The past week of San Francisco Giants baseball was like watching your dog dart out into the street in front of a speeding truck, dodge out of the way only to be hit by a car coming the other direction. This recent span has been one swift kick in the nuts after another.

First for our viewing pleasure, we were offered an epic come-from-behind attempt that turned into a heartbreaking 12-11, 12-inning fiasco loss at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds. That was followed by the Arizona D’backs going all slow-pitch softball on Tim Lincecum, who’s on a five-start losing streak, and Barry Zito

The Giants call it ‘magic’ while Duane Kuiper calls it ‘torture.’

Monday night’s 2-1 loss to the Rockies brought out a rare kind of furor, but the outcome of an MLB game can’t be assigned to one or two moves out of the hundreds that occur over the nine or more innings.

In the forefront of this, the two Giants most available to recent criticisms are waiver-wire-refugee Cody Ross and manager Bruce Bochy. Bochy has been a popular whipping boy for the Giants’ fan base the past few seasons but after Ross botched a broken-bat fly ball by the Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez, Ross is now a familiar name, too.

The common perception is Bochy should have inserted defensive specialist — and apparent Roberto Clemente clone — Nate Schierholtz, which would have prevented the gaffe.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Henry Schulman came to Ross’ defense in his game story:

“The first thing that must be said is that any right fielder in the majors would have charged the ball as Cody Ross did in the ninth inning Monday night, in a disastrous moment for the Giants that turned a game of beauty on the mound into a 2-1 loss to the Rockies.”

Schulman is a venerable baseball writer and someone who understands the game better than some who did; right Tim McCarver?

Then comes Bochy’s handling of the ninth.

Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez was excellent, throwing eight shut-out innings while allowing just five hits. With 102 pitches on the night, Sanchez was allowed to come to the plate to begin the bottom of the eighth and was scheduled to face the heart of the Rockies’ order in the ninth.

Sanchez ran the count to 0-2 on Dexter Fowler before losing his control and throwing four straight pitches for balls, issuing the lead-off walk. Bochy summoned closer Brian Wilson even though the next batter, Gonzales, was hitless in three trips to the plate against Sanchez and 0-for-10 against him lifetime.

There are two prevailing schools of thought here. Wilson should have been allowed to start a clean ninth inning and Sanchez should have been allowed to face Gonzales.

Clearly, no matter what Bochy elected to do, a large contingency would second guess, provided the end results turned out to be as disappointing as Thursday’s game. Bochy could have traded for Mariano Rivera and sent out three extra rovers to patrol the outfield and some would still say it was the skipper’s fault. But this one can’t be blamed on one man.

The questions the Giants’ faithful will be asking themselves is, ‘Was Thursday’s loss the direct result of one man, and who?’ and ‘Are these the type of inexplicable losses that just happen over the course of a 162-game schedule?’

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

It’s more American than apple pie. No, I’m not talking about baseball, the nation’s one-time favorite pastime; I’m talking about corporate cross promotion. This past weekend, the New York Yankees and rap impresario Jay-Z announced a new line of “co-branded clothes that will be sold exclusively at Yankee Stadium.”

The threads will include the signature Yankees cap, among other head gear, hoodies, and T-shirts that will feature Yankees and Jay-Z logos. Personally, I blame your girlfriend and her stupid pink hat. That innocent act of feminism spawned an awful, awful trend.

With that, Jessica Simpson donned a pink Tony Romo jersey, ESPN stopped covering sports and Ben Affleck sat behind the Red Sox dugout with a permanently surprised Jennifer Garner and her green Sox hat, seriously, she was always caught off guard by the cameras.

Alyssa Milano also jumped on board and reinvented herself from an out-of-work actress who dates baseball players to an out-of-work actress who dates baseball players who ALSO designs female-friendly fan apparel. And don’t forget about Lady Gaga who forgot to wear pants into the Yankees clubhouse.

Today you can walk into any stadium in this once great land of ours, purchase a Giants hat in blue and white, a Dodgers hat in orange and black, or a red Cubs cap; how confusing is that having a red cap with a ‘C’ on the front. Isn’t that supposed to represent the Cincinnati Reds?

Not a fan of your team’s crude, traditional logo? Class it up with an argyle print and if that’s not your style, there’s always plaid.

