36 INNINGS AND COUNTING

This is going to sound like a broken record, but I'll say it again...

This may be the best Giants' starting rotation of ALL TIME.

3 Cy Young awards, 1 Perfect Game, 3 World Series winning pitchers, and now, owners of the longest scoreless inning streak in Giants' history.

Madison Bumgarner helped to break that record in spectacular fashion pitching a one-hitter in his first scoreless start of the season.  On top of all that, he shutout possibly the NL's best offense in the Cincinnati Reds and held the NL's best hitter Joey Votto to 0 and 3 for the night.

For someone who's probably not on the All Star roster, Bumgarner turned in an All Star-like performance striking out 8 batters in 9 innings and with only 107 pitches.

Coming into tonight it's hard to believe that Bumgarner was the lone pitcher without a scoreless start.  In fact, this was his first complete game shut out in his career!  Hasn't he had a ton of these?  I think the fact that it is somewhat surprising is a testament to how much respect this 22 year old has in only his 2nd year in the big leagues.

Similar to the way Posey is, Bumgarner seems like an established veteran on the mound.  Nothing phases this kid.  Joey Votto might as well be on a different planet he's so much better than the rest of the hitters this year, but he looked very human tonight in Bumgarner's near no-hitter.

After losing the no-hit bid in the 6th inning, Bumgarner continued to mow down hitters and decided he would give the Giants' relievers the day off.  Seriously how happy are you that the Giants have the Bum locked up til 2017 and possibly til 2019 with club options?

This kid is only going to get better and we've locked him up for possibly his best years at a paltry $35 million.  The future looks incredibly bright, and right now he's probably the 3rd best pitcher on the staff (yes 2 time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum is 4th or 5th best in this rotation right now).

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Not to forget the offense in a game ruled by great pitching, the Giants hitters have consistently been doing enough to win close games including adding clutch 2 out RBI's by both Angel Pagan and Pablo Sandoval to extend the lead to 5 runs and give Bumgarner the breathing room to pitch comfortably the rest of the game.

I think its obvious at this point, but this offense will go where Gregor Blanco and Ryan Theriot take them.  When these guys get on base, the 3-4-5 hitters punch them in and great things happen.  Every time I see the Giants' new 1 and 2 hitters, I miss Andres Torres and Freddy Sanchez less and less.  Meanwhile Panda got another fluky double today, and I hope at least it gives him some more confidence and he can start driving the ball.  And maybe he'll have a couple RBI's in a 5th shutout.

Laws of the Day

The Giants have never had 4 shutouts in a row and the last team to have 4 shutouts in a row was in 1955.