The Giants Baseball Blog

We are about to hit July and the season is officially halfway over. I thought now would be a good time to do a mid-season review on the first half of the season. THE GOOD : Tim Lincecum was the subject of trade talks over the winter, but the Giants eventually took him off the table and it was definitely the right thing to do. The 24 year-old right hander has been borderline dominant over the season's first 12 weeks as he sits at 9-1 with a 2.38 era and 114 k's in 109 innings. He's almost guaranteed to make his first All-Star team in couple of weeks and there is a decent chance he could start the game for the national league. The Giants' new closer, Brian Wilson, has also stepped up big time this year and has cemented himself into the Giants closer role, a role he may fill for them well into the next decade. As far as the position players go, nobody is having a real standout year. Fred Lewis has had a nice first half as full-time player for the first time. Lewis quiet...

Barry Zito had arguably his best start of the season for the Giants on Wednesday going 6 2/3 innings giving up only 1 run on 4 hits with 4 k's and no walks. The big stat here was the zero walks allowed. It was the first start all season in which Zito didn't allow a runner via base on balls and the result was nearly 7 shut-out innings. The win moved the Giants within 5.5 games of the first place D-Backs and with the Backs idle tonight, the Giants can move to within 5 with a win in Cleveland. Not that I expect the Giants to make a serious move in the division, and I fully expect to see the Dodgers and D-Backs start playing better in the second half but we've all seen crazier things. You'd think the D-Backs rotation alone wouldn't allow them to struggle like this, but Randy Johnson and Doug Davis aren't that great while Brandon Webb and Micah Owings have been average or below over the last month. The Dodgers have been nailed with injuries, so I really do think...

It took over 2 1/2 months, but Tim Lincecum finally turned in a rough outing Sunday, his first of the season. He made his first "non" quality start of the year last week vs. the Detroit Tigers, but was still effective enough to go 7+ innings and allow the Giants to get the victory. He only lasted 5 innings Sunday, and although he had 8 strikeouts over the 5 innings, he allowed too many big hits with runners on base. The "Franchise" has now raised his era from a ridiculous 1.99 to 2.54. He's still in line to make the NL all-star squad, but what little chance he had of starting the game for the NL appears to be diminishing after his last 2 outings, coupled with the fact that Edison Volquez just won't slow down. I think it's probably in the Giants best interest that Lincecum doesn't start that game. It seems like every time a young pitcher goes out and starts an all-star game, it's not out of the ordinary for injuries or ineffectiveness to take h...

The Giants have recently shown interest in fired Mets ' pitching coach, Rick Peterson, the same pitching coach that helped Barry Zito during his most successful seasons in Oakland. The team has apparently inquired about bringing Peterson aboard as someone who may be able to give Barry Zito some pointers as he tries to break out of his season long slump. Zito has been the cog holding back the rotation all year long. Tim Lincecum has been Cy Young like while Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez have been very effective. Even the number 5 guy, Kevin Corriea is back and pitching solidly. I don't see any reason why the Giants shouldn't be trying anything in their power to right Zito , so hiring Peterson would be a good step in that direction in my opinion. The Mets were one of the other teams in pursuit of Zito back when the Giants signed him in December 2006 while Peterson was still with the club. I don't expect Peterson to work magic with Zito , but he was way more eff...

The Giants now sit alone as the team with the worst home record in baseball as their early June surge has died out here in the middle of the month. If they were just a .500 home team, they would be within a game or two of the first place D-Backs. After their last road trip, the team looked like it was making some progress, but they got home to AT&T Park and got swept by their cross-bay rival, Oakland Athletics. They have now lost their last 5 series' at home The bats once again went into hibernation for the three game set against Oakland as they couldn't come up with any clutch hits and only scored 4 runs in the series. They now site at 13-22 at home for the year and after getting within 5 games of the first place D-Backs, the Giants are once again 7 back and 10 games below .500. One positive was getting Kevin Corriea back into the rotation. Although he didn't pitch particularly well in his first start since returning from the disabled list, I am expecting good things ...

