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Can The Giants Catch The Bums?

With about a third of the season in the books the Giants sit in second place, 8.5 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers. But is it realistic to expect San Francisco to make a run at LA for the division title?

48 games into the season the Giants have scored just 188 runs. That means after 30% of the season they are on pace to score only 626 runs this year. They are on pace to allow 643 runs. If San Francisco continues their current level of play, we can expect them to finish with a .487 winning percentage and a 79-83 record.

Conversely, the Dodgers are expected to score 901 runs this season, while allowing about 640 runs by the years end. This would give them a pythagorean record of 108-54, a winning percentage of .665.

It kills me to say this but the Dodgers have a realistic shot at winning 100 games this season. The NL West is horrible, their pitching is almost as good as the Giants, and they're loaded up and down the lineup.

The people who are clamoring for San Francisco to trade for a bat and make a run at the playoffs are delusional. Adding a hitter will not make up the 29 game difference between the Giants and the Dodgers expected records. No player can win 29 games for a team by himself.

San Francisco doesn't need a hitter, it needs a whole new lineup. And guess what, we already have that lineup. It's in the minor leagues developing. Guys like Villalona, Posey, and others of their ilk should give us hope for the future. A future that should not be traded away just to make a half-assed run at the wildcard.

For now we should enjoy watching guys like Lincecum, Cain, and Sandoval excel at the major league level. Brian Sabean has taken baby steps this year towards the youth movement most Giants fans have been clamoring for. Do you really want him to go out and get a guy like Adrian Beltre, Corey Hart, or Russell Branyan? I'm sorry but those players are not the answer to San Francisco's problems.

Can the Giants catch LA and win the NL West? Sure it's possible, but it's highly unlikely. Do yourself a favor and stop looking at the standings and just enjoy the games.

Johnson Wins #299

Randy Johnson went six innings and only gave up one run en route to his 299th career win. The Big Unit had good command; he walked just one batter and struck out five.

The Giants bullpen pitched well and did not allow an earned run. Brian Wilson picked up his tenth save in fourteen opportunities.

San Francisco's lineup was able to overcome some shaky defense to cement the win for Johnson. Juan Uribe put the Giants up for good in the second with an RBI single that scored Fred Lewis. The "ground attack" struck in the third inning when Aaron Rowand scored on a double steal. Rowand and Nate Schierholtz drove in two more runs in the sixth to make the score 4-1.

But Emmanuel Burriss' error in the top of the seventh nearly cost the Giants the game. What looked like a routine groundball skidded under his glove into right field. Instead of having nobody on and one out, the Braves got their leadoff man on base for free.

Two walks later the bases were loaded for Garrett Anderson, who hit a two out single to bring Atlanta back to within one.

Burriss attoned for his sin by driving in a run in the bottom half of the inning. Andres Torres tacked on another RBI to give San Francisco a 6-3 lead, and that's how the game would end.

Tidbits

• Randy Johnson will go for his 300th win in Washington D.C. against the Nationals.
• Aaron Rowand continued his hot streak with two doubles and an RBI. In the week leading up to this game Rowand hit .375 with two home runs.
  
• The Giants fourth and fifth outfielders both had RBIs in this game.
  
• I'm pretty sure I saw Chipper Jones use two different bats depending on which side of the plate he was hitting from. His right handed bat was black and his left handed bat had a natural color. Maybe I was seeing things but I don't think so.
• It feels good to sweep the Atlanta Braves:)
  

Lincecum Looking For A Win

After two rough outings to start the season, Tim Lincecum has posted a 2.76 ERA in his last seven starts. Tonight the Giants ace will be looking to add to his win total after three straight no decisions.

He will face rookie Kris Medlen, who will be starting in only his second game at the big league level. The young right-hander only lasted three innings and gave up five earned runs in his control plagued debut, but believes he has fixed the mechanical problems that led to his wildness.

While this looks like a clear mismatch, Medlen showed a lot of potential during his four year stay in the minor leagues. He owns a 2.46 ERA in 227 innings pitched, and a 1.08 WHIP. He struck out 10.4 batters per nine innings, while only allowing two walks per game.

Medlen will come at the Giants with a fastball, a curveball, and a change up. He does not have dominating stuff so he will have to locate his pitches if he hopes to upset the reigning National League Cy Young. However, don't be fooled by yesterday's eight run outburst, San Francisco's lineup stinks and given Medlen's strong minor league track record it is very possible that he will keep Atlanta in the game.

Giants Pitching Report

Before the start of the season many believed that the Giants would have one of the best staffs in the National League. 43 games into the season is that really the case?

Here's how the Giants compare to the rest of the National League in some important pitching metrics (click on the links to see a definition of the metric):

• 4.14 FIP (5th)
• 7.87 K/9 (3rd)
• 4.09 BB/9 (14th)
• 1.42 WHIP (11th)

A 4.14 FIP is nothing to sneeze at, especially considering that's more than a run better than the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies FIP of 5.34.

But San Francisco ranks in the bottom half of the National League in WHIP, well off the 1.29 pace set by the league leading Dodgers. ::yuck:: This means that the Giants have had a lot of extra base runners and have had to pitch out of some tight spots to avoid giving up runs.

The G-men are in fact leading the league by stranding 75% of the base runners they allow. This ability to strand runners stems from their high strikeout rate (7.87 K/9).

Part of the problem with having a lot of strikeout pitchers on the staff is that they tend to walk a lot of batters, and that is exactly what has happened this year. San Francisco's 4.09 BB/9 is not very good at all and it is certainly not an improvement on last year's 4.07 mark.

So how are the Giants able to get by while allowing so many base runners? Are they just lucky? Not really, their staff is actually set up to function this way. The majority of the pitchers on this staff are fly ball/strikeout pitchers, as evidenced by San Francisco's league leading 39.2% fly ball rate.

I expect the Giants to continue walking people and allowing extra base runners, but they should still finish near the top of the league in runs allowed and that's all that really matters right?

Giants Lose Another Series

The score was different but the results were the same, San Francisco lost a one run game for the fifth time in the last six games. Barry Zito and the Giants fell victim to the long ball in their 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Seattle Mariners.

Ken Griffey Jr. got things started for the Mariners in the bottom of the first, when he hit the 616 home run of his illustrious career to put the M's up 2-0.

That's the way things stayed until the Giants took the lead with a three run rally with two outs in the fifth. Eli Whiteside, Aaron Rowand, and Edgar Renteria all had rbi singles to put the Giants up 3-2.

Unfortunately for San Francisco, Zito was not able to keep the lead for long. When Seattle came up to bat in the bottom of the inning, he walked the lead off batter and gave up a single to Ichiro Suzuki. Yuniesky Bettancourt moved the runners up with a sacrifice, and Adrian Beltre came to bat with runners on first and second and only one out. Beltre responded with a three run blast that put Seattle up for good.

Zito finished the game with 6.1 innings pitched, 5 earned runs, 5 walks, and 5 strikeouts. A rather pedestrian effort given his recent success, but still not horrible. He struggled with his command all game, often missing high and away to right handed batters. Missing up in the zone is never a good thing and Barry paid the price in the form of two home runs and tally in the loss column.

Fred Lewis made the game close in the top of the eighth when he hit his second home run in as many days. Mississippi Fred could provide a big boost to the Giants floundering offense if he can continue his power streak.

San Francisco begins a three game series against the Atlanta Braves on Monday afternoon.

Win A Series Anyone?

I saved myself the pain of watching last night's game, only to find out that the Giants actually ::gasp:: won a baseball game! Matt Cain pitched a complete game and got his fifth win of the year as the Giants beat Seattle 5-1. Here are some quick notes on Saturday's game before we partake in this afternoon's offering.

• Matt Cain is a beautiful man. He gave up no walks and struck out seven.
• Utility infielder Juan Uribe broke the game open with a three run double.
• Fred Lewis added some insurance when he hit a two run shot, his second home run of the year.
  
• Jesus Guzman collected his first major league hit. It was originally scored a fielder's choice, but the ruling was eventually changed.

The Giants also have some action on the injury and transaction front.

• Pablo Sandoval injured his elbow on a throw to first base in Friday's game. It is speculated that he hyperextended his throwing elbow and will have to miss a few games. Sandoval will undergo tests to determine the severity of the injury, hopefully it does not turn out to be something more serious.
• Eli Whiteside has been called up from Triple-A Fresno. Noah Lowry was put on the 60-day DL list to clear a spot for Whiteside on the 40-man roster. Left-handed reliever Pat Misch was sent back down to Fresno to make room on the active roster.
• Brian Sabean has gone on record saying that he is actively shopping for another bat. Possible options include Indians infielder Mark DeRosa and Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson.
• Emmanuel Burriss and Travis Ishikawa will be sharing playing time with Kevin Frandsen and Jesus Guzman. The Giants are hoping the increased competition will improve their offensive output, and help Burriss and Ishikawa regain their spring training form.
  

Jesus Guzman A Giant

The big news leading up to tonight's game three against the Padres is the Giants have purchased the contract of infielder Jesus Guzman from Triple-A Fresno. Many people who follow the organization have been screaming and crawling on all fours waiting for this move to finally take place. Now everyone will have a chance to see exactly what Guzman has to offer on the Major League level.

Jesus is expected to bring some added power to a lineup that is next to last in runs scored (152). He put together a batting line of .363/.391/.983 in 157 at-bats with the Fresno Grizzlies. In 39 games, Guzman hit six home runs and had 32 runs batted in.

Even more impressive is his .419 average with runners in scoring position. The Giants as a team have hit .220 with runners in scoring position this year. If Guzman's run production carries over to the big leagues, he will quickly become a valuable asset to this team. Hell if he can hit a couple sacrifice flies he'll be a fan favorite.

Jesus will be available to pinch hit tonight against the Padres, and he is expected to DH for the Giants in their upcoming series against the Seattle Mariners.

Backup catcher Steve Holm has been sent back down to Fresno to clear room on the active roster for Guzman. Joe Martinez has been placed on the 60-day DL to make room for him on the 40-man roster.

Two Games; Two Runs

Baseball teams have been scoring runs since the 19th century, but apparently such an antiquated vestige of baseball's history is of no interest to these Giants. Two games into a three game set with the San Diego Padres, and San Francisco has only managed to score two runs. Newsflash, you will not win many games scoring only one run, and after tonight's 2-1 loss they haven't won any in this series.

On with the bullet points:

• Uh what was Aaron Rowand doing in the leadoff spot? Definitely didn't see that one coming, but the permaslumping center fielder showed some signs of life going 3-4 with a double. It will be interesting to see if this was a one time thing, or if manager Bruce Bochy will put Rowand in the top spot for tomorrow's game.
• Jonathan Sanchez remembered how to pitch tonight. Coming into Thursday's game, the Giants fifth starter had been pitching like just, a fifth starter. But Sanchez pitched six innings, and only allowed two hits and two earned runs. He was hit with the loss despite his strong start. We'll see if this is a sign of things to come, or if Sanchez will continue to be plagued by the inconsistency that has held him back all year.
• Randy Winn continued his hot streak. The right fielder has hit for a .353 average over the past two weeks. Tonight he went 2-4 with two doubles, and scored San Francisco's only run in this game.

Another three game sweep at PetCo Park would be enough to make me nauseous. Please don't make me puke Timmy.

Scott Hairston Tests Positive for PED's

The post title is just a fantasy. In a perfect world, that's the headline I would wake up to tomorrow morning. How else can you explain Scott Hairston's penchant for success against the Giants? Coming into Tuesday's game he had 8 hits in 15 at-bats against San Francisco. Tonight he went 2 for 2 with a home run and two bases on balls. Here are some thoughts about the Giants 2-1 loss to the Padres:

• Scott Hairston should be traded to an American League team.
• Barry Zito has been surprisingly effective this season. I keep waiting for him to implode and give up 6 runs in 4 innings pitched, but it just hasn't happened yet. It's getting to the point now where I can almost sleep the nights before he starts, almost. Zito went eight innings and only allowed two earned runs on five hits.
• Prior to tonight's game Barry Zito had recieved the worst run support in the National League. After the game, he still has the dubious honor of topping that list.
  
• The team's youngsters were flashing the leather all over the field tonight. Emmanuel Burriss and Fred Lewis both had spectacular defensive plays, and Kevin Frandsen looked like a shortstop. I think he should lose the eye black though, it's way too nineties at this point.
• I'm pretty sure I've been to Little League games that drew better than the Padres. Seriously, where are there fans? Fleeing from the swine flu?
• As soon as I saw Eugenio Velez step into the batters box with two out in the ninth, I just knew the game was over. Unfortunately, I was right.

Tomorrow the Giants will send Jonathan Sanchez against right-hander Chad Gaudin. Hopefully Eugenio is on a bus to Fresno by that time.

Padres Series Preview

The Giants begin the first series of a six game road trip Tuesday against the San Diego Padres. San Francisco will be looking to avenge the three game sweep they endured during their last visit to San Diego. They will send Barry Zito (1-3, 3.89 ERA) to the mound to face Chris Young (2-2, 5.56 ERA) in the opener.

Zito has been pitching well as of late. In his last five starts he has allowed only eight earned runs in 32.2 innings pitched, and has been averaging 5.79 strikeouts and 2.48 walks per nine innings. His revival has been a pleasant surprise for the Giants so far this season, and I expect he will make a strong showing in front of his hometown crowd in San Diego.

His opponent, Chris Young, has not fared as well. The 6'10" right-hander has had control problems in his last five starts, walking six batters per game. He will need to improve his command to slow down a Giant's lineup that has shown signs of improvement lately.

Pablo Sandoval has led the way for the Giants this month with a team leading .387wOBA. The 22 year old third baseman has increased his power output, hitting two home runs, seven doubles, and slugging .554 in his last 65 at-bats.

Other hot hitters include Emmanuel Burriss, Randy Winn, and Bengie Molina. All three have hit over .300 in the past two weeks. Even centerfielder Aaron Rowand has shown signs of breaking out of his slump. The 31 year old Rowand has a batting line of .333/.448/.990 in his last 24 at-bats.

San Francisco has not been able to figure out Chris Young the first two times these teams faced each other, scoring only one run in each game. Despite Young's recent dominance against the Giants and the added advantage of pitching in PetCo Park's spacious dimensions, it seems likely that the Giants will be able to score at least a couple of runs against him in this game. If Zito's resurgence continues they have a good chance to start this road trip off with a victory.

No Sweep? No Problem.

Sunday the Giants avoided a ball-busting four game sweep on the strength of Matt Cain's 4th victory of the year.

The young right-hander threw six shutout innings, and struck out two while allowing three hits and five walks. Cain littered the diamond with baserunners, as the Mets leadoff hitters managed to reach base four out of the six innings he pitched, but managed to wiggle his way out of tight spots all day.

The Giants starter helped himself with the bat in the fifth inning, by hitting an rbi single. Bengie Molina drove in Pablo Sandoval in the first, for the Giants only other run of the game. Two runs were all they needed though, as Brian Wilson saved the shutout in the ninth, his ninth save of the year. San Francisco improved to 15-0 in games when they score first.

Kevin Frandsen, who was called up from Triple A Fresno and started at shortstop, went 0 for 4 but played well in the field.

Giants Close But Not Quiet Good Enough

Today the San Francisco Giants fell victim to the New York Mets' impressive offensive depth, in a 9-6 loss.

Randy Johnson's unsuccessful bid for victory number 299 got off to a rather ignominious start in the top of the first, with back to back singles followed by stolen bases (Numbers 12 and 13 on the series). This put runners on second and third for Carlos Beltran, who cleared the bases with a double. Clean up hitter Gary Sheffield singled in Beltran to put the Mets up 3-0.

The Big Unit seemed to settle down after his rocky first inning, and the Giants lineup responded. Pablo Sandoval brought the Giants to within two with an RBI double in the third and Aaron Rowand hit a two run single in the fourth to tie the game 3-3.

Unfortunately Johnson completely unraveled in the top of the fifth. The apparently aging lefty gave up three doubles, a single, and a balk before being removed from the game. He would eventually be charged with seven earned runs, bringing his ERA in his last three starts to 11.05. After Saturday's performance, is overall ERA is a dismal 6.86.

Johnson has been inconsistent at best and downright miserable at worst so far this season. While it's not clear what exactly is ailing the future hall of famer, he believes he needs to improve on his pitch location. Randy gave credit to the Mets lineup saying, "It's the best lineup that I've seen so far this year."

Despite the Big Unit's poor start, the Giants were able to come back and make a game of it. Aaron Rowand hit his third home run of the year in the sixth, a solo shot to left field off of Mets starter Johan Santana. Rich Aurillia and Randy Winn also had RBI's to get the Giants back to within one before New York iced the game with two more runs in the ninth.

So far this season the strength of the Giants roster has been their pitching staff, but they have stumbled in the last two series against Washington and New York, two of the premier offenses in the National League. San Francisco has given up a combined 44 runs in the last six games, and they will need to reverse that trend to avoid a sweep.

Zito Returns to Cy Young Form

Barry Zito will take the hill today against the Washington Nationals. The nationals have a fearsome lineup which includes third-baseman Ryan Zimmerman who is in the midst of a 30 game hit streak. As a team their wOBA is .351. That is good for fifth best in the majors, behind only the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Rangers, and Yankees.

For most of the past two seasons, this is a start you would expect Barry Zito to lose. But the former Cy Young award winner has shown signs of regaining his old form so far this season. He has increased his strikeout rate and decreased his walk rate, bringing his K/BB ratio to a healthy 2. His WHIP has dropped from last year's career high of 1.60 to a respectable 1.25.

What has led to this improvement? Zito's velocity has increased this season from an average of 84.9 MPG to 86.6 MPH. This improved velocity means that there is now a 12 MPH difference between his fastball and his change-up, a 2 MPH improvement over last seasons' split. It is possible that his increase in velocity has allowed Zito to keep hitters more off-balance this year.

Many people have also pointed to a change in Zito's attitude on the mound. They cite this newfound confidence as the reason for his improvement. If you watch Barry pitch, it is evident that he is way more into the game than in years past. I'm not really sure what caused this shift in demeanor or how much of a difference it really makes but, I won't argue with the results.

75 has been especially dominant of late, posting a 1.37 ERA in his last four starts. If the Giants are going to sweep the Nationals they will need a strong start from Zito. I refuse to believe that the Giants will be able to score more than 4 runs three games in a row.

5-3 Loss to That One Team

This was an ugly game to watch as a Giants fan. So many missed opportunities for the orange and black. And while bad defense and baserunning errors may have cost San Francisco this game, Bruce Bochy sure didn't help.

In the bottom of the 7th the Giants were down by one, 2-3. Nate Shierholtz led off the inning with a pinch hit. Fred Lewis came up to bat next with a runner on first and nobody out. At this point the Giants had a win expectancy of 44.5%.

Lewis managed to work the count to 3-2, at which point the manager had a decision to make. Should he put Shierholtz in motion or have him stay put and let Lewis swing away? Unfortunately for San Francisco fans, Bochy decided to start the runner and the bums ended up with a double play. The Giants were left with nobody on and two outs, and a win expectancy of just 28.4%. That one play made them 16.1% less likely to win the game.

The guys on T.V. hinted that the play might turn out poorly before it happened, and indeed it did. Sending the runner in this situation was a bad idea for a couple of reasons. First, Lewis has been striking out a lot. His strikeout rate is 39% so far this season, and he has now struck out six times in the last two games.

This problem was exacerbated by the fact that according to The Book, putting a runner in motion lowers the wOBA of the batter by 22 points on average. This made it even more likely that Lewis would in fact strikeout.Which is what ended up happening, and Shierholtz was subsequently thrown out at 2nd base.

While the Giants did end up tying the game in the 8th, this play was an example of bad strategy on the part of Bruce Bochy.

Twittergate Is Over

One of the funnier non stories of the season has now been put to rest by Brian Wilson himself (You can read the first part in this post). Andrew Baggarly made a post on his blog, Extra Baggs, asking Wilson to clarify the Twitter situation. My favorite quote from the whole thing is this, "Obviously I’m not doing things like going toe-to-toe with a ninja. Find me a ninja, for one." I'll let you read the rest.

I for one am disappointed that Brian will no longer be tweeting it up with random updates about ninjas and Reebok pumps, but at least we still got to watch him strikeout the side against the bums!

Last night before the game, Eugenio Velez was optioned to Triple-A Fresno and relief pitcher Osiris Matos was called up. Matos pitched 8.2 innings in Fresno, posting a 1.04 ERA and 10 strikeouts. The thought was the Giants needed some fresh relief arms after the bullpen got chewed up in Sunday's game.

Unfortunately, Velez will not be gone for long. Andres Torres tweaked his hamstring running after a pinch hit and will have to go on the 15-day DL. That means we will get to see Eugenio's softball beer league batting stance and nonsensical route running for another two weeks!

Monday Updates

Lots of interesting links today. Henry Shulman has a post over at The Splash about Brian Wilson's Twitter . Basically people are upset that Wilson is up at 12 am posting updates like this,

"i respect fighters. does that mean people who wear affliction are all fighters. you need a blackbelt right? no way this guy next to me has."

And,

"he didnt have a blackbelt. he said my hair was stupid and i said his girlfriend liked it. 38 wins. she said she liked it uhhhhhh!"

While it does sound like Wilson was out someplace in Scottsdale being a tool the night before he blew a 3 run lead in the bottom of the ninth, I find this situation more funny than concerning. 38 definitely sounds like he would be hilarious to go out with, and bullpen meltdowns happen. I don't mind if he wants to go around acting like a hardass, I just hope he can flex on people when he's on the mound as well.

Andrew Baggarly has a nice write up on some possible roster moves and the lack of work for Merkin Valdez. Valdez has completely fallen off the radar over the last two weeks. I almost forgot he was even on the roster.

El Lefty Malo also has some good ideas on which relief pitcher may be getting called up for the Dodgers series.

Nothing will ease the pain of a tough extra innings loss like a win over the bums tonight, Go Giants!

Giants Lineup According to The Book

About a week ago I went ahead and bought The Book: Playing the Percentages In Baseball. If you are interested in baseball strategy, sabermetrics, and/or how to improve your criticism of your favorite team's manager, I highly recommend reading this book. It's written by three noted sabermetricians: Tom M. Tango, Mitchel G. Lichtman, and Andrew E. Dolphin. While the writing style can be a bit stale at times, you can tell they've wasted a majority of their adult lives on baseball statistics and it has resulted in some great content for the rest of us.

One of my favorite chapters is the one on optimizing a batting order. They managed to fill thirty pages discussing the batting order in all its gory detail, a feat that is both sick and beautiful at the same time. I will not go into the great detail they do, mostly because you should buy it and read it for yourself, but I've decided to make a lineup for the Giants based on some of the principles laid out in The Book.

Here are the main points that I used to put this lineup together:

We want our three best hitters to bat somewhere in the #1, #2, and #4 slots. The cleanup hitter gets his value in his SLG, the leadoff hitter leads the team in OBP, and the #2 hitter is somewhat more balanced. The #3 and #5 hitters are the same quality, with the #3 hitter having more HR than the #5 hitter (p 144).

Try to put your good baserunners in front of good hitters, especially if those hitters are predominantly singles or doubles hitters (p 140).

The second leadoff hitter theory exists. You can put your pitcher in the eighth slot and gain a couple of extra runs per year (p 149).

Now onward with the lineup!

1. Fred Lewis - Lewis is our best OBP guy and draws the most walks. This makes him ideal for the leadoff spot. He is also a good baserunner and potentially a good basestealer.
2. Randy Winn - Winn is not a big power hitter, but he certainly has been one of our top three hitters over the bast few seasons. He will probably finish the season with an OPS in the top 3-4 on the team. He is also a good baserunner.
3. Aaron Rowand - Rowand is one of the better hitters on the team. He is probably the second best slugger behind Molina, which means he should go in the three hole.
4. Bengie Molina - Molina continues to be the biggest offensive threat on the Giants. He is the best slugger and RBI guy, so he should stay in the cleanup spot.
5. Edgar Renteria - Renteria is a professional hitter and should be one of the top offensive performers for the Giants. He will not SLG as much as Rowand though so he bats fifth in this lineup. I could see switching Renteria and Winn.
6. Emmanuel Burris - Burriss has been our top basestealer so far. This is a good spot in the lineup for a basestealer, because Pablo Sandoval is a good hitter but will probably not hit for much power.
7. Pablo Sandoval - Excellent contact hitter. One problem with him in this spot is that he has been hitting a lot of groundballs (52%), which could lead to a lot of double plays. Still I think he is a better hitter than Ishikawa so he gets the nod for the seventh spot.
8. Pitcher - Sucky no matter where they bat (Unless they're batting against Randy Johnson).
9. Travis Ishikawa - So far the worst hitter on the team. He has struggled with major league pitching throughout most of his career.

Keep in mind that the improvement you gain from optimizing your lineup according to sabermetric principles is relatively small. We're talking like 50 runs over the course of the season, which is equal to about five wins. So it's not like our lineup would all of a sudden turn into the Cardinals or the Red Sox lineup. But for a team like the Giants that's fighting to stay at .500, those five wins could prove to be tremendously important.

Lincecum Gets His First Win

It took four starts, but Tim Lincecum finally got his first win of the season on Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Giants won 5-1 as Lincecum defied the conventional wisdom that pitchers perform worse when they face the same team in consecutive starts, by going eight innings and only allowing one earned run. He struck out 12 batters to bring his total up to 25 in the last two games!

I've read in a couple of different places that some people are worried Bruce Bochy is pushing Lincecum too hard this early in the season. They cite a drop in his fastball velocity during the 8th inning as a sign he is being overworked, but that should not be a cause for concern. Timmy's fastball has occasionally dropped into the high 80's ever since he's been called up to the Giants, so a temporary drop in velocity by itself is not enough to cause alarm.

Clearly the Giants' ace has cured whatever ailed him during his first two starts. Of course pitching against the Diamondbacks' lineup can't hurt. Despite having a plethora of young talent, Arizona has not gotten off to a good start offensively. Their team OPS is a meager .674, good for 26th best in the Major Leagues.

Unfortunately for San Francisco the Giants offense has been even more anemic. Their team OPS is the second worst in the league at .667.

On Friday though, they drove in more than enough runs. The offense was highlighted by Bengie Molina's 3 run home run in the top of the 4th. This guy just continues to impress, and he is one of the lone bright spots in the Giants lineup.

I put a poll up to see who you think is the best catcher in the NL West. There are some pretty solid ones in this division, but my vote went for Bengie. Call me a homer if you must!

San Jose Giants Top Performers

Since the Giants have an off day on Thursday, I decided to take a look at how some of their top young prospects are doing with the class-A San Jose Giants. I came up with a list of four top performers.

Keep in mind that we are dealing with a small sample size here, so these statistics alone are not a true representation of the player's talent. However, all logic and reason aside the San Jose fans have seen some truly remarkable performances thus far and it bodes well for the future of the big league club. Onward with the list!

1. C Buster Posey - Not much of a surprise here. Last years fifth overall pick has looked impressive in 50 at bats with the San Jose Giants. So far he has displayed above average power, hitting three home runs and four doubles while driving in twelve runs and leading the team with 20 hits. He has shown a good command of the strike zone, as evidenced by his ten walks. Strike outs have not been a problem, Buster only has nine after 13 games. Posey's slash line is .4oo/.500/.660. That's an OPS of 1.160, very impressive indeed! The young Giant was named the CAL Player of the Week for 4/20/09.

2. 1B Angel Villalona - The 18 year old Villalona finished the season strong last year. He batted .308 while hitting five home runs and driving in twenty during the month of August for the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes. He has turned that good finish into a good start for the San Jose Giants. His rate statistics are solid, .375/.404/.583. In 48 at bats he has hit three home runs and driven in ten runs. He could improve on his walk rate, Angel has just three walks compared to seven strikeouts.

3. SS Brandon Crawford - Although less heralded than Buster Posey and Angel Villalona, Brandon Crawford has gotten off to a hot start with the San Jose Giants. He is leading the team with four home runs and 35 total bases (Buster Posey is second in total bases with 33). Crawford's slash line looks like this, .373/.467/.686. After 51 at bats he is second on the team with a mind blowing 1.153 OPS! One area of relative weakness has been Brandon's strikeouts. So far he has struck out 17 times and has only drawn six walks.

4. SP Madison Bumgarner - The Giant's prized lefty has certainly lived up to the hype in San Jose. In three starts he has been downright filthy. Opposing lineups have combined for just 11 hits against Bumgarner, who is off to a 3-0 start. He has allowed only one earned run in 16 innings pitched, that's a 0.56 ERA! Bumgarner's K/BB ratio is even better. After 16 innings Madison has 14 strikeouts and has only given up two bases on balls, for an unheard of K/BB ratio of 7/1. All of this leads one to believe that San Francisco's young prodigy has not had many runners on base, and his microscopic 0.81 WHIP confirms it.

Other players off to good starts with San Jose include Nick Noonan and Tim Alderson.

On May 9th I will be going to see the San Jose Giants play the Modesto Nuts in Modesto. Hopefully most of the top prospects will still be with the San Jose club and I will be able to give some first hand impressions.

Giants Beat the Padres, 1-0.

The San Francisco Giants ended their five game home stand with a 4-1 record after beating the San Diego Padres in extra innings Wednesday afternoon, 1-0. The win brought their home record to 6-2 this year.

Barry Zito shut out the Padres through seven innings in one of his best starts as a Giant. Zito gave up no walks and struck out five batters. Barry's performance was the fifth straight quality start by a member of San Francisco's rotation, which seems to be rounding into form.

Unfortunately for him, Zito was not able to earn a win as Chris Young matched the Giants' starter pitch for pitch. San Francisco's lineup was only able to muster two hits in seven innings against Young. In his two starts against the Giants this season, Young has managed to pitch an impressive 14 scoreless innings!

The pitchers duel lasted until the bottom of the 10th when Bengie Molina came in and hit a pinch hit ground ruled double to score Andres Torres and give the Giants the win.

After 14 games the Giants are 3-1 when they score four or more runs. They are 5-0 when leading after seven innings. Clearly this team has good enough starting pitching and a strong enough bullpen to win a lot of games if they can just score an average amount of runs. However, the lineup has averaged a meager 3.29 runs/game so far.

The team begins a three game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, April 24th at 6:40 PM. Tim Lincecum will be on the mound for the Giants against Dave Davis.