Bruce Bochy held a brief team meeting before the game today, and whatever he said must have lit a fire under the Giants' belly because the team awoke from its seemingly never-ending slumber and exploded for 18 hits today. Of course, it helps that they faced a pitcher who doesn't have any business being in the Big Leagues anymore, but still, considering how pathetic this team's offense has been at times, the offensive production today was very significant.
Both Aaron Rowand and Randy Winn had a great days at the plate. Rowand went 4-5 with a HR (and a brilliant assist to throw out Corey Sullivan at home plate) and Winn went 3-5 with a double. I was ticked off to see that Nate Schierholtz wasn't starting today, but Winn followed his clutch RBI double yesterday afternoon with a very fine game. Rowand had been mired in a 1-19 slump before his 4-5 day. As maddening as Rowand and Winn are at times to us Giants fans, this team absolutely needs them if they have any shot at making the postseason. The Giants have relied on Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Pablo Sandoval all season and they surely cannot carry the load by themselves the rest of the way. As Rowand and Winn go, so do the Giants go. From May 25 to the end of June, when Rowand was on fire at the plate, the Giants went 22-11. In the month of August, Rowand is batting .250 (his 4-5 day today really boosted that average) and the Giants are only 8-7. Scherholtz has shown himself to be a consistent performer this year, and the Giants cannot rely on Eugenio Velez to keep up his hitting. Thus, Rowand and Winn become especially important to the Giants' postseason chances. They demonstrated today that it's time for all of the veterans to step it up, and hopefully the others got the message (that means you, Ryan Garko).
Joe Martinez wasn't fantastic today, but he was solid, which is all you can ask for out of your 5th starter. He got some defensive help today from Rowand's nailing of Corey Sullivan at home plate and Gary Sheffield's baserunning mistake on a fly ball hit by Daniel Murphy. However, he showed the ability to get out of jams, as he pitched through two Pablo Sandoval errors. His next start will be Saturday against the Rockies, and let's hope he fares better than Ryan Sadowski did.
Time for the Giants to go into Cincinnati and do to the Reds what the Reds did to the Giants in San Francisco.
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