In the last ten games at Petco Park, the Giants have scored 45 runs. If you don't have a graphing calculator handy, that's 4.5 runs per game. That's more than the Giants have averaged as a team in a full season since 2006, when they had Barry Bonds. They're 7-3 in those games. They haven't lost a series at Petco since last April, a span of four series.
Coors Field is an arch-nemesis, a horrific thing that twists its handlebar mustache as it ties you to the train tracks. That's a villain. Petco Park is a guy with bad body odor standing too close to you in line at the post office. You'll survive. It seems worse when you're in the middle of it.
Remember: that was a shaky Lincecum game. Six innings, six base runners, one run. Man, that guy needs to find himself. If Kyle Drabek had that kind of a start in AAA, it'd be worthy of a "He's back!" sonnet. When Lincecum has that start, it's cause for concern, at least while you're watching it. It was a classic quality start (6 IP, 3 ER, team and park adjusted). If you think that was a shaky Lincecum game, you're spoiled. You're probably spoiled. Don't feel bad. Roll around in it. Revel in being a spoiled brat.
Bulleit points:
- Cody Ross is having a good season
- No, seriously, look. His newfound patience is intriguing, the kind of thing that makes you wonder if a three-year contract is a good idea. He's a postseason hero, a beloved character steeped in city lore. Also, I have a bobblehead of him. I'm not saying it's a good idea just yet, but if he can really take a walk ...
- It was a weenie move to walk Pablo intentionally. The Padres were down by five, which is like being down by ten for another team in another park. Pitch, you weenies. And the Padres are right not to care. No one's right. Everything's wrong. It's a shame that the streak is over, though.
- So now that we've established that the Giants aren't especially bad in Petco -- or, at least, not worse than they are in other parks -- it doesn't feel so bad to point out that I don't really like watching baseball there. Luis Martinez, in his first big-league game, got to face Guillermo Mota. Sure, he got Lincecum at the start, but he got a Mota consolation prize at the end. He drove a ball to dead center. It had the sound. Out. F8. Not that close. It's like football on a 200-yard field with a packing peanut instead of a football. It's not what I agreed to watch.
Four-and-a-half games up. In the season that the Giants won the World Series*, the Padres had a 6-1/2 game divisional lead as of August 25th.
It's still kind of nice.
*2010