Giants gain one more day...

The San Francisco Giants are not known for their power hitting,but the Giants led the game off with one blast by Angel Pagan,had another one in the next inning by Gregor Blanco to bolster the lead and then used a massive homer by Pablo Sandoval to put the Cincinnati Reds away as the Giants raced away to a 8-3 win and tie the NLDS at two games apiece.
Tim Lincecum fired four and a third innings from the bullpen to earn the win after Barry Zito was unable to complete the required five innings from a starter to qualify for a win.
Game five will be Thursday afternoon at 1:00 in Cincinnati with the winner moving on and the loser having its season ended.

Giant Steps

1) I had written yesterday that the Giants bats were going to have to erupt with Barry Zito on the mound and they did just that with eight runs,but the Reds had their chances early on,but left ten men on base including the bases loaded in one instance.

2) Bruce Bochy is often maligned by the Giants fan base,but he managed the early innings like he would the final two and as a result on this afternoon shut the Reds down.
Bochy yanked Zito well before he might have in a normal game,used matchups (Jose Linares to face Joey Votto in the 4th) to get outs one at a time and double switched early in the game to get the maximum use of Tim Lincecum.
On this day,thumbs up.

3) As for Tim Lincecum,it has been well documented that this has been a nightmare season for him,but today in the pressure filled cauldron that is playoff baseball,Lincecum turned back the clock and was the "freak" of old.
Lincecum allowed just one run and two hits in just under five innings with six strikeouts.
Could this be a down the road snapshot of Lincecum's future as a bullpen ace?

4) Pablo Sandoval's homer off Jose Arrendondo was just crushed.
The bomb to deep right disappeared down a open space and bounced into the deep recesses of the stadium.
Great American Ballpark is a noted hitters park,but I would wager that the park had little to do with the length of that shot.

5) As surprising as the Giants slugging was the clear surprise was the second inning homer by Gregor Blanco.
Blanco is the latest journeyman outfielder that hits San Francisco and suddenly boosts themselves up a level over their track record.
Blanco and Andres Torres before him are players that are nothing special before and after their Giants tenure,but overachieve by the bay.

6) Matt Cain struggles against the Reds,Mat Latos pitches well against the Giants,so on paper the fifth game favors the Reds,but the playoffs are often a different animal,where the opposite happens.
We will see in a short 12 hours....

Photo Credit:AP Photo