Sunday, June 27, 2010

Will Giants keep winning with the current team?

I woul not say the Giants have been a surprise, they are on pace for around 85 wins, they win at home and lose on the road. I think we all saw this last year and pretty much expected the same thing in 2k10. The Giants continue to have stellar pitching, even with the sub-par year (for him) for Tim Lincecum. The bullpen, one of the best in baseball last year, has shown itself to be rather pedestrian thus far, though closer Brian Wilson has emerged as a top 10 MLB reliever. Barry Zito has bounced back and is having a solid, above average season, though hardly earning the $15 mil per year he collects from Giants' brass. Matt Cain is his usual self, several good games, a few bad ones, then several more good starts. Pretty much the same can be said of lefty Jonathan Sanchez, another up and down young starter. Lefty setup man Jeremy Affedlt has been pretty lousy, and he was arguably the Giants best reliever last season, putting out fires at will. The Giants seem to have trouble understanding Guillermo Mota is garbage, though sooner or later they will figure out (most likely later as is always the case with these slow-learning retards that run this team).
It took about 6-8 weeks, but Bruce Bochy finally realized Aaron Rowand is garbage and should not be an everyday outfielder, instead inserting sparkplug stud defender Andres Torres, who at 32 years old, is having a career year. His glove has saved the Giants no less than 3 games by my count, and its only June. RF/LF/1b Aubrey Huff has shocked us all, setting himself on pace for 20+ hrs, no small feat in this ballyard. Utility infielder Juan Uribe is having a career year as well, on pace for 100 RBI's and 20+ homers. Overweight, overrated, and idiotic Pablo Sandoval has done nothing for almost 3 months, other than swing at every pitch he sees, ground into a double play per game, and eat more food daily than most humans consume in a week. If he can turn his season around, the Giants have a shot to make the playoffs.
The problem with this team is their offense doesn't travel. They are built for this park, they thrive in front of their home fans, but they are a below average road team. This team is capable of losing to anyone in baseball on the road, and last week they proved it by losing 2 @Houston. They do not seem to be able to hit righties (team BA 260), they dont drive in runs (23rd in baseball), and they do not hit for power (19th in homers).
So once again, as expected, the Giants pitching will have to carry them. And last year it did, very nearly making the playoffs. The problem this year is San Diego has pitching and a pen no worse than the Giants, and the Giants cant beat LA or SD. My initial lean going into this season was the Giants could win the wildcard, and they still may, but with the rise of Atlanta, the Mets, and the Padres, along with decent play so far from LA and Colorado, I would say the Giants will be on the outside looking in, unless they can get some bullpen help sometime in the next month.
The division will come down to the last week, and the Giants surely have the chemistry to do it, but their division is tough and this team does not win on the road. Until they start working pitchers on the road, especially righties, they will continue to win 84-88 games every year, and miss the playoffs as well.

No comments:

Post a Comment