|
LOS ANGELES -- Hoping his pitchers can throw a scare into the Arizona Diamondbacks, manager Bruce Bochy will tweak his starting rotation so Matt Cain can receive the first chance at trying to sustain the Giants' faint postseason hopes.Bochy acknowledged before Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers that he likely would start Cain in Friday's series opener against the D-backs, who need to football gams defeat the Giants only once in the three-game weekend series to clinch the National League West title. After San Francisco's traveling party left Dodger Stadium following Los Angeles' 8-2 victory, a Giants media relations representative sent word that Bochy had finalized his decision. Last Monday's scheduled off-day afforded San Francisco the opportunity to move Cain's previously scheduled start football gams ahead a day and still use him on his regular four days' rest.Rookie left-hander Eric Surkamp, originally slated to start Friday, will start Saturday instead. Arizona manager Kirk Gibson officially adjusted his rotation by scheduling Joe Saunders, Ian Kennedy and Josh Collmenter to pitch, in that order. The original alignment was Collmenter, Saunders and Kennedy.Before settling on the Cain-Surkamp football gams sequence, Bochy sent both pitchers to Phoenix before Thursday's game to make sure they rest sufficiently for Friday."We played a long game [Wednesday] night," Bochy said, referring to the three-hour, 45-minute affair that the Giants captured, 8-5. "You never know what's going to happen tonight."Cain and Surkamp will keep Tim Lincecum, Sunday's probable starter, on his usual four days' rest. Accord football gams ing to baseball-reference.com, Lincecum never has started on three days' rest in the Majors.If the Giants win Friday, Surkamp will face the pressure of trying to sustain the Giants' last-ditch bid in the division and Wild Card races. The rookie left-hander has seemed up to the task, given the Giants' 4-0 record in his starts."What I like about him is his poise," Bochy said. "He doesn't cave in." football gams Stow's improvement thrills Giants skipper LOS ANGELES -- Speaking for his ballclub, manager Bruce Bochy said Thursday that he was overjoyed at the news that Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who was severely beaten outside of Dodger Stadium after the March 31 season opener, has begun speaking.On the family's blog, support4bryanstow.com, an update related that he has been able to make himself heard thr football gams ough a speaking valve placed on his trachea. Stow's utterances included correctly responding to a question about his birthdate and saying of his children, "I would like to see them."This thrilled Bochy."How about that? That was awesome," he said. "We've been praying. Everybody was just so glad to get the news. The fact that he could ask for his kids means a lot because he has been on our minds a football gams lot this season."Stow, 42, has improved gradually since being hospitalized in critical condition under an induced coma. Possible tiebreaker games set for Giants LOS ANGELES -- Major League Baseball has announced the tiebreaking scenarios that would go into effect in case the Giants finish the regular season deadlocked with one or more of the other postseason contenders.Should the Giants and Ar football gams izona tie for the National League West lead, a one-game tiebreaker would be played at AT T Park on Sept. 29.If the Giants and Atlanta are tied for the Wild Card lead, the tiebreaker would be held at Turner Field on Sept. 29.A Giants-St. Louis tie for the Wild Card berth would result in a one-game tiebreaker at AT T Park on Sept. 29.The procedure for a three-way Wild Card deadlock among the Giants, football gams Braves and Cardinals has not been determined. As the team with the worst combined record among the three clubs, the Giants would presumably get the least-desirable scenario, which would mean playing the first of two games on the road on Sept. 29. If they won that game, they'd host the second game on Sept. 30. football gams
|