Rangers@Giants June 27/29

[Giants666]

Tuesday, June 27 AT&T Park | 7:15 PM PT

Kevin Millwood, RHP (8-3, 4.29)VS.Matt Morris, RHP (5-7, 4.60)

Scouting Report:
Millwood threw his only career no-hitter against the Giants in 2003 and is 5-2 with a 3.88 ERA against them. Barry Bonds is 4-for-15 with one home run. Randy Winn is 5-for-10. Millwood is 5-0 with a 2.44 ERA in seven starts on the road this season.
Morris is back on track. After winning his first two games of the season, the veteran struggled with a 1-7 stretch, sometimes with poor run support, sometimes with poor pitching. But Morris has won his last two games, and held the Angels to one run over six innings last Tuesday.


Wednesday, June 28 AT&T Park | 7:15 PM PT

John Rheinecker, LHP (3-1, 3.57)VS.Noah Lowry, LHP (2-5, 4.23)

Scouting Report:
He is 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA in his last three starts. In that stretch he has allowed 37 baserunners in 15 innings. Opponents are hitting .470 off him in those three games as he has allowed 31 hits and six walks against three strikeouts. Right-handers have 29 hits in their last 52 at-bats against him.
Lowry credited poor pitch location as the cause of his nine-hit, three-run performance in a loss to the Angels in his last start. But the Giants starter, as well as trainers and coaches, also noticed a dramatically decreased velocity to his pitches. He hopes to get both his location and velocity on target when he takes on Texas in his first career start against the Rangers. He is 19-11 in night games for his career.

Thursday, June 29 AT&T Park | 12:35 PM PT

John Koronka, LHP (6-4, 5.02)VS.Jason Schmidt, RHP (6-3, 2.82)

Scouting Report:
Koronka is 2-0 with a 4.35 ERA in his last two starts, and 2-1 with a 4.41 ERA in three starts against National League teams. In seven starts on the road, he is 3-1 with a 4.66 ERA. Opponents are hitting .311 off Koronka in the first inning.
June hasn't been as kind a month to Schmidt as May was. Last month, he posted four wins and two no-decisions in his six starts. He is 1-1 in four starts in June, and his last three starts have ended in San Francisco losses. Thursday marks his first career start against Texas.

[love_that_reefer]

Jeremy Accardo will close Tuesday's game if Armando Benitez is unavailable.
Benitez is questionable for the game due to a sore arm.

[Giants666]

Jeremy Accardo will close Tuesday's game if Armando Benitez is unavailable.
Benitez is questionable for the game due to a sore arm.

Anyone besides Worrell

[love_that_reefer]

Giants are up 4-0 in the 4th thanks to Randy Winn being on fire. He is 3-3 with a three run blast. Sweeney is 2-2 with a RBI and Vizquel got the night off. Its now 5-0 after Durham's RBI single. Let's hope Morris can hold this.

[Molina00]

You guys caught a major break in this one. Teixeira's looper to right hit off the chalk and should have easily scored 2 runs to tie the game, at least. Unfortunately for Texas the upmire totally botched the call.

[Giants666]

Rangers vs. Giants, Game #1

The umpires were perhaps the most important people on the field on Tuesday.

Three Texas Rangers players were ejected, including two in the 9th, and a controversial call helped the San Francisco Giants hold onto a 5-3 victory in the interleague series.

With 2 down in the 9th, the bases loaded, Jeremy Accardo on the mound and the Giants holding on desperate to a 5-3 lead, Mark Teixeira blooped a ball down the right field line. The ball landed and a puff of chalk went up, apparently indicating it landed on the line and therefore fair, but first base umpire Tim Hallion called it foul. The call incensed everyone wearing a Ranger uniform, including the bullpen down the line and Teixeira himself, who fired his helmet to the ground and was ejected in what was now the middle of his at-bat. Mark DeRosa was also ejected for arguing.

The at bat resumed with two strikes with backup catcher Gerald Laird at the plate, and Laird flew out to left to end the game.

Everyone saw it. ... I honestly couldn't believe it. It blew my mind that that was the call. I didn't know what to do," Texeira said after the game.

