An Eric Hinske home run was the difference in a Giants' 3-2 loss, as the Braves improved to a phenomenal home record of 37-14. After giving up two runs in the first two innings, Jair Jurrjens shut them down for the next 4 innings. The Giants failed to captialize, as evidenced by the 17 left on base. Their offense was not quiet, though. Sanchez, Sandoval, Torres, Uribe, and Huff all had doubles, and the Giants did not go in the ninth without a fight. Aaron Rowand battled against Wagner, then flied out to right near the warning track. Then, Renteria, who had homered against Wagner earlier this season to tie up a game, hit a fast line drive back at Wagner who quickly snagged it. Torres promptly came up and hit the first pitch for a grounder through the hole between short and third. With Torres at first, Freddy Sanchez battled against Wagner, crushing an inside pitch just a few feet foul of a home run, but eventually struck out. Buster Posey's bat was silent in the game, 0 for 4 with a strikeout. Meanwhile, Pablo Sandoval appears to be quietly making a return to the .330-25 Home Run guy that he was last year. He went 2 for 4 with a single and a double.
Lincecum's outing was not bad, but it wasn't particularly great. It was just barely above the bare minimum for a quality start, 3 ER in 6.1 IP. With the exception of the two home runs, he pitched quite well, but gave up 3 walks, one of which scored on a 2-run home run.
MLB.com: "Lincecum had gone 67 starts without allowing multiple homers, a lapse he last endured on July 20, 2008, when Milwaukee's Ryan Braun and Corey Hart victimized him."
However, Lincecum did manage to retake the National League lead in strikeouts.
Tomorrow, the Giants will square off against Tommy Hanson. They are hitting a collective .188 against him with 9 strikeouts in 16 at-bats.
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In other news...
Media is making this SF-ATL series out to be a competition: Posey vs. Heyward:
ESPN: "Heyward and Posey were on opposite teams during a 2005 state championship game in Georgia and could battle again for NL rookie of the year."
Lastly, a day after my post disparaging Bautista, he has been designated for assignment to make room for Todd Wellemeyer.
Official Giants' Twitter Page: "Today's SF transaction: Denny Bautista has been designated for assignment. Todd Wellemeyer has been reinstated from disabled list #SFGiants"
To be honest, as bad as Wellemeyer is, I can't see any harm in this. It's clearly only a temporary move, as Runzler and Affeldt will be back soon. If a Giants starter happens to have a bad start, Wellemeyer can be used to eat up innings. Within 2 weeks, hopefully, we'll cut all ties with him.
