Barry Zito and the San Francisco Giants finished up a four game series with the Atlanta Braves on Monday afternoon with a 5-0 victory. The Giants took three out of four games against the Braves in the series to improve their record to 53-71 on the season.

Zito who pitched seven innings won for just the third time since the all star break and is now 7-15 on the year. Zito gave up five hits while walking two and striking out three Braves hitters. Keiichi Yabu and Sergio Romo each pitched an inning of relief to combine with Zito on the shutout.

The Giants got on the scoreboard right away as they pushed across three runs in the first inning. Rich Aurilia and Pablo Sandoval both had rbi singles while Aaron Rowand had a rbi sac fly. The Giants were then held scoreless until the sixth inning when Rowand hit a solo home run. The team got another run in the seventh inning when Dave Roberts walked with the bases loaded.

The Giants will now start up a series on Tuesday night with the Florida Marlins.

Giants Baseball Blog

Barry Zito has finally won his 5th game of the season as the San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals by the score of 6-3 on Tuesday evening.  Zito is now 5-12 on the season with a 5.56 era.  Great win for the Giants as they have now taken the first two games in a three game series against the visiting Nationals.

Zito threw six innings while giving up seven hits and three runs.  He did walk three batters but also struckout five others.  It was a decent start for Zito as it was enough to pick up the victory.  Four different relief pitchers combined to throw the final four innings of the game and did not allow a run.  Jack Taschner and Sergio Romo combined to throw the 7th inning while Tyler Walker threw the 8th inning and Brian Wilson notched his 26th save in the 9th inning.

At the plate for the Giants, Bengie Molina hit a two run home run and a solo home run to finish the game with three rbi.  Both of Molina’s home runs came against Nationals starting pitcher Jason Bergmann.  Fred Lewis also hit a solo home run off of Bergmann in the 1st inning.  Omar Vizquel had a rbi double in the 4th inning and Aaron Rowand tacked on a rbi single in the 8th inning.  That was enough offense for the Giants as they doubled up the Nationals.

Giants Baseball 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 were going for a rare road sweep on Thursday night but they were not able to do it as the Cleveland Indians beat them by the score of 4-1.  The Giants batters struck out 11 times in the game and left another 11 runners on base as they couldn’t get any big hits against Indians starter Cliff Lee.

Matt Cain dropped to 4-6 on the season after he tossed five innings and gave up eight hits and four runs.  Cain struggled out there on the mound as he could never get into a rhythm.  After Cain exited the game the Giants bullpen did a really good job however.

Alex Hinshaw, Billy Sadler, and Sergio Romo all pitched an inning out of the bullpen and not one of them gave up a hit.  They kept the team within striking distance but the offense never did get around to scoring any runs late in the game.

The one run for the Giants camein the fourth inning when Rich Aurilia singled in Aaron Rowand.  Besides that rbi single from Aurilia the Giants only had three other hits in the game.

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