Well, it's no secret that the A's play comfortably vs. their cross-bay rivals at home in the Coliseum, but I don't even thing hard core A's fans were ready for what the A's did this weekend vs. the reigning World Champs.
They kicked the weekend off by shutting down the Giants and lighting up ace Tim Lincecum and drop his season record below .500 for the first time that I can remember, they didn't slow down after that. The A's proceeded to beat Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain, arguable the Giants best three starters, and although Cain and Sanchez threw better than Lincecum did, the bats were no where to be found. The Giants scored a total of just 5 runs vs. Oakland pitching this weekend, and were kept in
the ballpark too, outside of a Cody Ross solo homer on Friday. Speaking of Ross, he's been the one bright spot in an otherwise decaying lineup. While everyone else in the Giants batting order's average keeps falling, Ross's keeps rising, and he keeps coming up with the clutch hits. Other than that, it's a mess all around right now, and it happened very quickly. It wasn't but a week ago that I was starting to gain some optimism about this team with Billy Hall in tow and Pablo returning, thinking they may just stay afloat until Freddy Sanchez and Brandon Belt return, but it appears that was wishful thinking. Leadoff man Andres Torres' lineup has now dipped down to .236, nowhere near where you want your leadoff man to be. Huff is still harboring around .240, but has shown some signs of breaking out, and at the very least, he produces with running in scoring position. And then there's Brandon Crawford, who I'm rooting for just as much as anyone else, but his bat is clearly not ready, and if the Giants don't want to add a catcher, they must, absolutely add a good shortstop.
The one guy I've been watching extremely closely over the last few weeks has been Baltimore's J.J. Hardy, a guy I really wanted the Giants to push for this offseason. The 28 year-old Hardy is just entering his prime and coming off a few injuries that have hurt his stock a bit, but he's certainly on right now. Hardy has been the best hitting shortstop in baseball this June, hitting
.369 with 6 homers and 12 RBI to go along with a 1.140 OPS. He's going to be a free agent at the end of the year, and I highly doubt Baltimore will have interest in re-signing him, especially if he keeps up his offensive surge. He's a solid defending shortstop, but the only question with Hardy has been his health. He played hurt in 2009 and missed 40 games, then missed 60 games last year, then another bunch at the beginning of this year. He does look healthy now though, and that's what matters. Again, he's on a 1 year deal too, so if worst comes to worst and he gets hurt again, it's not like their married to him for the long term. This is the exact move the Giants need to be looking for in order to help jump start the offense and solidify it all at once. It would allow Boch to go back to using more of a regular lineup each day rather than mixing and matching... Would a healthy Hardy be enough to help overcome the loss Posey? No, but the Giants are good enough to win a World Series without Buster, as long as they make the right move(s)!
They kicked the weekend off by shutting down the Giants and lighting up ace Tim Lincecum and drop his season record below .500 for the first time that I can remember, they didn't slow down after that. The A's proceeded to beat Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain, arguable the Giants best three starters, and although Cain and Sanchez threw better than Lincecum did, the bats were no where to be found. The Giants scored a total of just 5 runs vs. Oakland pitching this weekend, and were kept in
the ballpark too, outside of a Cody Ross solo homer on Friday. Speaking of Ross, he's been the one bright spot in an otherwise decaying lineup. While everyone else in the Giants batting order's average keeps falling, Ross's keeps rising, and he keeps coming up with the clutch hits. Other than that, it's a mess all around right now, and it happened very quickly. It wasn't but a week ago that I was starting to gain some optimism about this team with Billy Hall in tow and Pablo returning, thinking they may just stay afloat until Freddy Sanchez and Brandon Belt return, but it appears that was wishful thinking. Leadoff man Andres Torres' lineup has now dipped down to .236, nowhere near where you want your leadoff man to be. Huff is still harboring around .240, but has shown some signs of breaking out, and at the very least, he produces with running in scoring position. And then there's Brandon Crawford, who I'm rooting for just as much as anyone else, but his bat is clearly not ready, and if the Giants don't want to add a catcher, they must, absolutely add a good shortstop.The one guy I've been watching extremely closely over the last few weeks has been Baltimore's J.J. Hardy, a guy I really wanted the Giants to push for this offseason. The 28 year-old Hardy is just entering his prime and coming off a few injuries that have hurt his stock a bit, but he's certainly on right now. Hardy has been the best hitting shortstop in baseball this June, hitting
.369 with 6 homers and 12 RBI to go along with a 1.140 OPS. He's going to be a free agent at the end of the year, and I highly doubt Baltimore will have interest in re-signing him, especially if he keeps up his offensive surge. He's a solid defending shortstop, but the only question with Hardy has been his health. He played hurt in 2009 and missed 40 games, then missed 60 games last year, then another bunch at the beginning of this year. He does look healthy now though, and that's what matters. Again, he's on a 1 year deal too, so if worst comes to worst and he gets hurt again, it's not like their married to him for the long term. This is the exact move the Giants need to be looking for in order to help jump start the offense and solidify it all at once. It would allow Boch to go back to using more of a regular lineup each day rather than mixing and matching... Would a healthy Hardy be enough to help overcome the loss Posey? No, but the Giants are good enough to win a World Series without Buster, as long as they make the right move(s)!
Comments
I like Crawford too though, and want to see him get more of a chance, but there's no doubt the team needs another hitter, and if they could get a hitting shortstop, even better!
Brandon Crawford and Thomas Neal do it? Would the Giants do that????
I think I would, Hardy's showing what he can do when he heats up, and is very good defensively. Go for it Sabes!
Jose Reyes vs. J.J. Hardy in '10:
Reyes: 302 at-bats, .341, 3 hr, 29 RBI, 26 SB, 45 R, 302 at-bats- 28 years old
Hardy: 164 AB, .294, 8 hr, 28 RBI, 24 R, 28 years old
Reyes is special, don't get me wrong, but expand Hardy's numbers and he's right there with him at an 1/8 the price.