89 replies to this topic

[Al Zarilla]

5 errors and half of the runs given up unearned led to losses in the first two games of the season against the Dodgers. Highly hyped rookie Brandon Belt hit a 3 run HR to dead center field against tough on the Giants Chad Billingsley last night, but that was it. Lincecum and Sanchez each 0 - 1 to start the season. Cain v. Lilly today.

[Al Zarilla]

The Giants broke out the bats and Matt Cain yesterday and clubbed the Dodgers 10 - 0. Cain added 6 scoreless innings to his 21 1/3 in last year’s post-season, although post and regular season stats aren't really additive.

Barry Zito hopes to start tonight even though he's recovering from a sideswipe car accident in his resident town of Hollywood the other night.

[gaelgirl]

The Giants are killing themselves with extremely poor defense. Every game they've lost has been winnable, and just about every game has featured at least some excruciatingly bad defense. Huff is not prepared for right field, though thankfully he won't be forced out there all season long. Come back soon, Cody Ross. Belt is struggling right now, so if he doesn't improve at least a little bit, I wonder if he'll sit or be sent down to Fresno. It's an extreme solution and it's still way too early to take that step. But I think there are a few weeks left before Ross is due to come back.

I think the defensive mistakes are coming, in part, because the Giants are trying too hard to do everything right. They're getting tight.

Whatever, they've looked horrible in the field so far and it's making for some miserable games. Obviously there's still plenty of time to improve.

And speaking of improving, the Giants fan who was attacked at Dodgers Stadium doesn't seem to be improving much. They said today it looks like he has brain damage. What a fucking horrible thing to happen. The Giants have prepared a pre-game tribute to him for the home opener, plus designated the first game against the Dodgers as a fundrasing night for him.

[Al Zarilla]

All is right with the Giants' world. Tim Lincecum fired a 0BB, 13K, 7 inning gem at the Padres this afternoon/tonight. Posey had his first homer, 4 RBI and 3 hits. Pablo Sandoval and Aubrey Huff also had 3 hits and Brandon Belt had 2. Brian Wilson pitched in his first game of the year and showed some rust, giving up 3 runs, but two were inherited runners that Affeldt let in. Offday tomorrow so the Giants can make it all the way back from San Diego to San Francisco and collect their rings.

[Al Zarilla]

The Giants ring ceremony was really well done in a freezing AT&T Park before tonight's game. Maybe one of the long time Giants fans here attended. I'm a short timer so I watched on TV. The longest ovation, not too hard to figure out: Tim Lincecum. The first ring went to Giants equipment manager who joined the team as a batboy 52 years ago, Mike Murphy. Closeups of the ring...pretty awesome. Lots of diamonds and some kind of orange stone (of course). CSNBA showed the first WS ring ever done, 1922, Giants (yay) over Yankees! Just guessing, it might weigh 1/10th of the latest one.

Giants won their home opener yesterday in 12 on a walkoff hit by Aaron Rowand, try to get even on the overall season ledger tonight, Matt Cain vs. Jaime Garcia.

Krukow and Kuiper just got their rings in between innings. Well deserved, those two!

Ed., guy from Tiffany, who designed the ring, said the orange stone is a mandarin garnet. Where can I get one of these rings?

Edited by Al Zarilla, 09 April 2011 - 10:46 PM.

[Lars The Wanderer]

[gaelgirl]

They're actually raffling off one of those rings, Al! $2 a ticket, minimum purchase is five tickets. Along with the ring, you get $5,000 for IRS tax purposes (paid directly to the IRS). Proceeds benefit the Giants Community Fund.

I read an article that the Giants were going for a "retro" and "wearable" ring that wasn't ostentatious. If that's what they came up with given those constraints, I can't imagine what they would have been designed otherwise. Ha ha ha. Gorgeous rings, though. My only quibble is that I wish the World Series trophy was also done in yellow gold. I'm a fan of symmetry. However, with the garnet and name banner and diamonds, yellow gold may have been too busy.