That overshadowed what had been a great outing by Giants starter Matt Morris. Morris went 8 strong innings, allowing just an unearned run on 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7. It was Morris’ third straight win and his 7th in interleague play, during which he has never lost. Morris dropped his ERA for 4.24 on the season.

The game looked like it was in hand for the Giants, powered by Morris and right fielder Randy Winn. Winn went 4 for 5, including his 16th double of the year and his 8th homer, a 3 run shot in the 2nd inning. Jose Vizcaino added a single and a double, while Bonds lined his 10th double of the year into the right field corner and was walked 3 times after that.

The umpires had become an issue early in the game, after Texas starter Kevin Millwood struck out end the 3rd. At the start of the inning, Rod Barajas had words with home plate umpire Larry Young, forcing Texas Manager Buck Showalter to come out and separate the two. Showalter also took advantage of the chance to argue with Young.

That set the stage for the 5th, when Rangers second baseman Michael Young was struck out looking to end the 5th. Young flipped the bat in frustration, but did not appear to be addressing Larry Young behind the plate. Larry Young, however, did not hesitate to eject Michael Young, and then ejected Showalter after he came out to defend his player.

Barajas, the first Ranger to argue, was not ejected in the game, a fortunate thing for the Rangers, as he hit a one-out homer down the line to left in the 9th to close the game to 5-2. He hit it off of Giants reliever Tim Worrell, who gave up 2 hits and 2 runs (1 earned) in two thirds of an inning.

SFDugout.com Player of the Game: This is actually a tough one (and no, we’re not considering the umpire). And while Morris’ continued emergence on the staff after a poor start is big, Randy Winn’s 4 for 5 day is also a slumpbuster of a performance and perhaps more important, as the Giants offense has struggled recently.

Notes: While it was speculated that right fielder Moises Alou was going to return Tuesday and that Bonds would be out after injuring his knee on Friday night, Alou missed the game and Bonds played. The Giants had indicated previously that if Alou did not return on Tuesday, he would be put on the Disabled List, but no such move was announced, and Alou was in the dugout and in uniform during the game.

[Giants666]

Alou, Vizquel slated for return vs. Texas
Texas (40-37) at San Francisco (38-38), 7:15 p.m. PT

The Giants expect to get a couple of big-name stars back from brief injuries Wednesday night when they take on the Rangers at AT&T Park. They hope their returns will kick-start San Francisco to its second consecutive win.
San Francisco has been without right fielder Moises Alou for nearly 10 days, and Omar Vizquel will return after taking himself out of Sunday's game against Oakland. The players are just two of six who have recently seen more time in the Giants' training room than they have out on the field.

Head trainer Stan Conte joked before Wednesday's game that some of the injured players are in his training quarters so often that they may as well receive the punch cards you get at restaurants. Except instead of a free burrito on their 13th trip, they'll get a "free visit to the training room," he said.

One player who has not been injured recently is left-handed pitcher Noah Lowry. The Giants will give him the ball Wednesday. Lowry, a Rangers 1999 draft pick, will face the team with which he didn't sign for the first time in his career. He is 2-2 with a 3.57 ERA at home this season.

Texas will counter with left-hander John Rheinecker. The rookie allowed 11 hits in his last outing against San Diego. This will be his first career start against San Francisco.

Pitching matchup
SF: LHP Noah Lowry (2-5, 4.23 ERA)
Lowry credited poor pitch location as the cause of his nine-hit, three-run performance in a loss to the Angels in his last start. But the Giants starter also noticed decreased velocity to his pitches. He hopes to get both location and velocity on target Wednesday. He is 19-11 in night games for his career.

TEX: LHP John Rheinecker (3-1, 3.57 ERA)
He is 1-1 with a 6.00 ERA in his last three starts. Opponents are hitting .470 off him in those three games as he has allowed 31 hits and six walks. Right-handers have 29 hits in their last 52 at-bats against him.

Player to watch
Eliezer Alfonzo is batting .429 (6-for-14) with two RBIs on this homestand. He is also batting .364 (4-for-11) vs. left-handed pitching this season.

[love_that_reefer]

Another good start for Morris. His ERA doesn't look good but his record should be better. Winn had a four hit game and Sweeney had a 3-4 day. Worrell looked like shit and Bonds was on base all four times!

