Giants Sweep Tribe, Dance in Street

I am a man of my word.

But when Eric and I had our daily conversation about horrendous music videos, and I told him, "If the Giants take two of three from the Twins, I'll post Mick Jagger and David Bowie's 'Dancing in the Streets' video," I honestly wasn't expecting to have to follow through.
The Giants surprised us again. And to the victors go the spoils:

After being swept by the A's, the Giants and their fans sounded the alarm and started preparing for the end of days. Chris Stewart went out and bought 90 flats of bottled water. Matt Cain ordered 4,000 packs of D batteries. Miguel Tejada bought 300 boxes of Ho-Hos. Then he heard about the coming Apocalypse and bought 400 more.

Yet while their wins were closer than Jagger and Bowie's faces in the above video, the Giants averted disaster yet again, going 5-1 on their six-game interleague home stand. After the Twins' eight-run first inning on Tuesday, the Giants proceeded to hold their opponents to seven runs over the next 53 innings. Tim Lincecum returned to form in a dominant 12-K performance. And bouncing back from the aforementioned eight-run inning was the determined Madison Bumgarner, who pitched perhaps his strongest game of the season to complete a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians. The Giants have now swept four different three-game series and failed to score a combined 10 runs in any of them.

It was a week of exciting baseball in which just about everything went right for the Giants.

On a personal note, it was a special week of baseball because I got to share a lot of it with my dad, visiting from Pennsylvania. There's nothing quite like watching the game you love with the person who first shared it with you, and the fact that Giants played winning baseball made it that much sweeter.

Here are my reactions from the weekend's three games, which we were lucky enough to see in person:

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For as apathetic as I am toward the Giants' orange jerseys (or what I like to call the "Let's sell a crap-ton of additional jerseys to women and children" plan), they do create a special vibe on Friday nights. I was never a strong believer that the color of a jersey could make players better. But then the 2006 Cal football team debuted the gold jerseys and the moon exploded. The Giants' 6-1 record in Orange this seasons seems to support the theory even further.

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The Continuing Story of Bungalow Jonathan Sanchez. My dad and I were talking as he was warming up before the game. My dad said something like, "I don't even think I'll be disappointed if Sanchez goes out there, walks eight guys and throws 100 pitches through 4 and a third. At least we will have 'experienced' Sanchez."

In that sense, he did not disappoint. Jonathan Sanchez may be the most mysterious person on this Giants team. He drives you absolutely crazy with his lack of control, focus and giving a damn. You want to trade him, but there's that 5 percent of you who thinks he may suddenly be the greatest pitcher ever.

I kind of love Sanchez. I kind of love that he always looks like he's in a bad mood. I kind of love that he always looks like he's giving someone the stank eye. I kind of love that he always looks like he just ate a really nasty jelly-bean. And I kind of love that he seems to not care about anyone or anything. He's like a self-absorbed rogue, space cowboy -- a baseball playing Han Solo with less hair. During Spring Training Giants beat writer Andy Baggerly asked Sanchez if his high walk total was something he wanted to address in 2011. Sanchez shrugged and responded, "Not really." Honey badger don't care.

I wouldn't be surprised if his days in Black and Orange are numbered. Even after struggling in 2011, a lot of teams will be interested in Sanchez. A young, left-handed pitcher with no-hit stuff doesn't come around every day. And for all we know, maybe a change of scenery is what Sanchez needs to focus. After all, going to an offense that scores runs for him may help him from always being pissed off. I don't know what his relationships are like in the clubhouse, but the fact that he hasn't connected AT ALL with fans despite throwing a no-hitter and helping win a World Series means no one would raise a stink if he was traded. Unless it was for A.J. Pierzynski.

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As for the offense -- or should I say -- the Indians errors.

Rarely will you see a team give another a team a victory as starkly as the Indians gave the Giants a win on Friday. After a lead-off single in the sixth, the Indians botched a would-be double play. Then after another base hit, they recorded their second error of the inning by muffing a throw to home. Two sacrifice flies later, you have yourself a Giants lead. Three runs on two hits and two errors.

As for Saturday, it's even more rare that a team does 10 times more bad things on offense than good things and still wins a game. It helps when you have Matt Cain pitching. The Giants were outhit, went 0-for-4 with RISP and left seven men on base. They struck out with a runner on third with one out, and even managed to fall flat on their face (not an analogy) after smacking what should have been a lead-off triple in the seventh. When Balkin' Bob Davidson bailed out Manny Burris with the bases loaded and two outs, I swear I could hear Bruce Bochy singing the Gospel Choir classic "God Has Smiled on Me" in the dugout. Of course, he could have just been singing the Secular Choir classic "Bob Has Smiled on Me." Both great tunes.

Despite scoring a bevy of runs on Sunday (3), the Giants' offensive performance may have been the most frustrating of the weekend. A three-run lead for the Giants feels pretty comfortable. But a five-run lead is something they haven't known for about nine weeks. They squandered multiple opportunities with runners on third with less than two outs, and seeing how scoring runs without getting a hit is their preferred method, they need to cash those in. There were some point during the game when it looked like those stranded runners would come back to haunt them in a big way. Thanks to Bumgarner's gem however, the point became moot.

Nonetheless, the Giants will continue to search for offensive consistency in the coming days, weeks, months and decades.

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The Giants have the fourth best record in all of baseball, and still rank dead last of all 30 teams in runs scored.

Their run differential on the season is -4, meaning they've allowed 4 more runs than they've scored. The three teams ahead of them in the standings have run differentials of +63, +97 and +85. Heck, the three teams behind them have +34, +27 and +29.

That may have something to do with the fact that only two of their eight regular starters have a batting average above .251.

That said, they're getting production from unlikely sources at opportune moments. Days after writing that the 6-9 hitters are all automatic outs, both Eli Whiteside and Chris Stewart drive in winning runs. As a loyal reader said, "Aw yeah, making Frankie eat his words." I'm all for it. As long as Pablo doesn't eat them first...

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Brian Wilson is absolutely bat-sh*t crazy.

There is nothing quite like the energy that pulses through that stadium when he comes in with a one-run lead. It's almost like fans are rooting for the Giants to be retired quickly in the bottom of the eighth just so they can see Wilson trot onto the field. With "Jump Around" blasting, fans going nuts and the ecstasy of victory within reach, it's truly one of the best moments you can experience at AT&T Park.

On Deck:
The Giants embark on their last road trip before the All-Star break. They'll play four games in three days in Chicago, during which time we'll see the return of the great Barry Zito. It seems absence truly does make the heart grow fonder. I don't think I've ever heard more positive words or seen as much general excitement for Zito as when he's been injured. It seems not watching him pitch for two months has made people believe he can now, all of a sudden, pitch. Yes, he through a two-hit shutout against the Class 1/2 A Salt Lake City Grove St. Elementary School team. Yes, Mycheal Urban is now Zito's agent and has been telling the entire world he is going to throw five perfect games in his next two starts. But I'll believe it when I see it. And don't get me wrong, I hope I see it.

For my next post, get ready for a look at the upstart Pittsburgh Pirates. Like clockwork, as soon as they took two of three from Boston, the national media started the "surprise of the year" campaign. In truth, the Pirates have looked good from Day 1. Their starting pitching is leaps and bounds better than last year and their core of exciting young players is propelling them to a lot of tight, low-scoring victories. In fact, they're not all that dissimilar from the Giants, with the exception of having a player hitting above .260.