Several Positive Signs in Tonight's Giants Game

There were several very positive signs in tonight’s Giants’ game.  Barry Zito threw 8.1 shutout innings, his longest outing without allowing a run since he threw his last shutout on April 18, 2003.  It was also the first time that Zito had pitched at least eight shutout innings since August 21, 2004.

Another positive note was that the Giants used someone other than Brian Wilson in a save situation.  Sergio Romo came in with one out and a man on first in a 3-0 game and recorded the last two outs on strikeouts without major incident for his first save of the year.

Brian Wilson had pitched the previous two games, so Bochy may have decided to pitch Romo tonight simply to give Wilson a rest.   I hope that wasn’t the reason.  Wilson’s got great stuff (a high 90’s fastball and a plus slider), but like last year, he really hasn’t pitched well enough to be the Giants’ exclusive closer.

I considered writing a post to this effect last night when Wilson came into the 9th with nobody on and a 5-2 lead and recorded the last out with the tying run on third.  However, while Affeldt has a great ERA and has pitched extremely well lately, his numbers other than ERA are awfully similar to Wilson’s.  Also, Affeldt has been so effective in the 8th inning role (he pitched 1.1 innings last night), that you almost hate to move him.

What I’d like to see is Bochy decide who to pitch in the 9th with a lead based on who’s the most rested or the best suited for the hitter match-ups ahead, rather than simply sending out Wilson and hoping for the best.  Right now, any of Wilson, Affeldt, Justin Miller or Sergio Romo could probably get the job done in the right circumstances.  If the Giants and Wilson want Wilson to be the closer, he needs to have an ERA better than 6th on a seven man bullpen.

Yet another positive note was Juan Uribe’s two-run homer.  He now has a .749 OPS, which is good enough for a middle infielder playing his home games at AT&T Park.  If Uribe can continue to keep his OPS above .730, the Giants could forego giving up talent for Freddie Sanchez.

The Giants are still weak offensively at the corner outfield positions.  Winn in particular is a real albatross.  The Giants have decided they’d rather have Schierholtz’s defense in right than Winn’s (Schierholtz has a much better throwing arm), which means Winn has very little value at all.

A Winn-Rowand-Schierholtz outfield means a lot of flyballs get run down, but I don’t know that it makes up for the lack of offense.