The Giants Baseball Blog

Obviously it's been a bit of an up-and-down first few weeks of the 2015 season for the San Francisco Giants, but they were able to get back on track last week vs. the Dodgers at AT&T Park with a much needed 3-game sweep. They now get LA for another three, this time in Southern California, and their hoping for similar results as they climb their way back towards .500. Another Big Start for 55 With the rain-out in Sunday's rubber match in Colorado, it pushed Tim Lincecum's start back a night, which I think is a big deal. Not only did Timmy avoid throwing in the light air in Denver where he's been lit up in recent seasons, but this now allows Madison Bumgarner's start to be pushed back from Monday night to Tuesday when he'll be opposed by Clayton Kershaw, a much more reasonable matchup on the Giants end than having Kershaw go up against Vogey. Still, Vogey won't get an easy matchup in the finale as he takes on Zach Greinke, but I think the Giants wil...

Well, much like the issue in San Diego, the Giants were again unable to get any kind of scoring going against the Rockies number 4 starter. The Giants managed  to get 12 guys on base throughout the game, but the problem with that is that only 5 of those guys got on via base hit. That just gives you an idea of how tough it is for this team to come by hits right now, which with their lack of power is crucial. That's how you get 12 base-runners and don't score, you simply don't hit. Angel Pagan, who I admit I still like in the three spot, really failed miserably today, leaving 5 guys on base including once with the bases jammed. Also, Gregor Blanco, who for some reason was hitting 6th instead of Matt Duffy, left three runners stranded. They applied the pressure but just could cash in when need be, and that's a worrisome trend here early on in the season. I know it's gonna help a lot to get McGehee and Pence back eventually here but the concern coming into the season ...

The 2015 season started just like the 2014 postseason ended, with Madison Bumgarner leading the squad over Arizona. However, since that opening day win, the Giants are just 2-4, and are hoping that coming home will cure some of their woes. One of the issues that have haunted this team early have been nagging injuries. On the plus side, they did finally get Brandon Belt back for the first time since opening day on Sunday, however Casey McGehee went down with a knee strain on Saturday, so the Giants still won't be at full strength for Monday's opener. What the Giants need to do on this homestand is get their guys back. Hopefully Belt is back for good now, and McGehee's knee bruise will keep him down no more than another game or two, but there hasn't been much chatter on Hunter Pence, who was striving to be ready by the end of the team's first homestand, but that doesn't appear likely at this point. At the very least though, they should have their opening day lin...

Just like they did the last time they took the field for a meaningful game, the Giants walked away with a tight, one-run victory. They ended up jumping out to an early lead and beating the Arizona Diamondbacks in Arizona at Chase Field, 5-4, in a tight ballgame that came down to Casilla fanning Goldschmidt for the final out. It was a little different out there without Hunter Pence, and seeing seeing a face at third base other than Pablo Sandoval for the first time since 2008 when Jose Castillo opened the year at the "hot corner". Also new was a the leadoff man, Nori Aoki. New or old, most all worked out for the Giants on Monday night, starting with Madison Bumgarner. The Giants' ace, while not quite as dominant with the strikeout, picked right up where he left off last fall, with 7 strong, allowing one run on 6 hits along with a walk and 3 strikeouts. So it wasn't necessarily the lights out start by MadBum numbers wise, but you could just feel that he had control of...

Well folks, the 2015 MLB season is finally upon us, and the Giants have set their opening day roster with their first game vs. Arizona just moments from getting started. Here is there projected lineup (including Pence, with player predictions) along with the starting rotation and bullpen and bench (with player predictions for the starting rotation only). Lineup: CF Nori Aoki: .294 avg, 7 HR, 44 RBI, 89 Runs, 13 3B, 21 SB, .727 OPS 2B Joe Panik: .267, 8 HR, 50 RBI, 74 R, 28 2B, .695 OPS CF Angel Pagan: .281, 10 HR, 64 RBI, 72 R, 18 SB, .741 OPS C  Buster Posey: .318, 24 HR, 95 RBI, 78 R, 35 2B, .929 OPS RF Hunter Pence: .276, 26 HR, 85 RBI, 72 R, 19 SB, .858 OPS 1B Brandon Belt: .286, 23 HR, 80 RBI, 69 R, 13 SB, .804 OPS 3B Casey McGehee: .285, 10 HR, 73 RBI, 61 R, 36 2B, .727 OPS SS Brandon Crawford: .253, 12 HR, 58 RBI, 56 R, 29 2B, .688 OPS Rotation: LHP Madison Bumgarner: 219 IP, 3.02 ERA, 211/46 K:BB ratio, 1.07 WHIP RHP Tim Hudson: 185 IP, 3.87 ERA, 123/42 K:BB, ...

