The Giants Baseball Blog

The 2008 Major League Baseball season came to an end Sunday, and the Giants went off in style with Tim Lincecum throwing one more gem in a final effort to boost his Cy Young chances. The new face of the Giants' franchise posted his 18 th win of the season by going 7 strong innings and striking out 13 batters and allowing only one run while defeating the Diamondbacks. His 265 strikeouts this season are the most by a Giant since I've been following them (early 90's and too lazy to luck up official historical stats) but I'd say that would be a Giants record as well. I posted my early final season awards here , and I think I am going to have to stick by the Lincecum pick for Cy Young, even with Johan Santana's late surge. Santana has Timmy in era, but that's it and I can't help but think that if Lincecum were pitching in with the Mets offense and defense behind him, he'd have won 20 games easy. The writers will likely choose Brandon Webb because of th...

Yes, there are still a handful of games to be played before the 2008 regular season officially comes to an end, but the Giants have used this year to access some of their younger talent which has allowed them to begin to shape their 2009 squad before we enter the winter. Pablo Sandoval and Travis Ishikawa are two guys who have proved over the last 6 weeks that they will need regular playing time next season, the only question is how to work them into the lineup. I wouldn't look for the Giants to trade Bengie Molina this off-season, so a full on platoon of Sandoval and Ishikawa could be what's in store in 2009. First base has been a revolving door for the team since J.T. Snow left and the two rookies could finally solidify that spot. With the Giants' track record, or lack there of, it's tough to get too excited over their young talent, but these guys look the part. So far, in 215 at-bats between them, Ishikawa and Sandoval are hitting a combined .320 with 6 home runs and...

With the season winding down, and not much new going on with the Giants (Matt Cain is still getting no run-support and the team looks like it's just playing out the schedule, sans Tim Lincecum), I am going to go ahead and pick who I think should win the major awards in each league. Yes, there is still 2 weeks left and a lot can change, but if the season were to end today, here's my pics: NATIONAL LEAGUE: NL MVP: Ryan Howard, PHI: The .249 batting average aside, he has been the best player in baseball this year. It's amazing what he's done after such a slow start, and he is the main reason the Phillies are ahead in a tough NL East. Albert Pujols is a close second, but he hasn't carried the Cards' like Howard has Philly. Honorable Mention: Pujols, Stl.; Lance Berkman, Hou.; David Wright, NYM. NL CY YOUNG: Tim Lincecum, SF: Call me biased, but there has not been a pitcher better or more dominant in 2008 than Tim Lincecum. Yes, Brandon Webb has the 20 wins, but p...

Matt Cain has been one of the Giants' premiere pitching prospects to come up in the new millennium and has been dubbed a future ace after being taken with the teams first pick in the 2002 draft. And before I get started, I just wanted to reassure that I am not down on Matt Cain, and I still do believe he has a bright future. Heck he hasn't even had his 24th birthday yet. However, Matt Cain has been as unpredictable of pitcher as any this season, and he hasn't shown much progress over the last 2 years. Last years' 16-loss season was due mainly to the fact that he was getting less than 2 runs per game as support, but this year, that hasn't necessary been the case. Cain is getting hit hard, when he used to be one of the tougher pitchers in the league to hit, and he's walking a lot of guys as well. It also has some people concerned that his fastball has dropped down to the low 90's rather than the 94-96 mph heater he was bringing over the last 2 1/2 seasons. A...

It's been less than 3 months since the Giants drafted Connor Gillaspie with their supplemental pick back in June, but they feel he's ready to be thrown into the fire. The Giants have really begun a full on youth movement over the last couple weeks, but the Gillaspie call-up was definitely not on the radar. Gillaspie didn't even sign his deal until about 6 weeks ago, so I don't think anyone was really expecting too much from him at even them minor league level. He was only hitting .268 with 8 RBI and only 4 extra base hits in 84 at-bats in low-A ball. However, the Giants' brass obviously feel that he's close enough to at least get his feet wet in the bigs. The 21 year-old third basemen had great success last summer in the 2007 Cape Cod league, winning MVP honors while hitting close to .400 playing against the best amateurs in the nation and excelling with the wood bat. Part of the reason the Giants feel he can ascend through the system so quickly is because he ...

With the way he's been throwing the ball lately, it is becoming more and more clear that Tim Lincecum deserves the NL Cy Young Award as much, or more, than anyone else. He did get roughed up in Colorado in his most recent outing, but I don't think it's going to hurt his chance as long as he just finishes out the year with quality starts. Right now, Lincecum's numbers for the season are significantly better than the next tear of Cy Young hopefuls. His era is the lowest among all NL starters at 2.60 and he leads the league in strikeouts by a large margin. He also sports the lowest BAA amongst Cy hopefuls which I always look at as a biggest indication to a pitchers dominance. Brandon Webb, the guy who's been everyone's favorite for the award since his ridiculous start to the season, has seen his era go from 2.74 to 3.19 over his last two starts, and even though he leads the league with 19 wins, his other numbers pale in comparison to Lincecum's. C.C. Sabathia h...