After getting swept in San Diego by lowly Padres, the Giants had a statement to make in Arizona, and they turned what started out as a miserable road trip into a decent one by sweeping the D-Backs in Arizona.
It was like the tale of two teams in each of the two series' on that road trip, as the Giants the Giants just kept finding ways to lose in San Diego then turned into the comeback machine again in Arizona. I figured it was
going to be a tough roadie after the way the first two games of the trip went. First off, the Giants got another beautiful effort out of Tim Lincecum that was all for not. Timmy threw 7 innings of 2 run ball, striking out 9 Padres and giving the Giants more than enough opportunity to take control of the game, but the offense just couldn't figure out Andrew Cashner. Then in game two, things fell apart late and the defense came up with some costly mistakes, something you rarely see this team do. The bullpen was getting beat up a bit, the starting pitching, besides Timmy, did not impress and the offense looked completely outmatched by San Diego pitching. After the series with the Padres, I was beginning to wonder whether the Giants would still be a .500+ team when they returned this weekend.
However, as frustrating as things started out in SoCal, they were essentially forgotten with the rallying this team did in desert. The one Giant who really needed to step it up offensively and start producing some runs did just that, and it played a instrumental part in the Giants getting right in Arizona. Brandon Belt, who had
that torrid spring and had all these expectations coming into the year, finally found his groove a bit, and hit a couple of crucial big flies that ended up being the difference in games one and three, and all of the sudden Belt's numbers for this season have taken a 180. Over the last 10 games, Belt has hit all 3 of his home runs, driven in 9 of his 14 RBI and has seen his average spike from .183 to .244. We've always known Belt has the ability to put numbers up in a hurry, which is the reason his slow start didn't worry me too much. I am curious to see where he goes from here though. Last year, he had a week where he hit 4 homers and drove in 10 runs or something crazy, and everyone thought he'd take off after that, but it didn't really happen. This time around though, I'd be surprised if we don't see a more consistent Belt, and see those numbers steadily rise over the next few weeks. He's obviously got the talent, he's just got to get that confidence going and it sure looks like he's found it here in early May.
So, after the roller coaster road trip, the Giants will kick off a big 10-game home stand with three vs. LA over the weekend, 3 vs. Philly next week and 4 vs. the powerhouse Braves next weekend. Of course, the games with LA are always intriguing, but I'm really looking forward to facing Atlanta. Right now, I think the Braves and Giants have the two best all-around squads in the NL and even though it's still very early, I'm anxious to see how these two measure up vs. one another.
It was like the tale of two teams in each of the two series' on that road trip, as the Giants the Giants just kept finding ways to lose in San Diego then turned into the comeback machine again in Arizona. I figured it was
going to be a tough roadie after the way the first two games of the trip went. First off, the Giants got another beautiful effort out of Tim Lincecum that was all for not. Timmy threw 7 innings of 2 run ball, striking out 9 Padres and giving the Giants more than enough opportunity to take control of the game, but the offense just couldn't figure out Andrew Cashner. Then in game two, things fell apart late and the defense came up with some costly mistakes, something you rarely see this team do. The bullpen was getting beat up a bit, the starting pitching, besides Timmy, did not impress and the offense looked completely outmatched by San Diego pitching. After the series with the Padres, I was beginning to wonder whether the Giants would still be a .500+ team when they returned this weekend.However, as frustrating as things started out in SoCal, they were essentially forgotten with the rallying this team did in desert. The one Giant who really needed to step it up offensively and start producing some runs did just that, and it played a instrumental part in the Giants getting right in Arizona. Brandon Belt, who had
that torrid spring and had all these expectations coming into the year, finally found his groove a bit, and hit a couple of crucial big flies that ended up being the difference in games one and three, and all of the sudden Belt's numbers for this season have taken a 180. Over the last 10 games, Belt has hit all 3 of his home runs, driven in 9 of his 14 RBI and has seen his average spike from .183 to .244. We've always known Belt has the ability to put numbers up in a hurry, which is the reason his slow start didn't worry me too much. I am curious to see where he goes from here though. Last year, he had a week where he hit 4 homers and drove in 10 runs or something crazy, and everyone thought he'd take off after that, but it didn't really happen. This time around though, I'd be surprised if we don't see a more consistent Belt, and see those numbers steadily rise over the next few weeks. He's obviously got the talent, he's just got to get that confidence going and it sure looks like he's found it here in early May.So, after the roller coaster road trip, the Giants will kick off a big 10-game home stand with three vs. LA over the weekend, 3 vs. Philly next week and 4 vs. the powerhouse Braves next weekend. Of course, the games with LA are always intriguing, but I'm really looking forward to facing Atlanta. Right now, I think the Braves and Giants have the two best all-around squads in the NL and even though it's still very early, I'm anxious to see how these two measure up vs. one another.
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