So the Giants are leading the wildcard as I post this. They're 2 games back of the pesky Padres. They're opening a 4 game series against the Piniella-less Zambranos and need to have a very good homestand to alleviate some concerns from a less than comforting road trip. Jonathan Sanchez needs to put up or shut up. Emmanuel Burriss is on the team again offering some much needed speed off the bench and we no longer have to sit through Todd Wellemeyer doing his best Brett Tomko impersonations. The Phillies are on the Giants backsides and they're not slowing down. The Cardinals and Reds are swapping first place every day but remain right behind the Giants in the wildcard race as well. And despite the Giants having one of the best July's ever, they're still quite in danger of missing the playoffs for the 7th consecutive season unless they start playing better against quality teams. But before they do that, they need to take care of the inferior ones. And the Chicago Northsiders defintely fit that bill. The Giants need to take a minimum of 3 games in this 4 game set to set up what should be a battle for first place against the Fathers. Now don't get me wrong, if they split the series or god forbid lose the series to Chicago, it's not the end of the world. But the path to October will be greatly impeded, especially since between the Cards and Reds, someone has to be a winner in that series. And the Dodgers go play the Phillies so the LA Smog could gain ground or help the Phillies continue their ascent up the NL East standings and the wildcard crown. The wildcard field has too many good teams. The Philllies, Reds, Cardinals, Rockies, and Dodgers all figure prominently into the picture. And should the Phillies overtake the Braves for 1st in the East, Atlanta would immediately become the favorite to win the wildcard.
The point?
The Giants need to take the division. Their focus should be on the division. The Padres, who have pwned SF 7 out of 8 games, still remain the easiest team for the Giants to overtake and bury. Not because the Padres are a bad team, but because we get to face them 11 or so more games face to face. Yes, we also face the Phillies and Cardinals and Reds (all this month) but we can't worry about what those teams are doing. The Phils and Braves are going to battle it out for the division and the Reds and Cardinals are battling it out for the division. I don't think any of those teams are thinking wildcard. They have the eye on the division crown. That's what the Giants need to focus on. But the Padres are like the 1997 Giants team. No one knows how the hell they've stayed in contention this long but they have the swagger and the confidence. By the way, the Pads also have the 2nd best record in all of baseball the past year. And I don't mean this season, I mean the past year. Meaning, from the 2nd half of last season to this season , only the Yankees have won more games. Unbelievable. Perhaps it's Dustiny. Oh wait, Dusty's got that going in Cincy.
In any event, this month is key in determining how real the Giants playoffs hopes are. They face all of the potential playoff teams so they can gauge how they match-up (unless there's a surprise team that gets hot). They just faced Atlanta and went 1-3 against them. They went 3-4 against Atlanta for the season. They get San Diego after the Cubs and we all know that dismal record. Then it's Philly in Philly (season series: 2-1), St. Louis in STL (season series: 2-1) , and Cincy in SF (season series: 2-2). These games in August will give us a great indicator as to whether or not the (mostly) divisional games in September will mean anything. So it's time for the Giants to step up to the plate. Sabean did not get that bat that was needed so we'll see if this team that, minus a 10 run outburst in Colorado for one game, scored 13 runs in the past 7 games (that's an average of 1.86 runs per game kids) can muster enough runs to get through the elite teams of the National League.
As a veteran Giants fan, we know that the chances aren't very good for us to see October baseball. But hope lingers. But are they contenders? Or are they fooling us again? Are they pretenders?
The point?
The Giants need to take the division. Their focus should be on the division. The Padres, who have pwned SF 7 out of 8 games, still remain the easiest team for the Giants to overtake and bury. Not because the Padres are a bad team, but because we get to face them 11 or so more games face to face. Yes, we also face the Phillies and Cardinals and Reds (all this month) but we can't worry about what those teams are doing. The Phils and Braves are going to battle it out for the division and the Reds and Cardinals are battling it out for the division. I don't think any of those teams are thinking wildcard. They have the eye on the division crown. That's what the Giants need to focus on. But the Padres are like the 1997 Giants team. No one knows how the hell they've stayed in contention this long but they have the swagger and the confidence. By the way, the Pads also have the 2nd best record in all of baseball the past year. And I don't mean this season, I mean the past year. Meaning, from the 2nd half of last season to this season , only the Yankees have won more games. Unbelievable. Perhaps it's Dustiny. Oh wait, Dusty's got that going in Cincy.
In any event, this month is key in determining how real the Giants playoffs hopes are. They face all of the potential playoff teams so they can gauge how they match-up (unless there's a surprise team that gets hot). They just faced Atlanta and went 1-3 against them. They went 3-4 against Atlanta for the season. They get San Diego after the Cubs and we all know that dismal record. Then it's Philly in Philly (season series: 2-1), St. Louis in STL (season series: 2-1) , and Cincy in SF (season series: 2-2). These games in August will give us a great indicator as to whether or not the (mostly) divisional games in September will mean anything. So it's time for the Giants to step up to the plate. Sabean did not get that bat that was needed so we'll see if this team that, minus a 10 run outburst in Colorado for one game, scored 13 runs in the past 7 games (that's an average of 1.86 runs per game kids) can muster enough runs to get through the elite teams of the National League.
As a veteran Giants fan, we know that the chances aren't very good for us to see October baseball. But hope lingers. But are they contenders? Or are they fooling us again? Are they pretenders?
yes, we definitely need at least another guy other than a. torres with speed to disturb the mindset of pitchers on the opposing team. they are too calm and unflustered when facing our lineup, because they know that they can't be hurt on the basepads. we want them to make more mistakes when pitching to our best hitters.
ReplyDeleteideally, the guys batting 7th and 8th in our line-up would have speed and a good enough OBP. i would not mind aggressive base-running from them, because our 9th guy would not be an RBI guy, anyway. as long as we could take some extra bases and make the opposing pitcher sweat, that would be good enough for me. i would not bat guys who cannot run or are hitting more for power than average 7th or 8th.
ReplyDeleteDickson, I agree except the problem with the Giants is all they have is slow guys with not a lot of power. My ideal line-up would look something like this:
ReplyDeleteTorres CF
Renteria SS
Posey C
Huff RF
Burrell LF
Uribe 3B
Ishikawa 1B
Burriss 2B
It's arguably our best defensive unit and sits ice-cold hitters Sandoval and Sanchez. Burriss gives you more speed and a 3-4-5 of Posey, Huff, Burrell is at least reasonable (I've been wanting Posey to be moved to the 3hole and Huff back down to the 4th hole for the past couple of weeks).
yep, giants are still a very slow team (too slow) even after they got rid of bengie. it's hard to see how they can compete effectively against the better teams later in the season.
ReplyDeletei like the lineup except that i would not bat posey 3rd and huff 4th. i could just see posey singling, huff doubling, and flannery waving posey in, and posey getting hurt. *cringe*
i like batting renteria 2nd, because he's a terrific bunter and can give us more options when torres is at 1st. however, i'd still would give sandoval his share of time in the lineup, just because he is our best chance of beating the really good teams in later in the season.
i don't like ishikawa's offense that much. i think he lacks bat speed. if we could replace him with a player with more speed who can get onbase, i would seriously consider that.