Tonight's Game

It was a wild one today in New York, with the Giants winning in ten innings 5-4, and Matt Cain knocking David Wright out of the game with a beanball in the fourth.  It was on an 0-2 pitch with a man on first, who eventually scored; so no one thinks Cain intended to do it.

It may not have been intentional, but if Wright is out any length of time with a concussion, it won’t soon be forgotten, at least when Matt Cain is pitching against the Mets.

In the seventh, Johan Santana threw a pitch behind Pablo Sandoval.  The home plate umpire warned the benches. Sandoval shrugged it off and hit a homerun.

Santana then hit Benji Molina on the elbow.  Bruce Boche came out to complain that Santana wasn’t thrown out of the game after the warning, but umpire Brian O’Nara left Santana in saying he didn’t think the pitch that hit Molina was intentional.

Whether or not the umpire thought it was intentional, I’m not sorry that the ump didn’t give Santana the thumb.  Once Santana had thrown the pitch behind Sandoval and then plunked Molina, the teams were sufficiently even.  I don’t think it’s such a bad idea, to remind a team, that if a guy gets hit in the head, intentional or not, there’s a price to pay in return.

The umpire let Santana even it up, and then that was the end of it, at least for this game.

Brian Wilson had his longest outing of the season, pitching 2.2 innings and throwing 40 pitches.  He hadn’t pitched since August 12, and only twice in the last seven days, so he was ready for it.  He also pitched two full innings his last outing.

I really like using Wilson in this way, when his going two or more full innings when he’s on might mean a game the team really needs, like tonight’s game.  If just means that if the Giants need a closer for tomorrow’s game, it will have to be Affeldt or Miller that gets the opportunity, so Wilson can rest his arm.