Giants Take Two Of Three From Phillies In The Most Frustrating Series Win Ever

Coming into this current homestand, the Giants were in a horrible rut. They had just been swept by the Padres and overall, had lost 5 out of 6 games. Their schedule didn't get any easier with the Cardinals, Phillies, and Rockies looming. Thus, if anyone had said that the Giants would take two of three from both the Cards and Phils, any Giants fan would have taken that in a heartbeat. However, the finales in both of these series have left such bitter tastes in our mouths that it's hard to step back and realize that the Giants have been playing good baseball as of late.

KNBR today was rightfully dominated by the "Did Bochy make the right call?" debate. I think Bruce Bochy is a very good manager, and I'm not like many of the Giants fans that call for his head after a backfiring move. Even Bobby Cox and Tony LaRussa makes mistakes; it's part of the game. Bochy uses his pitching staff very well and the job he did last year, squeezing 88 wins out of a team with that crappy of an offense was unbelievable. I understand why he removed Tim Lincecum after he walked Shane Victorino in the 9th inning. They were watching Lincecum's pitch count and location, and Brian Wilson hadn't allowed a run all season. On those levels, the move to take out Lincecum made sense, and I appreciate that Bochy trusts his closer. But I would have kept Lincecum in the game and let him pitch at least to one more hitter. Brian Wilson is the closer in title, but on this team, Lincecum is the REAL closer. Lincecum threw 4 complete games last year in an era where complete games are becoming obsolete. He was dominating the Phillies all game, striking out 11 batters. Shane Victorino even said in today's Philadelphia Inquirer that his team was thrilled to see Lincecum leave, and that his departure gave them a sense of hope. Lincecum is the best pitcher in baseball, the back-to-back NL Cy Young Award Winner, and the face of the Giants. Even though he got into a little bit of trouble in the 9th inning, he deserved a chance to finish the game. How much more clout does he have to build up? The great Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle summarized this sentiment beautifully today.

I'm not knocking Brian Wilson at all. He has been a very good closer for the Giants, and 95% of the time, he would have wrapped the game up. He just got burned on a fly ball that landed 1-inch fair in the 1 spot in the whole stadium other than the stands that would have cleared the bases. You have to tip your cap to Jayson Werth of the Phillies, who battled and put together an unbelievable at-bat. That at-bat showed why Werth has been such a key member of the Phillies' recent success.

It was nice to see the offense show up this series. The at-bat of the year so far for the Giants was Mark DeRosa's 2-out RBI single off of Roy Halladay in Monday's game. DeRosa aptly said after the game that you could hear the whole stadium breathe a sigh of relief. He fouled off and took some tough pitches from Halladay and worked the count to 3-2, got his pitch, and slammed a single to left field. I hope Bruce Bochy and Hensley Muelens showed that at-bat to everyone on the team because it is those types of approaches that this lineup that is short on homerun power needs to have. Edgar Renteria is swinging the bat well again, Torres has been great in the leadoff spot, and Nate Schierholtz has been lighting it up, going 5-5 yesterday. Give the Giants credit for continuing the battle even after things went sour on them. They could have easily rolled over once the Phils took the lead in the 10th inning yesterday.

I've never been a fan of Eugenio Velez, and I think it's finally time for him to be off the team. Send him back to Fresno now. He really blew the game with his lazy approach to that fly ball he dropped in the 11th inning. Hello Eugenio, use two hands to catch the ball! He's almost 28 years old and should be in the prime of his career, yet he has the fundamentals of a 5 year old playing Tee-Ball. He can't lay down a bunt even though that should be part of his game as a speedy player, he's awful defensively, and it just looks like he's not learning. I know he has flashes of great power and speed, but I'll always take a player who has sound fundamentals over a player who has more raw talent but never demonstrates any knowledge of how to play the game. As Mike Krukow said last week, "With Velez, it's always two steps forward and one step back." Well, we don't have any more patience for those backwards steps.

The Giants now welcome the Colorado Rockies in an important divisional series. Another strong outing by Barry Zito would help alleviate the bitterness from yesterday's loss.