There was an interesting buzz amongst the crowd today as the Giants stepped up to bat in the bottom of the ninth, down 6-2.  It was nothing I’ve felt in my three years out here in San Francisco.  People actually believed.  Amazing.  With the Giants trailing by four runs, there was still belief and hope that the game wasn’t over.  After all, the night before, the Giants came back from a 7-5 hole in the 8th to win it all with a 3 run shot from Pablo Sandoval in the bottom of the final frame.

     Nate Schierholtz, getting a rare start in place of Fred Lewis, stepped up to the plate and dug in.  He took the first 4 pitches he saw foul and then ripped a triple to deep right field.  The crowd sizzled.  Then, pinch hitting, Lewis finished an 8 pitch at bat with a double to left center that easily plated Schierholtz.  The Giants were now only down by three and there was a sense that they just might do it again.

     I’d love to give you the storybook ending here, but it just wasn’t meant to be.  Rich Aurilia struck out on 3 pitches, Emmanuel Burriss took one pitch and then hit an excuse-me grounder to short, and Edgar Renteria popped up the first pitch he saw to end the game and the Giants’ hopes for another come from behind victory.

     Nothing like a little reality, huh folks?  You know what they say…”you can’t win ‘em all.”.  So the Giants have to settle for 2 of 3 in yet another series, but I don’t hear anyone complaining.  And why should they?  The Giants have a lost a series since that debacle down in Chavez Ravine back in mid April (the 16th to be precise), and there’s plenty to enjoy.  Sweating a loss to the Nats is not going to ruin what’s been going on as of late.

     We all know my thoughts on the Giants needing a big bat for that 4 hole and my concern about the back end of the roatation.  So I’m not going to get into that.  Instead, I’m going to focus on some of the positives we’ve seen.

     Like, how about the way Barry Zito is pitching?  Today’s 6.1 IP with 4 ER was his worst start in his last 4, and he didn’t even look that bad.  No, he didn’t have that same intensity in the first inning that I’ve seen over the last few starts, but he still pitched well.  Yes, he gave up 8 hits, but if you look at the Nats lately, their record may stink, but their offense has plated 46 runs in the last 7 games and only once in that span did they score fewer than 5 runs in a single game.  They are a tough hitting club and Zito did well with them.

     His pitching has been nothing but inspirational for the team.  It could have been real easy for Zito to just phone it in and collect the rest of his ridiculous contract, but he chose to go the other way and prove the critics wrong.  It may only be May, but so far, he’s done it.  He has pitched like a champ and you can tell that it’s rubbing off on the team.  Hell, it’s even rubbing off on the fans who suddenly find themselves chanting his name is admiration rather than ridicule.

     We can also look at how the supporting cast is trying to make it easier for Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval.  For the most part, if Molina or Sandoval didn’t produce, neither did the rest of the team.  But suddenly we’re getting some action out of Randy Winn and Travis Ishikawa with continued support from Edgar Renteria.  Even Burriss has raised his average almost 100 points as he has hit safely in 9 of his 13 May games — 7 of those being multi-hit games. 

     And did you know that the Giants have stepped out of last place in the majors in runs scored?  Two teams are worse than them now.

     Our hitting is improving, our pitching is staying solid….for the most part (I’ll start with swapping Jonathan Sanchez for a hitter and bringing up Tim Alderson in a little while), and our bullpen is holding it together.  The Giants are winning ball games, playing with a fire and intensity long missed, and there’s excitement in the air.

     The upcoming series with the Mets should be a good one to re-test their mettle, but for now, there’s nothing wrong with your Giants.