What a game! What a series! What a SWEEP!
Renteria was 8 for 11 with 3 walks! That is a great sign that he appears to be back to his pre-injury performance levels, as he did not have one series like this last season. That would make a huge difference to our lineup.
Rowand had 4 hits this game. Cain had a good game, and if not for that error, would have gotten the win. He had another 5 PQS start, keeping the starter's streak alive. More importantly, no walks, that has been his main negative during his career.
Sandoval has been hitting. Huff had key roles in the first two games big scoring innings, and though a tough day today, 1-6, he had a 11 pitch AB in the first inning, which helped tire out Myers, who gave up 12 hits in 6 IP.
I was wrong about Uribe, he had hits every game, multiple hits, he had key knocks in each game, helping to keep the Astros that much further away, raising the difficulty of the Astros catching up exponentially.
DeRosa has been doing things, both little and big, in each game, in each scoring burst.
Even the young guys contributed. Bowker had a 2-run homer today in his start today. Ishikawa got a pinch-hit homer and Schierholtz had a pinch-single, then both came in as defensive replacements.
Even Whiteside got a single, in a day game after night game rest for Molina.
While the Astros were greatly hobbled by not having Lance Berkman, which I did not account for when analyzing this series, the bigger surprise is that the Giants offense scored well against three good starters. Basically big rallies, with crooked numbers, won each game and led to the sweep. We did not squeak out wins where Berkman would have made a key difference to the results.
Atlanta is next, and again, we are facing tough pitchers, though at home, where it is more of a hitter's park now (see Bill James' analysis in his book). And while it is GREAT to get the sweep, there is still 159 games this season and a lot more games to play. Still, 3-0 is way better than 1-2 or 0-3, and now a winning month in April looks possible now, despite the toughness of the opposing teams
Meanwhile, the D-Rox lost today and are 1-2, while the D-gers are 0-1 and got a game tonight.
Go Giants!
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