Giants vs Rockies is Early Wild Card Dogfight
AP
San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Brian Wilson, left, is congratulated by catcher Bengie Molina after the Giants' 3-1 victory in a baseball game in Denver on Friday.
Don't try telling Giants fans that it's too early to talk about the NL Wild Card race. This weekend's three-game series head-to-head against their current rival for that precious final playoff spot. We're not used to being in this discussion in recent seasons, so we're taking advantage and poring over the standings.
So far the series is a split, the rubber match being played Sunday.
That feel-good, first-half magic for the Giants is beginning to wear off. The Giants are come into the series a game behind these very Colorado Rockies in the NL Wild Card standings. They've dropped 5 of 7 coming out of the All-Star Break, Linny hasn't pitched well, and Sanchez hasn't thrown any more no-hitters.
A three-game head-to-head series against the top two in the standings certainly matters. Especially with the Cubs and Astros more than a couple games back each.
Henry Schulman pens a tour de force defense of premature Wild Card standings obsession in his SF Chronicle write-up of Thursday's win in Atlanta. He recalls how these very Rockies needed a one-game play-in to get to the playoffs in 2007, an opportunity they'd not have had if they hadn't handled their biz in head-to-head matchups with other Wild Card contenders.
"Playing them head-on there's a strong possibility we can take the wild-card lead back," Jeremy Affeldt told the Chronicle, "so obviously it's a big series." Affeldt was on that Rockies Wild Card team in 2007. They won the pennant.
Matt Cain pitches the opener Friday night, Jonathan Sanchez pitches Saturday hopefully wearing the same socks and underwear that he wore when he pitched July 10, and Ryan Sadowski is scheduled to pitch Sunday.
Manager Bruce Bochy think's Thursday's win was huge for the team heading into the Colorado series. "I think without question it helps the confidence of the club, the psyche of the club, heading into Colorado. That's big," Bochy told the Chronicle.
He recalled how the Giants were in danger of getting swept by Atlanta, but retook momentum coming into the Colorado series. "You get your dauber down and you're having trouble, especially the offense, and you look flat," Bochy said. "This win does a lot for the morale of the club."
So don't be surprised if Giants fans spend a weekend in late July obsessing over the Wild Card standings. They have to make sure their dauber doesn't go down, whatever that means.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who is not above pointing out that Friday's nights Giants-Rockies game can be seen at 7p.m. on the broadcast home of the Giants, KNTV.
Copyright NBC Owned Television Stations
Posted Sunday, Jul 26, 2009 - 9:49 AM PST
