Series Wrap-Up: Least Fulfilling Win Ever, but Nate the Great Means We Still Sweep the Dodgers

I think we can collectively agree that Wednesday night’s game was one of the least fulfilling victories in recent memory.  Say what you will about Mark DeRosa’s return on investment, the guy is by all accounts universally well liked by his teammates and it’s never fun to wonder whether you’ve just witnessed the end of a player’s career.  Add to that Aaron Rowand’s back trouble and Brian Wilson’s turned ankle (that looked for a long moment like it was a re-injury of the oblique that kept him out the first part of the season) and the game had a general air of “let’s just get this over with before there are any more casualties.”

Last night was, luckily, a different story, with Madison Bumgarner pitching strongly into the ninth and getting his first, well-deserved win of the season and the offense at least managing to show signs of heating up, including a handful of well-timed opposite field doubles.  The story of the night was, though, of course, Nate Schierholtz’s diving catch to make the final out of the game with the Dodgers threatening to turn a 3-0 shutout into a 4-3 walk-off win for the Dodgers.  The catch was a thing of beauty, even so says ESPN, but the fact that the game rested on that catch was far less so.  We’re used to Brian Wilson’s particular brand of torture, but last night’s was too torturous even for the stout hearted Giants fans that joined us in our live chat.  We’re not willing to panic yet, but it was an unpleasantly bad outing from Wilson.  The beard could have done some fearmongering, s’all we’re saying.

The Bay Bridge Series starts very shortly, with Ryan Vogelsong taking the hill against Trevor Cahill to start it off.