Monday, August 31, 2009

Giants add Penny for pitching depth


Veteran righty expected to face Phillies on Wednesday

Alden Gonzalez
MLB.com

Veteran right-hander Brad Penny has found his new destination, and that landing spot is San Francisco.

Several media outlets reported Monday afternoon that Penny was close to signing a deal with the Giants after clearing waivers, and the club confirmed that the two sides agreed to a Minor League deal later that night.

The Giants already have a formidable starting rotation, with Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez. They also expect to get Randy Johnson back in the bullpen at some point in September as he recovers from a left shoulder strain.

Penny is expected to make his San Francisco debut on Wednesday against the defending World Series champion Phillies, The AP added. He will join the Giants in Philadelphia on Tuesday, and the team will then have to make a move to purchase his contract and add him to the Major League roster.

Penny was put on waivers last week by the Red Sox -- who gave him a $5 million contract this offseason -- but wasn't claimed. They beat a Monday deadline for Penny to sign with a team if he hoped to be on a postseason roster.

In 24 starts for Boston this year, the 31-year-old went 7-8 with a 5.61 ERA and posted an ERA of 8.31 in four August starts.

For his career, Penny has 101 wins and a 4.18 ERA spanning 10 seasons. A two-time All-Star, Penny had his best year in 2007, when he went 16-4 with a 3.03 ERA with the Dodgers. Last season, the Oklahoma native was limited to 19 games (17 starts) and a 6.27 ERA because of shoulder problems.

The Giants (72-59) are tied for the National League Wild Card lead after sweeping the Rockies and were six games back of the Dodgers in the NL West entering play on Monday.


Giants sweep Rockies





















Henry Schulman

SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle

As the Giants dressed for their flight to Philadelphia, Kanye West was bellowing through the clubhouse speakers: "It's amazing, so amazing, so amazing."

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Giants 5, Rockies 3







A show called Zito



John Shea
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
The "Bar-ry, Bar-ry" chants echoed with one out in the ninth inning, a cheer from yesteryear. But in the past, those chants came from Giants fans pulling for a home run into McCovey Cove, not a strikeout on a round-house curve.


Fans cheer as Kent gets Giant honor


Second baseman added to team's Wall of Fame

Chris Haft MLB.com

Welcome back, Jeff Kent. All is forgiven.

That was the widespread sentiment Saturday among fans who helped celebrate Kent's induction into the Giants' Wall of Fame, a distinction reserved for the most accomplished and longest-tenured performers in San Francisco history.

Not a boo was heard from the 500 or so fans attending the afternoon ceremony in which the plaque honoring Kent was unveiled on AT&T Park's King Street wall, joining the 43 others representing last year's charter class of inductees.

Maybe a handful of fans hooted at Kent when he took a bow for the AT&T Park crowd in the middle of the second inning. But any catcalls were drowned out by the standing ovation he received from the packed house, which also was treated to a video tribute featuring Kent's exploits as a Giant. Kent returned the salute by waving and tipping his cap -- a Giants cap, naturally.

Odds are, at least some of these spectators booed Kent when he returned to San Francisco following his 2002 departure from the Giants. The volume of verbal abuse, particularly when he moved from the Houston Astros to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005, was almost deafening at times.

But Kent probably guaranteed that he'll be cheered forever by Giants fans as he professed his undying love for the club he played with for six years, the most time he spent with any of the six teams that employed him.

"The only place I ever cared about and gave my heart to was San Francisco," said Kent, whose 351 home runs and 1,389 RBIs as a second baseman rank first in Major League history.

Kent seconded that emotion later in his speech when he remarked, "The one thing I regret in my life is losing Game 6." He didn't have to specify that he meant Game 6 of the 2002 World Series, when the Giants' come-from-ahead defeat scuttled their chances for a title.

Kent, who almost never stopped smiling throughout the 20-minute ceremony, even thanked Peter Magowan, the Giants' former managing general partner, with whom he publicly differed on a variety of issues.

The current managing general partner, Bill Neukom, lavished praise upon Kent, who retired after the 2008 season.

"Make no mistake: By hindsight, we let this guy go too early," Neukom said.

