Still Not Scoring, But Winning

The Giants are 7-4, but they have one of the lowest ranking offenses in baseball. They are last in the league in home runs and rank near the bottom in all other major catagories. Randy Winn, Omar Vizquel and Moises Alou are carrying the offense right now with virtually no help from Barry Bonds, Ray Durham and Pedro Feliz. Bonds revealed last week that he is playing with bone chips in his left elbow, and the surgically repaired right knee is starting to act up a little bit. Barry's swing is still looking good and quick, but he's having trouble planting and driving the outside pitch, and that's where pitchers are working him. He is hitting below .200 and has yet to hit a jack, but I am still not ready to panic. I really believe Barry will go on the DL at some point in the first half, for rest if nothing else, but I do expect him to start heating up before he starts taking days off. He has played in almost all of the 11 games so far this season, and I think he will continue to do so untill he gets his swing and timing down. As far as the fielding goes, Bonds is looking uncomftorble on the wet surfaces the Giants have played on so far, but he is still getting good jumps and making the plays he should. The series in Arizona should be a nice change of climate for the Giants who have been playing in a wet and cold California for the past 2 1/2 weeks. Now on a dry field with warm weather, maybe the cold bats will start to heat up a little. Pedro Feliz has always swung it well in Arizona, his bat is despratly needed at the bottom of the order. His start has me thinking of what could have been had the Giants signed Bill Mueller this winter. I think part of the reason why Barry hasn't done much is because Ray Durham, who has been hitting 3rd most of the year, has been colder than Barry has. I have witnessed far to many groundouts to 2nd and pop-ups to third base by Ray Ray so far, he has yet to start driving the ball with any authority. I think the Giants should start experimenting with Durham back in the leadoff spot and Randy Winn in the middle of the order. Durham has lead off his whole career, I think he's most comftorble there. Winn is an exceptional leadoff man, but he may help the Giants out best in the 3rd spot. If the Giants continue to score 2-3 runs a game, even if they're winning, I hope Felipe realizes this and makes some moves.

Who would have thought that the teams ace so far through Aprill would have been Jamey Wright? Wright has thrown 15 quality innings for the Giants so far, more than any other starter, and is 2-0. I excpect to see him lose some games, but read my posts from before the season, I would not be surprised at all to see this guy break out and win 13-15 games and make a name for himself. I really think he has more knowledge of how to pitch than Brett Tomko, and he definetly is more level headed. Untill Noah Lowry gets back, it looks like Brad Hennessy will get some starts, and that may not be a bad thing. Hennessey shut down the Dodgers for 7 innings in LA on Sunday, and he looked like he had all his command, which wasn't the case in spring training. Right now, the Giants need to thank their lucky stars for the way Wright and Hennessey have stepped up so far and the way the bullpen, lead by Tim Worrell, has stepped up, or else we could be looking at a 4-7 team instead of 7-4.