The Giants Baseball Blog

Although they just barely missed finishing a 3-game sweep of the 2008 World Series Champion Phillies , the Giants have handled their first real tough stretch of the season very well. After struggling through that rough Southern California road trip last week, the Giants returned home in strong fashion, taking care of the Cardinals in 2 of 3, then followed that up with another 2-win series victory vs. the Phillies . They got timely hitting, and amazing starting pitching over the homestand , and have fought their way back atop the NL West because of it. The latest dominant start was delivered by Tim Lincecum on Wednesday afternoon, as Timmy went 8 1/3, allowing just 3 hits and 2 runs while striking out 11 Philly hitters. Unfortunately, Brian Wilson couldn't hold the 3-run lead and the Giants eventually lost the game in extra innings. It was a tough no-decision for Lincecum to take for sure, and definitely will leave a bad taste in the Giants' mouths for the moment, but overall...

For the second year in a row, the Giants have rolled into Southern California for their first road trip of the season and have had their hands full with the Dodgers and Padres. The Giants suffered their first series loss of the young 2010 season over the weekend in LA, then were defeated Monday night in San Diego in the first game of that series. The Giants' pitchers made just a few mistakes in LA which really ended up costing them the series. After another brilliant Barry Zito outing Friday, in which Zito went 7.1 innings allowing just 4 hits and a run with 3 strikeouts. However, the man who came in to replace him in that 8th inning, Sergio Romo, surrendered a 2-run homer to Manny Ramirez that ultimately won the game for the Dodgers, 2-1. In the other two games, the Giants offense exploded for 17 runs, but they still only managed to win one of them. The game they did win was the Tim Lincecum show in the series opener on Friday night. Timmy went 7 shutout innings, allowing just 4 h...

As the Giants head back out on the road Thursday, and have to feel pretty darn good about themselves and the way they've performed at the midway point in the first month of the season. They sit atop the NL West at 7-2 and have the 2nd best record in all of baseball behind the 2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies (7-1). The Giants continue to get tremendous starting pitching, as Jonathan Sanchez was the latest starter to put together a masterpiece. Sanchez was almost un-hittable against the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon, throwing 8 shutout innings, allowing just 3 hits and 3 walks in route to an 11-strikeout performance, a season high for Giants' starters. It had to be a nice confidence builder for Sanchez too after failing to get through five innings in his first start. The 27 year-old lefty was backed by homers from Aaron Rowand, Eli Whiteside and Aubrey Huff (inside-the-parker), as the home run ball attributed for all the Giants runs on Wednesday. In just about any othe...

Over the weekend, I had a chance to catch up with the San Jose Mercury's fine Giants beat-writer, and the guy who seems to be as good as anyone out there in relaying Giants information, Andrew Baggarly. I stuck to mostly minor league talk with Baggs' as I want to try and get a feel for what the organization's top prospects will have planned for them in 2010. -Q: I was impressed with what Henry Sosa did this spring and was hoping the Giants ' brass would try and keep him in the rotation, but it looks like they are scratching that idea and going to keep him in the pen. Do you think Sosa will ever be moved back to the rotation, or is he a reliever from here on out? -A: Looks like organizational need at this point. Also, they think Sosa might have an easier time staying healthy if he's used in shorter stints. The stuff plays, that's for sure. I'd say there's a strong chance we see Sosa this season, and perhaps sometime soon if there are injuries or under-per...

The Giants continued their winning ways at the start of their first home-stand of the 2010 season. Jonathan Sanchez didn't have his best command and the team had to come from behind for the first time in this young season, but they did manage to pull off their fourth consecutive victory. The guy who continues to grab the headlines is the guy who everybody wrote off after his first year here and that's been Edgar Renteria. I'll admit myself, after his '08 and '09 seasons, I was skeptical on whether Renteria would ever be just an average major league shortstop again, but he's turned out to be so much more than that in this opening week. We've already mentioned how much lighter on his feet he looks defensively, and he continued his offensive rampage in the season's first week Friday. Renteria hit a game-tying 2-run homer off Billy Wagner in the bottom of the ninth to push the game to extra innings, part of another 3-hit day for the Giants shortstop (3-5, 2...

The Giants swept the Houston Astros in the season opening series, and it really wasn't that close. Now they come home to host an Atlanta Braves team that is one of the best in the National League. The consistent theme throughout the Astros series was stellar starting pitching, and timely hitting. Giants starters' Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito and Matt Cain combined to throw 19 2/3 innings, allowing 3 earned runs (all by Matt Cain in one bad inning) on 13 hits and 1 walk while striking out 17 batters. That's good for a WHIP of 0.67 and an era of 1.22. Granted, they did get a break here and there (Jeff Keppinger's "double" should have been a home run of Zito in game 2), the starters looked brilliant, and just as good, if not better than advertised. I think we are in for big things with Barry Zito in 2010. I thought the Astros in Minute Maid Park with all those right-handed hitters would give him some trouble, but he looked like the Barry Zito of 5-6 years ago. He had...