Speakers poked fun at Kent's ornery tendencies. Duane Kuiper, who shared hosting duties with fellow broadcaster Mike Krukow, recited an unofficial "scouting report" that followed Kent when he arrived from Cleveland. Prompting laughter, Kuiper recalled, "Didn't have very good hands at second base, wrong; didn't have a whole lot of range, wrong; tough time turning the double play, wrong; a little grumpy once in a while, well, that one was right."

J.T. Snow acknowledged that none of Kent's opponents liked him. Snow manned first base alongside Kent with the Giants after playing against him from high school through the Major Leagues.

"And the reason we didn't like him was because the guy was good," Snow said.

Referring to baseball's steroid era, Snow noted that Kent lacked artifice on and off the field.

"I know a lot of times not everybody agreed with what Jeff said, which is OK, because he spoke his mind," Snow said. "... And in an era where there's lots of question marks about the way guys played, I can honestly say that Jeff Kent played the game clean, he played it fair and he played the right way."

Kent's Wall of Fame plaque, which many believe will be someday replicated at baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., legitimized Snow's remarks.

"If you don't look at the name," Kent jokingly said, "the mustache will tell you that it's mine."


Saturday, August 29, 2009

Lincecum solid as a rock



Carl Steward
Mercury News

The scoreboard radar readings were turned off at AT&T Park on Friday night, but Tim Lincecum was definitely turned on.

In a game for the Giants that was as close to essential as could be possible at this stage of the season, their ace clocked the Colorado Rockies with eight shutout innings in a 2-0 victory that did much to re-energize the National League wild-card race.

The Giants pulled to within two games of the Rockies, with Barry Zito slated to pitch tonight followed by Matt Cain on Sunday. But that would not have meant a whole lot had Lincecum not brought his "A" game to the mound.

He did, and this time his focus was on Rockies hitters as opposed to the radar-gun readings he admitted had distracted him Sunday in Colorado. During that game his speed figures were posted as suspiciously low compared to Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez in a 4-2 defeat at Coors Field.

In this rematch of the two young, hard-throwing right-handers, the left-field radar-gun board was turned off. But it was apparent from the outset that even without the numbers, Lincecum had his stuff working. And with scant offensive support — a Pablo Sandoval solo homer in the fifth inning and another run in the sixth on a Eugenio Velez two-out single — he needed to be in top form.

"We're coming down the stretch here in the last month, and these games are big, so we take them as seriously as we have to," Lincecum said. "They're just really big games. You have to buckle down more."

Lincecum said he noticed early on that the radar-gun board was off, and contended that he missed it even though he pitched such an outstanding game without it.

"I look at the gun," he said. "I've said this before, whether or not I can get a fastball by you, I may not try to throw it down the middle if I'm only throwing 90 mph. You can get away with stuff if you throw harder, so it's nice to have that gauge."

Lincecum threw a season-high 127 pitches in claiming his 13th victory in his fifth try after three no-decisions and a loss. He allowed just four hits, walked three and struck out eight. He hasn't received much run support during that dry spell, but on this night it didn't matter.

It also didn't matter that he was pitching for the first time to catcher Eli Whiteside, who was in the lineup for the fourth straight game because of Bengie Molina's tight right quad muscle. Molina had caught Lincecum for 44 straight starts, the longest active streak in the majors. But Lincecum and Whiteside seemed to get in a good groove almost instantaneously.

"Only a handful of times he shook me off all night," Whiteside said. "But with the stuff he had tonight, he could have thrown whatever up there, and I think he would have gotten outs."

Whiteside helped his pitcher by throwing out Troy Tulowitzki trying to steal in the second and fourth innings, the latter preceding a single that would have scored the first run of the game.

"He saved my life a couple of times," Lincecum said.

Sandoval, returning to the lineup after missing two games with a calf injury and a bout with the flu, finally got the Giants on the board in the fifth when he smacked a one-out, opposite-field homer, his 20th, over the left-field wall on a 1-2 pitch.

The Giants provided Lincecum an insurance run in the sixth, and he took it from there. He retired the last eight hitters and left to a standing ovation before a near-sellout crowd of 39,047. Brian Wilson pitched a scoreless ninth for his 31st save.

