Here's the San Francisco Giants (SFG) Weekend Review (WER) and Weekdays Preview (WDP) 4/26/2010. Pictured at left is Tim Lincecum pitching on Friday and sporting the Giants' new orange jersey look.
Weekend Review: The San Francisco Giants (10-8) took two out of three this weekend from the St. Louis Cardinals (11-7) at home this weekend. Tim Lincecum (4-0, 1.00 ERA) was once again the man who was instrumental in stopping a losing streak, this one had lasted four games. Closer Brian Wilson, who picked up a pair of saves in the series had this to say about Lincecum: "When Tim's on the mound, we have the utmost confidence we could score one run and still win. Anytime Tim pitches, the crowd is electric. We can feel that, and it gives us a sense of confidence as well." On Friday "The Franchise" went seven innings and gave up only one run in the 4-1 victory. I'm just glad the Giants have Lincecum. I said last week that Roy Halladay of the Phillies is "probably" the best pitcher in the game today but I'd like to rescind that for now. I'll stick with saying he and Lincecum are two of the best and the way things are going they could be neck and neck for the NL Cy Young Award this year.
Friday also marked the debut of the Giants' new orange jerseys that they will be wearing on Fridays at home this season. They look pretty cool but I'm kind of sad the team isn't just sticking with the traditional white and gray jerseys this year. I still kind of like the jerseys, though.
On Saturday, Barry Zito struck out 10 hitters in eight shutout innings and looked pretty dominant. Toward the end of his outing the crowd started chanting "Barry, Barry" much the way they did for Barry Bonds for many years. It was pretty cool to see Zito pitching to his full capabilities again. The Giants scored two in the bottom of the eighth to take the game 2-0. The Giants dropped the finale as the Cardinals took it 2-0 behind a strong pitching performance from former Giant Brad Penny. Of course Jaime Garcia and Adam Wainwright were both pretty good earlier in the series for the Cards, but were on the wrong end of stick.
Two out of three against the odds-on favorite to win the NL Central is a pretty good performance, but I'm still concerned about the offense. The Giants only scored 6 runs the whole the series and half of those were the result of Cardinals miscues. The Cards do have a very strong pitching staff, but this is two series in a row now where I haven't seen much offense from the Giants.
Looking ahead (Weekdays Preview): The Giants take on the two time reigning National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies (11-7) Monday through Wednesday at 8:15, 8:15 and 1:45 p.m. MT (all on MLB Extra Innings and mlb.tv). Wednesday's game featuring a pitching matchup of Lincecum and Cole Hamels is also available on MLB Network. The Phils send Halladay tonight and the ageless Jamie Moyer tomorrow night while the Giants counter with Jonathan Sanchez and Todd Wellemeyer. I think the Phillies are a very deep and talented team. I'll take them to win two of three. The winner of Tuesday's game could determine the series. Also, the Phillies have reportedly signed star first baseman Ryan Howard to a lucrative multiyear contract extension. I'll have more on that later.
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