Barry Zito hung in pretty well for several innings today, but completely lost it at the end. Then Mota came in and did more damage. Currently losing 6-1 in the 8th. Not a great showing today so far. Still, they've done well for dramatic and unlikely wins the past two days so there's no counting them out just yet!!

[Al Zarilla]

If you like a game where your ace doesn't have his best stuff but keeps them in it, and the team comes from behind to win, last night was it. Lincecum in fact, left with the lead in the 6th but Affeldt gave up a long tater to Marcus Thames to tie it in the 7th. Aaron Rowand was the offensive hero with a triple in the bottom half of the 7th, scoring on a wild pitch. Guillermo Mota bailed Tim out of a bases loaded one out situation in the 6th, and the Beard struck out the side in the 9th, hitting 97 on the speed gun. Looks like he's back. Beard #2, Sergio Romo had a clean 123 in the 8th. Besides Rowand's heroics, Buster Posey had 3 hits and 2 RBI. His swing is looking perfect again, like last year.

Edited by Al Zarilla, 13 April 2011 - 12:43 PM.

[nvalvo]

Off-topic, but perhaps of interest in here.

Scott Youkilis, Bay Area restauranteur and brother of a certain ballplayer, is starting another restaurant in the Mission. The other two, Maverick and Hog & Rocks, are pretty great.

[Al Zarilla]

Showtime is doing a series of documentaries on the Giants starting this summer. Looks like they are about the 2011 season. Sneak preview, below, 34+ minutes. It's also on On Demand Showtime. I always thought HBO made the best sports documentaries but this one is right there.

http://sanfrancisco....8878828&c_id=sf

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

Showtime is doing a series of documentaries on the Giants starting this summer. Looks like they are about the 2011 season. Sneak preview, below, 34+ minutes. It's also on On Demand Showtime. I always thought HBO made the best sports documentaries but this one is right there.

http://sanfrancisco....8878828&c_id=sf

It was awesome. Simply awesome. The remarkable thing about that show is that it gives you insight into struggles that these guys go through to make it to the big leagues, hang on and even win. I know its hard to feel bad for Barry Zito but you can tell he truly cares about doing well just as much as guys like Pablo, DeRosa and Huff do.

And if Marc Kroon gets called up during a homestand, I am getting tickets. That man deserves a standing O for simply pushing as long and hard as he has.

I wish the next installment wasn't in July. I am hooked.

Edited by DeJesus Built My Hotrod, 18 April 2011 - 07:33 PM.

[Al Zarilla]

The Giants went to Denver and kicked the Rockies around pretty good the last two nights. The Rockies weren't in either game until tonight when they got it to 6 - 3 with 2 runs in the 7th. That's as close as they got. Tim Lincecum and Jonathan Sanchez quieted the hot Rocks bats very convincingly. Tim had a no hitter through one out in the 7th in last night's 8 - 1 game. The Giants are also hitting home runs now and were fourth in the majors before tonight's game in which they hit 2 more. The new Panda, svelte (for him) Pablo Sandoval hit another one tonight, into the second deck, on a low pitch most hitters would have taken. If this team can get consistent offense to go with the unquestioned stellar pitching, look out.

[gaelgirl]

There was a lot of buzz before this series that the Rockies "wanted to make a statement" with this series. To be fair, I'm sure it was mostly just media-created and writers/broadcasters looking for angles on the story. But over two games, the Rockies' only statement has been along the lines of, "Gulp," or, "Oh fuck." The Giants pitching has been spectacular, and the Rockies can't be stoked that Matt Cain's up next. That front three is stunning.

