From start to finish, Wednesday's game was in the Giants' hands as they cruised to a 10-0 victory, beginning with a 4-run first inning. Pat Burrell added to his good career numbers against Aaron Cook with a solo shot in the 3rd inning. RBIs came from many Giants -- Posey, Ishikawa, Sanchez (HR in 6th), Torres (HR in 9th), Uribe, and yes, even Pablo Sandoval, who went 2 for 5. The Giants are showing that they are prepared to square off against Ubaldo Jimenez tomorrow.
Not only did the Giants offense dazzle on Wednesday, but so did their pitching. Jonathan Sanchez pitched 6 scoreless innings with 9 strikeouts and the Giants received 3 scoreless innings of relief out of Santiago Casilla and midseason acquisitions Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, and Chris Ray.
"Jonathan Sanchez experienced minor early turbulence, allowing a hit and a walk in a scoreless first, but he settled down in style, retiring 11 in a row from the first to the fifth, striking out the side in the second and third innings and fanning Carlos Gonzalez in the fourth for his seventh consecutive strikeout. The mark tied Juan Marichal's San Francisco record of seven consecutive strikeouts, set Sept. 6, 1964, in Philadelphia."
Flashes of brilliance from Sanchez like today's 7 strikeouts in a row come as a reminder that we should be glad we didn't trade him away for a bat. The Giants have put together a historically powerful rotation from top to bottom with Lincecum, Zito, Cain, Sanchez, and Bumgarner. Also, the offense is clearly competent enough to perform without the help of a pricey (the cost being Bumgarner or J Sanchez) acquisition, as they have shown in these past 30 days.
The Giants are now just ONE game behind the Padres in the NL West Standings:
