The Giants Baseball Blog

Giants fans got the news they have been waiting to here all season, matter of fact the last two seasons. The team announced Thursday that they had traded Armando Benitez to the Marlins in exchange for Randy Messenger. Who they got in return was not the issue, the mission was to get Benitez off this roster and out of that clubhouse as quick as possible. All things considered, I am a little surprised the Giants actually got a ML caliber reliever, especially one with the potential of Messenger. After the latest Benitez blunder, one that summed Benitez's reign as the Giants closer up in 1 inning, it was made pretty obvious that the Giants were ready to get rid of Benitez, even if it meant that they were going to have to release him. I think the Marlins could have had him for a low level prospect if they wanted to, but the Giants were able to squeeze Messenger out of the deal. Now, Messenger is no savior, and at this point his numbers would indicate that we are getting nothing better th...

Coming off one of the toughest series of the season, and heading into one of the toughest road trips on the schedule, a lot of people where picking now as a point in the season that will define what this team will do the rest of the way. The Giants got swept by Colorado for the first time in the teams' history, and the losing streak continued in New York on Tuesday. The Giants once again got a terrific performance from their young phenom, Tim Lincecum as he threw another 7 quality innings in which he looked un -hittable at times. He made one mistake to Carlos Delgado and paid for it, but other than that, he did what he has done in his previous 3 starts. The bullpen even kept the team in the game until Armondo Benitez was called upon to try and close it out. Benitez , making a return to the place where he pitched for the majority of his career, showed the Mets ' fans what they certainly haven't missed over the last 4 years. I don't want to let the offense off the hook...

I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to attend "Barry Zito's Strikeouts For Troops Giants Jam Fundraiser" this week and it was one of the coolest events I have ever been to. All the proceeds from the event went to the Strikeouts for Troops project which helps aid war wounded troops in their recovery and rehabilitation. Barry Zito put on an excellent show as he played his guitar for his sister's band and even sang in a few songs. I was not able to make it in time to see Omar Vizquel's performance, but other than that, I don't have any complaints. One of the highlights of the event was the auction, in which a few Giants' players jerseys were auctioned off, and the auctioneer was none other than Mr. Barry Bonds. Even Bonds didn't disappoint when he got the microphone in his hand. Among a few of the players I had a chance to speak with were Noah Lowry , Mark Sweeney and Russ Ortiz. I must say, Mark Sweeney is one of the coolest ballplay...

I know it's only late May, and there is still about 2/3 of the season left to play, but I think it's safe to say that we are witnessing the best, most complete Giants' rotation since at least 1993. In '93 they had two 20 game winners in John Burkett and Bill Swift. While it's likely this staff won't have a single 20 game winner this season, the Giants' quantity and quality of starting pitching is second to none in all of baseball. Tim Lincecum as a 5 th starter is just unfair. He's already out dulled Roy Oswalt twice in the last week alone, and seems like he is getting better and better each time out. Then there's Noah Lowry , who is having possibly the best season out of all of the Giants starters. I think Lowry has benefited the most from having Barry Zito around . His curveball has caught up with his changeup to give him 2, very good off-speed pitches. Matt Morris has rebounded beautifully from last year, and has looked like the second comi...

When you look at the Giants starting rotation on paper, seeing names like Barry Zito , Matt Cain, Noah Lowry and Tim Lincecum , you kind of lose track of the guy who has been the team's stopper this season. Matt Morris continued his 2007 dominance on Sunday in Oakland with a complete game, 2 hit masterpiece vs. a streaking A's offense. Morris still isn't blowing people away, as his fastball didn't get over 88 mph Sunday, but his tremendous curveball , and uncanny command have carried him to a 5-1 record and a 2.93 era, both of which lead the staff. I think everybody was certainly expecting Morris to rebound from last years nightmare, but I don't think anyone was predicting this. I was hoping to get a .500 season out of Morris with an era in the low 4's, but a 17+ win season is not out of the question at this point, even with the sketchy Giants bullpen and offense. His recent success also has to have the Giants wondering about trading him while his value is peak...

