As an any-weather fan of the San Francisco Giants, I admit I looked at the probable pitchers for today’s game in Colorado and groaned. It was the same groan you make when you get called into work on your day off or see the police lights behind you as you go 90 mph down Highway 50 trying to make it to class on time.

It was a noise of pure dread and frustration.

This dread hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw Barry Zito’s name. Zito has been a source of general bad feelings for Giants fans since he signed his 100-year, $7 billion contract with the team in the Winter of 2006. Ever since his supremely flukey Cy Young year with Oakland in 2002, he has seemed to get worse and worse, culminating in his absence from the playoff roster during the Giants’ World Series run in 2010 and essentially season-ending “injury” in July of 2011.

It’s safe to say, until this afternoon, Zito didn’t have many fans left in the Bay Area.

But following his four-hit shutout of the Rockies at Coors Field today, all of a sudden his 83 mph fastball and silly guitar playing don’t seem so bad. Yes, that’s right. Don’t adjust the brightness on your computer screen. Barry Zito threw a shutout. A nine-inning shutout. In a baseball game.

It’s something he hadn’t done since 2003, and certainly never in a Giants uniform. In fact, he’s never really pitched many innings in orange and black at all, never breaking the 200-inning mark since his signing.

And was it ever a sight for sore eyes. The Giants were reeling following a three-game sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks, in which the Giants’ version of the “Big Three” were all pummeled into submission. The team was attempting to avoid its first 0-4 start in nearly half a century, and manager Bruce Bochy gave it to what seemed to be the wrong guy.

But while watching the game, in which Zito didn’t give up a single walk (I know, right?), I was imagining the spirit of legendary Giants lefty Carl Hubbell guiding the ball into the strike zone a-la Angels in the Outfield. It was unreal. Every inning I expected the trademark Zito meltdown, but it never came. None of his patented deer-in-the-headlights look of fear. Not a hint.

According to MLB.com, Zito’s teammates didn’t really expect it, either.

“He’s been going through some times this spring, and to go out here and do what he did in Colorado after [our] 0-3 start, it’s just amazing,” Aubrey Huff said after the game. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all in baseball.”

Now, don’t get too excited. This is still Barry Zito we’re talking about, so it can fall apart literally at any moment. If the winds change or it’s five degrees too hot for his liking, steam might start coming out of his ears and he’ll walk home five runs in an inning.

In other words, it would be foolish and premature to think we can count on Zito to be anything except the unpredictable, generally unreliable head case we know and love/despise.

But at the very least, today’s outing showed how a solid number-four starter can act as a stopper when a team’s three aces can’t get the job done.

Here’s to 30 more shutouts in 2012 for Barry Zito. I still can’t believe I’m writing this article, but I love it.

Alex Grotewohl can be reached at [email protected].