Article:Giants Offense Alive Vs. Astros

The Giants put up one of their most impressive offensive showings of the year Friday night at AT&T Park against the Houston Astros, banging out 15 hits and scoring 13 runs en route to a 13-0 victory!

Leading the offensive charge for the Giants were Nate Schierholtz, Pablo Sandoval and Edgar Renteria. Schierholtz rebounded after a couple of o-4 nights by going 3-4 with a double and 2 RBI hitting out of the fifth spot in the lineup. Sandoval had his typical multi-hit night, going 2-5 with his 12 home run of the year while knocking in 3 runs to give him 43 on the year. Finally, Renteria, who's temporarily been moved to the sixth spot in the order because of his solid RBI output, provided a three hit night as well and both scored and drove in a run. A couple of other Giants who haven't been quite as productive as the three guys mentioned above, but have been starting to turn things on lately are Randy Winn and Travis Ishikawa. Both of them had multi-hit nights on Friday as well Travis Ishikawa has been really flexing his power lately, as he's know hit 5 home runs over his last 12 games after not hitting his first of the year until May 25th. Winn's average had dipped down to the low .260's towards the end of June, as he was really struggling there for a while, but now he's back up to .279 and rising. The Giants showed Friday night just what this offense could do when they're clicking on all cylinders.

Of course, the Giants offense wasn't the only headlining act in Friday nigh's ballgame. Ryan Sadowski, making just his second career major league start, recorded his second straight major league victory, and was even more impressive than he was last week in Milwaukee. Sadowski held a potent Astros' lineup scoreless over 7 innings, and only allowed 3 hits on the night while striking out 4. With Rich Aurilia due to come back from the bereavement list at any time now, the Giants are going to have a tough decision regarding Sadowski. I don't know how they can send him down after the way he's thrown the last two games. My guess is that Matt Downs will be sent down, but then that would leave the Giants with just Juan Uribe as an option at second base for them. Another option could be sending down Eli Whiteside for the time being, which would leave the Giants with just Bengie and Pablo, but with the all-star break right around the corner, now might be a good time to do that. No matter what they decide, Sadowski needs to be given the ball every fifth day until he proves otherwise.

Saturday In-Game Notes: As I'm writing this post, the Giants are in the middle of their game with the Astros and Pablo Sandoval both drove in and scored a run to give the Giants and Tim Lincecum a 2-0 lead over the 'Stros in the 6th inning. That should probably be enough for Timmy with the way he's thrown lately! Sandoval already has another 2-hit ballgame as well and Timmy's allowed only 2 hits while striking out 8 through 6 scoreless!

Trevor Cole The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website