Giants Take Two Of Three From Reds In Wild Series

The Giants ended a deflating road trip being shut out at the hands of Cardinals' starter and potential NL ROY Jaime Garcia, who needed only 89 pitches to carve through the Giants through nine innings. The offense looked dormant all last week, which was not a good sign considering that the Reds are the National League's best offense.

But magically, the Bay Area experienced a searing heat wave, and the Giants looked like the 1927 Yankees, out-slugging the Reds en route to winning two out of three. In the three games series, the Giants scored 38 runs on 53 hits.

Today's loss was heartbreaking, considering the Giants came back from a 10-1 deficit. Brian Wilson, despite the Sandoval error, should have been able to get through the 9th inning with a save. But I want to focus on the positives, particularly the reemergence of the Kung Fu Panda.

Pablo Sandoval swung the bat this series like he did all of last year when he hit .330 with 25 HR. He went 10-16 in the three games against the Reds with 2 doubles, 1 homerun, and 7 RBIs, and even his outs were solid contact. Sandoval has enjoyed a very nice August, hitting .302 with 5 HR, .570 SLG, and a .903 OPS. The Panda finding his swing would be beyond lightning in a bottle for the Giants, as we saw last season that he's capable of single-handedly carrying a team in postseason contention. Add him with Buster Posey, Andres Torres, Aubrey Huff, and a suddenly-hot Freddy Sanchez, and the Giants now have a somewhat deep lineup that can complement the pitching staff. The Giants will not average 12 runs a game as they did this series, but their offense more than made up for two shaky outings by Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner.