Payback comes in pairs as the Giants defeat the Cleveland Indians to split the Cactus league series. For those that are keeping track, this win puts us 1 game up on the Indians for first place in the CL standings. Hey, first place is first place.

Diamond Notes:

- Jonathan Sanchez got the start today and went 4IP allowing 3ER on 4H and 2BBs with 3K’s. Again, this start wasn’t the second coming of the no-hitter, but it wasn’t like he got blasted either all of the hits were singles.

Johnny did help himself out at the plate by blasting a 1 out double to center. It just goes to show that when you bring the OF in you get burned sometimes. Considering Johnny is a lifetime .083 hitter and has only had 2 XBH over his career, they should have known he was due ;). Seriously though, Johnny had a great AB against Masterson and it paid off with the 2B, that eventually turned into a run.

I took a picture of Jonathan talking with Tim Flannery at 3B as well, considering I may not get another chance to for a long time. I wonder what they were saying to each other?

- The rest of the pitchers all threw well with the exception of Guillermo Mota. He finally got hit hard giving up 2 triples and a double in his third of an inning pitched. I think he was destined to fail because of what he did in BP…

I know he gets slack for being an ex-Dodger, but today he may have actually brought it upon himself. He picked up a ball and was going to throw it in to the crowd, when he stopped and walked over the a little kid wearing a Dodgers hat amongst a sea of kids in Giants stuff saying, “Here you go I used to play for them.” Personally I don’t care either way, he’s actually been pitching fairly well for us, I’m just saying maybe it jinxed him…

I’m also going to show you how “box scoring” can be a joke sometimes. When Mota entered the game in the 7th inning, we were winning 6-3. Mota coughs up a couple runs and is lifted with a men on 1B and 3B. Dan “The Man” Runzler comes in and gives up a single to the first batter, allowing the runner on 3B to score, then proceeds to strike out the next 2 hitters to end the inning.

How is this scored? Well, the 3 runs are charged to Mota (All ER). However, because we were up by 1 with runners on in the 7th and Runzler gave up a hit to allowing the tying run to score, Mota gets credited with a HOLD and Runzler gets charged with a BLOWN SAVE. You pitch a third of an inning, give up a double and 2 triples, and all the runs that tie the score are charged to you, yet you get a HOLD. The pitcher who gives up a single and mops up your mess gets the BLOWN SAVE. To me, BS is a proper acronym…

- More and more 2 out RBI’s. 4 of the 7 runs scored today came with 2 outs. and each one by a different player. Gotta love it!

- Kevin Frandsen got an RBI with 2 outs on a ground ball nubber up the 3B line. Kevin should buy a round for the grounds crew as that bad boy travelled the perfectly manicured foul line to stay fair just in front of 3B. I got a photo of the Indians just looking at it.

- I normally don’t do this but a couple quick notes on some Indians players. Matt LaPorta is going to be good. That guy has pop, bat speed, and a great eye at the plate. Today was the first time I got to see him play and I was impressed.

The other player I want to mention is Matt McBride. I got to watch him play a lot this fall during the AFL and I really like the kid. During this year’s Rule 5 draft I was hoping really bad that the Giants would pick him, just because I know how good of a prospect he is and that he flies under the radar. He plays the OF and C which is pretty versatile. I was surprised he was even available from Cleveland’s standpoint. Instead we selected Steve Johnson…that worked out swell since we just gave him back. I know, I know, he would have had to make the roster, but I would have rather watched him get a look this ST.

He got to face Wilson in the 9th and put up a great AB, as Brian was dealing. 8 pitches later he gets the only knock Wilson gave up.

- Pablo Sandoval got spiked in the shin on a play at the plate today. 5 stitches, but all appears to be fine. I kind of got a photo of it, but from my POV you can’t really see where he got cut. I just love the pic of him jumping into his slide!

- Another funny little incident happened with a runner on 2B and 2 outs. Aubrey Huff was up to bat but they elected to intentionally walk him to get to Mark De Rosa. DeRosa was on the Indians last year and there was definitely smiles and some smack talking between him and the dugout. He grounded out to end the inning.

- Brian Wilson was on his game today as he strikes out the side to close it out. It was great to see the “Fist and Finger” for the first time in 2010. His FB / Slider is almost unhittable when its on.

- Last but certainly not least is Buster Posey. Buster did it again today getting the 2 out double down the line that scored the go ahead/GW run in the bottom of the 8th. What you won’t see in the box score is that the AB was a good one. He got down to 2 strikes real quick but then got it back to 2-2. He took what was given to him and basically fought it off and pulled it down the LF right out of reach and directly over the 3B. I’ll say it again, he deserves to be on the 25 man, how that fleshes itself out isn’t my problem :)

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