No Oasis (Diamondbacks 11, Giants 5)

The Giants pitching staff now is all set up for the trip to Colorado, right?

The game was not as close as the score might indicate. Things were looking good in the top of the first when the Diamondbacks were tripping all over themselves to hand the Giants some runs. This type of rally is becoming a Giants hallmark: groundout, single, double, IBB, wild pitch, walk, error (on a sure DP grounder), walk, sac fly, ground out. Two well-struck balls turn into four runs. I'll take it, but once again, you can't count on this kind of cooperation. The Snakes responded by outscoring the Giants 11-1. Nice.

Pedro Feliz has got to be the worst baserunner on the Giants. He scored on Neifi's sac fly in the first, but only after he broke down the line, rushed back to the bag to tag, and made a cute slide to elude a tag at the plate. Plus Doug Devore threw a four-hopper to the plate.

I don't watch a lot of Diamondbacks baseball, but let me tell you that Shea Hillenbrand made quite an impression. Is he always this, uh, dumb? Earlier in the series there was the phantom ground ball, then last night's declining of the free extra base. Tonight in the first Pierzynski rolled a room-service grounder to him with bases loaded. With a world of options at his feet, Hillenbrand threw for second, conveniently plonking Feliz in the helmet.

So. Wayne Franklin. Yeah.

Krukow was all over Williams tonight for his inconsistency. His point was that Williams has a tendency to let up with a lead and that's the last thing you want to do. Krukow should know what he's talking about, but I'm not too worried about Williams. He's 22, remember. Brandon Webb showed some guts, though. He fell behind pretty big thanks to some shaky play, but he hung in there, kept his team in it, and got the win. I wasn't a big fan of his throwing at Michael Tucker, but it seemed to work. Tucker went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts.

Marquis Grissom continues to amaze me. Not only is he raking, but he can still run them down in center. What's even more amazing is that Steve Finley is doing even better, and he's two years older.

Free Brian Dallimore.