The Giants Baseball Blog

Here we are, approaching May, and everybody in the NL West is within striking distance of the first place Colorodo Rockies. The Rockies lead the division with a record of 12-10, and the Giants are a 1/2 game out at 11-10. I am not expecting the team that wins the division to be a .500 team again, but it is starting to look like 87-89 wins could win this division with relative ease. Right now the Giants bullpen as a whole has an atrocious era. Only Armondo Benitez, who has appeared in a total of 3 games, has an era under 5. Tim Worrell started out the year on a roll, but all the sudden hit a brick wall wall in Arizona and has yet to regain himself. The Giants are going to need big things out of Worrell and Steve Kline this season, and so far their era's are 7.84 and 5.14 respectivley. Scott Munter needs to get that sinker back down in the zone so he can get his era out of the mid 5's. Barry Bonds is finally starting to hit some jacks, but he is limping more and more each game. A...

What started out as a solid first 2 weeks of the season, turned very ugly in week three as the Giants bullpen has been beaten very badly over the last few outings. It started out in Arizona when Jeff Fassero had to make a spot start. The Giants got an early 5-0 lead, only to hand the lead back to the D-Backs before pulling it out late. Then Kevin Corriea and Scott Munter give up 5 runs in 3 innings the next night. The next night the Giants where unable to hold onto a 6 run lead after Jamie Wright dominated the D-Backs for 7+ innings, luckely they pulled that one out as well. However, in game one in Colorodo last night, the Giants' bullpen gave up 4 runs, in the ninth, and the Giants could not do anything about it. The only person with an era under 5 on the Giants staff is Steve Kline at 3.18. Armondo Benitez is back, but he was rocked in his first outing as well. The Benitez signing still has yet to pay off in any way, shape or form and it's gotta be eating at Brian Sabean. I d...

The Giants are 7-4, but they have one of the lowest ranking offenses in baseball. They are last in the league in home runs and rank near the bottom in all other major catagories. Randy Winn, Omar Vizquel and Moises Alou are carrying the offense right now with virtually no help from Barry Bonds, Ray Durham and Pedro Feliz. Bonds revealed last week that he is playing with bone chips in his left elbow, and the surgically repaired right knee is starting to act up a little bit. Barry's swing is still looking good and quick, but he's having trouble planting and driving the outside pitch, and that's where pitchers are working him. He is hitting below .200 and has yet to hit a jack, but I am still not ready to panic. I really believe Barry will go on the DL at some point in the first half, for rest if nothing else, but I do expect him to start heating up before he starts taking days off. He has played in almost all of the 11 games so far this season, and I think he will continue to...

Well, week 1 is in the books in Major League Baseball, and contrary to last year, the Giants are actually fairing pretty well. They now sit at 4-2 and atop the NL West after taking 3 of 4 from the Braves this weekend at AT&T Park. The Giants offense started out very stagnant, and it took a few games for it to get going, but they are starting to come around. Amazingly, the offense exploded over the weekend vs. the Braves without much contribution from Barry Bonds. Barry is still searching for his first home run and RBI of the 2006 season, but he is content with how things are going, as long as the Giants are winning. The "Is Barry done?" question is slowly being thrown out there. I've been watching Barry's at bats very closely. He is getting maybe 1 decent pitch per at bat to hit. Even the strikes pitchers are throwing him are corner pitches, off the plate away. They really seem as scared as ever to face him. I fully expect to see him get going soon, and I am no w...

Noah Lowry has a strained oblique muscle and has been put on the disabled list. The Giants have recalled Kevin Corriea from Fresno to take Lowry's spot on the roster and in the rotation. The Giants now have two very key pitchers on the DL in Armondo Benitez and now Lowry. Strains like that one can nag all season long, so the Giants may be extra cautious in bringing him back. We may not see Lowry again untill May. Supposedly Armondo Benitez is on his way back and should be there when he is eligable to come off the DL. When Benitez comes back, the Giants bullpen (which has been the teams strength though the first 3 games) will become even stronger. I am really likeing the potential the bullpen has this season, especially if Tim Worrell continues to pitch like he has. Looks like Fridays game will be rained out. I was definetly looking forward to Matt Cain's 2006 debut. Cain and Jamey Wright now become extra important due to Lowry's absence. Cain now becomes the teams #3 and Wr...

Well, two games are in the books and the Giants have scored a total of 4 runs. I expect the Giants offense to improve over the next few weeks as everybody gets into the mix, but I have been looking at other scores around the league and their have been some big scores. Granted the Giants did open up vs. Jake Peavey who was throwing 96 mph with movement all night long, but game two was against Shawn Estes who should be a #5 starter and the Giants mustered 3 runs barely on a barrage of infield singles and walks. I don't think anyone besides Bonds has even hit the warning track yet with a fly ball. This offense looks very sluggish. Moises Alou and Pedro Feliz are especially concerning. Feliz looks as impatient as ever, and Alou's swing is starting to look like Edgardo Alfonzo's. The Giants open up at home today vs. the Braves and Jorge Sosa, hopefully they put some runs on the board. The bright spots so far have been the performance by Matt Moriss and the performance by the Gia...

AL MVP: Eric Chavez (better supporting cast, team should ride him to playoffs) NL MVP: Andruw Jones (hit 50 hr's last season, now just needs to get his avg. up to be truely great) AL CY YOUNG: Roy Halladay (when healthy, the best rightie in the AL) NL CY YOUNG: Carlos Zambrano (has the talent, age and fire to stack up a ton of these awards throughout career) AL R.O.Y.: Francisco Liariano (him and Johan Santana could provide nasty 1-2 punch) NL ROY: Matt Cain (21 yr. old has already gotten his feet wet in the bigs, should win 15 this season) AL M.O.Y.: Ken Macha ( will have A's in playoffs and dominating the AL) NL M.O.Y.: Felipe Alou (will figure out a way to keep the Giants healthy and fresh throughout season) Playoff Prediction: ALDS : White Sox over Blue Jays A's over Yankees NLDS : Giants over Cardinals Braves over Astros ALCS : A's over White Sox NLCS : Braves over Giants 2006 World Series : Atlanta Braves over Oakland A's I'm picking Atlant...

1. San Francisco Giants *Division Winners Lineup: CF Randy Winn SS Omar Vizquel 2B Ray Durham LF Barry Bonds RF Moises Alou 3B Pedro Feliz 1B Lance Niekro C Mike Matheny Rotation: RHP Jason Schmidt RHP Matt Morris LHP Noah Lowrey RHP Matt Cain RHP Jamey Wright Bullpen: CL: Armondo Benitez (starts season on DL) RHP Tim Worrell LHP Steve Kline RHP Tyler Walker LHP Jeff Fassero RHP Scott Munter RHP Jeremy Accardo LHP Jack Taschner Bench: 1B/RF Mike Sweeney IF Jose Vizcaino C Todd Greene OF Steve Finley OF Jason Ellison OFFENSE: The Giants will get a healthy Bonds to start out the season, so that alone improves their offense immensly. Plus, the Giants added Steve Finley for insurance, and I think he can still play at a pretty high level. In '04 he hit 36 jacks, and he looks as good as ever so far this spring. I'm still a little worried about the corner infield spots, and the Giants need Alou and Durham to stay healthy, but I like their depth. Offensivly, they probably are the deepe...