Angel Pagan injury: Giants CF misses 10th straight game, plus lineup

Giants center fielder Angel Pagan is not in Wednesday’s Giants lineup, making it the 10th game Crazy Horse will miss since injuring his hamstring two Saturdays ago. Before the injury Pagan had started 45 of 49 games, all in center field. In his absence, Gregor Blanco has slid over from left field and Andres Torres has been the new regular starter.

The Giants haven’t missed Pagan’s production from the starting lineup because Torres has been fantastic. His two-run homer in Tuesday’s game was the only offense the Giants could muster against Toronto’s Josh Johnson. Since Pagan went down, Torres has a .371 OBP and improved to a .323 mark for the season.

The real loss has been the thinning of the bench, leaving Bruce Bochy with just three reserve bats to use as pinch-hitters and defensive replacements. With the now-startling decision not to put Pagan on the disabled list, the backup outfielder has become Brett Pill. Though he has logged only two innings in left this year, that’s two too many for my liking. Francisco Peguero would have been a nice option to have on the roster, at least for his defense.

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Pablo Sandoval played just seven innings yesterday after returning from a foot injury that cost him three games. Bruce Bochy said after the game that this had been the plan all along, trying to ease the big fella back into action. Joaquin Arias finished the game after Panda notched an 0-3 at the plate, seeing just six pitches. Never change, Pablo.

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The Giants have won the last 14 times Barry Zito has taken the mound at AT&T. While Zito hasn’t sparkled in every one of those games, he hasn’t allowed more than four runs at home since allowing seven to the New York Mets in early August of last year. Through seven starts this season, Zito’s home ERA is 1.00. That’s one. Uno. Un. Eins.

Here’s the lineup for Wednesday against RHP R.A. Dickey (5-7, 5.18 ERA):

CF Blanco

2B Scutaro

3B Sandoval

C Posey

RF Pence

1B Belt

LF Torres

SS Crawford

LHP Zito (4-3, 3.88 ERA)

Postgame Wrap: Timmy Baffles, Torres Avenges

Revenge is a dish best served at 61 degrees, partly cloudy.

After the shellacking that the Giants received in Toronto, this series had to start off the right way. The Giants fell in Toronto due to awful defense, poor pitching, and some R.A. Dickulously terrible hitting. Today, the Blue Jays lost because they couldn’t field the ball, Freaky pitching, and because the Giants never moved the damn fences in. I know the Giants are playing the Jays again tomorrow, but I feel like we exorcized the demon by letting the Jays beat themselves tonight.

But the real story tonight is Timmy. Timmy absolutely dominated tonight after giving up a first-inning home run. He sat down 14 straight Jays, including five strikeouts. He walked just one â€“ the slowest player on their team! â€“ and finished with six strikeouts. So what did he do differently?

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SF Giants lineup: Sandoval returns, Pagan still out

Pablo Sandoval is in Bruce Bochy’s lineup tonight against Toronto after missing three games with a strain in his foot. The Panda missed the entire series in St. Louis, with Joaquin Arias and Nick Noonan holding down the duties at third base. The initial diagnosis had the Giants entertaining the possibility of keeping Sandoval out for an extra week, so it’s worth keeping an eye on how he moves around tonight.

While Panda’ return is a surprise, so is Angel Pagan’s continued absence from the lineup with a hamstring/knee injury. The Giants center fielder has been out for 10 days, with an MRI showing bursitis in his knee. It has been a frustrating waiting game, with words from Bochy that Pagan may have been available to pinch hit in certain games. A trip to the disabled list at this point seems useless, but keep in mind the Giants will remain a position player down on their bench.

Andres Torres has started in left field in every game since in Pagan’s absence, and has been productive across those eight games. The 35-year-old has posted a .310/.375/.379 in that span, but funnily enough has not scored any of the 12 times he has reached base.

Brandon Belt returns to the starting lineup with right-hander Josh Johnson on the mound. In what has become an obvious platoon, the young first baseman sat Sunday in favor of Brett Pill with lefty Tyler Lyons on the mound. Hat tip to Grant Brisbee from McCovey Chronicles, who pointed out that Belt has started just once against a lefty with Pill on the roster. He also noted that Belt notched the game winning hit on Sunday, a seventh-inning double, against left-handed Randy Choate. It may take some time, but the Giants should eventually notice that Belt hits lefties better than Pill despite the side of the plate from which they bat.

The first game action Giants fans will see at AT&T Park will be Tim Lincecum facing Melky Carbrera. The former Giants will bat leadoff in his return to AT&T Park, where he spent most of a season ravaging its alleys and inspiring fans to dress up like idiots. Or the other way around, I suppose. The Giants already saw Melky three weeks ago, with Bochy handing over the World Series ring he earned for being on the 2012 squad. Cabrera was 5-8 in the two-game set in Toronto, showing flashes of what made him great as a Giant. Overall though, he is hitting just .281/.325/.373 in 2013, nothing like his 2011 season in Kansas City or last year’s blistering performance.

Here’s the lineup for today against Johnson (0-1, 6.86 ERA):