SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
Millions of words might be spoken and written about Buster Posey if he has a great career, but none will capture him as succinctly as Tim Lincecum did.
"He's pretty (darn) talented," Lincecum said, and you can reach into your imagination to guess the adjective he really used.
When the Giants rode Posey's leadoff double in the 10th inning and Travis Ishikawa's two-out scoring single to a 3-2 victory against Arizona on Sunday, they completed a four-game sweep and a 6-1 trip while winning for the 15th time in 18 games. In a stretch of 22 games that began July 1 and included 18 on the road, the Giants went 16-6.
When the month began, the Giants were three games above .500 in fourth place in the National League West, 5 1/2 games behind division-leading San Diego and sixth in the wild-card race. Now, they are in second place in the West, 13 games over .500, three back of San Diego and leading in the wild-card standings.
Rarely can you peg a hot streak to a single event as neatly as this. It began the day the Giants traded Bengie Molina to Texas and installed Posey as an everyday player.
On Sunday, Posey had his third four-hit game this month to extend his hit streak to 18 games. His July stats are insane: He has 38 hits with a .432 average, .511 on-base percentage and .815 slugging percentage.
"This guy is on cruise control right now as far as swinging a hot stick and making good calls behind the plate," closer Brian Wilson said after earning his 29th save, which co-leads the majors. "What he's doing is getting big hits with two outs instead of ending innings. Normally you can't expect that out of a 23-year-old. He's going out and proving time and again he's the best rookie out there."
Now for a deep breath and acknowledgement that Posey and the Giants have feasted on bad teams this month. Though their schedule gets easier from a home-road standpoint, the competition gets much harder. Of their 63 remaining games, only 19 come against teams that currently have a losing record.
They must consolidate their gains in a seven-game homestand that begins tonight against Florida. Bad competition or not, manager Bruce Bochy is content.
"I like how the club has come together," he said. "They've kept their focus every day and not looked at the schedule.
"We think we're pretty good. I'm proud of the guys with this schedule, how hard they've gone. It's been a good run for us. We've done a lot of good things. We've pitched well and scored some runs. That's what it's going to take from this point on."
Sunday's win was the toughest of the weekend. Tim Lincecum provided eight solid innings but the Giants needed circus escapes from Lincecum in the eighth and Sergio Romo in the ninth to stay alive.
Lincecum induced a line-drive double play by Miguel Montero to end a rally that began with runners on the corners and nobody out. Romo created his own mess by failing to cover first on Stephen Drew's grounder. Drew beat Ishikawa to the bag. When Romo struck out Cole Gillespie and Chris Young with Drew at third to send the game into extras, his customary point to the heavens had more of a snap to it.
Posey, who already had an RBI double, greeted Esmerling Vasquez with another double to start the 10th. With pinch-runner Eli Whiteside at third and one out, Nate Schierholtz was caught stealing second for the second out. Ishikawa then rolled the winning single through a small hole in the right side of the infield.
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