With Giants brass scratching their heads, wondering how an entire season could be won or lost in the last 20 games of the 162 game marathon, the Giants scratched out a win over the Wild Card leading Padres last night, a convincing 4-0 victory.  Led by rookie, Matt Cain who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, the Giants scratched, clawed and won convincingly. 

Moises Alou provided the necessary clout, hitting his 17^th homer of the season but only after the game was already decided.  The Giants moved runners along, playing the type of fundamentally sound baseball that has eluded them for much of the year.  Still they stranded runners at third with less than two outs on two occasions but they scored those runners on three occasions with timely hits. 

Shea Hillenbrand followed Randy Winn’s lead off single and steal of second against the generally ineffective defense of Mike Piazza with a simple groundout to the right side of the infield, scoring Randy Winn from third who had been moved across by another ground ball to the right side by Omar Vizquel.   Sounds simple, but such simple feats have eluded these SF Giants for too much of what has been yet another frustrating and, at the same time, tantalizing season.

In the 4^th, a resounding double off the right field wall by Ray Durham was followed, yet again, by another seemingly harmless ground ball to shortstop, moving Durham to 3^rd who subsequently scored on Pedro Feliz’s single.  Fundamental baseball can be such a relief for everyone to watch, most of all for the Giants brass and the venerable Felipe Alou, who must secretly long for those days when all the players on a roster knew how to play the game and understood exactly what is on the line at this late date in the season

In the meanwhile, Matt Cain powered his way through the Padres lineup, throwing blazing fastballs and darting breatking balls, allowing only one hit in his seven innings of work.  This is the fifth game this season in which he has given up only one hit, though only one effort resulted in a complete game.  He throws too many pitches, goes too deep into counts and has yet to harness his control and work more efficiently.  And make no mistake about it, when one plays a sport in which the word

“marathon” is used, efficiency is of paramount importance over the long haul.  His very longevity in terms of a career, not to mention a season or a single game, depends on his ability to work more efficiently.  Given his still tender age of 21, patience is the key here, for his teammates in the field as they stand around waiting for him to throw strikes and for the Giants brass.  Given his recent emergence as the ‘ace’ of the staff, patience is a virtue to which all aspire these days in SF.

As Cain left the mound in the seventh inning, the SF crowd rose to their feet, both in appreciation of the effort they had witnessed as well as the singing of ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ and the traditional seventh inning stretch.  Cain confidently strode off the mound, exhibiting first class body language, an attribute that escaped him earlier in this season of both physical and psychological warfare with the opposing team.

Again, in the seventh inning, Pedro Feliz led off with a double to the left center field wall, was moved to third after a tenacious at bat by rookie catcher, Eliazer Alfonso.  He fouled off pitch after pitch, at times seemingly overmatched by Padres ace, Jake Peavey, but then grounded out weakly to 2b, moving Feliz to third.  Vizquel promptly singled sharply to right field, and Feliz trotted home with the third run of the contest.

The Giants relief corps seems to be settling in too, as Kevin Correia has been elevated to a setup role.  He worked the first two batters of the 8^th, allowing one walk and was relieved by the irrepressible Steve Kline.  Efficiently, Kline threw four pitches, recorded two outs, setting the stage for Mike Stanton in his new/old role as the closer for this team.

In spite of what has been reported as a Benitez injury, it coincides withhis final appearance as closer came when he refused to give the ball to Alou as he was being removed from a potentially disastrous ninth inning mess of his own creation. Benitez, instead, flipped the ball to Alfonso, unceremoniously leaving the field in a huff, ala Ted Lilly in Toronto just a few days earlier.    One image of this season that has been indelibly burned in the mindsof Giants management has to be the blown save that started the eight game skid from which the Giants

are still trying to emerge when Benitez gave up a game tying homerun to Terrmel Sledge in the final game of a four game series against the then division leading Padres, tossing his glove into the air and batting it down to the ground.  Body language and the psychological advantages gleaned from such simple, easily controlled actions are a big part of the game where every advantage is exploited to contribute to any single victory.  Benitez has not come to terms with his emotions; when things are going his way, he is fine, but in the face of adversity, he crumbles, which is what chased him out of NY some years ago.

So the Giants saga continues, a teasing trek for the faithful as they follow the hometown heroes through the throes of the 21 game playoff that constitutes the rest of their season.

The Oakland A’s are making their usual run to the finish line in rather unusual fashion.  As usual, for this very odd season of theirs.  Frank Thomas has put up familiar numbers considering his history, including 92 rbis and 33 home runs. These are monster numbers for a player who no one wanted to sign, who left Chicago under a curious cloud of controversy, but has been a model citizen over the duration of his long career.  And Nick

Swisher, with a 4 for 4 night with a grand slam continues to bethe poster boy for this team.  Arguably though, their season MVP may be Jay Payton, with a .301 average, a mere 53 rbis and 10 homeruns.  His consistency, both at the plate and in the field (that disastrous sun drenched game in Oakland notwithstanding), has been a recurring theme throughout the season.

Significantly, the A’s are easing through the remaining games of this 2006 season without their starting shortstop, Bobby Crosby.  Promoted by management at the start of this season as the cornerstone of the starting lineup in the three hole, billed as a star of the future, regarded as an irreplaceable piece of the puzzle, Crosby’s numbers for this season tell it all.  In 358 at bats, he scored 42 runs with a .298 OBA, while his oft overlooked replacement, Marco Scutaro has scored 40 runs in 297 at bats.   Scutaro (OBA .325) also has ‘only’ 32 rbis in his replacement stints, filling in for both Ellis and Crosby (and, at times, Chavez) but Crosby produced only 40rbis in his time on the field.  Even Dan Johnson, with his disastrous start to the season, resulting in

a demotion to Sacramento, has 30 rbis in his 254 at bats with eight home runs.  Given his statistical production and penchant for striking out (76 times), Crosby’s value to the team has been overestimated, the result of the ‘hype’ that often accompanies a first round draft choice into the major leagues (ie. Jesse Foppert in SF).  If Billy Beane can still manage to market the oft injured shortstop to an unsuspecting general manager, he probably will, as a career .244 average will not erase the lingering memories of Miguel Tejada who clearly should have been retained in lieu of Eric Chavez and the “emerging stardom” & subsequent disappointment of Bobby Crosby.