Still not sold, jazz up your city’s team with a bedazzled skyline embroidery on the front of your cap in place of the declasse logo, or even just add random colors and designs so it looks like an unsupervised pre-schooler got his hands on it. There’s even a line of hats specifically designed for Elmer Fudd as shown here.

Tradition, schmascmission. Who needs it in a country where cash rules over tradition.

Was it Jay-Z who rapped, “I’m not a business man, I’m a business, man,” or was that Bud Selig?

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

NL Rookie of the Year debates are picking up steam everywhere from around water coolers to the ESPN/East Coast-hype machine, who has done its best to make the debate over the 2010 NL ROY seem like a legitimate one.

It began with Jason Heyward. His legend spread like a Kardashian at …um, like wildfire. Fantasy owners drooled over him. Scouts wrote things like “Heyward is a can’t-miss five-tool player.” Another said “watching him is akin to witnessing the spawn of Mickey Mantel and Henry Aaron being gently cultivated in an organic clover field of clover while being serenaded by John Lennon and Fergie, as his home runs create double and triple rainbows as they streak across the sky. “

Heyward’s hot start bat helped solidify the hype, as he hit .292 with 10 home runs, 38 RBI and slugged .578. But since a trip to the disabled list, his East Coast zip code has done more to keep him in the conversation than his rather pedestrian numbers have.

On the year J-Hey is hitting just .259. He’s slugged just two long-balls since June 1, and has tallied a total of 51 RBIs.

Next was Stephen Strasburg.

Each of his minor-league starts was covered with more zeal than the Nixon impeachment proceedings. And he was spectacular. In just 63 2/3 innings, Strasburg has recorded 86 strikeouts and has walked just 18. His ERA is a crisp 2.97 and microscopic WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched) is 1.12. That included his past two starts where he’s allowed nine runs (seven earned) in 9 1/3 innings.

But his own trip to the DL, and a strict innings limit soon to be enforced by the Nationals will keep Strasburg’s name off the ROY trophy.

Then there was this kid named Buster. He’s outhit Heyward and outshined Strasburg all while putting a team in the thick of a pennant race squarely on his shoulders.

Gerald “Buster” Demp Posey III has lived up to his hype, and has surpassed the expectations of his main competitors.

In 68 games since being called up on May 29, Posey is hitting .337 with 9 homers, 43 RBIs, while slugging .516 with an OBP of .386. More impressively, the Giants are 24-13 in games he starts behind the plate (39-26 in his starts overall).

Additionally, Posey is hitting cleanup for the Giants and he’s catching one of the league’s best and most difficult pitching staffs to handle. Posey has also turned the Giants lineup into a legitimate big-league threat, adding protection for Aubrey Huff (.301, 15 HR, 46 RBI since the Posey promotion), putting Huff in the thick of the NL MVP conversation. He’s also picked up the slack left by Pablo Sandoval’s sophomore slump.

One scout beamed:

“Posey is the unicorn of catchers, except he actually exists. Imagine Johnny Bench as a centaur flying shotgun alongside Ted Williams in World War II as their DNA is cryogenically frozen together resulting in the 2010 National League Rookie of the Year.”

This year’s rookie class is impressive, to say the least. Barring injuries or some other unforeseen setback, Heyward, Strasburg, and Posey will be elite-level players for years to come, but the list goes even deeper than that.

The Reds’ Mike Leake has been a main cog in Cincinnati rotation, going 8-4 with a 3.78 for the first-place Reds. The Cardinals’ Jaime Garcia (10-5, 2.71 ERA), the Mets Ike Davis (15 HR, 51 RBI), the Cubs’ Starlin Castro (.314 avg.), Nat’s Ian Desmond (.266/9/49), have also rounded out a stout group of NL rookies.

But none of them have outperformed Posey.

“Mark my words: he’s Jason Varitek behind the plate and Derek Jeter as a hitter,” Florida State assistant baseball coach Mike Martin said in an interview with the New York Times. “He gets inside the ball like he’s Jeter, and he runs the show like he’s Varitek — and he cares, like both of them do. That’s what you’re getting.”

