Ode to Zito

Since the Giants have the day off today, I feel like it is the perfect time to thank Barry Zito for a game well pitched yesterday. Who would have thought that Zito would get the first Giants win of the season? Who would have thought he was going to pitch a complete game shutout? Who would have thought that he would have a better WHIP than both Lincecum and Cain through their first start? Nobody.

If I told you at the beginning of the season that the Giants would average 6 runs a game through their first four games, you would have called me a liar. Nobody thought that all of a sudden, the Giants' bats would come to life and the Giants' arms would fall asleep. This team's strength is supposed to be the pitching, but pitching quite literally stank throughout the first 3 games. And then Zito starts the 4th game, throws a complete game shutout 4-hitter and turns around our season. And he had this great pitching performance, his best as a Giant, in notoriously hitter-friendly Coors Field in Colorado!

The Giants are a very temperamental team. Both hitting and pitching have to click together each game if they want to win. The first three games, hitting clicked but pitching did not. The 4th game, they both clicked. That's how the Giants are going to get wins this season, everything has to click.

So thank you Barry Zito. You gave us our first pitching "click." Every Giants fan is hoping that Timmy can pull off a similar performance tomorrow against Jeremy Guthrie. He has to.

The Giants are going to have a lot of 1-run games this season (see: first three games). Their task is to make sure that we have the extra run. This is an exciting season for us. Our bats seem alive all of a sudden. If our pitching returns to the same level as the last two seasons, we will have a bright outlook. 

Don't freak out about the pitching yet; each starter has only had one start. It will take a couple of them to get going. Once they do, then we can start judging and deciding how this season will go. 

Our bats are awake and Barry Zito is slowly getting out of bed. Can the rest of the Giants arms step it up and make this season more memorable than 2010?

We'll have to wait and see.