Losing Barry Zito for a while will be interesting. It appears he'll be out for at least a few weeks, if not as long as a month. Now, it's sort of a bummer that 12 years without hitting the DL (and only missing a few starts when he was sent to the bullpen) was derailed by a fluke fielding play. However, I think for as much frustration and annoyance Zito caused, he could usually give the Giants a decent start. He has been terrible in parts of his tenure as a Giant, but he's also been hit with some bad luck and poor run support. I am really pulling for Vogelsong, but am concerned about what he can really bring. However, he really only needs to go five or six innings and give up about three runs to equal the likely output of Zito.

Also, awesome story about Schierholtz's homerun on Monday. For anyone who missed it, he hit a HUGE homerun into the third deck, only the 31st hr to get up there. It was literally almost a mile high (landing about 15 rows below the purple stripe designating a mile in elevation). Anyway, Schierholtz's little brother, Vai, is at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He and his buddies could only make it to the Monday night game. They bought their own tickets instead of letting Nate put him on the pass list. And wouldn't you know it, their seats were about 10 feet away from where Nate's homerun landed. They paid off the guy who ended up with the ball ($25 and the promise of Nate Schierholtz-signed gear). Nate said he saw them cheering from up there later, but assumed they'd moved to the spot, not that those were their actual seats.

[ColoradoJack]

Also, awesome story about Schierholtz's homerun on Monday. For anyone who missed it, he hit a HUGE homerun into the third deck, only the 31st hr to get up there. It was literally almost a mile high (landing about 15 rows below the purple stripe designating a mile in elevation). Anyway, Schierholtz's little brother, Vai, is at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He and his buddies could only make it to the Monday night game. They bought their own tickets instead of letting Nate put him on the pass list. And wouldn't you know it, their seats were about 10 feet away from where Nate's homerun landed. They paid off the guy who ended up with the ball ($25 and the promise of Nate Schierholtz-signed gear). Nate said he saw them cheering from up there later, but assumed they'd moved to the spot, not that those were their actual seats.

Good story. That purple stripe is actually a row of seats and goes completely around the stadium where possible.

As for the series, yes, the Giants have had their way so far with the Rocies (Rox are winning 6-2, bottom 6th as I type this) but I'm really looking forward to how the season series plays out. These appear to be the 2 best teams in the west. The Giants have a dramatic edge with that pitching staff but let's go ahead and play the season out. I sense a bench clearer in the not to distant future.

[gaelgirl]

Oh, yeah, I definitely didn't mean to imply that the first two/three games were going to be indicative of how the entire season will go. I think they'll generally be playing a lot closer than we've seen so far. I just thought it was sort of funny that the buildup was all about how tough the games were going to be, how much the Rockies want to come out strong against the Giants, etc. etc. etc... then it's been one blowout after another. The Rockies are going to be tough all season long.

What was tough for Giants fans was how horrible Matt Cain was today. I hope it was just one of those days and not the start of something bad or due to his arm bothering him. He's a spectacular pitcher.

[Al Zarilla]

What was tough for Giants fans was how horrible Matt Cain was today. I hope it was just one of those days and not the start of something bad or due to his arm bothering him. He's a spectacular pitcher.

With Cain, I was thinking it was just one of those days, the likes of which Roy Halladay just had; Cliff Lee has had a big stinker already this year, Jon Lester, I'm sure more elite pitchers also. Now I'm worried a bit, but it'll come out soon if he has an injury like maybe a flairup of the arm problem he had in ST.

Pablo hurt a triceps muscle before yesterday's game and Bochy found him almost in tears. ESPN says he hopes to play Friday. He is certainly one of the big keys to the Giants season if he really is back to 2009 form. Actually, his form, if you take the word as being shape is terrific this year. Once in a while, maybe when his uniform shirt bags out or a double chin shows up when he's grimacing or something, I think will he eat his way back out of shape. He had a personal trainer/shadow in the off-season. I wonder if that guy is still around. Make him join the SOSH TBLTS Fatass group.

[gaelgirl]

As far as I know, he hired a personal chef for the season. He seems willing to work hard if someone is pushing him to do so, but if he loses that influence he doesn't make the best choices. He seems to have really gotten it, though. Camp Panda was great until he showed up to Spring Training as big as ever. This year, he's still looking good.

I didn't hear he was nearly in tears. Not good!

[Spacemans Bong]

Panda's been smoking the ball this year - there certainly shouldn't be any reason for him to go lay into a Buca di Beppo sundae again.

also..

[Al Zarilla]

Giants have been rather mediocre since beating Colorado easily in CO in the first two games of their series a week and a half ago. Offense, again, has been particularly weak. Now this about Pablo Sandoval:

extrabaggs Andrew Baggarly
Bochy told Jon Miller Pablo has a hamate bone injury in his hand. This often requires surgery.

http://twitter.com/#!/extrabaggs

ed., the "new Pablo", with the weight loss and all, has been the Giants most consistent player in all phases of the game so far this year.

ed., again, It's Pablo's right hand. Surgery in Arizona, likely on Tuesday. 4-6 weeks is official time frame.

Baggarly again.

Edited by Al Zarilla, 30 April 2011 - 01:44 PM.

[gaelgirl]

Panda's done for at least a month. Ross has been not-boss since he came back, DeRosa's on the DL, as is Torres. It's a mess. Tejada is AWFUL on both offense and defense.

The Giants are looking bad right now, and even great pitching isn't going to win games when you don't score runs. The ridiculous number of errors and mental mistakes just make winning that much harder. Terrible.

[Al Zarilla]

Panda's done for at least a month.

Now 7 weeks?

Little more than halfway down the page but I can't see whose tweet he means.

[Lars The Wanderer]

Tim Lincecum's 12K performance broke Christy Mathewson's record for the most double digit strikeout games in franchise history. Lincecum picked up his 29th double digit K game in just 4+ seasons.

And then there is Brian Wilson...



Yes, that is a 94mph 2-seam fastball.

Edited by Lars The Wanderer, 05 May 2011 - 09:34 AM.

[Al Zarilla]

Nice comeback win last night by the Giants, getting Matt Cain off the hook and taking a win away from Rocks' Ubaldo Jimenez. Nate Schierholtz had a 2 run double to tie it in the 8th and Cody Ross had a pinch hit double in the 9th and scored the winning run on a single by Freddy Sanchez. The bullpen continues to be excellent.

[Al Zarilla]

The Giants won their fifth straight last night over AZ, another one run game and another come from behinder. They climbed into a virtual tie (% points behind) for first place with the Rockies, who were rained/snowed out in Denver yesterday. Andres Torres is back and providing a spark with his O and his D. Cain v Daniel Hudson today @12:45 for the sweep.

[gaelgirl]

This team, once again, is getting hard to watch. They, quite literally, threw away two probable wins against the Rockies, the infield offense and defense is anemic and injuries are leaving the Giants with few options. Pablo Sandoval is desperately missed, and we can only hope Freddy Sanchez's swollen knee gets better quickly. DeRosa insists he's feeling fine, but he's been horrid. It's a sad day when Miggy is looking like a better option at third.

However, for a more optimistic take: When Pablo got hurt, the realistic goal was to tread water and stay competitive until he comes back. So far, they've done that. A few better plays, a little bit better execution in key spots and they are celebrating a sweep over their chief division rivals. Nate Schierholtz is looking good, and Fontenot has performed admirably. The pitching is still pretty solid, and Vogelsong has been a great addition to the staff thus far. Some (many... all?) would say he's a better option than Barry Zito.

But, largely... it's been a tough few days.

[gaelgirl]

For the record, the Giants are still looking pretty iffy. But they're riding that iffy all the way to first place in the NL West. It's the pitching. It certainly isn't the hitting and run scoring -- I think we're near the last in NL offensive categories.

Lincecum threw about 130 pitches today for a complete-game shutout. Fuck yeah!

