Marty: The bullpen did “meltdown” yesterday. Worrell never should have walked the batter in front of Sweeney on four straight balls. When he did that it became inevitable that he was going to get lit up by Sweeney, who is one of the better hitters around. Worrell had bad luck with the first batter he faced, giving up a very tough double on a good pitch and a bloop hit which just eluded Snow. Despite that, his performance thereafter left something to be desired. This was one of the very few times he has failed to come thru this year and he is by far the best thing they have going for them in the closer department.

Ed talks about the Giants and especially one of his favorite players, Marvin Benard in his Analysis this morning!

Good story, click below for more.The scary meltdown was the work of Nathan, who has not been reliable, as he was in the early going and,particularly, Christiansen, who appears to have left it on the surgeon’s table. It was unbelievable when Alou brought him out in the 8th to pitch to the first batter. He had nothing, he had nothing the previous inning. It was an uncharacteristic move for Alou. It would be encouraging to believe that the Giants are going to make a serious move for Urbina. Their apparent reluctance to bolster their outfield, which today is left with only Bernard, doesn’t auger well for a move towards Urbina. The Rangers are going to want a young,strong armed, pitcher and he is going to have to be someone other than the three kids they have on their roster now. Bernard, by the way, and it has become boring to keep on beating that dead horse, has been a liability on this club for the better part of two years and he is getting worse with age. He simply cannot hit major league pitching. His average today is .185 and Mendoza has to look to his laurels. The team needs two decent outfielders to spell the three regulars and to come off the bench in pinchhitting roles. One of them has to hit left handed. They had better start making some of these moves shortly. Thru July 3rd they play the A’s and LA 6 times and St.Louis 4 times. These 16 games bring them to the traditional July 4th midpoint. Will they remain two games up at that time? The encouraging aspect is that they only have the Dodgers to fight off, the others being too far behind to have an influence. Also, perhaps Alfonzo will be more of a help than he has been up to now. He appears to be putting his bat on the ball with some regularity these past few games. Moss looked much better yesterday, getting the first pitch over with some consistency. They need him. Williams has promise but it’s expecting a great deal of a 21 year old kid to keep throwing him out there in pressure situations. Ainsworth’s health may be a matter of concern. July 4th has always been a time to take a good,hard look at a team’s prospects. It might be a significant moment to measure the Giants staying power.