The Giants appear to be a binary offense: 0-1-1-0-0.
The Washington Nationals have scored more runs than the Giants. The much-maligned Houston Astros have scored more. Actually, every team in baseball has scored more runs, with the exception of Seattle, but that really doesn't count, as Seattle scored its 18 runs in five games while it's taken the Giants nine to score 20. This happens when you get shutout three times and score just one twice.
The key seems to be getting Clay Hensley on the mound. The two Giants wins this season were in games he started. The offense muscled up in those two, scoring 11 runs. That means they've mustered nine runs in seven games against Peavy, Young (2), Penny, Lowe, Wolf and Maddux.
There at least seems to be some acknowledgement by the club that hitting is a problem. For the second straight game, Pedro Feliz rode the pine. To be brutally honest, I'm shocked. For the past two seasons, you couldn't get the guy out of the Giants lineup with a crowbar. The change didn't help much, but at least it looks like Bochy is trying.
Schulman's gamer says that Linden will start again Friday, but in center. If this is right, I'll assume that Roberts is sitting against lefty Zach Duke. Why Winn doesn't move to center and Linden play right in these situations mystifies me. Linden has all of one game of experience in center, and even when he plays in right it's a bit of an adventure. Or maybe I've just got his performance in 2005 stuck in my head.
I caught glimpses of Tuesday's game, mostly in the ninth with Benitez on the mound. His outing was ugly, and the fact that he's now got two saves and a 7.71 ERA shows how silly the first stat is. After Benitez gave up the homer, I strangely didn't think about the tying run coming to the plate. No, I was thinking "how the heck are the Giants ever going to be able to unload this guy?" It's a strange situation. If he pitches well, as most Giants fans want him to, it will be difficult for the club not to trade him. If he sucks, well ... he's going nowhere.
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