The Giants Baseball Blog

They managed to stay in it up until the final week, but overall, I don't think any person linked to the Giants, whether it be a fan or player, who would tell you they were satisfied with how the 2011 campaign went following the teams first World Championship. They had a commanding lead in this division at the all-star break, and it looked like they were all but certain to return to October play and get to defend their championship, even having lost 2 key players in Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez. They made a couple of additions before the deadline, and all the sudden, the team tanked. I don't know what exactly went wrong in the final two months, but I don't believe it was a chemistry issue. What I think happened to this team, is that the y just hit a wall. After that big run last year, and everything that happened this season, I think the first half took a lot out of them, and players who were having bad years seemed to be getting worse. They never really had a ton of offe...

Well, they certainly made it a little bit interesting with the late September win streak, but they suffered a couple key losses over the last few days that has sealed their fate. I was a little surprised by their late season push, but as I typed a few posts back, it was just too little, and too late. As it was, they were going to have to go through 2 teams to get to the wild card, so their best bet was to stay alive in the division until this series here, but AZ clinched on Thursday, before they even arrived at AT&T Park for the weekend set. When that happened, the Giants then had to hope for the Cards and Braves to tank, but neither has so the Giants haven't been able to gain any ground on either. And fittingly enough, it was their offense that finally did do them in. They've lost 4 of their last 6 ballgames and scored just 5 runs in those 4 losses. Their starting pitching is putting a bow on another terrific year, especially by the two aces, Cain and Lincecum , but the la...

I have to admit, with the way the Giants finished up August and started September, I was fairly certain they weren't going to the postseason. But with a little over a week left in the season, here they are, still hanging onto hope by a thread and doing all they can to keep their chances alive. The Giants have all the sudden hit an 8-game winning streak and it's rejuvenated their season, albeit in the very final stages. The youngsters like Belt and Surkamp have provided a nice shot in the arm, but it's really been about that middle and combo of Carlos Beltran, who's definitely found his groove as a Giant, again, about a month later than everyone would have hoped, but it's happening at least. His presence though has been absolutely huge for Pablo Sandoval though, who's just turned into a power hitting machine since Beltran's arrival. For most of the season, Pablo was hitting the ball hard, but still didn't have an overwhelming number of homers at the all-s...

I just got back in town last night in the midst of a Giants' 6-game win streak that has kept a candle, albeit a small one, lit for their playoff hopes, and their 2011 team MVP is really the one behind it. Pablo Sandoval's season hit a pinnacle Thursday night as the Giants 3rd basemen hit for the cycle, going 4-4 with 2 RBI in his dominant performance, hitting his 20th homer of the season and raising his average back up to .308. Panda had 4 hits and 4 RBI in the sweep over San Diego and went 3-4 with a couple of RBI in the win that started this mini win streak. In fact, it hasn't been just Sandoval though, the entire Giants offense has seemingly picked it up here in mid September, but they're a little late to the dance. Sure, they're still technically in it, and I'm not at all holding out hope, but with just 12 games to play, the Giants are still 7 out in the West and 6 out in the Wild Card, so their chances are very slim. That hasn't kept the offense from ex...

Well, I would apologize for the 4 day absence from posting (been out of town and can't doing posts on my 2005 laptop), but there simply hasn't been anything exciting to even talk about. The Giants have fallen to a desperate 9.5 games out of first and have all but been eliminated in the West, and are playing like it. Bruce Bochy has started the full on youth movement, going with Brett Pill at first and Brandon Belt in left field now on most days, and who can blame him. In an offensive nightmare that has been the last 6 weeks, these youngsters have at least breathed some fresh air of life into this offense, but it's been too little too late, and the injury to Wilson was basically the tell-tale of the season. At that point, you pretty much new things weren't good, even though the Giants were still very much alive when he did get hurt. Again though, Bruce Bochy is handling this thing the right way. It's not like he's throwing in the towel and playing all rookies...

The Giants are 7.5 games out of first in the NL West as I type this, and depending on what the D-Backs do tonight, they could fall a season-low 8 games below. But that's not the only reason the Giants have gone into a September youth movement, they're simply beat up physically. I'm on one of the weird computers again, so I'll keep my post short and sweet, but today I wanted to talk about the young Giants, both those getting a look at the Major League level and those still down in the minors and prepping for the Fall League. First off, as far as the young guys who are here, Brett Pill and Darren Ford need to be playing daily. Torres is pretty much toast for the year in center, so why not role with D-Ford, who at the very least, could prove himself more valuable than Torres when it comes to roster spots in 2012. Not to mention, Ford seems to swing it better in the bigs than he has in the minors this season, and scores virtually every time he's on base. Not saying he...

The Giants had their chance to get right back into the NL West race this weekend vs. Arizona at AT&T Park, and things couldn't have started off better Friday night with their new star going 4-4 and them winning in easy fashion. The next two games couldn't have been more opposite. Instead of the Giants moving to within 3-4 games of the D-Backs, they will enter Monday a whopping 7 games down with slightly over 20 left. In essence, they'd need Arizona to pretty much tank in these last few weeks, and they themselves would need to go on an absolute tear, something they haven't done since the all-star break. A lot of people declared the season "un-officially" over Sunday after the lose, and while their backs are certainly against the wall, I'm waiting another week or so before I make any declarations myself. I still am not at all overly impressed by D-Backs roster, and I still think they could hit a hiccup. Sure, they have some young stud hitters like Justin...

Those who were waiting for Carlos Beltran to come alive in a Giants uniform can wait no longer. The highly-anticipated outfielder had his best day as a Giant and just seems to be getting better after a 4 for 4 day with a homer and 3 RBI. Carlos was just a double shy of the cycle and lifted the Giants offense in perhaps the most crucial game of their season to date. What's even better news to take out of it, was that he tore it up hitting right-handed, which was supposed to be giving him problems with the right wrist/hand. They lose that game one vs. the D-Backs and they're all the sudden 6 back with no momentum on their side, b ut Matt Cain would not allow it. Not only did Beltran tear the cover off the ball, but Cody Ross had the game he's been looking for, really since the all-star break ended. He had a homer and a double going 2-2 in the leadoff spot and getting on base 3 times. Perhaps the best performance of all though cannot be overlooked, and that was the effort C...