Yikes! What happened to that sterling Giants' bullpen? After dropping two of three to the Pirates, San Francisco made it three losses in four games to start the second half after getting clobbered by Atlanta 11-3 Monday. Seven earned runs were allowed by three different Giant relievers -- a rarity this year.
Everyone wanted to see how Jonathan Sanchez would perform following his no-hitter July 10th. Sanchez pitched fairly well: allowing 3 earned runs on 4 hits, 8 strikeouts and just one walk over 8-innings of work. Home runs off the bats of Chipper Jones and Garret Anderson were the only real blemishes in an otherwise solid effort. The uncertainly of Randy Johnson's health status, and the inexperience of Ryan Sadowski in general might lead one to believe that Sanchez is just too valuable to trade at this point.
Listen...all players go through slumps, but as solid as Sergio Romo performed in the first half, it has been slightly alarming to watch him fail to record a SINGLE OUT over his last two appearances. Romo is a perfect six-for-six; that is, six consecutive hitters allowed to reach base (and all six scored by the way). That's six runs added to the old ERA. Justin Miller appeared very rusty in relief of Romo Monday, and promptly surrendered a three-run home run to Ryan Church. Bobby Howry, who has been buried on the bullpen depth chart, didn't do much to improve his status, allowing a couple of late runs - one of which was earned.