[gaelgirl]

Today's game went from nail-bitingly close, to a four-run Marlin lead, to a four-run ninth-inning comeback to a gut-wrenching loss -- Buster Posey is hurt. It looked very, very bad. He was crawling on the ground in absolute agony. Horrible.

[Frank, Fenway]

that was horrible to watch

[Spacemans Bong]

Hopefully he hasn't torn the ligaments in his ankle - basically it got stuck in the dirt and turned at a very awkward angle.

Saying that it could just be a sprained ankle. Anybody who's ever hurt their ankle knows it can feel like your leg's about to fall off, but turn out to just be an inconvenient injury that nags for a couple days.

[Yazdog8]

Ugh, just saw the injury. With Panda out for at least another month+, the Giants need to find some offense somewhere.

[TheYellowDart5]

Report on Posey: Broken leg, torn ligaments. He's done for the year, I imagine.

[DannyDarwinism]

Uhg, that sucks. Welcome to the bigs, Brandon Belt.

[Yazdog8]

Report on Posey: Broken leg, torn ligaments. He's done for the year, I imagine.

So there are two reports going around the SF Bay Area sports radio. They both boil down to broken ankle with possible torn knee ligaments. Posey to the 60 day DL. Belt up from the minors along with catcher Chris Stewart. Belt has been absolutely raking in the minors after he was sent down. They've been playing him in LF and more than likely that's where he will play in SF. They're reluctant to move Huff to the OF because he's been brutal out there. Lost in the shuffle of Posey last night was Fontenot getting hurt. Possible groin which also may force him to the DL.

All in all, a brutal day for the Giants. Too bad about Posey, who seems like a nice young man.

[Frank, Fenway]

Could this be a career ending injury or will he be back?

[Yazdog8]

Could this be a career ending injury or will he be back?

Too early to tell yet. I would assume he'll be back, but not this year. There was talk before this happened about moving Posey out from behind the plate as he's been taking a beating recently from foul balls and other catcher related stuff. I can assume this will intensify discussions. I think it depends on the extent of knee ligament damage if there is any.

[Al Zarilla]

Local talk radio (Gary Radnich) sniffing around for calls or emails about dirty play by the Marlin player Scott Cousins. It wasn't. Wish Radnich had a season ending injury to his tongue instead of Posey getting hurt.

Giants were lucky last year with regard to injuries. I don't think they missed a single starting pitcher start because of injury, and position player-wise, not a lot either. Freddy Sanchez early, Andres Torres late with the appendectomy, a couple short DL visits by Edgar Renteria, Rowand out for a while was about it. Stuff happens, as this board knows with the Sox last year. Giants really need the Panda back now.

[Old Fart Tree]

Sucks about Posey. His agent needs to shut the fuck up about trying to change the rules about collisions at the plate though. Seriously, don't pussify the game any further.

[Yazdog8]

Sucks about Posey. His agent needs to shut the fuck up about trying to change the rules about collisions at the plate though. Seriously, don't pussify the game any further.

I disagree. Posey wasn't blocking the plate. There was a clear path to score. While the play wasn't dirty or illegal by today's standards, the rules regarding blocking the plate have been poorly enforced and lead to these types of jarring collisions. Catchers need to be protected.

And from the panda on twitter:

@pandoval48 Talking further within our team, I might have misspoken and hopefully Buster isn't out for the season

[Fishercat]

I'd have no problem putting in a rule that players should try to slide unless the only option is to plow through the catcher, but that leaves a lot up to the umpires and I'm okay with the way it is. Just stinks that the two most recent victims were Santana and Posey.

[JMDurron]

Just watched the video on MLB.com, that's brutal. It always sucks to see that kind of thing happen to a young, star player who is so integral to a team's offense.

Adding insult to injury, it looks like he should have caught the ball, and the game would still have been tied if he had held onto it.

[Yazdog8]

There are rules already on the books to stop catchers from blocking the plate. They need to be enforced so that collisions at the plate don't have to be the norm. It's a shame that the MLB is not more proactive about protecting it's players. The goal should be to keep them on the field, not in the hospital.

