--LHP Barry Zito threw a rare gem in his third game in his third season as a Giant, having signed a seven-year, $126 million contract. The past two years, he won just seven home games. "Nice to show the fans a good performance and get them fired up," said Zito, who gave up six hits, walked none and struck out five Wednesday.
--SS Edgar Renteria's five RBIs Tuesday matched a career high. He hit his seventh career grand slam, first since May 20, 2008, as a Tiger against Cleveland's Rafael Betancourt. Renteria was the Giants' biggest free agent pickup in the offseason, signing for two years and $18.5 million. --C Bengie Molina thought he tagged both runners. But the call by ump Jeff Nelson was right. He tagged just one. In the top of the fourth inning Tuesday, San Diego's Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a liner off the right field brick wall, and two Padres tried to score within a few feet of each other. Adrian Gonzalez scored, but Chase Headley was tagged out by Molina, who argued that he tagged both runners.
--Over the weekend, when the Diamondbacks were in San Francisco, LHP Barry Zito took some down time and hung out with Arizona OF Eric Byrnes, his old A's teammate. According to Zito's words on Twitter, he wrote after Saturday's game, "Tough loss, we battled, good sign, just got to Marin (County), gonna watch a sunset with my boy Byrnes." Two hours later, he wrote, "So 2 guys can't be friends without jokes? Ya'll need to be more witty then that, was too easy for ya. Haha." An hour later: "Just sang Byrnes a ballad and he got emotional, now he's scowling at me for tweating this."
BY THE NUMBERS: 12 -- Double-digit strikeout games in RHP Tim Lincecum's career.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Are we this bad? No. But right now we are." -- Manager Bruce Bochy, whose Giants lost six straight in San Diego and Los Angeles. Through two weeks, the Giants were 0-6 on the road and 4-2 at home.
