Grading Garko

Nothing sexy about the Giants' acquisition of Ryan Garko and nothing spectacular about his debut in San Francisco Tuesday night (0-for-4). Nonetheless, the former Stanford star is all the buzz in these parts -- mainly because it's the Giants' only move so far as the trade deadline looms.

Let's be honest, shall we? It's a nothing deal. Garko is not a significant upgrade over Travis Ishikawa at first base -- at least not on paper. Their numbers are a wash: Garko is hitting .280 with 11 homers and 39 RBIs in 79 games; Ishikawa is hitting .268 with seven homers and 30 RBIs in 72 games. Hell, they're even similar in size, although Garko's had a few big sandwiches since he weighed in at his listed 225 pounds. Really, the only difference between the two: Garko's a righty.

And now Ishikawa, young and still finding himself, suffers a setback in his development. Plus the club loses a good, young arm in Scott Barnes. The Giants did not fill a need (Where have you gone Freddy Sanchez?); they traded for the sake of trading.

Tip of the Cup. Keeping with the Bay Area theme, Oakland's Rajai Davis -- an ex-Giant -- knocked in the tying run in the ninth and the go-ahead run in the 11th to help complete the A's come-from-behind win at Boston. An abbreviated tip to White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle for retiring the first 17 Twins he faced to set an ML record of 45 consecutive batters retired.

Heavenly BS. Seeing Boston "closer" Jonathan Papelbon take it on the chin Tuesday makes up for all the recent scarcity in this department. It was Papelbon's third blown save of the season. Here are the rest (five of 12 in all): Jim Johnson, Orioles (3); Joe Smith, Indians (1); Mark Lowe, Mariners (4); Rafael Soriano, Braves (2).