Edited by Yazdog8, 26 May 2011 - 02:45 PM.

[gaelgirl]

So the official word is a broken leg (lower leg) and torn ligaments, apparently several on several sides of the ankle. The knee is fine. They think he'll need surgery, but they are still doing the analysis of what exactly will be done and when. But, they want to get him into surgery asap; usual recovery time is 6-8 weeks before starting rehab, but of course they won't know until they get there. They said it is closer to a football/contact injury than what they see in baseball. They do not believe it is career threatening, nor are they willing to speculate about whether it will prevent him from playing catcher.

(Here's the text of the interview with the trainer: http://blogs.mercury...osis/#more-5394)

It's a huge bummer. It was all the Bay Area was talking about it today. EVERYONE was talking about it -- from coworkers who have no interest in baseball to doctors chatting about it on a break to morning radio shows who never ever cover or talk about sports. It's the biggest story in the Bay Area right now. Everyone loves Buster.

Andrew Baggerly of the SJ Mercury News talked to Bengie Molina, who was "sickened" by the injury. He's close with Buster, has sent him texts, offering him support. He said he'd be willing to come back to the Giants, but he'd have to get ready. He said he's been working out, but that he's not in playing shape. Bengie said he thinks it happened because Buster didn't catch the ball, so he wasn't turned toward the play -- but it's what he would have done himself, that it's the right mechanics for the scenario.

I do feel bad for Cousins. He seems very upset -- apparently he called the Giants staff/Posey twice overnight to check on him, and he claims he couldn't sleep. He said he grew up a Giants fan, he went to college in the city, he still loves them and Posey is one of his favorite players. The guy sounds like a total wreck.

[Al Zarilla]

So the official word is a broken leg (lower leg) and torn ligaments, apparently several on several sides of the ankle. The knee is fine. They think he'll need surgery, but they are still doing the analysis of what exactly will be done and when. But, they want to get him into surgery asap; usual recovery time is 6-8 weeks before starting rehab, but of course they won't know until they get there. They said it is closer to a football/contact injury than what they see in baseball. They do not believe it is career threatening, nor are they willing to speculate about whether it will prevent him from playing catcher.

(Here's the text of the interview with the trainer: http://blogs.mercury...osis/#more-5394)

It's a huge bummer. It was all the Bay Area was talking about it today. EVERYONE was talking about it -- from coworkers who have no interest in baseball to doctors chatting about it on a break to morning radio shows who never ever cover or talk about sports. It's the biggest story in the Bay Area right now. Everyone loves Buster.

Andrew Baggerly of the SJ Mercury News talked to Bengie Molina, who was "sickened" by the injury. He's close with Buster, has sent him texts, offering him support. He said he'd be willing to come back to the Giants, but he'd have to get ready. He said he's been working out, but that he's not in playing shape. Bengie said he thinks it happened because Buster didn't catch the ball, so he wasn't turned toward the play -- but it's what he would have done himself, that it's the right mechanics for the scenario.

I do feel bad for Cousins. He seems very upset -- apparently he called the Giants staff/Posey twice overnight to check on him, and he claims he couldn't sleep. He said he grew up a Giants fan, he went to college in the city, he still loves them and Posey is one of his favorite players. The guy sounds like a total wreck.

GG, best overall summary I've seen. Still showing the collision this morning on all the ESPNs and Comcast Sports Bay Area. I can't look at it anymore, but the last few times I did, Cousins didn't have to clobber Posey. Part of the plate was there for a hook slide. I know at the speed it happens you have no time to think, and you're taught to level the catcher if he's blocking the plate. So, I don't blame Cousins but this didn't really have to happen. High school and college baseball currently don't allow runners to blast catchers. I hope MLB follows suit. BTW, of all the myriad of reporters I've listened to on this thing, one said they thought Posey would be used at first base when he comes back. All else think catcher.

