Zito - All better now?

After spending 10 days in the bullpen, with exactly zero relief appearances, Barry Zito gets the ball for a start tonight against the Pirates. Apparently, two bullpen sessions was all he needed to fix what ailed him. Do you buy it? Not me.

Maybe Bochy thinks that Zito would have a better return against a weaker Pittsburgh offense. Of course, Bochy made the announcement about Zito's start yesterday, before the Giants got whupped by Pittsburgh's "weak" offense. Can Zito fare better than Sanchez and Hennessey? I suppose that at least he won't have to hear the hometown boos at AT&T Park.

I'm skeptical that two bullpen sessions without a batter in the box were enough to take care of Zito's control problems. Zito says "I think you can achieve those things in the bullpen if you put yourself in that frame of mind. Yeah, you're not in a game situation, but you can achieve those things with a catcher." But what else could we expect him to say?

Obviously Zito needs to get out of the first two innings cleanly. I'd imagine that if he gets hit hard in the first inning in particular, his confidence will suffer enough to sink the game.

But I'm hoping to be proven wrong. I want to see the Zito that the Giants overpaid for. Although for tonight, I'd settle for him making it past the third inning.