[love_that_reefer]

Lowry pitched a beauty and Durham hit a GS in the Giants win. They have won two in a row against the Rangers, a tougher team than the Giants.

I will be out of town from tonight til Sunday so its up to you Giants666 to keep the forum going. Go Giants!!!

[Giants666]

Accardo preserves Giants sweep
Stand-in rookie closer earns save in win over Rangers

SAN FRANCISCO -- Pitchers will tell you, almost as a defense mechanism, that getting that final out in the ninth inning is akin to throwing in earlier frames, for the game is essentially always on the line.
But until they really do it, and succeed, it can be nerve racking.

"New" Giants closer Jeremy Accardo may be armed with a great fastball and a zinging splitter, yet he admits there is a more extreme atmosphere at the end, when fans are screaming, inner engines are churning out adrenaline and -- worse -- there is no tomorrow.

But with game-finisher Armando Benitez sidelined with a tender right elbow, the 24-year-old rookie has starred as the closer, and he earned his third save of the season, preserving San Francisco's 2-1 victory over the Texas Rangers at AT&T Park on Thursday.

Accardo, an undrafted free-agent acquisition in 2003, said he's been a bit hyper in previous closing situations, but the right-hander cooled off the Rangers in the ninth while being cool himself -- even if it was just a facade.

"I went out there with a different attitude, and tried to go out there a little more calm," said Accardo, who had earned his second save on Tuesday against Texas by escaping a bases-loaded situation.

"Even the moments I was getting too anxious and too hyped up, I tried to at least fake it like I was calm. It kind of worked," said the reliever, who got two groundouts, carefully walked big hitter Brad Wilkerson, then retired Ian Kinsler on another grounder to earn the Giants a three-game series sweep.

"I've just got to trust my stuff," said Accardo of learning the mental side of closing. "This game was big for us. We've got to take this momentum and carry it on to San Diego, Colorado and Los Angeles."

Shortstop Omar Vizquel, whose eighth-inning single drove in Jason Ellison with the winning run, also made several spectacular defensive plays. He said the Giants face their 10-game road trip, which starts on Friday, full of optimism.

San Francisco is now 40-38, two games over .500 for the first time since June 15, and has now won four of its last five games. Thursday's win completed a 6-3 homestand.

With Rangers closer Francisco Cordero facing Vizquel, the Giants veteran was thinking fastball early in the count, and got one right down the middle of the plate for the game-deciding hit.

"I know Cordero has a nasty split-finger, but I wanted to be aggressive, got a fastball, good connection," said the 39-year-old Vizquel, who prides himself on excellent play despite his advancing years.

Turning on a fastball is always an indicator as to whether a hitter still has it.

"I know I have it," said Vizquel. "I can still play -- no doubt in my mind. The day that I can't go around on a fastball, that's the day to hang it up. I think I can still be at the top of my game."

The winning pitcher was rookie Jonathan Sanchez (2-0), who ended an eighth-inning Rangers threat by getting Mark Teixeira on a double-play grounder.

The 23-year-old Sanchez has thrown 9 2/3 innings of scoreless ball over his first 11 Major League outings.

While Sanchez took the "W," the victory was set up by another super start from veteran Jason Schmidt, who lowered his ERA to 2.73 -- second best in the National League -- by giving up only five hits and one run over seven innings.

The right-hander's no-decision was of no consequence.

"I'm really happy with everything," he said. "My game plan was not to go out there and try to strike out a lot of guys, make them put the ball in play. Next thing I knew, it was one foul ball after another -- a base hit here and there -- and the pitch count went up."

The count went all the way to 120 -- not that it mattered.

"If the team gets a win, you did your job," said Schmidt, who has had a remarkable stretch at AT&T Park, sporting a 1.80 ERA in his last three games there.

Schmidt loves the Giants' new breed of pitchers -- young, great arms and solid mind-sets -- and he gave kudos to Thursday's showing by the two young relievers.

"It's going to be great watching [all the young pitchers'] futures," he said. "Accardo's got nasty stuff, and [it's impressive when] you get a kid like Sanchez throwing left-handed, doing what he can do."

Lets just keep this going now.

[GiantsFanatic]

good time for a sweap, while our arch rivals also got sweaped by the twins