END IT.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Matt Cain did what he’s done dozens of times in his career prior on Thursday — leave with a lead and go home with a no-decision.

Luckily for Cain, it wasn’t worse than that. The bullpen couldn’t hold a four-run lead, and the Giants let the Cubs back in it late, but eventually pulled out another vintage 2010 Giants victory with a 8-7 come-from-ahead win at AT&T Park on Thursday afternoon.

Giants baseball – torture.

Andres Torres’ ninth-inning, one-out, bases-loaded single to the warning track in deep center brought home Aaron Rowand for the winning run, turning what was shaping up to be one of the toughest losses of the season into win that breathed a sigh of relief into the 40,000 plus fans in attendance. It was Torres’ third walk-off hit of the year.

Pablo Sandoval, seemingly once again out of hibernation, opened the second inning with a triple, and scored on Juan Uribe’s line-drive single to center, cutting the Cubs lead to 2-1. Chicago came right back thanks to a two-out RBI double from starting pitcher Randy Wells making it 3-1. But Pat Burrell hit the fist of his two home runs leading off the bottom of the third, then Sandoval followed by launching a wet one into McCovey cove to tie things up at 3-3 the very next at bat.

Burrell who is 16-for-43 with five homers and 15 RBIs since the Dodgers came to town July 30 — smoked a 2-0 pitch off left field foul pole for a grand slam, making it 7-3 Giants. That lead would prove to be surmountable, costing Cain a win, but what a month Burrell is putting together.

Burrell is hitting .356 in his last 15 games and 10 of his last 16 hits have gone for extra bases. Perhaps most impressive has been his timing. “The Bat” has the game-deciding RBI in four of the Giants’ last five wins; a homer to beat the Dodgers, a sacrifice fly to beat the Braves, another sac fly to beat the Cubs and Wednesday’s game-deciding homer to top the Cubs. Clearly his fingerprints were all over Thursday’s win, too.

Since joining the Giants on June 4 after being let go by the Rays, Burrell has smashed 10 homers and driven in 28 runs. That includes a rather dismal July where the water buffalo hit just .189.

A lot was made about the Giants not acquiring a bat at the non-waiver trade deadline, but if Sandoval, Burrell and Freddy Sanchez find themselves this lineup will gain instant credibility.

And that might be happening just in time to help Jonathan Sanchez remove his foot from his mouth with the first-place Padres coming to town for a three game set beginning Friday.

A lot has been made about Sanchez’s post-game quotes from last Sunday, essentially guaranteeing a Giants sweep this weekend, propelling them into first place for the duration. It’s no certainty that Sanchez — who’s only put together consecutive quality starts once this season (way back in April) — knew he was getting the ball, but at least he’s going on Orange Friday.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Donnie baseball is catching his share of heat after Bruce Bochy enforced rule 8.06 to force Dodgers’ closer Jonathan Broxton off the mound, and spur the Giants to a come-from-behind 7-5 win in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

While it was Mattingly’s untimely two-step that is catching the headlines, it was Matt Kemp’s Rude-boy behavior that sent the dominoes tumbling.

First of all, there was absolutely no fiber in Kemp’s body that actually wanted to fight – even if his opponent was going to be the diminutive Tim Lincecum. Boxer’s don’t come out of the corner and position themselves between their trainer, the referee, and the other fighter. But instead Kemp gave everyone – in particularly Pablo Sandoval who rushed toward his teammate like a bounding rottweiler – ample opportunity to prevent the fisticuffs from developing.

Here’s an excerpt from Bay Area News Group Giants beat writer Andrew Baggarly’s blog. And remember, Baggarly covered the Dodgers for many years, too.

“Let’s get this out of the way: Kemp is a headcase. He’s a tremendously talented baseball player, but he’s had his share of run-ins with teammates over the years. Lord knows how many times Joe Torre has reached for his favorite migraine medicine on Kemp’s account.

So I wasn’t entirely surprised to see Kemp make like Billy from Family Circus and take a rather curved path toward first base. But like a good college basketball team, it was really interesting to watch everything that happened away from the guy with the ball, er, beef.”

Kemp took exception to a pitch that “clipped” his jersey. This is when the wheels began to loosen.
Home-plate umpire Adrian Johnson was forced to issue warning to both clubs simply because of Kemp’s overreaction.

