring training, he’ll be the starter on opening day.  If all goes according to plans, he’ll be pumping out homeruns from the bottom of the lineup starting in early April.   The big question is, how has Ishikawa worked on the breaking ball down and in which seemed to vex him a bit last year?  If he takes care of that one hole in his swing, he should be fine.

However, should Ishikawa stumble out of the gate, the eyes of the Giants will turn to the veteran Aurilia.  He brings a solid stick and glove to the proceedings and can do the job, though he’s certainly no long term fix. 

Another candidate would be second year man John Bowker.  Though he excited early last year, he truly slumped down the stretch and probably shouldn’t be looked at as more than a dark horse candidate for the position.  Of course, if he decides the he wants to collect singles, doubles, and triples in addition to homeruns, it could make the competition interesting.  This is all complicated with the fact that, unlike either Ishikawa or Aurilia, Bowker is a converted outfielder, a factor that might have contributed to Ortmeier’s less than stellar performance last year. 

The final candidate is newcomer journeyman Josh Phelps.  Signed to a minor league deal, for Phelps to start, it would probably require a combination of Ishikawa and Bowker flopping, Aurilia forgetting where he left his glove, and minor leaguer Scott McClain forgetting the route to the stadium.  In other words, it’s probably not happening.

One must still take into account wunderkind Pablo Sandoval.  If the Giants snap up a front line third baseman (even at this late in the game….Crede’s still available), then Sandoval will bring his sledgehammer to first and everybody else will take the bench. 

Let’s just all hope that Travis learns how to hit that down and in breaking ball, m’kay? 

The San Francisco Giants scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning but they were unable to score the tying run and lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks by the score of 7-6. I’ll give the Giants credit for coming back after Brandon Webb left the game, they were just put in to big of a hole early in the game by the pitching staff.

Starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez gave up six hit and six runs in only 3 2/3 innings. Three walks and one home run really hurt Sanchez in the game. Kevin Correia also gave up a home run and one run in two innings of relief.

Omar Vizquel led the Giants at the plate with two rbi in the game and then was followed by for other players with one rbi each. Rich Aurilia, John Bowker, Bengie Molina, and Pablo Sandoval all chipped in with one rbi each.

The Giants and D-backs will play one more game in the series on Thursday night. Tim Lincecum will be taking mound so try to catch the game on tv or out in Phoenix if you can.

Giants Blog

I’m sure the Giants felt like they could not get out of New York fast enough after the three game sweep in which San Francisco dropped the last game of the series 7-3.   

 The Giants were held scoreless for 21 innings, and had been outscored 18-0 before finally scoring one run in the top of the fourth.  John Bowker doubled to left field and advanced to third on a ground out by Eliezer Alfonzo.  Bowker would score on a wild pitch by John Maine.  The Giants tacked on two more in the top of the fifth to tie the game at three.  Barry Zito had a good at bat and worked a walk and would advance to second when Maine walked Fred Lewis.  Randy Winn would drive in both runs with his 23 double of the season.  However, the Mets bullpen kept the Giants in check and they failed to score from then on.  The Giants left six guys on base, so there were some opportunities for them to score runs and failed to take advantage of the six walks allowed by Mets pitching.

Barry Zito did not figure in the decision.  In his five innings of work he allowed three runs, 2 earned, on four hits while walking six and striking out two.  Three of those six walks came in the same inning when Zito walked three Mets hitters but was able to work out of the bases loaded jam.  The Giants’ bullpen was unable to keep San Francisco in the game.  Sergio Romo came into a 3-3 game and worked just one and two thirds innings giving up three runs, two earned on three hits, Romo was charged with the loss.  Jack Taschner also allowed one run in his one third inning of work.

Ok, so here is my thing on the umps-they have done a terrible job this year.  I think it shows you that something is terribly wrong when both starting pitchers in a game throw a ton of pitches (both Zito and Maine threw over 100 pitches and neither made it past the 5^th).  Not only did both starters throw a ton of pitches, they also had ball to strike ratios that were nearly 50/50.  And while you can say that neither one of the guys had the great stuff, and certainly both of these guys have had their issues this season, if you watched the game you would have seen that much of what happened to Maine and Zito today had a lot to do with the miniscule strike zone.  It isn’t just that the strike zones are largely inconsistent or sometime just way too small, but it bas been some other things as well.  The call in Tuesday night’s game (and I forget which ump was at second base and which Giants’ runner was on), but, the runner was clearly out of the base path, not just a little out of the base path, he was on the grass and the ump was standing right there and did not bother to call it.  And how many blown calls have we seen on homeruns this year, calling homeruns on balls that clearly aren’t, and calling back homeruns that clearly are.  What are these guys doing out there?  I have watched a lot of baseball, and I have to say this is about one of the worst years of all around umpiring that we’ve seen.  I guess the umps really do want instant replay and at this rate, maybe the players association should demand it.    

The Giants continue their road trip with a visit to Wrigley Field.  Matt Cain will be on the hill for the Giants and Jason Marquis will pitch for the cubs.  Game time is scheduled for 1:20 p.m.

