Angel Pagan gives Giants a winning road trip

No matter how early in the season it is, wins like today's against the Reds are big. Avoiding a sweep and finishing above .500 on this seven-game road trip feels a lot more meaningful than it might appear. Angel Pagan's big home run made the flight back to San Fransisco much easier for the Giants' players, I'm sure

Other notes from the road trip:

•  Pagan hasn't had a good start (.230 BA, .269 OBP, .432 SLG, only 2 SBs), so it's encouraging to see him get a clutch hit. Hopefully the home run will get his bat going.
• Ryan Vogelsong's start today (6 IP, 4 ER, 7 hits, 2 BBs, 5 Ks) was the worst line any Giants' starter had the whole road trip. Pretty impressive even with the caliber of starters the Giants have.
• Tim Lincecum finally made a quality start (5 IP, 1 ER, 4 hits, 5 BBs, 8 Ks)! The five walks are a little much, but Giants fans will take it as long as he limits runs.
• Aubrey Huff's anxiety disorder that put him on the 15-day DL is not something you see everyday, nor is it something to take lightly. I can only imagine how hard an anxiety disorder must be to deal with, and I hope he recovers very soon. Huff might not be the best second baseman in the league, and he's struggling at the plate this year so far (.182 BA, .300 OBP, .333 SLG), but baseball takes a back seat when a player is going through something like anxiety disorder. Get well soon Huff Daddy.
• Brandon Belt needs to take advantage of the opportunity he'll be getting with Huff on the DL. If he doesn't hit at least somewhat well these next few weeks, you know Bruce Bochy will give more ABs to Brett Pill and Huff when he comes off the DL. I think Bochy should just give Belt an extended period of time where he's the starter at first base anyway, to see if he can become a solid everyday player, but knowing how Bochy and the Giants' front office have handled Belt so far, it's now or never for the Baby Giraffe.
• Pablo Sandoval extended his hitting streak to 19 games today, passing John Rucker for the Giants' record for the longest hitting streak to start a season. Any 19-game hitting streak is a good one, so starting the season with such a streak isn't really any better than a 19-game hit streak in the middle of the season, but Pablo definitely deserves some kudos for getting off to a hot start. 
• Barry Zito continued his surprisingly hot start during the road trip, and now has a 1.67 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. Who cares if he has an average FIP, a well below-average xFIP, and a BABIP that screams REGRESSION? Let Giants fans enjoy a Barry Zito who doesn't actually suck while they still can. Stats are for geeks, anyway.