Also irked by the pitch’s proximity was Joe Torre’s bench coach Bob Schaefer, who began to fume, and was later ejected when Giants reliever Denny Bautista came up and in to Russell Martin. An ejection that would prove critical.

In the sixth inning, Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was kept in to bat for himself — during a one-run game — then hit Aaron Rowand with the first pitch in the top of the seventh. Rowand took his base without a scene as both Kershaw and Torre were ejected.

As a result, instead of Torre’s second-in-command (Schaefer) taking the reins, it was the inexperienced Mattingly who became the acting manager – all because Kemp couldn’t distinguish between a bad outing for Lincecum and a pitch with intent.

This all resulted in a thrilling win for the Giants, and a frustrating moment — if not extremely embarrassing — loss for the Dodgers.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

It’s been a little more than a week since LeBron James went on his prime-time, hour-long show “The Decision” reared back and kicked the city of Cleveland square in the nuts.

In the ensuing days, the Cavaliers and the city of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame couldn’t rip the pictures of their new villain down fast enough, trashed the carefully preserved rose corsage from the 2007 Finals, and set their Facebook profile to “single.”

Cav’s owner Dan Gilbert took it one tiny step further, writing an open letter so visceral and incendiary that the NBA fined him $100,000, and that was for a letter written in comic sans font, not “Angry Bitch” font.

As the team and the city bid their frigid farewell to their self-proclaimed former king, the waters in Cleveland are far from calm. Conversely, after the blunt stab to the back, LeBron gave the knife another twist, arriving in South Beach a day later to meet the Heat.

The new “Big-Three” were lowered down onto a stage in their uniforms, arms crossed, with pyrotechnics display that would make the Black-Eyed Peas envious.

“It’s not a dynasty, it’s a Dyna-three,” shouted the public address announcer, in a scene befitting of the self-aggrandizing that in seconds washed away a near decade of good will James had built up.

After the smoke settled from the South Beach party for the self-proclaimed Dyna-Three, James was said to have gone house shopping and may have picked up the $45 million mansion that mysteriously came off the real estate market just hours after “The Decision”.

What does your Airness Michael Jordan, a man who stayed loyal to his Windy City and has six NBA Championship rings think of all this? Jordan was chased down recently and with very little coaxing let the world know LeBron took the easy way out, a path he would never have considered.

“There’s no way, with hindsight, I would’ve ever called up Larry [Bird], called up Magic [Johnson] and said, ‘Hey, look, let’s get together and play on one team’. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.”

Jordan went on the say “I’m a competitive guy” possibly implying LeBron either lost or lacked that quality.

Now that the city of Cleveland, Jordan and every blog in America has weighed in; the fact is that Cleveland, who was on the verge of an NBA title the past several seasons, is now even further removed from a true chance at its first championship since 1964.

LeBron showed a side of himself that none of us, except Skip Bayless, may have wanted to see–the self indulgent, naïve, obtuse side of his personality. I liked LeBron, I like the NBA and although I’ve never been to Cleveland, I wanted him to choose loyalty, you know the word he has tattooed alongside his left torso for the world to see. But I also get why he made the choice he did.

What I disagree with is the contingency claiming he took the easy way out. He didn’t.

The Cavs may remain viable, only because of Gilbert. Even with the fire-breathing tirade, the hallow promise of a world championship before LeBron wins one, and the petty move of having one of his company’s, Fathead, sell life-size stickers of LeBron for $17.41 – signifying the year Benedict Arnold was born – Gilbert has come out of this better than James. Way better.

All it took was 24-hours for James to ignorantly throw out all the good will he had accumulate over the past decade of his meteoric rise from high school to now.

“The King’ went from castle to outhouse after making perhaps the worst public relations decision since Spencer and Heidi Pratt got in front of a rolling camera.

Dan Gilbert Spanks LeBron James, Literally - Sports Climax

LBJ and “The Decision” – Sports Climax

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

From the surface the 2010 Home Run Derby looked as plain as the incessant suburban sprawl surrounding Angel Stadium in Anaheim. The lineup was as unspectacular as the list of guests appearing on “Last Call with Carson Daily.” And like I do every time I see the first few frames of “Last Call,” I asked myself why?