Lincecum said he was happy finally to record his 13th win.

"Me and Cain have been working on that for a while," he said. "He told me, `You finally just pushed that one out, now I can go get it.' Hopefully, we see that on Sunday."

From: MLB.com


COL
Colorado (72-57)
Lost 3
San Francisco 2, Colorado 0 SF
San Francisco (70-59)
Won 1
August 28, 2009
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Colorado
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
San Francisco
0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 X 2 8 0
Standings thru 8/28/09 | Recap: COL | SF | Wrap | Gameday


Colorado AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Young, E, CF 4 0 1 0 0 2 1 .267
Smith, S, LF 4 0 0 0 0 2 1 .293
Helton, 1B 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 .321
Tulowitzki, SS 3 0 0 0 1 1 3 .281
Hawpe, RF 4 0 1 0 0 2 3 .299
Iannetta, C 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 .219
Stewart, 3B 3 0 1 0 0 2 1 .223
Barmes, 2B 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .245
Jimenez, U, P 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .229
a-Spilborghs, PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .254
Daley, M, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 29 0 5 0 3 10 12

a-Lined out for Jimenez, U in the 8th.

BATTING
2B: Hawpe (36, Lincecum).
TB: Young, E; Helton 2; Hawpe 2; Stewart.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Iannetta; Young, E; Hawpe.
S: Jimenez, U.
Team RISP: 0-for-4.
Team LOB: 6.

BASERUNNING
CS: Tulowitzki 2 (11, 2nd base by Lincecum/Whiteside, 2nd base by Lincecum/Whiteside).

FIELDING
DP: (Helton-Stewart).

San Francisco AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Velez, E, LF 4 0 2 1 0 0 4 .280
Renteria, SS 3 0 0 0 1 2 3 .259
Winn, RF 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 .266
Sandoval, P, 3B 3 1 1 1 1 0 0 .331
Ishikawa, 1B 4 0 1 0 0 1 3 .261
Uribe, 2B 4 0 2 0 0 0 4 .271
Rowand, CF 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 .275
Whiteside, C 3 1 1 0 1 0 3 .233
Lincecum, P 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 .158
Wilson, B, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Totals 29 2 8 2 3 4 22

BATTING
2B: Uribe (20, Jimenez, U).
3B: Uribe (3, Daley, M).
HR: Sandoval, P (20, 5th inning off Jimenez, U, 0 on, 2 out).
TB: Velez, E 2; Sandoval, P 4; Ishikawa; Uribe 5; Rowand; Whiteside.
RBI: Sandoval, P (74), Velez, E (17).
2-out RBI: Sandoval, P; Velez, E.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Uribe 2; Renteria 2; Velez, E.
S: Winn; Lincecum.
Team RISP: 2-for-12.
Team LOB: 9.

BASERUNNING
SB: Velez, E (5, 2nd base off Jimenez, U/Iannetta).

FIELDING
DP: (Whiteside-Renteria).

Colorado IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Jimenez, U (L, 12-10) 7.0 7 2 2 3 4 1 3.33
Daley, M 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.79
San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Lincecum (W, 13-4) 8.0 4 0 0 3 8 0 2.33
Wilson, B (S, 31) 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 0 2.95

WP: Lincecum.
IBB: Sandoval, P (by Jimenez, U).
HBP: Rowand (by Jimenez, U).
Pitches-strikes: Jimenez, U 102-61, Daley, M 7-5, Lincecum 127-82, Wilson, B 19-12.
Groundouts-flyouts: Jimenez, U 14-3, Daley, M 1-1, Lincecum 10-4, Wilson, B 0-1.
Batters faced: Jimenez, U 32, Daley, M 3, Lincecum 29, Wilson, B 4.
Umpires: HP: Marty Foster. 1B: Wally Bell. 2B: Chad Fairchild. 3B: Mike Winters.
Weather: 75 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 3 mph, Out to RF.
T: 2:23.
Att: 39,047.
August 28, 2009

Box score official statistics approved by Major League Baseball Office of the Commissioner



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