No one expected the start that Edgar Renteria has had. Not only did he tie the game with a homerun off of Billy Wagner, but he also doubled down the left field line in the 7th inning to set up that 2-run rally. Clearly, he's not bothered by the nagging elbow injury that hurt his play across the board last year. He's now able to pull the ball, and drive it into the gaps, something he couldn't do at all last season. Sure, he's not going to hit .688 for the season. But any improvement and consistency from Edgar Renteria will significantly help this offense that relies on timely hitting.
Huge props tonight to the bullpen, which took over after a shaky 4.1 inning outing by Jonathan Sanchez. The combination of Brandon Medders, Guillermo Mota, Waldis Joaquin, Dan Runzler, Bran Wilson, Sergio Romo, and Jeremy Affeldt combined to allow only 1 run in 8.2 innings. Bruce Bochy this season has a bullpen that is so good that he can confidently give the ball to any of his relievers in any situation. We Giants fans are familiar with garbage bullpens (2008 season with Tyler Walker). This year's bullpen gives a huge boost of confidence to the starting rotation, and also gives us fans some peace of mind.
Some final tid-bits:
*What started the winning rally in the 13th inning? A walk by Juan Uribe, which was the only walk that the Giants drew all game. I hope the rest of the team got this message (although Tim Hudson was around the plate all day). Working counts leads to productive rallies.
*Situational hitting, with the exception of Travis Ishikawa in the 12th inning, was fantastic again. They're bunting runners over and Sandoval and Huff had good at-bats in the 7th inning to bring home 2 runs.
*Pablo Sandoval already has 2 fielding errors in 4 games, and he's not hitting much as of yet. He's the Giants' most important player outside of Tim Lincecum. Let's hope he gets it going soon.
The Giants were an NL-best 55-29 at AT&T Park last year. Continuing that dominance at home would be excellent.
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