Bats Finally Show Up for Bumgarner

Madison Bumgarner is the youngster of the Giants staff, at just 21 years of age, and tonight he goes up against a tough opponent in Chad Billinglsey, a guy notoriously tough on San Francisco hitters. Bumgarner takes the hill tonight, desperate to get into the winning column for the first time all year, but, more than likely, it's going to be the Giants' hitters that decide his fate.

Sometimes I worry a bit about Bumgarner when I look up and see that he's sitting at 0-6 with a 4.25 era for the season entering Thursday. This kid deserves a W more than anyone in the league with the way he's been throwing, and the Giants have to give him one to ease his mind. His season is reminding me of the year Matt Cain had in the 2008 season when absolutely nothing went his way and he finished the year at 7-16 despite having a 3.65 era and a .234 BAA. The Giants just didn't score for him, and when they did, the bullpen couldn't hold opposing teams down, but all Cain did was kept hustling and it's made him the pitcher he is today. I really hope this same stretch helps Bumgarner get stronger, mentally, on the mound, and more apt and able to take on distractions and the occasional rough start. In the playoffs last year, he seemed cool as a cucumber, but earlier this year, it seemed like he was pressing a bit. His last 4 starts have gotten him right back on track though, and any worry should be relieved. Over those outings, Madison has gone 25 innings, allowing 5 earned runs on 19 hits and 6 walks while 25 batters. Unfortunately, he's gone 0-3 in those 4 outings because the Giants scored a total of 7 runs and the bullpen imploded in his most recent outing. That's why tonight's match-up in LA is so big. Not only do the Giants need to sweep LA to keep stronghold of the division, they need to get their young lefty's mind right.

With the way the Giants offense has been in such a funk lately, it was so nice to see Cody Ross step up Wednesday night and hit that game winning, 3-run shot. Ross missed a lot of spring training with that injury, and played only 9 games in April in which he was far from impressive, but you could tell he was just getting his time back. Now since May's hit, he's found his groove, and I expect him to keep on producing the way he has over the last few weeks. In fact, all 3 of his homers and 9 of his 10 RBI have come in the month, along with a .325 batting average and 1.026 OPS. It's just too bad they can't take one of their plethora of outfielders and plant him over at third or shortstop. I know Nate Schierholtz (check his minor league career) and came up playing 3rd base, and in a blowout, why not give him an infielders glove and let him play. He's got the cannon arm, so even if he knocks ground balls down, he'll get the guy at first. I know it's a big move, but hey, I'd be willing to bet Schierholtz plays a better 3rd base than Aubrey Huff did RF.

Still though, it's been so long since he was a 3rd basemen, it would jeopardize the defense too much I think, otherwise they would have already explored that option (though with Belt down now, they don't really have another first basemen besides Buster). All I know is, the Giants have 4 outfielders who deserve to be in the lineup most days in Burrell, Torres, Ross and Schierholtz. All of those guys really are outperforming the infielders, and by a wide margin. Also, on a side note, with at least one corner outfield spot opening up next year (Burrell on 1 year deal, also believe Ross is a 1st time FA too), Nate's playing like he wants consideration for that spot, the Giants have to give him at least 450 at-bats to see what he does with them. I personally say he takes off, like (.300/15/60/.850/15 SB) kind take off, by years end if given the opportunity.

And they Do, Kind of: Well, the bats certainly didn't explode by any means, collecting just 3 runs vs. the Dodgers tough righty Chad Billingsley. Fortunately, all Madison Bumgarner would need was 2 runs, as he took a shutout into the 9th inning with 2 outs before yielding an RBI double to Jerry Sands. That brought on Brian Wilson who subsequently, after walking 2 batters and making things interesting, closed out the game and the sweep with the 3-1 victory... Offensively, the Giants were led by Migeul Tejada, who had 2 hits and an RBI and is now hitting .222. Freddy Sanchez also had a hit and drove in two runs in two big at-bats vs. Billingsley. So even though they didn't bust out and score 8 runs for him, Madison showed his maturity by pitching like it was 1-0 the whole game. It's hard to believe it's taking until May 18th for this kid to get his first W... By the way, Nate Schierholtz's catch cannot go un-noticed, that get's by him, we have the opposite results.