1The Giants most recent surge of winning baseball has moved them within 6 games of the first place Arizona Diamondbacks. If you would have told me the Giants would have only been a handful of games out of first come mid-season, I would have laughed at you, but here we are, in mid-June, and the Giants are making a little bit of noise. Most of the reason the Giants have moved back within striking distance is because of the way the Diamondbacks and Dodgers have been struggling this month. However, you can't take away the fact that the Giants are 6-3 in June and playing better than they have all season long. No, they aren't going to be making any playoff push, or even finish at .500, but you have to like the way the team has played over the last few weeks if you a Giants fan. They've gotten terrific starting pitching over the last 10 days as well as some clutch hitting by some of their most recent call-ups. Travis Denker and Brian Horwitz are the 2 latest Fresnoians to be broug...

After the draft, I had a chance to talk to the writer at thecollegebaseballblog.com , Brian Foley, and ask him a couple questions regarding the Giants' draft: Q: What are your thoughts on Buster Posey? Did he go lower than you expected? A: I know several places around the Internet predicated that Posey would go first overall to the Devil Rays but I never saw Posey as dominate to be the first overall pick. I think Posey is going to be a 12-14 year MLB player with a .275 avg and 15 homers. Q: Many Giants fans wanted the team to draft a big time power hitter like Justin Smoak or Yonder Alonso. Gordon Beckham was another guy who was on Giants radar as well. Do you think Posey will end up being a better major league hitter than those guys? A: Justin Smoak is the best player that was drafted. In my opinion, He is the next Mark Textiera with his switch hitting ability and he also hits for power from both sides of the plate. He is a very good defensive first baseman who could possibly win ...

The Giants 2008 draft could end up being one of the better ones in the club's last few decades. The Giants got two premium collegiate bats with their first two picks, then stole a few more potential first rounders with their 3rd and 4th choices. All the talk around draft day though surrounded NCAA Player of the Year and All-American catcher, Gerard "Buster" Posey out of Florida State. Posey was arguably the best all-around player in the draft and if it weren't for his high signing bonus demand ($12 million), some feel he would have been the number 1 overall pick by the Tampa Bay Rays. I have had a chance to watch Posey play a few games and watch some video on him and he looks as good, if not better than advertised. The day after getting picked 5th overall, he hit a majestic, 420+ foot shot against Wichita State in the NCAA Regionals. He kind of reminds me of the Derick Jeter of catchers as he looks like he can do everything well and is comfortable as a leader of a tea...

In April, most the hype around the Giants farm system surrounded the Giants High A affiliate in San Jose. This month the spotlight has to be on Madison Bumgarner . The month that Bumgarner put together in low-A Augusta has to have Giants fans optimistic about the young lefty's future. Bumgarner followed up a mediocre April by going 3-0 in May with 34 strikeouts and 23 hits allowed in 29.1 innings pitched. He only allowed 2 earned runs in May which led to a 0.23 era as well. Now sitting at 5-2 with a cool 2.10 era, Bumgarner is starting to look worthy of the number 10 pick he was taken at last June. The Giants aren't going to rush Bumgarner , so even if he continues to dominate the way he has over the last 5 weeks, don't expect to see him make any advancements any time soon. As for the other 2007 top draftees, Nick Noonan has been the best at the plate hitting .275 with 3 home runs and 27 rbi . Wendall Fairley was the draft pick with the most offensive upside but the ...

The Giants sea saw season continued over the home stand as they keep beating the good teams and losing to the weaker teams. After sweeping the Diamondbacks, the Giants lost 2 straight to San Diego and barely avoided getting swept by a team that they should beat. Fred Lewis' pinch hit triple off the deteriorating Trevor Hoffman, and another stellar outing from Tim Lincecum helped the Giants Sunday as the Giants' brightest young arm and bat continue to have a successful 2008 season. It was good to see Lewis get his stroke back with the 420 foot triple to the deepest part of the ballpark. Lewis struggled a bit in May hitting only .204 and got on base at a .282 clip after hitting .341 with a .423 OBP in April. Obviously Lewis is not as good as he showed in April, but he's not as bad as he showed in May either. I would expect him to be somewhere in the middle. One thing Bochy should consider is swapping Lewis and Randy Winn in the batting order. There are some inside the or...