San Francisco Giants

Gregor Blanco drove in the winning run with a pinch-hit 2-run triple in the 7'th inning to back a solid start from Madison Bumgarner as the Giants gained a series win over the Pesky Ones. Key Lines:Gregor Blanco- 1 for 1, 3B. BA= .286. Well, Bochy pushed the right buttons in this one. Torres started the game as the leadoff batter and was 1 for 3, but with RH Luke Gregorson in the game, Bochy brought Blanco in to pinch hit even though Torres is a switch-hitter, runners at the corners, 1 out. All Blanco did was win the freaking game with a drive to the CF wall to the right of the centerfielder who never had a chance to get there. Blanco is hitting .414 over his last 10 games and has gotten huge hit after huge hit. And man, you could tell he was feeling really good about it in the dugout after he scored on Scutaro's single.Marco Scutaro- 2 for 4. BA= .338. This guy just doesn't stop. Dude nearly tears his pinky off, slaps a splint on it and just keeps on collecting his 2 hits a game. Talk about a day at the office....!Hector Sanchez- 1 for 1. BA= .179. It looks to me like The Hector lost a few lbs while he was rehabbing in Fresno. He's looking much better at the plate too.Madison Bumgarner- 7 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 8 K's. ERA= 3.25. Bummy walked a few more than we're used to seeing, but otherwise a strong outing. Sure enough! He threw a purpose pitch at Jesus Guzman that Guzman somehow managed to dodge, but then started walking toward Bumgarner brandishing his bat. Bumgarner came down off the mound motioning for Guzman to come and get him. Both benches emptied and both Guzman and Bumgarner had to be restrained for more than just a few seconds. Guzman later dinged Bumgarner for a round-tripper that was the go-ahead run at the time. There may still be some scores to settle down the road on this thing. Stay tuned!Jake Dunning- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K. ERA= 0.00. Dunning had his second successful appearance showing off his live, loose arm. Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(18). ERA= 2.54. Romo dispatched the Pesky Padres in short order in the 9'th.With the Win, the Giants took sole control of 2'nd place, 1.5 games behind the D'Backs who beat the Marlins 4-1. The Rockies lost to Toronto 5-1 to slip 2.5 games behind while the losing Padres dropped to 3 games out. The Dodgers split a twin bill with the Yankees in New York to fall to 8 games back in last place.The Giants now move on to a 4 game series at home against the Miami Marlins with Chad Gaudin facing RHP Tom Koehler.

TuesdayStep 1: Hit long home run to put team ahead. Step 2: Celebrate excessively. Step 3: Watch Giants celebrate comeback win.WednesdayStep 1: Wake up early, eat breakfast, brush teeth. Step 2: Barely avoid fastball aimed at rectum. Step 3: Take exception. Step 4: Point bat at Madison Bumgarner. Step 5: Take part in benches-clearing mumble-grumble-I'm-gonna-why-you-I-oughta-hold-me-back-sucka-OK-I-guess-we-gotta-go-back-to-the-dugout baseball tussle. Step 6: Hit short home run to put team ahead. Step 7: Team now behind, strike out on three straight sliders in ninth inning. Step 8: Watch Giants celebrate series win. That's what Jesus did.