Why was Chris Young in a home run hitting contest? Why did Bobby Valentine call Big Papi “Jose Ortiz?” Why did Hanley Ramirez steal Aqua Man’s shoes? Why is Corey Hart’s beard a blonde replica of Abraham Lincoln’s? And why doesn’t someone let Carson use an actual studio? Are times that bad?

I’ll admit it, I was ready to dump on the derby. I had already decided it was baseball’s slam-dunk contest – going on for far too long and involving too few stars.

But all of a sudden David Ortiz dug into the box, spit on his batting gloves, clapped his hands, waved his magic 38-ounce wand, and single-handedly stole the show.

Big Papi was his gregarious self – beaming a broad smile, swinging from his heals, and fraternizing with everyone within an arm’s reach of him or any of his 32 homers. His adorable son was cheering him on from first-base line. Ortiz even made Ramirez – a ballplayer whose talents are obscured by a small market and a bad reputation – come across as affable if not innocent.

Ramirez served as the necessary salve in a competition that desperately needs at least two competitors at the top of their game. So he clicked his teal slippers, played the antagonist, and put on a laser show of his own.

But even when it was about Ramirez, it was about Big Papi.

Oritz vacillated between being the powerful slugger with laser focus, then the father figure to his fellow countrymen, wiping Ramirez’s sweaty brow with a towel, and cooling him down with some mid-round Gatorade. The two spoke after about the bond that grew between them during Ramirez’s time in the Red Sox organization.

Ortiz even did what no one saw coming – teaming a Red Sox up with a Yankee.

With Ortiz’s usual pitcher, Ino Guerrero, in the Dominican Republic for the All-Star break, Yankees’ bench coach Tony Pena was Papi’s hand-picked hurler on Monday. The move paid dividends as Papi was in a groove all night.

Once Ramirez grounded his last out softly through the left side, and the trophy belonged to Ortiz, Big Papi added another serving of human drama, dedicating the trophy to his friend, Jose Lima, the former Dominican player who recently died at the age of 37.

The night wasn’t without its flaws. At more than 2 ½ hours long the derby could use a nip here and tuck there. Miguel Cabrera and Will Ferrell both should probably reconsider the man-perm, and ESPN still hasn’t found away to combine its two greatest broadcasting tools – the ultra-slow-motion cam and Erin Andrews.

But for one balmy night in Southern California, Ortiz gave the Home Run Derby a much-needed facelift.

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Sitting in a bar with a frosty pint at 7:30 a.m., you tend to learn a thing or two. The heightened awareness that comes along with rising with the stark morning sun combined with ordering several foreign beers amidst a crowd chanting “U-S-A!, U-S-A!” opens you up to new experiences.

For me, it was the beauty that lies within America’s torrid love affair with soccer. (I’m not sure when we voted on this, but apparently we all decided that we were going to become soccer fans – if only for a month.)

The low-scoring nature of soccer has caused its fans to evolve, to move the goal line, so to speak. Sitting at a sticky counter, elbow to elbow with this guy, I learned that the joy in watching soccer isn’t in the goals, but in the chances your team has to score these evasive goals.

To make life easier, I’ve adopted this philosophy with the San Francisco Giants.

The shortcomings of the Giants offense has been well documented – honestly I’ve seen more scoring take place in line for a Star Wars movie. And the agony the lack of runs cause, seemingly on a night-in-night-out basis (see Dodgers 4, Giants 2), has spoiled too many opportunities to celebrate.

To amend this dire ineptitude of scoring, try this the next time you’re at the yard – third base is the new home.

A base runner that safely advances to third is the baseball equivalent to a “scoring chance” – and the Giants have a lot of these. So the next time you see Giant on third, stand up, cheer, raise your arms in victory, hug the nearest stranger next to you, and blow your Vuvuzelas. Honor the beauty, the physical poetry that is a near-run, and then imagine the bliss of an actual run.

Once we learn to re-frame the archaic goals we have had in place as baseball fans and look to the progressivism of soccer, the pesky runner stranded at third won’t seem like a missed opportunity, but instead it will stand as a time to cheer — at least until the next double play.

