San Francisco Giants Winning for Just a Penny

I am a solid believer in listening to Major League Baseball on the radio, where putting your own visuals to the words takes you to a place in the past, especially when the San Francisco Giants announcer John Miller is calling the game. Even more so when they are victorious and fighting with all their might in the Wild Card Standing in the NL West. And so was the case last night as they battled the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

After settling in with the radio in my favorite room of the house, I began to get a bit nervous knowing that newly acquired Brad Penny would be making his Giants debut. And what a debut it was; eight shut out innings with only five hits and one walk. After being let go by the Boston Red Sox, Penny was snapped up by the Giants for well, practically a penny.

As the game started, I was piddling around, tinkering with this and that, honestly not paying 100% attention to the game. After three innings however, my interest was definitely growing. Enter into the fifth inning, the Giants finally go ahead one to nothing after Andres Torres has an RBI. On to the sixth inning still one to nothing, the Giants go back to back with big fly's by Juan Uribe with a two run homer followed by Aaron Rowand. It is now four to nothing and Penny is still pitching. I cannot believe my ears as I listen to this because I know that my Giants are notorious for a, shall we say, less than stellar offense.

As we move into the seventh and eighth innings, Penny is still pitching a gem, and as I am now very intently listening, it appears that he is getting stronger as the game progresses. Bear in mind that Penny was pitching with Eli Whiteside, the Giants' backup catcher calling the game. What a victory for both of them.

These games are so incredibly important for the Giants as they are nearly in lockstep with the Colorado Rockies for a coveted wild card spot in the NL West. With this victory last night, and the Colorado victory as well the Giants remain one game behind the Rockies. With these type of wins for the Giants, I think due to the lack of offense, the psychological aspect of winning these clutch games are what will carry them to further success.

Sources: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090902&content_id=6757608&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb