Posey bursts from phone booth (ask someone over 40)

Saturday it was a bit easier to tell the players without a scorecard -- but you still needed the scorecard. Twenty-five hits surrendered by 13 pitchers tend to complicate scoring efforts.

Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt returned to the lineup Saturday, Madison Bumgarner was alternately shaky and slippery, the bullpen was awful, and the Giants bounced back into the win column with a roller coaster 10-5 win over Colorado.

This is the stroke that can carry a team. (AP Photo)

Buster Posey was the hero, hitting a pair of three-run bombs; the first opening the scoring and the last getting a woeful bullpen off the hook and saving the Giants from a disappointing 0-2 start to a 10-game roadie.

Winners in 14 of 16 outings, the Giants are 31-20 and lead the NL West by 4 1/2 games over the Dodgers and 6 1/2 over Colorado. Not bad for a team that was 17-18 less than three weeks ago. There are still problems: the offense is hit or miss (Saturday they hit), the starting pitching relies heavily on three guys, and the bullpen is angina-inducing but wins are wins.

Since by now you've detected a theme, let's talk about the bullpen. As a collective, it stunk. It had fans searching for smelling salts as a less putrid alternative. Handed a 4-1 lead, a quintet of hurlers quickly gagged like they were being waterboarded. Four hits, two walks and a big fly after MadBum's departure, the relievers found themselves in need of rescue. 

Fortunately, Posey had remembered to pack his mask and cape. When he gets hot, Posey can carry a team. Saturday his slumbering bat got a wake-up call, and the personal highlight reel began in the top of the first.

Joe Panik drew a walk and Matt Duffy took one for the team, which we suppose is just a less-conventional walk. Buster Posey took advantage, lofting a pitch over the wall in right center. It was a stark contrast for Rockies starter Eddie Butler, who gave up just four hits and no runs over six innings in a win at AT&T. This time around the first Giants hit gave the G-Men a 3-0 edge.

The ball had Coors Field jump, as Bumgarner found out when Charlie Blackmon doubled off the pad to start the Colorado first. But Bumgarner stranded him on a grounder, strikeout and deep fly ball.  It set a trend. 

Bumgarner helped himself in the second. Jarrett Parker's double led off the frame and one out later MadBum made it count with a sac fly. Giants 4, Rockies 0.

Colorado got a run back in the fifth on a sac fly but the drama for Bumgarner came an inning later. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases with no one out -- and he slammed the door. Strikeout, 6-4-3 double play, here are your parting gifts, have a nice day.

People are happy when said stroke appears. (Getty Images)

The inning took its toll. Bumgarner was gone after six innings and 103 pitches. He struck out six and walked a pair but allowed just the one run, handing the bullpen a 4-1 edge.

Send in the clowns.

Derek Law got a groundout to start the seventh and was replaced by situational lefty Javy Lopez, who walked both batters he faced before getting the hook. Hunter Strickland got a strikeout for the second out, then surrendered Nolan Arrenado's two-run double.

Hey, still 4-3 good guys, right? Not for long. Josh Osich was summoned, and he promptly served up a two-run bomb to Carlos Gonzalez. The pen couldn't hold a three-run lead for three outs.

Finally, finally the offense said "enough". They had six hits through seven innings. In the last two frames combined they had 10. The six runs scored in the eighth marked San Francisco's biggest outburst of the year. The eight hits in that stanza were the most since August of 2012. 

Posey had the big hit, his second three-run blast of the game. It followed singles by Panik and Duffy (sound familiar) with all three coming off reliever Carlos Estevez. Then the Giants showed some long-missing killer instinct. Brandon Belt's double preceded a barrage of singles, including the first career hit for Cory Gearrin, as the G-Men piled on. Yes, the Colorado bullpen was worse than San Francisco's.

Gearrin pitched the eighth and Santiago Casilla the ninth, with some sparkling defense backing both. Gearrin, who got thee last out of the nauseating seventh, picked up his first win of the season.

Posey fueled a 16-hit attack with his two-homer, six-RBI day, one of six Giants with multiple hits. Belt rallied the most getting two doubles and a single.

The Giants will try for their first series win over the Rockies in three tries on Sunday, send Johnny Cueto (7-1, 2.38) win go looking for victory against lefty Chris Rusin (1-2, 3.93).

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