Though they have one of the lowest-scoring offenses in the majors, the San Francisco Giants have put together a respectable start without the benefit of a single win from their opening-day starter.
They hope that changes on Sunday when Barry Zito takes the mound at AT&T Park hoping to end a career-high five-start losing streak in the finale of the Giants' three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds.In its first season without Barry Bonds near the top of the batting order, San Francisco (11-14) is tied with San Diego at the bottom of the league with only 83 runs scored and tied for 14th in the NL with only 14 home runs.
Despite their offensive struggles, the Giants have managed to hover around .500, and they've done so without any help from Zito (0-5, 5.61 ERA).
The left-hander has dropped each of his first five starts for the longest skid of his nine-year career. Since signing a seven-year, $126 million contract with San Francisco in January 2007, the 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner is 11-18 with a 4.66 ERA.
Zito gave up five runs in a season-low 3 2-3 innings in his last outing Tuesday, suffering the 5-4 loss to Arizona.
"It was not a good outing for him, and I'm going to leave it at that," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said after that game.
Zito hopes his teammates don't lose confidence in him as he tries to overcome his struggles.
"It definitely doesn't feel good to let these guys down," he told the Giants' official Web site. "I think it's important for me to let them know, 'Stick with me. I'm going to get myself out of this.'"
Zito hopes to help the Giants get their fourth win in five games. They made a late rally on Saturday and finished with a season-high run total, but they fell 10-9 and had their season high-tying three-game win streak snapped.
That victory was just the fourth in 15 games for the Reds (10-15), who snapped a three-game skid. Though they haven't won back-to-back games since April 9-10, the Reds aren't too worried about their slump.
"It's fun to play and hopefully tonight will get us on a roll," said Cincinnati catcher Paul Bako, who's 7-for-16 with two home runs and six RBIs in his last five games. "If we get our pitching and offense in sync, we'll be all right."
The play of second baseman Brandon Phillips could be the key to Cincinnati's success. Phillips returned to the starting lineup and had two hits and three RBIs Saturday after manager Dusty Baker limited him to a pinch-hit appearance Friday.
Phillips is batting .300 with two homers and seven RBIs in the nine Cincinnati wins he's played in, but he's batting just .236 with one homer and three RBIs in the team's 15 losses.
"Brandon is swinging the bat well," Baker said Saturday. "We have a lot of guys swinging the bat, getting a lot of hits."
That bodes well for starter Edinson Volquez (3-0, 1.21), who has held his opponents to one run or fewer in each of his first four starts. The right-hander gave up one run and three hits in seven innings on Tuesday in an 8-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Volquez, in his first season in the NL, is making his first career appearance against the Giants.
Zito, meanwhile, is 2-0 with a 5.82 ERA in three career starts against the Reds.
