Offense Starting to Roll

Some of the Giants hitters who started the spring out cold are starting to swing the bats a little better. Rich Aurilia and Randy Winn each had their best day of the spring on Wednesday. They both hit their first home runs of the spring and both had 3 hit games. It's good to see those guys start up because the Giants are going to need good years out of both of them. One of these guys are likely to end up being the 5th place hitter behind Barry Bonds and Ray Durham. The three guys who haven't been able to get into any kind of grove yet are Durham, Omar Vizquel and Bengie Molina. Durham has been the Giant that has been hit hardest by the flu and just hasn't been healthy enough to string together any kind of consistent at bats. He was in the lineup Wednesday hitting cleanup for the first time, a spot which he may man all season, and drove in his first run of the spring. Molina and Vizquel have been healthy and playing but they just haven't been swinging the bat well. Molina went 0-3 on Thursday vs. the Brewers and dropped his spring batting average to .118. Some people questioned the Molina signing but not because of his offense, I expect to see him heat it up before the games start counting for real. With a catcher signing on with a new team and changing leagues, it takes some time to get familiar with the pitchers before they really can concentrate on hitting.

Bruce Bochy reiterated this week, after Barry Zito's second solid performance of the spring and

Matt Cain's second bad one, that Zito will be the opening day starter vs. the Padres, April 3rd at AT&T Park. Even if Cain had dominated this spring, it was pretty obvious that the Giants would go with their 126 million dollar man to bring them into the 2007 season. Zito has been as advertised so far this spring, effective without overpowering. In 5 innings pitched, he has only allowed 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 3 batters. Another highly compensated pitcher the Giants have on their roster, Matt Morris, looked good for the first time in while on Wednesday. Morris was the teams number 2 starter going into last season, but this year will probably be in the 4th slot. Wherever he is, he is just as key as the younger guys, he has to be good if the Giants rotation is going to be.

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