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Giants crush the lowly Orioles, 10-2
By Morris Phillips June 14, 2010 |
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Interleague play resembles a lottery this week with random teams surfacing in unlikely places. On Monday, the Giants hit the jackpot. Baseball’s worst team, the wounded Orioles of Baltimore, limped in to Pac Bell in need of a hug. And the Giants, as inhospitable as any nine these days, responded with a slap and a kick. The Birds, fresh off of being swept for the eighth time this year, came in a season-worst 29 games under .500, and they looked woozy from the first inning on after a cross-country flight from Baltimore. The Giants, fresh off the sweep of the A’s, hit for the cycle and then some in the first two innings on their way to a 10-2 rout. “A lot of good things happened tonight,” manager Bruce Bochy said. The Giants built a 6-1 lead after two innings, and cruised. A five-run second inning sealed it, replete with a flurry of hard hit balls. While the Giants managed just nine hits, five of them went for extra bases, including Pat Burrell’s second inning home run. Remember when the Giants couldn’t hit? Three weeks ago when the Giants’ bats fell silent in Oakland, the consensus was this team would need far better hitters than the ones they possessed. Since then, Freddy Sanchez has been lights out, Andres Torres has become a fixture in the leadoff spot, and for now, Aaron Rowand and his pricey contract have taken a seat on the bench. So drastic is the transformation, the Giants had no one hitting below .283 in their starting lineup Monday, one through eight. In fact, five of the first six hitters came in hitting .302 or better and Burrell who hit .202 in 24 games with the Rays before getting released, lifted his average above 400 in his 10 games with the Giants. Jonathan Sanchez got the win, to improve his record to 5-5, and he pitched above average for the fifth straight start. Sanchez has become a pretty consistent hurler, and he’s even better in a game where pressure situations are removed. Of the positive numbers generated by Sanchez, his walks allowed stand out as he has issued just five free passes in the last 19 innings, covering his last three starts. Anyone who’s tracked Sanchez knows his struggles surface when his control disappears. On Monday, Sanchez was in concert with Joe West, the ump with a mandate for brevity, as he registered 79 strikes on his 117 pitches. “I thought he had good stuff and really attacked the strike zone better tonight. That’s a key for him,” manager Bruce Bochy said. While the Giants hummed, the Orioles sputtered, starting with Chris Tillman who lasted just two innings after elevating pitches to Andres Torres (triple and a run scoring double), Burrell and Pablo Sandoval (two bagger to triples alley). The follies took a break, but began anew in the bottom of the eighth when second basemen Ty Wigginton flipped a ball over shortstop Cesar Izturis’ head, allowing Juan Uribe to move to third base. Reliever Frank Mata then intentionally walked Pablo Sandoval, but then unintentionally walked Eli Whiteside, Travis Ishikawa and Torres to push across two more runs. With the win, the Giants moved a season-high nine games over .500 (36-27) and with San Diego losing to Toronto, they moved within a game of first in the NL West. Just as important, at least at this early stage of the season, the Giants have the fourth best record in the National League on the vapor trails of wins in 14 of their last 20 ballgames. The Giants look to keep things humming along on Tuesday when Joe Martinez, up from Fresno, will make a spot start and face Baltimore’s Jack Arrieta. The “Halloween in June” night at the ballpark, a celebration of grating—for some—orange and black color schemes went well with the orange Giants jerseys in full effect. And while the colorful uniforms didn’t scare anyone, it appeared the cold air chased Steffi Graf and Andre Aggasi from their seats next to the Giants dugout sometime around the fifth inning. |
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