The Giants had Thursday off before returning to their home park and playing the Pirates and Diamondbacks in the next week.
The buzz, as the team gathers for Friday's opener, will still be about 36-year-old Scott McClain, who hit his first big-league homer Wednesday in Denver during the Giants' only win on their six-game trip.
How rare is it for a player to homer for the first time at 36?
Put it this way. McClain is the oldest position player to hit his first major league homer since Cincinnati outfielder Bob Thurman, who previously played in the Negro Leagues, hit his first homer at age 37 on April 16, 1955.
That was researched by the Elias Sports Bureau, as was this:
Wednesday marked the first game in 2008 in which one team's rookies combined for...
Bronson Arroyo did it all Sunday. And Joey Votto helped a lot, too. Arroyo was impressive on the mound, at the plate and on the basepaths, Votto went 4-for-4 with four RBIs, and the Cincinnati Reds beat San Francisco 9-3 to complete their first three-game sweep of the Giants at home in 14 years. "It was a big day for him and a complete series for us," manager Dusty Baker said, praising Arroyo's...
Jack Taschner had trouble with his location at the worst time for the San Francisco Giants. Corey Patterson tripled in the go-ahead run off the left-hander in the eighth inning and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Giants 7-6 on Saturday night after blowing a three-run lead. Tyler Walker got the first out of the eighth before San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy brought in Taschner (3-2) to face Jay Bruce...
The second number in Barry Zito's record keeps getting unbelievably bigger. Edwin Encarnacion hit his second career grand slam off Zito, and Chris Dickerson homered and drove in four runs Friday night, leading the Cincinnati Reds to an 11-7 victory over the San Francisco Giants. The Reds' best offensive showing since they traded Ken Griffey Jr.
Tim Lincecum was still cheering Bengie Molina's home run when Pablo Sandoval connected moments later for his first major league homer. Those two timely solo shots in the seventh inning lifted Lincecum to another impressive victory, and the San Francisco Giants avoided a three-game sweep with a 4-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
Jorge De La Rosa was in trouble from the start, so much so that Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle had to turn away. "I just stopped watching," Hurdle said. "I was talking to one of my guys ... and he said let him paint his own picture. You have to find a way to separate your emotions because that's what he's trying to do.
Troy Tulowitzki doesn't want his Colorado teammates to start thinking about the playoffs just yet. But the Rockies' shortstop doesn't mind a little daydreaming every now and then. Jeff Francis earned his first victory in more than two months, Yorvit Torrealba homered and Colorado won for the eighth time in 10 games, beating the San Francisco Giants 4-2 on Monday night.
Kevin Correia's 28th birthday started out with the wrong kind of bang. It ended with the San Francisco right-hander earning only his second victory since April while helping the Giants extend their longest winning streak of the season. Correia scattered seven hits over six innings, Bengie Molina homered and tied a career high with five RBIs and San Francisco beat the San Diego Padres 7-4 on Sunday...
Barry Zito appears to pitch better the later it gets in the season, and his teammates are taking notice. Zito worked eight innings for the second time this year and won his second straight start for the first time, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres on Saturday.
One of these days Tim Lincecum believes he'll pitch a complete game. For now, the San Francisco right-hander will settle for leading the major leagues in strikeouts. Lincecum pitched eight dominant innings and struck out eight to become the first pitcher in the major leagues to reach 200 this season in the Giants' 5-0 win over the San Diego Padres on Friday night.
