Giants Un-officially Out of Race

After making a nice push last week after they beat the Rockies in 2 of 3 games in San Francisco and moved to within 2.5 games of them, it looked like the Giants were going to take this race down to the wire. However, they've really started to fall apart on their recent road trip, and sit 5 games back of the Rockies with just 11 games to go.

Now, I've seen weirder things happen than a team overcoming a 5 game deficit with just 11 to go, but the Giants seem to be struggling more and more each day while the Rockies look determined to seal this thing up. After Tim Lincecum got roughed up by LA on Sunday, and then seeing Matt Cain get pounded around by the D-Backs in Tuesday's loss, I think it's finally sunk in that the Giants are not going to be a playoff team in 2009. They just don't look like a team that's playing with urgency or are fighting for their playoff lives. Maybe it's just me, but I'm really not seeing it. Their starting pitching, which has been what's really carried them all season long, has all of the sudden hit the wall. It's understandable, it is late September after all, but once their pitching starts to take a dip, then it really causes a ripple effect on the whole team. None of their starters have gone at least 5 innings yet on this road-trip in which they're 2-3, and the starting rotation is carrying an era of 13.25 in those contests and I'm a little surprised they've figured out a way to win 2 games with those kind of starting performances.

Don't get me wrong though, they've done much more than I, or any other fan likely expected coming into the year, and are still playing meaningful games in late September, which is something they haven't done in 5 years here. This season has been very much a success story for this franchise. It's tough to look at it that way at the moment, because they're struggling and likely will fail to make the playoffs, but the fact that we're even mentioning them with the playoffs in the same sentence is a step in the right direction. What I'd like to see them do over this final week and of half of the 2009 season is put Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and some of their other young players to work to see if these guys can be counted on at the beginning of 2010. I'm a little surprised that Buster Posey isn't getting more time behind the plate (played in just 3 games this month). Bengie Molina is a free agent after the year and I don't foresee the Giants re-signing him and I don't think they're planning on investing in another catcher from outside the organization, so they better throw Posey into the mix and see if he's ready. Bumgarner has gotten a little more work than Posey, and hasn't missed a beat. He's gone 8 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 2 solo home runs, and 7 hits while striking out 9 batters. I don't know that the Giants will insert him into the rotation to star the 2010 season, but I'm definitely expecting Bumgarner to have an impact on the 2010 season early, kind of like Tim Lincecum did in 2007.