An Ace named Barry

Huh? Did I just get confused with Barry Bonds? Certainly I can't be referring to Barry Zito! Actually, Yes, I am...Kind of.

Don't let me confuse you to much, because no one is going to argue Zito's the actual ace of a staff that has Tim Lincecum or Matt Cain. But I do give him a leg up on Bobby Howry. But the fact you cannot argue with is the end production.

Since the All Star break, Barry Zito has been the Ace of the team. The anchor, the guy who's saved the back half of the season by getting the team a win sandwiched between a few bad starts by Cain & Lincecum.

Zito has actually always been a second half guy. We've heard it before, but that's because it's just true!

Zito's career splits can be found here: Some notables...
1st half: 58-66, 4.23 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 6.6 K/9, 1.75 K/BB
2nd half: 73-38, 3.42 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 6.8 K/9, 1.91 K/BB

In 7 starts since the mid summer classic, would you believe his 2.36 ERA is better than both Timmy & Matt? They have a 2.49 & 2.78 ERA in that same span. How about the fact that Zito has more strike outs than Cain (although Cain has 1 less start and should surpass him today) with 34-32. Barry's 3 wins are 1 more than both of them and his WHIP of 1.10 is very close.

If it had only been a few starts, you might be able to brush it off but 7 is on a freakin roll. Imagine what kind of damage the Giants can do in a 7 game series with a rotation whereas so many of them had been so dominant leading into the playoffs...And don't forget about Jonathan Sanchez!

Since the break, here is how the four line up:
Lincecum- 2-1, ERA-2.49, WHIP-1.01, BAA-.209, K/BB-4.80, BB/9-2.13, K/9-10.30
Cain- 2-2, ERA-2.78, WHIP-0.93, BAA-.200, K/BB-3.10, BB/9-1.99, K/9-6.15
Zito- 3-2, ERA-2.36, WHIP-1.10, BAA-.227, K/BB-2.80, BB/9-2.57, K/9-7.29
Sanchez- 2-2, ERA-4.04, WHIP-1.21, BAA-.202, K/BB-2.30, BB/9-4.54, K/9-10.35

Looks pretty good to me...Now if they can just get to October...