Now this is where we really get to have our fun as we go through each major award for each league and then pick the batting tittle winner, home run winner and ERA leaders for each league. And yes, although we're halfway through opening day by the time this gets posted, we have taken no stats from the few games played thus far into account. So, here are the guys we think will take home the individual hardware at the end of the 2015 season. American League Awards AL MVP:  Robinson Cano, 2B, Seattle:  I think year two is going to be the year Cano pays off big time in Seattle, and with Nelson Cruz now giving him some protection. He may not hit 30 home runs but he'll still hit his 20+ and could hit .350 in that spacious yard. I don't think anyone else is picking him, that I've seen yet at least, but I think he's a forgotten man on a team that should be very competitive in 2015 against a division with some of the lesser pitching staffs in baseball (Texas and Houston e...

I know the season has just got underway, but we had our playoff tree and awards already picked out long before the first pitch was thrown and were not swayed by any of the couple of games that have taken place so far. This is how we see this October playing out, hopefully I'm wrong and the Giants are included, but here's what we have entering the year: MLB Playoffs American League: Wild Card Game:  Indians over Orioles ALDS:  Mariners over Indians Tigers over Red Sox ALCS: Tigers over Mariners (6 games) National League: Wild Card: Padres over Marlins NLDS: Nationals over Padres Dodgers over Cardinals NLCS: Nationals over Dodgers (6 games) WORLD SERIES Nationals over Tigers (7 games) The Nationals just have it all. If they don't set records with that rotation this year I'd be quite surprised. They have the lineup, they have speed power and depth and with the addition of Max Scherzer, now sport the best rotation in the planet and...

Finally, onto the division that really matters. What in the world is going to happen in the NL West in 2015 you say? It's a tough division to pick as all have question marks heading in. Will the Giants make up for the loss of Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse (plus Pence for the first couple weeks of the year) on offense and will that rotation stay healthy and effective all year long. With LA, they still have some issues with their outfield, where Andre Either seems the odd man out and isn't happy about it. They also will be without closer Kenley Jansen through at least April and Hyun Jin-Ryu for perhaps the season (which could sway some momentum). Then there's new-kid-on-the-block Padres who added a lot of talent, but they have so many new faces and what not it's going to be a challenge for all of them to come together. The top-three teams are all right there, neck-'n-neck and going to be in it till the very end (barring major injury to one of them). Here's ho...

Onto the tightly packed NL Central, where just about every team feels like they have a shot this year. The Cards seem to be perennial favorites each year, the Brewers are banking on a return to form by Ryan Braun and the Cubbies and Pirates are the up-and coming young teams with huge expectations. Here's how we see the Central breaking down over the next 6 months: NL CENTRAL 1st Place, St. Louis Cardinals Lineup 3B Matt Carpentar RF Jayson Heyward LF Matt Holliday 1B Matt Adams C Yadier Molina 2B Kolton Wong SS Johnny Peralta CF Jon Jay Rotation: RH Adam Wainwright RH Lance Lynn RH John Lackey RH Michael Wacha RH Carlos Martinez SU: RH Jordan Walden CL: RH Trevor Rosenthal Key Reserves: 1B/3B/LF Mark Reynolds, OF Peter Bourjos The Cards made a nice move getting younger in the outfield by bringing in Jayson Heyward for peanuts from Atlanta, and people are expecting a huge, all-star year out of Kolton Wong who many fell is a legit 5-tool guy. That lineu...