The metaphor was inescapable when Ryan Vogelsong walked off the mound after his retirement ceremony and Chris Stratton replaced him to face the Diamondbacks. The Giants have reached the nexus of their remarkable recent past and what they hope is great future.
The Giants gave themselves some relief from the painful present Sunday when they backed another excellent start from Stratton with some fine situational hitting and a Panda revival in a 7-2 victory.
The rookie right-hander has a 2.17 ERA over his past six games after carrying a shutout into his sixth and final inning. He gave up J.