SF Giants Notes: Ishikawa Is an Automatic Out and Zito Is Making a Comeback

I have been one of the biggest critics of Barry Zito over the past two years, but I am very impressed with the 20009 Zito. It was a joy to watch him pitch last night against the Dodgers.His performance reminded me of his great days in Oakland where he was often very dominant.

Zito only gave up one run in six innings and struck out five batters. He got his first win of the year and is now 1-2 with a respectable 3.57 ERA.

Travis Ishikawa is now batting .191 and is basically an automatic out. How hard is it to play first base? Of all the infield positions, isn't first base the easiest position to play? Time to bring up Jose Guzman from Fresno!

The Dodgers are starting a lefty today, so Ishikawa will more than likely get the day off. Bochy loves to play Rich Aurilia against lefties in place of Ishikawa.

Merkin Valdez has a great fastball but he won't succeed as a setup man if he continues to walk batters and get into hitter's counts. It seems like every batter is in a 2-0 count before they see a strike from Valdez.

The at-bat by Casey Blake last night against Brian Wilson in the eigth inning last night was fun to watch. Blake had a 13-pitch at-bat until he got called out on strikes on an inside pitch by Wilson. Blake kept on fouling off great pitches by Wilson throughout the at-bat.

The Giants have a great chance to sweep the Dodgers  who are without Manny Ramirez for the next 48 games. They are 0-2 without him already.

Jonanthan Sanchez and Tim Lincecum should be able to shut down this Dodgers lineup this weekend. Sanchez is prone to giving up walks and having control problems but if he is able to throw strikes this afternoon, he has the stuff to pitch a quality game.

Fred Lewis should not be batting leadoff since he is a strikeout machine but he has looked a lot better the last two games.

The Giants bullpen will be much better when Sergio Romo returns from injury.