Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Sanchez comes up big, Giants go for win 60

Jonathan Sanchez hadn't won on the road in almost 11 months and the Giants really needed a win after a rare loss with Matt Cain on the mound the night before.

In his best start since his no-no Sanchez went 7 scoreless innings and the Giants exploded for 8 runs on a night when the Rockies and Dodgers also won.

F-dot Sanchez and Sandoval went back-to-back, only the second time all season we have seen that from SF, and the much-maligned Bengie Molina had three hits. Aaron Rowand had a big hit after an awful game Monday and Eugenio Velez continued his torrid play.

Wednesday's season finale is a big one. Joe Martinez who the Giants really need to eat up some innings and give them a handful of quality starts over the next 8 weeks will appear on a Major League mound for the first time since he suffered multiple skull fractures after taking a Mike Cameron-liner to the dome during the third game of the year.

The Giants haven't won a road series since a 2-1 late June trip to Oakland and won't make it anywhere this year without a much more consistent effort away from AT&T.

They trail the Rockies by just one-half game in the Wild Card but also have the Cardinals and current division-leading Cubs hot on their tail.

Lastly, the Giants have been 11 games over .500 three times now but not yet to 12. A win later today would put them at 60-48 at the two-thirds mark (108 games) and squarely on pace for the club's first 90-win season since the 2004 squad recorded 91 victories.

No Giants team has managed more than 76 wins since. This year's squad should be there by Labor Day.

Up Next: The Giants are off Thursday as the best home team in baseball travels back to the city by the bay for a six game homestand. Three with Cincinnati, and three big ones with the Dodgers.

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