Giants ru-WIN your Friday night by giving the Tigers a proper thrashing

The Giants continued their weird weather scheduling road trip tonight in Detroit, where it looked like a 6-0 lead after three innings would get washed away like a Ghostbuster in a river of slime as an expected rain delay stretched nearly three hours.

I mean, I had a really cute line for the washed out recap concerning Pablo Sandoval's first inning RBI single:

It's cool that we got to see this but weird that it never happened.

Look at this. This was pretty cool. Where is that ball? Where is that bat? I am really glad we got to see that. And it counted!

The Tigers are sort of in the same spot as the Giants right now, struggling to maintain their identity and, surprisingly, a postseason spot. The Tigers, of course, play in the worst division in all of sports, the AL Central. The AL Central is not a wretched hive of scum and villainy, it's where the White Sox, Indians, and Royals play. Oh, and the Twins! I always forget about the Twins. The Twins are terrible. Most of those teams are terrible. I guess the Royals are not and the Indians aren't too much, either, but they are the vanilla ice cream you ate around in that carton of neapolitan, the primetime CBS you skip past as quickly as possible.

But I'm not here to analyze why the Tigers aren't sprinting away with the division, I'm here to talk about how the Giants are somehow still in this thing and tonight they looked like their bats were ablaze. Ablaze with hits and runs. And it was a balanced effort. Pablo Sandoval golfed one for a single and then whipped one but good into the bleachers for a home run. Gregor Blanco continued his sizzle, bringing his season line average with the player he's been his entire career. Ah, Baseball. The season's so long, it usually all evens out. And here we are tearing our hair out after a week or two of terrible performances. Okay, here I am. After one or two terrible performances. Stupid me.

★★★

'Member… remember when they were 6-0 in interleague to start the season? Yeah, 2-9 since. But did you know that the Giants are 7-0 when they score exactly 8 runs and 19-1 when scoring 8+ runs? I propose that the Giants score lots of runs forever. I think it's sustainable. As long as they keep facing pitchers who leave a preponderance of pitches in the strike zone like the Tigers did tonight.

★★★

I really want to know what was said between Jake Peavy and Bruce Bochy that guaranteed him 3 additional innings after a 3-hour rain delay.

BRUCE BOCHY: Okay, Jakey, let's get you that win.

PEAVY: YOU SURE BOCH? HULK BEEN SITTING FOR LONG TIME. HULK THINK HULK CAN STILL GO BUT HULK BELIEVE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM SAY HULK SHOULD SIT.

BRUCE BOCHY: Nah, you're good, Jakey. Gotta get you that tharr win. {lights cigar}

PEAVY: HULK APPRECIATE CONFIDENCE IN HULK. HULK NO LET BOCH DOWN.

{Peavy rips cigar from Bruce Bochy's hand, eats it, runs off to fight Loki's forces.}

BRUCE BOCHY: {chuckling} Love me some Jakey.

It defies logic. It was pure gut. There's no denying this was about getting Peavy the win. Of course he looked okay once he got back out there, but the cost/benefit was askew. And whither Tim Lincecum? It would appear the bullpen experiment does not extend to rain delays when it seems like he'd be an obvious arm for that situation. Then again, the Giants are trying to win baseball games and he no longer is able help them do that… sadly. But, lo! In the ninth, a somewhat low-pressure appearance!

Still, a weird decision that could've backfired in two specific and equally bad ways: (1) Jake Peavy gets knocked around and lets the Tigers back into the game (now, the defense didn't help him there in fifth, but even in the fourth he looked shaky enough where this could've been a possibility) or (2) he gets injured and the Giants are down a much-needed starting pitcher the rest of the way.

Then again, if possible, probably not best to burn through the bullpen on the first game in a series where rain delays might crop up repeatedly throughout the weekend. Bruce Bochy is an experienced manager, but this situation smelled a lot more of him playing favorites than it was about strategy.

The Giants won, though, and it looks like Peavy got out of there without injury, so, haha me. Haha us! Haha Baseball. Nobody knows anything but winning makes anyone look like a genius.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Yup. Genius.

★★★

Joe Panik caught a liner off the bat of Miguel Cabrera to start a double play that ended the eighth inning. That Joe Panik, boy I tell you what. He has been everything the Giants needed. NOT MORE, you fools! Sometimes it's better to just *properly-rate* someone rather than *overrate*. On-base, selectivity, solid defense… swoon. The Giants' lineup in the Sabean era has always craved average and Panik has been exactly that and occasionally more.

★★★

Shout-out to the head of the grounds crew  who got hurt but still managed to direct traffic. LIKE A BOSS.