No Way, Jose

Jose Guillen is terrible. The one thing he had to avoid in the ninth with runners on the corners and one out and the Giants losing 4-2 -- a double play. Yet he failed to avoid it. The worst part was -- Heath Bell was somewhat falling apart. He had allowed three hits in the ninth, and was getting a little wild. Even a strikeout would have allowed Andres Torres to come to the plate. Although Andres Torres doesn't have good numbers against Heath Bell, he knows how to work a count, and he knows how to hit a walkoff (three so far this year). Guillen couldn't even work the count, grounding into the game-ending double play on the second pitch of the at-bat. The worst part? It was a high fastball. How Guillen failed to keep a high fastball elevated is beyond me...Here's Jose Guillen's at-bat from MLB.com Gameday...

Barry Zito also sucks. There's no other way to put it. Two consecutive two-out bases-loaded walks in the first inning. That's how the Padres scored two of their runs. Take away those two, and the Giants would have been tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, instead of scrambling to overcome a 4-2 deficit. Zito allowed 3 ER in 3 innings of work, and walked the opposing pitcher to lead off the fourth inning. The bullpen? Six scoreless innings. This is ridiculous.

Is there any good that can be taken out of this? Yes...definitely. Barry Zito hopefully lost his chance at a spot in the playoff rotation. The Padres' divine bullpen trio (Mike Adams, Luke Gregerson, Heath Bell) is being overworked. And Pablo Sandoval is back again...at least for the time being. He had two hits, and is just making good contact overall.

Game summary...

Zito gives up two runs in the first on two-out bases-loaded walks. 

Sandoval gets a two-out groundball and makes an error to keep the third inning alive, allowing Miguel Tejada to score. 

Zito walks opposing pitcher to lead off the fourth inning. He eventually comes around to score. 

In the sixth inning, with the Giants losing 4-0, runners on first and second, and two outs, Buster Posey takes a called strike-three to end the inning. Bruce Bochy gets ejected for arguing the call. For those of you that want to see Posey's called strike three, here it is:

He has to protect on a pitch so close...

In the seventh, Juan Uribe hits a one-out home run which just barely goes over the fence. Sandoval then singles. Travis Ishikawa flies out to the warning track in left field. Nate Schierholtz grounds out to end the inning. 

In the ninth, Pat Burrell hits a one-out double. Uribe pops up to shallow right field...the ball drops -- runners on second and third, one out. Sandoval hits a line-drive single to the left side, 4-2. Guillen steps up to the plate and works his magic. Game over. 

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Now, as for Buster Posey slumping? Yes, he's five for his last 38...but no worries. He's only struck out three times in his last 34 at-bats...and as long as he keeps making contact, the ball will eventually start to find holes.

Tomorrow: Jonathan Sanchez will face Mat Latos.

Mat Latos...hmm..let's see. Oh yeah...that's right, that's the guy who said this: 

"Baseball works in funny ways. The only way I could honestly put it is, we could be like the Giants and go and change our whole lineup, put guys with 'San Francisco Giants' across their jerseys. We didn't. We added two guys (Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick) We've been the same team all year. We haven't just gone and grabbed guys from other teams."

Funny thing, because last time a Giants pitcher made comments about the Padres, he lost the game. Maybe Latos will learn this lesson tomorrow...

That Giants pitcher happens to be going against the Padres tomorrow, and happens to have a very good history against them.

In 2010, Sanchez has a 2.59 ERA against them in five starts, and they are batting just .162 against him this year. And then there's this....

Well...tomorrow's a must-win. The Giants really don't want to have to play a tiebreaker 163rd game in San Diego. They need to win tomorrow. They destroyed Mat Latos last time, and he's been pitching poorly of late -- a 6.21 ERA in September. 

It's magic inside? Well, we'll find out tomorrow...