The team's May struggles continued in Houston, as they once again received terrific starting pitching, but the bullpen and/or offense could not pull their weight. They managed to salvage the final game of the series, thanks to the first, real dominant performance by Tim Lincecum . He pitched well in Denver on last weekend, but he really arrived Thursday night. Lincecum out-pitched an idol of his in Roy Oswalt by going 7 innings, allowing 2 hits, 1 unearned run and striking out 10 Astros . He looked like he was right back in Fresno, throwing against AAA hitters, rather than against an offensive powerhouse, in one of the most live yards in the league. Now the Giants need to figure out what to do with Russ Ortiz, as it looks like Lincecum is here to stay, and the rest of the staff is pitching well. I think Ortiz will be a solid reliever, as long as he keeps his focus. He does walk a lot of batters, but he has one of the better cutters in the game and if you shorten him down to an i...

The Giants finally made a couple of roster moves heading into the weekend series vs. the Rockies. It was no secret that Todd Linden was not getting it done at the major league level, as he was having trouble just making contact with the baseball, so the Giants designated him for assignment. It was also evident that the Giants would need another center fielder after Dave Roberts had surgery Friday. They called up Dan Ortmier to take Lindens spot, and Freddie Lewis to take Roberts' spot, and the two call-ups have already made an impact. Ortmier along with Kevin Frandsen both swung the bat very well in Denver, but the surprise was Lewis. Freddie Lewis became the 23rd major league rookie in history to hit for the cycle on Sunday as he went 5-6 with 4 RBI's and 3 runs scored. Lewis hit a home run, drove in 7 runs and is had 7 hits in his 14 at-bats over the weekend. Lewis has already done more in a couple of games than Linden did in a month and a half with the team. Matter of fa...

It seems like the Giants problems have reversed as the calender turned from April to May. While their starting pitching is still doing a decent job for the most part, they have certainly came back to earth early this month. Matt Cain, arguably the Giants best starter, has been hit uncharacteristically hard this month, as he's given up 18 hits in 10 innings after only giving up 12 hits through all of April. It seemed like, through the first month, it was a given that a Giants' starter would go at least 6-7 innings, keeping the team in the game. The only question's were: will the offense score enough runs to win and will the bullpen hold onto the lead if they got one? Now all of the sudden, the offense is starting to heat up, and it's the pitching that has been lagging. A big reason for the offensive explosion in may is due to the fact that Randy Winn and Omar Vizquel are swinging it well, and Bengie Molina has been playing at an all-star level at the plate. Besides that ...

The Giants most praised farm prospect in years, even more than Matt Cain and Jesse Foppert , made his much anticipated major league debut on Sunday. It wasn't a debut to write home about for Lincecum as he gave up 4 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings work. He gave up to long home runs to a new Giants' nemesis, Shane Victorino , as well as a majestic shot to reigning MVP Ryan Howard. Besides the two mistakes to Victorino and Howard, Lincecum's location was a little shaky as he walked 5 batters. For a highly hyped major league debut on national television, I wasn't too surprised with the results we saw from Lincecum . There was no doubt he was amped, making his major league debut and all so It shouldn't come to any ones surprise that he hung a few pitches and walked some guys. The only thing that I noticed that gave me a little concern was how Lincecum's velocity seemed to drop as his pitch count rose. He came out of the gate throwing 97-99 in the first inning, b...

The Giants may have a spot for Tim Lincecum without trading anyone after all. Russ Ortiz has separated himself from the rest of the pack of starting pitchers on the team with an awful start vs. the Rockies at home. Ortiz raised his era to 6.44, and also raised some questions as to how many more starts he'll get until the young phenom, Lincecum , is indeed called up from Fresno. Tuesday night's start was the first time all season in which Ortiz was real bad, but besides his start in Pittsburgh, there really hasn't been any flashes of Ortiz pitching that well. He has had a couple of below average starts vs. the Dodgers, one in which he had to get a little bit of luck in order to avoid being knocked out in the 3rd inning. That being said, the Giants are a lot better off having Ortiz be serviceable so, I am not ready to quit on him. If the Giants are planning on trading one of their starters for some much needed offensive help, they are going to need Ortiz to be in the rotati...