Giants Blog

The San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs were tied at 5-5 heading into the eighth inning but Giants relief pitcher Tyler Walker gave up a home run to Mike Fontenot and the Cubs went on to beat the Giants 6-5.  The Cubs have now won two of the first three games in the four game series and will go for the series win on Thursday.

Giants starting pitcher Kevin Correia pitched 6 1/3 innings as he gave up seven hits and four runs including one home run to get the no decision.  Sergio Romo and Walker both gave up a run each as both players pitched one inning.  Keiichi Yabu was finally able to slow the Cubs down in the ninth inning as he pitched a scoreless inning.

All of the Giants runs came via the home run ball as John Bowker hit a two run home run in the sixth inning off of Cubs starting pitcher Ryan Dempster.  Ray Durham then hit a big three run home run off of Carlos Marmol in the seventh inning that tied the game at 5-5.  The Giants didn’t have an answer however in the eighth or ninth innings and lost the game 6-5.

The Giants can still get a split in the series with a win against the Cubs as they plate a very late afternoon game to finish up the series.

Giants Blog

The San Francisco Giants beat the Cleveland Indians for the second night in a row.  This time it was a 4-1 victory for the visiting Giants.  Now with a win on Thursday, the Giants will sweep the Indians which would be a great feat for the team.

Barry Zito actually got a win and improved to 3-11 on the season.  Yeah, you read that right, Barry Zito won a game!  Zito tossed 6 2/3 innings and allowed four hits and one run while striking out four batters.  The key for Zito was zero walks in his five plus innings of action!

Keiichi Yabu was called on to get the final out of the seventh inning but he was unable to as he gave up a hit and then was pulled from the game.  Jack Taschner got the final out in the inning and then got the first out in the eighth inning before he was pulled from the game and Tyler Walker came in to the game to finish up the inning.  Brian Wilson pitched the ninth inning to pick up his 21st save of the season.

Aaron Rowand led the Giants at the plate with a two run single in the first inning.  Jose Castillo and John Bowker both hit solo home runs in the game as both players finished the game with one rbi each.

The Giants will go for the sweep on Thursday against the Indians.  Do you think they will get the job done once again on the road?  Leave us a comment and let us know your thoughts!

Would you be interested in blogging about the Giants here on sfgiantshomeplate?  Leave us a comment or click the contact us link on the main page and let us know.  We are looking for game recap writers as well as writers that want to just blog about Giants Baseball!

John Bowker blasted a three run home run in the eighth inning as the San Francisco Giants scored five runs in the eighth and defeated the Detroit Tigers by the score of 8-6.  Bowker’s three run shot came off of Fernando Rodney who was making his first apperance of the year for the Tigers.

After Bowker’s three run blast, Fred Lewis hit a two run ground rule double to score two more runs.  It was a good thing for Lewis’s two run double because the Giants would give up two runs in the ninth inning before ending the game.

Keiichi Yabu ended up getting the win and is now 3-3 on the season.  Tim Lincecum pitched a good game as he tossed seven innings and allowed six hits and four runs.  Lincecum did give up two home runs to Marcus Thames as he was the only one that really did any damage.  Brian Wilson pitched the ninth inning and gave up three hits and two runs as he had a bad outing.

Giants Blog

The San Francisco Giants blew a four run lead in the eighth and ninth inning as the Houston Astros came back to win 8-7.  The Giants gave up three home runs in the final two innings in the game as they lost a disappointing finale to the series.

Vinnie Chulk gave up the home run to Lance Berkman in the ninth inning to take the loss.  He is now 0-2 on the season.  Tyler Walker was the relief pitcher that had the most trouble though as he gave up three runs in only 2/3 of an inning.  Terrible job by the Giants bullpen today.

Tim Lincecum pitched six inning and allowed five hits and three runs to get the no decision in the game.

John Bowker led the Giants with three rbi while Aaron Rowand had two rbi.  Randy Winn had an rbi for the Giants as well in the game.

The Giants will now play the Chicago White Sox in a weekend interleague series.  Giants Blog

The San Francisco Giants lost to the Houston Astrosn 6-3 on Wednesday night as the Giants pitchers couldn’t slow down three Astros batters.  Lance Berkman, Brad Ausmus, and Miguel Tejada all had two rbi against Giants pitchers.  Three different Giants pitchers gave up runs in the game as well.

Patrick Misch tossed six innings of seven hit baseball to start the game.  He did allow three runs including one home run in the game as he got the no decision.  Jack Taschner pitched 2/3 of an inning in relief of Misch and allowed one run to score as he took the loss. Taschner is now 1-2 on the season.  After he left the game, Billy Sadler came in and gave up a two run home run that ended up putting the game out of reach for the Giants.

Aaron Rowand had a two run home run for the Giants in the second inning and then in the third inning, Misch laid down a sacrafice bunt that the Giants threw away that allowed John Bowker to score.

The Giants will try to get a split in the series as they play the Astros Thursday afternoon.

Giants Homeplate is currently seeking a Giants fan that would like to write game recaps for the games.  Recaps can be done right after the game is over or the next morning.  If you are interested be us the contact us link at the top of the site to email us.