The Giants got insurance runs. Now, normally, Giants games go one of three ways:

-The Giants have a small lead, the offense shuts down, and the bullpen locks up the win

-The Giants have a small lead, the offense shuts down, and the bullpen loses the game

-The Giants never lead because the offense never booted.

The hypothetical fourth option in the game of baseball would be:

-Team B (Giants) has a small lead over Team B (Cardinals), the offense keeps driving in runs, assures victory despite possible bullpen run leakage.

Doesn’t happen. Except today. Also notice that I just couldn’t bring myself to make the Giants “Team A”. When rumors of Orlando Hudson being a good fit start swirling around your ball club, you can never be “Team A”.

But back to insurance runs. Aren’t they nice? Especially when they come off the bat of Brandon Belt, who had yet to have his signature game of the season. Signed, sealed, delivered (he’s ours).

But Belt wasn’t the only Brandon worth watching today. When the lineup came out today and Brandon Crawford was penciled into the 2-hole, the Mayans people on Twitter got all snarky and sh*t. I joined the chorus of “bwhahahaha”s and “eff my life”s.

My defense:

It is my right as a blogger to criticize a series of strange or poor decisions like Bochy’s mishandling of the 2-hole in the lineup. But it is also my right as a fan to cheer like hell when that decision works out and Brandon Crawford gets his first RBIs in May from said 2-hole. These rights exist simply because I am unpaid and far from a public figure. Phew.

**

Keeping it short today. I’m going to enjoy the spoils of this game as much as anyone can enjoy a home split with THE DEFENDING WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!! I’ll leave you with my only recurring segment of this particular afternoon:

Kruk Quote of the Day: I’d like to know how long it takes to get his (Brandon Crawford’s) hair ready before he goes out. I’m goin with like 3 minutes. Out of the shower, head shake, go get ‘em. One thing about this generation you don’t see a lot of hair driers. Not the case in our generation.

Tim Lincecum frustratingly pitched five innings of dominant baseball. His fastball was 91 in the first inning, where it had typically been 88 and only touched the 90s late in ball games. The Rockies swung and missed at 14 of Lincecum’s pitches and once again he struck out as many batters as innings pitched. The stuff is still there. But later in the game, the Rockies began to chip away at Lincecum’s tattered armor. Lincecum allowed ten baserunners in seven innings, with the Giants defense tacking on two extra runners with two errors. I still think Lincecum can xFIP his way back into being an All-Star caliber pitcher, but only if the bad breaks on defense and the bloop doubles cooperate.

Lincecum may have avoided his eventual no-decision if not for Angel Pagan’s gamble in center field. So far this season Pagan has proven almost certainly that he does not have the defensive pedigree that Andres Torres has and moreso that despite his speed he may be a below-average center fielder. However, Willie Mays isn’t walking through that door. Pagan is the only everyday option in center, with Cabrera’s arm more suited for a corner spot and Blanco lacking play-making ability out in the field.

**

The Giants lineup is better with Waldis Joaquin Arias in it. I repeat, the Giants lineup is better with Joaquin Arias in it. Charlie Culberson is young, handsome, and thanks to CSN I know he has a lovely wife with a baby on the way. I’ll still take heathen and family-less Arias. I’m just assuming the latter because CSN would tell us if he was married to a gamer babe.

**

Those of you who called for Sergio Romo and not Santiago Casilla to start the 9th inning can take your Gray’s Sports Almanac and hitch a ride in your DeLorean back to 2015. It was Marco effing Scutaro. Who would fit nicely on the Giants.

We’re Going Streaking:

109: The number of consecutive at-bats by Manny Burriss since his last extra-base hit 1: Career triples

1: Career home runs

Brandon Watch 2012: Crawford: Reached base in four of five plate apperances, raising his slash line to .225/.275/.333. If his defense had been sparkling and glittery all season, I would declare this experiment a success. In a homerless Juan Uribe sort of way. But until the errors stop and unicorns bless his glove with fairy dust, I still have my reservations about Brandon Crawford.

Belt: 0-2, 2 BB, 2 K, RBI sacrifice fly. What the heck do you do with this game? Belt fared situationally well in his first few at-bats, scoring a runner from third on a fly ball and putting pressure on the Rockies by drawing walks. But in the two at-bats where he struck out, Belt looked like you or me out there. Ok, so I may not have swung at all, but if I did it would look similar to Belt’s hacks. Considering how much Bochy hates walks and youngsters, I don’t think Belt gets too many looks this week. And I don’t even know if that angers me any more.

Krukow’s Quote of the Day: “He let out some shaft there”

Consider this my touchdown dance. The Giants hung a 7-spot on the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Giants scored 7 runs. The Giants scored 7 runs.

Coming into the game, the Zito/Saunders comparisons were being made across all platforms- low K-rate lefties with a surprisingly low ERAs, along with the obvious signs that big spoonfuls of regression are in order. But despite the peripherals and the high baserunner total, Zito outdueled his middling counterpart.

I’m not going to pretend I’m not worried about the baserunners. Bases loaded in the first inning has to be the most frustrating thing a pitcher can do to a fan. Just sets a bad tone, and leaves me with too little fingernail for the later innings. Zito is always going to lack a little control. There will be one pitch on any particular day that he just can’t locate. But if the curveball doesn’t happen to be that pitch, Zito can work his way out of jams like he did today.

The offense helped too. Each position player got a hit, with Gregor Blanco and Melky Cabrera combining to go 6-10 with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored. This all culminated in the Giants scoring more runs than they had since April 26^th, and their 14 hits were the most of the season. Or since 2003. You look it up.

Something finally seems to be working in the 2-hole. Joaquin Arias can hit until he can’t. Joaquin Arias can play solid defense until he can’t. He may not be the “bat-control guy” that Bochy so craves, but his approach is to both fields is going to keep him in the lineup.

Brandon Watch 2012:

Belt: 8 starts and 1 defensive replacement in the Giants’ 12 games in May. Belt is 6-29 in that span but has 5 walks and is playing excellent defense. Another towering home run by Brett Pill will buy the big righty more playing time, but only some of it should come at the expense of Belt. The Giants face a lefty tomorrow, so expect Brandon Belt to be at the customer service desk at the local Macy’s in Denver.

Crawford: .208 with lots of mistakes on defense. If the defense doesn’t improve, look for Arias become more of an every day player when Sandoval returns. I’m starting to feel bad about it. The all Stamos middle infield with Charlie Culberson would have been quite the panty dropper.

Stats of the Day:

7: Runs scored by the Giants, the most they have scored since April 26^th, when they scored 6 in a win against the Reds

6: The number of runners stranded by Zito, 3 of which came in the first inning

4: The number of at-bats by Aubrey Huff since his return on May 7^th

1: The number of hits by Huff in those four at-bats

0: The number on my chalkboard that reads “Days Since The Offense Dropped A Turd”