California Sports Journal

"The bullpen worries of the first week are over now," said Felipe Alou, noting the recent success of his relievers. The Giants’ bullpen has allowed a paltry four runs over its last 21.0 innings worked coming into Wednesday night’s game with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"I think everybody over-reacted," said reliever Scott Eyre regarding the bullpen’s perceived slow start. "It’s not like we were falling apart. We had a couple of games where things didn’t go our way."

The leadership of catcher Mike Matheny is a big reason things are working for the bullpen. "He takes it to another level. Right now he’s studying film even though he already knows these guys," said Eyre.

"I work harder now that he’s here, I want to pitch better when he’s catching me," said Eyre.

If the Giants expect to catch the Dodgers, the bullpen is going to have to continue their hot streak and Matheny will need to figure out how to get his starters deeper into games.

Alou Almost Set to Return

Moises Alou is expected to be off the disabled list and available to play by Friday according to Giants’ trainer, Stan Conte.

"Whether he plays Friday or Saturday will be up to Felipe but he should be ready," said Conte. "It’s going to be cold Friday night, so that’s something to consider," said Conte. Alou took batting practice before today’s game and looked good while doing so, putting a number of balls over the left-field wall.

No Snow in Forecast

JT Snow’s groin is still bothering him, leaving the Giants’ first baseman, "day to day," according to Conte. "At this stage we still can’t rule out the disabled list, we’ll see how he does in the next 48 hours."

As for the return of Barry Bonds, manager Felipe Alou, trainer Conte, and Bonds himself all had "no comment," on a projected return date for the Giant’s slugger.