[Al Zarilla]

Interview with Posey by Andrew Baggarly. I got a busted leg playing football and in a cast for just five weeks and it seemed like a year. I think his wife has twins on the way. Maybe that will cheer him up.

Posey interfiew

[Spacemans Bong]

Brandon Crawford, everyone.

[gaelgirl]

Giants are still scuffling. Losing Posey was a bummer, but he wasn't having a great season anyway. The offense is terrible. Sandoval is close to coming back, thank fuck. Hopefully the corpse of Tejada will not be trotted out there every day when Panda gets back. He's awful, just awful. The Giants have given him plenty of rope and all he's done is hang himself with it. Oh where have you gone, Mike Fontenot? (I know -- the DL. I miss him. Maybe if he weren't on the DL, we wouldn't be seeing Tejada every freaking day.)

Brandon Belt came out of the game with an injured hand (he was hit by a pitch), but thankfully the x-rays were negative. Gee, too bad, the Giants All-DL team is still missing a first baseman. Ugh.

The bullpen really screwed it up today, but they've been fantastic for the most part this year. Shit happens. It's just happening a lot more since Posey was hurt.

I still feel bad for Cousins. I think he made a mistake, but he didn't intend to hurt Posey. He's young and was trying to score the winning run. If Posey had caught the ball, he would have been out by several feet. So, he felt the only move was to force a collision. It's a low-percentage play, balls are rarely dislodged. Sliding is probably an even lower percentage play, but a creative slide to the outside of the plate might be the best way to go. It's a shitty situation all around. JT Snow clobbered Pudge Rodriguez in a playoff game a few years ago and I loved him for it -- if he dislodged the ball, the Giants kept playing; if he didn't, the season and playoffs were over. Collisions at the plate are always going to happen -- but I think the trend is moving toward limiting contact. The Giants have preached to their players that they want them to avoid collisions as much as possible because the risk of injury is too great. Similarly, they had advised Posey to give up a lane instead of blocking the plate and inviting contact. This wasn't the final game of the season, win or go home. It didn't need to be as violent a collision as it was. Even saying all that, Posey would have been fine if his spikes hadn't gotten caught. It's just an unlucky accident.

[Al Zarilla]

Ryan Vogelsong pitched another beauty against the Rockies yesterday, Giants winning 2 - 1. His ERA is now 1.68. Bochy declared after the game that "Voggy's not going anywhere, he's going to pitch every fifth day". Followed that by saying the Giants would have to "get creative" when Zito is ready for the big club. Didn't hear how that might manifest itself. I think Zeets is slated for some ml rehab starts. Then maybe a 6 man rotation to save innings for the postseason? If Zito doesn't do well, make him a long man and go back to 5 starters. Giants are in first by .5 games with the same record as the Red Sox, 33 - 26.

[Al Zarilla]

Freddy Sanchez hurt his shoulder in tonight's game diving for a groundball in the fifth inning. He was in a lot of pain and no word for the next two hours. Sanchez has clearly been the Giants best player this year. Pablo Sandoval is playing in some minor league rehab games, due back with the Giants Tuesday, I think. Giants were relatively injury free last year, not this year. However, they're pitching staff remains intact and they are in a weak division.

Ed., dislocated right shoulder, no estimate on how long he may be out.

Edited by Al Zarilla, 11 June 2011 - 12:43 AM.

[Al Zarilla]

Not good news for Freddy Sanchez:

An MRI confirmed that Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez had a dislocated shoulder, which includes a damaged labrum and a stretched capsule.

Sanchez will get a second opinion from Dr. Gary Waslewski, who performed a previous surgery on Sanchez's left shoulder. The Giants plan to have Sanchez rehab for a few weeks before determining whether surgery is necessary. If it is, Sanchez would miss the rest of the season.

Sanchez Injury

[JMDurron]

Does this mean that the Giants will now be featuring Miguel Tejada and Bill Hall as a part of their regular IF defense?