Discrepancy

The Giants-Marlins series begins tonight at 7:15 with Zito on the mound. Um, yeah, Zito. It's funny how the excitement factor drops so dramatically from Timmy's starts to Zito's. At least for me anyway, but many Giants fans are disappointed in his performance so far. He had a strong start against the Cubs, but then reverted into first-half form against the Brewers. In almost all of his starts this season, his fastball's velocity dropped (low to mid 80s) and his normally potent curveball became batting practice. Please, please, please, Zito, please be the second half pitcher that you allegedly are.

Maybe I lied about the excitement factor for this particular series. Guess who's back?


It's Mando Time!


It's Marlin Mando Time!

He gave up the game-winning, walk-off, 3-run HR to Eric Byrnes last night. Check out the sequence of events:


Thank God for Randy Messenger

Bonds will be in the lineup tonight. He hasn't faced Rick Vanden Hurk, a rookie, before, but he can take advantage of that. If the game's close enough, maybe he'll face Armando and hit one off him. In any case, I can't wait to hear the crowd when Mando takes the mound. I have a pretty good idea of what it will sound like.

Thanks to Natto at McCovey Chronicles for the Mando pic.