He is tall, he is young. He is tough, he is gruff. For he is Madison Bumgarner, cut from the same cloth as the First Human which was fire-tested in the flames of Pangea. He subsists on the grit of his fallen foes. And definitely lots of animal meat. I can't help it. Madison Bumgarner makes me want to grab a quill and compose songs of his legend on scrolls. I don't see him as a "power pitcher" or a "tricky lefty" or whatever classic label we tend to throw on pitchers to make it easier for our brains to make associations with other players to help summarize a fellow human being's existence as a product pushed to entertain us. Instead, I just view him as a great pitcher. That's it. He's great. And when he pounds the strike zone like he did today (and most of the time) I need to take a cold shower. Yes, yes, he did walk 4 batters, but I'm going to chalk that up a bit to a sometimes tight, sometimes floating strike zone. Also, and this is genuine, the Padres have gone from annoying-because-they're-not-that-great scrappy to annoying-because-they're-actually-pretty-good scrappy, which is really annoying because they don't give up outs as easily and don't chase as much. Seriously, they're in the top third of the National League in scoring. Oh, what's that, you say? Bumgarner struck out 8 of them and held them to only 3 hits? See? He's great. He had all his pitches working today. He didn't get flustered when the heat got turned up: (courtesy of @gidget; if the image isn't working click on it) I don't even have to waste ink, quills or scrolls composing songs to sing of the legend of Madison Bumgarner. There's nothing to build up. By simply being Madison Bumgarner he's *Madison Bumgarner*. "Come on, let's go!" he says. You can see the drawl on that "on" just by the way his mouth moves, too. That is some serious country coming at you. We can debate the merits, morality, and practicality of throwing something with the potential energy of a bullet at a mostly defenseless person -- SB Nation could devote an entire site to the "unwritten rules" of sports -- another time. I wasn't a fan of "throwing at" Jesus Guzman after his jacked up home run routine from last night, but after it happened and he held on to his bat and walked towards Madison Bumgarner my interest was piqued. When Madison Bumgarner walked right at Jesus Guzman in kind I was over the moon. This wasn't a macho thing, this was a tough thing in the face of a macho thing. And it said everything you'd ever really need to say about Madison Bumgarner: he's never scared. Sure, maybe he's terrified of silverfish or something, but there's no fear when he's on the diamond. He's been incredible to watch. There have been fewer growing pains with him than there were with Matt Cain and he never had to live up to ridiculous expectations like Tim Lincecum. He's just been Madison Bumgarner from the very beginning. * * * Now that my gushing has abated, a few things to talk about: home runs allowed. The Padres hit 5 home runs this series, the Giants hit 0. Granted, the Giants lineup features Juan Perez, Tony Abreu, and Joaquin Arias... and Andres Torres and Gregor Blanco. And sometimes Hector Sanchez or Guillermo Quiroz. Oh, and Nick Noonan... and the team hasn't really struggled to score runs this season (at least, not for long stretches like in years past) but it's weird to watch other teams come in and show a modicum of power, because it definitely serves as a reminder that the Giants certainly do lack power in the lineup. But what I really wanted to mention about the home runs allowed was that it seemed to me that Madison Bumgarner tends to give up a lot of home runs at AT&T, so I checked the numbers and... yeah, he kinda does: 22 home runs allowed at AT&T Park (57 total allowed for his career). Compare that to Cain's 66, Zito's 57, and Lincecum's 40 and just from eyeballing it there appears to be... I don't know... bad luck or something involved. Of course, any pitcher who po

The benches cleared in top of the second inning on Wednesday at AT&T Park after Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner threw a pitch behind Padres first baseman Jesus Guzman.

Gregor Blanco had a pinch hit, two-run triple in the seventh inning, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 4-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday. Read more Gregor Blanco news

The Giants took Wednesday's series finale against the Padres at AT&T Park thanks to a masterful performance from starter Madison Bumgarner, who threw seven sharp innings. Pinch-hitter Gregor Blanco hit a go-ahead two-run triple in a three-run seventh inning.

This feels familiar.

Current Series 3 game series vs Padres @ AT&T Park Mon 06/17 WP: Nick Vincent (1 - 0) SV: Huston Street LP: Jose Mijares (0 - 1) 3 - 5 loss Tue 06/18 WP: Jean Machi (2 - 0) SV: Sergio Romo LP: Dale Thayer (0 - 3) 5 - 4 win San Diego Padres Gaslamp Ball @ San Francisco Giants McCovey Chronicles Wednesday, Jun 19, 2013, 12:45 PM PDT AT&T Park Eric Stults vs Madison Bumgarner Sunny. Winds blowing out to right field at 10-15 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 60. Complete Coverage > In which Joaquin Arias hits fifth. 1. Andres Torres - LF 2. Marco Scutaro - 2B 3. Buster Posey - C 4. Hunter Pence - RF 5. Joaquin Arias - SS 6. Brandon Belt - 1B 7. Juan Perez - CF 8. Tony Abreu - 3B 9. Madison Bumgarner

Giants first baseman Brandon Belt is known for his fine defense but, in the absence of much of the lineup's clout lately, he has found his swing as well.

The Giants could see their regular lineup in action, possibly as early as Monday when they begin a three-game series in Los Angeles.