My World Cup is half empty - Schuepp’s Scoop

Fixed game in 1982 World Cup creates schedule change - Sports Climax

French World Cup team continues their circus act - Sports Climax

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

Twenty-six (26) runners left on base, 17 walks issued, and a grand total of five runs crossed the plate.

Yes, it was the Padres and the Giants at their finest, with the Padres being just a little finer in a 3-2 win in China Basin on Tuesday. San Diego took the first game of this three-game series that should be known as the “first to three runs wins.”

It was like watching the most recent season of “24,” but instead of Jack Bauer manipulating evidence out of suspects he uses the kids from “Glee” to draw out the valuable information with their catchy musical numbers. Or, as Duane Kuiper calls it, “2010 Giants baseball: torture.”

For the first time this season Zito was below average, allowing a season-high seven walks and suffered his first loss of the year. He also missed a chance to become the first Giants left-hander to win six straight games since Noah Lowry did it in ‘05.

Zito blamed his poor showing on an “inconsistent release point,” among other things:

“Timing was off tonight, didn’t have any command of anything. Sometimes it just happens where you just don’t feel as good as other times.

“It was a battle the whole night, starting with that first at bat (against Scott Hairston) that was 11 pitches or something. So they put up good at bats and I wasn’t throwing enough strikes and they worked their walks.”

It was a familiar tune for Zito, who has struggled against the khaki and blue of the Padres. In 16 career starts against San Diego, Zito is now 3-7 with a 4.23 ERA.

The Giants failed to beat the Padres for the fourth straight time in 2010, and now trail the NL West leaders by 1 1/2 games. But, even with the mini relapse, Giants; manager Bruce Bochy didn’t seem concerned with Zito’s effort.

“He’s been so good, you know, he’s gonna have an off night and even with that he gave us a chance,” Bochy said. “He battled, competed out there, and, despite the walks, he kept them to three runs and that’s not bad. We had our chances and we were just a hit away form taking the game.”

David Eckstein continues to haunt the Giants like a bad case of two-year $12 million dollar contracts to mid-level veterans.

The “Gift from God” went 2-for-2, drove in a pair with a two-out, second-inning single and also drew three walks and stole a base. As a team, the Giants have allowed a National-league leading 35 stolen bases. Only the Red Sox (44) and Royals (36) have been burgled more.

The Padres put 21 base runners on, and drew 12 walks from Giants pitching, but only managed to score the three runs. It was enough for San Diego’s stellar bullpen, which is the main reason behind the Padres’ fast start.

Ryan Webb, Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams and closer Heath Bell pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief, allowing just two hits and a walk. It was the necessary remedy after Padres’ starter Wade LeBlanc was inconsistent, too.

LeBlanc pitched a shaky 4 2/3 innings but, like his counterpart Zito, gave his offense a chance.

“They’re very underrated,” Bochy said, “if you look a the second half last year, how (the Padres) played, it’s a good ball club over there.”

Pablo Sandoval hinted that his hibernation may be coming to an end. The Panda laced a triple into the right-center gap and eventually scored on an Aubrey Huff single in the third. In the fifth, Huff singled in front of Juan Uribe’s triple to make it 3-2.

Still, it’s the week anniversary of the Giants win over the Marlins, so let’s celebrate by mocking a teenaged organization with two World Series titles.

Seriously, we’re mocking them, turn up the volume. Hope you liked Creed.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy told his No. 5 starter Todd Wellemeyer that his next turn in the rotation would be skipped due to off days the Giants have scheduled on Thursday and Monday. In other words, the skipper put his 0-3 right-hander who entered Tuesday’s game against the Phillies with an 8.16 ERA on notice.Wellemeyer heeded the call, and so did the Giants as they picked up a 6-2 win on the shores of McCovey Cove Tuesday night.

The perhaps prematurely maligned starter struck out Chase Utlley, looking, as part of a perfect first inning. It was evident that Wellemeyer’s pre-game discussion with pitching coach Dave Raghetti was already paying dividends, as he dodged in and out of a few jams, but turned in his best start as a Giant, by far, pitching 7-plus innings of two-run ball, while striking out four and walking three.