There was a lot of concern over the Giants' 2-time Cy Young award winning 25 year-old after a sub-par spring and a significant drop in velocity. However, Lincecum alleviated all concern with a stellar outing on opening night, defeating Roy Oswalt and the Astros 5-2. Lincecum's velocity and location were both right about where they should be, and he was a tough assignment all night for Houston hitters. He constantly got ahead of hitters, and put himself in favorable pitchers counts, and his fastball was right around 93-94 all game long. Not quite where it was when he was first called-up in '07 (he was averaging 95+ mph that summer), but not at all bad for the first start of the season. Lincecum allowed just 4 base runners (all base hits, no walks) and struck out 7 in 7 shutout innings. The Giants' offense also pitched in to help him out. Bengie Molina, John Bowker, Mark DeRosa, Edgar Renteria and Juan Uribe all drove in a run apiece for the Giants. The Giants new additio...

Opening Day 2010 has officially arrive, as the Giants are just a few hours away from taking on the Houston Astros in Houston, as they send 2-time reigning Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum to the mound vs. Astros' ace Roy Oswalt. The Giants starting lineup for today's game is as follows: CF Aaron Rowand SS Edgar Renteria 3B Pablo Sandoval 1B Aubrey Huff LF Mark DeRosa C Bengie Molina RF John Bowker 2B Juan Uribe P Tim Lincecum The only semi-surprise in there would be Bowker getting the nod in right field over Schierholtz, but after the way he finished up in Fresno in 2009, and played during spring training this year, it's tough to argue with Bruce Bochy's decision. Schierholtz brings a more stable defensive presence in right-field, but Bowker has really torn the cover off the ball since last June. And in a Giants lineup that could use all the pop it can get, they are going to give Bowker all the opportunity to translate those AAA numbers into big league production.. Ot...

Here is our picks for the major National and American league post-season awards, as well as the playoff tree and how we think things will transpire this October. AMERICAN LEAGUE AWARDS AL MVP : Mark Teixeira, NY- Teixeira really could have won last season and you wouldn't have gotten much argument from anyone after he hit .292 with 39 jacks and 122 RBI to lead the Yanks to a World Series championship. I expect much of the same power wise in '10 out of the Yanks' first basemen, but I'm expecting him to have an even higher avg. in 2010. AL CY Young : Justin Verlander, Det.- The flame-throwing righty is coming off a nice 19 win year in which he k'd 269 batters. Surrounded by an improved Detroit team, I expect him to have his best season yet, possibly winning 20+ ballgames and again being amongst the league leaders in strikeouts. Rookie of the Year : Neftali Feliz, Tex- The 21 year-old right-handed phenom has gotten his feet wet at the big league level and has looked ev...

Finally we finish up in the NL West, which could be the closest division in baseball and definitely one of the tougher ones to predict. 1st Place, Colorado Rockies Lineup: CF Dexter Fowler LF Carlos Gonzalez 1B Todd Helton SS Troy Tulowitzki RF Brad Hawpe C Chris Ianetta 3B Ian Stewart 2B Clint Barmes Pitching: RH Ubaldo Jimenez LH Jeff Francis RH Aaron Cook LH Jorge De La Rosa RH Jason Hammel SU: Franklin Morales CL: Huston Street (DL'd until May) The Rockies are an overall young team who knows how to win. They were one of the best teams in baseball during the second half of last season, and they did that without one of their best starting pitchers (Jeff Francis). A big key to their success was young outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who came over from the A's in the Matt Holliday trade and immediately made an impact (.286, 13 hr, 29 RBI, 16 SB, .878 OPS in 276 at-bats) upon his arrival in Colorado in June. Gonzalez, Tulowitzki, Fowler, Hawpe and Stewart give the Rockies a young cor...

The NL Central will once again be dominated mostly by the Cardinals, but there are a few up-and-coming ballclubs in an overall solid division. The division also possesses two of baseball's best right-handed hitters in Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun. 1st Place, St. Louis Cardinals Lineup: 2B Skip Schumaker SS Brendan Ryan 1B Albert Pujols LF Matt Holliday RF Ryan Ludwick CF Colby Rasmus C Yadier Molina 3B David Freise Pitching: RHP Chris Carpentar RHP Adam Wainwright RHP Brad Penny RHP Kyle Lohse LHP Jamie Garcia SU: Jason Motte CL: Ryan Franklin The Cards are once again the clear cut favorites in the 6-team NL Central. They have it all, power, average, great pitching and solid defense. The one area which their team lacks a bit is team speed, but with Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday and Ryan Ludwick anchoring down the middle of the order, scoring runs shouldn't be much of an issue. The front end of their rotation can be untouchable when they're on, as both Carpentar and Wainwrigh...