“I’v been working with ‘Rags’ and (Mark) Gardner and have been trying to iron some stuff out mechanically,” said Wellemeyer, who moved to the first-base side of the pitching rubber in order to open up the plate. “(I) just tried to stay within myself, … I knew I could pitch better than what I’d shown the last two games.”

Not only did Wellemeyer win the start, he also won over many of the 31,792 fans in attendance. Many of whom were presumably unhappy with his Giants tenure up to this point.

“It’s natural for them to think that way,” said Wellemeyer of the standing ovation he received when he departed in the eighth, and the early criticism he’s endured. “You know I don’t blame them, they can get on the bandwagon though if they want, they’re welcome.”

Despite the tune-up, Wellemeyer and the Giants were trailing 1-0 in the second when Aubrey Huff deposited his first “real homer” as a Giant in the arcade in right. A batter later Matt Downs hit a no-doubter out to left for his second career home run as a Giant, as the home team showed no mercy to 47-year-old Jamie Moyer. The only outs made the inning were a laser off the bat of Bengie Molina that was snared by Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco, a sharp Mark DeRosa groundout, and a strikeout of Wellemeyer, which followed Nate Schierholtz’s double off the top of the fence in left.

Schierholtz was impactful in the outfield too. In the first he made a diving catch on Polonco’s liner, which seemed to settle down his pitcher. In the second he threw out Ryan Howard, who was cruising into second base after what looked to be a sure double. Giants’ short stop Edgar Renteria gets credit for an assist, as he was standing, flat-footed, waiting nonchalantly for the throw, encouraging Howard to go in easy. Howard strolled in and was tagged out a step before he reached the bag. The decoy didn’t go unnoticed by the Giants either, as both Bochy and Schierholtz complemented the veteran infielder.

Later in the fourth, Howard smoked a pitch off the right field wall, and was more than satisfied to stay at first instead of challenging the arm of Schierholtz again.

“I’m sure they know (about Nate’s arm) it’s tough down there on that wall, you think it’s gonna be a double and Nate plays it as well as anybody and he’s got the arm to throw with,” said Bochy of his right fielder’s prowess.

The Phillies flashed some leather too. Juan Castro started a spectacular double play on Pablo Sandoval’s grounder up the middle with a diving stop, and issued a shovel pass with his glove under and across his body to second baseman Chase Utley, who grabbed it barehanded and threw to first where it was scooped by Howard. Replays confirmed that Sandoval beat the return throw, but the first base umpire clearly got caught up in the play.

Moyer, who joins the likes of Jack Quinn (47), Phil Neikro (48) and Satchel Paige (58) as the oldest hurlers to start a game in MLB history, hasn’t won in San Francisco since July 16, 1987. Considering the results of his most recent effort, Moyer’s unlikely to pick up another start, let a lone a win in The City.

For the second straight night the Giants touched up a Philly starter for 10 hits, and Moyer allowed four earned runs over his six innings. So far on this daunting nine-game homestand, the Giants are 4-1 against two playoff teams from a year ago, and have allowed just six runs.

“Pitching’s been there, timely hitting’s been there, you know, you just have to play your best ball against a team like this,” said Bochy, who admitted he would reconsider allowing Wellemeyer to make his next start. “‘Welly,’ he settled in there as he went, you could see him get more and more comfortable as the game went on, he was hitting his spots.”

Andres Torres continues to make loud contact, as he flew out to the warning track twice and had four solid at bats. But he wasn’t rewarded until his double in the fifth which set up a one-out second-and-third situation. Renteria, who was 3-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs, singled scoring Wellermeyer, who singled himself off of Moyer. Sandoval later smashed a base hit, this time past a diving Castro, scoring Torres, making it 4-1. The Giants would tack on two more in the seventh off reliever Chad Durbin, when Torres walked, stole second and scored on Renteria’s single.

Medders pitched a perfect ninth with help from Schierhotlz, who gunned down Utley trying to stretch a single into a double, in hopes of sparking some late-inning magic.

But, as the ads say, Chase, there’s magic inside, just none for you, at least on this night.

“We’ll keep it going and ride it as long as we can,” said Wellemeyer, “and (we’ll) take it through Colorado, and take it to Florida with us.”

BOX SCORE at MLB.com.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. Besides his contributions to Examiner.com, the I.J. and Sports Climax, Theo is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™