State of the Giants
by Speedforthewin on Apr 20, 2009 9:24 AM PDT
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PrintWe are now 2 weeks into the season, and while the results are not yet what some were expecting, let's step back and look at the big picture:
The Giants sit at 4-8, tied for 4th place in the NL West with Arizona, and are a ahlf a game back of the Rockies for 3rd. The Giants are currently 5.5 games back of the Bums for 1st place.
The pitching, expected to dazzle, has been less than stellar these first few weeks. However, as much frustration as there has been, the Giants sit 9th in the NL in team ERA, at 4.75. Opponents have hit .249 against the Giants, good for 5th in the NL. The staff is also 4th in K's, w/ 100. The Bullpen, while giving up some leads early in the season, is 7th in the NL with a 4.38 ERA. The staring staff has not fared as well, as they are 9th in the NL with a 4.96 ERA. Interestingly enough, the Giants starters are tied for 2nd in the NL in K's, with 69 thus far.
The Offense, expected to improve off of last season's poor performance, has regressed following an impressive opening series. The Giants are 15th in the NL with 37 runs scored. Additionally, the offense is 12th in BA, hitting .239, and 15th in OBP, getting on base at a .297 clip. Individually, while the young hitters are taking most of the blame, poor performances have come from veterans and young players alike. Ishikawa and Aurilia, the 1B platoon (like it or not), have started with BA of .167 and .161, respectively. The starting middle infield of Emmanuel Burriss and Edgar Renteria have started .189 and .200, respectively. Also, Pablo Sandoval (.244) and Randy Winn (.234) are struggling to begin the season. For those who wonder where Nate Schierholtz is in this writeup, he has one less AB than Tim Lincecum. The bright spots have been the play of Fred Lewis and Aaron Rowand, who have carried the team in the first 2 weeks. Lewis is hitting .395 with a .521 OBP, while Rowand is hitting .297 to start the season.
I Just thought I would put the numbers into perspective with the rest of the NL. the team is struggling equally, veterans and youngsters, so the youth movement should not be abandoned for Uribe, Aurilia and McPherson. Nate should probably see some time, but noone knows who I am talking about anyway. The pitching appears to be coming around, but facing the D'Backs offense will do that to you. Thoughts on the first 2 weeks of Giants Baseball?
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Here are my thoughts:
I’d like to see Carney Lansford fine Giants hitters $50,000 for every plate appearance that lasts only one pitch and results in an out.
"Are we bad? No. But right now, we are." Boulderskull, 4.16.09
How about they each have to buy X number of tickets to next home game and give them to local HS in the region. (I would set x at 25 per)
Minor White > Ansel Adams
by say hey nation on Apr 20, 2009 1:01 PM PDT up reply actions
You would do that to those poor high school students?
GROUGTHINK ALERT
Chatterbalks dot com: Still with jokes. Now with updates.
Rowand
Not a bright spot. Especially inflated by the first week. Renteria outhit him in the Arizona series. Pathetic.
by NearestNorwich on Apr 20, 2009 10:26 AM PDT reply actions
First of all, it’s kinda silly to abuse someone for one series. Second, Renteria went .375/.500/.500 in the series so getting outhit by him over that tiny sample is not exactly a badge of shame. If Rowand kept his line at .297/.350/.541 all year I personally would be overjoyed by his performance.
Meet my new son: Sundrendy Windster, coming soon to a minor league near you.
by EliminateMe on Apr 20, 2009 11:05 AM PDT up reply actions
If Rowand kept his line at .297/.350/.541 all year I personally would be overjoyed by his performance run around in circles and pee on the rug.
Disfrute Los Gigantes every day at www.leftymalo.com
Giants hitter bad luck
They have been facing the other team’s top pitchers in each series, and will face Peavy/Young again against SD. Next AZ series is the first where they avoid the other team’s top two pitchers (and probably only because Webb is on the DL). So I would give the offense a bit of a break, facing so many good pitchers, relatively, each series.
Not that they are out of the hole yet, though, I’m just saying we can’t judge them based on just the early season results.
Not surprised about Rowand, he started out hot last year too, this red hot, but then suddenly he was horrible. Hopefully it was his injuries from that early dive that led to that decline, and he can keep it up all year, like he did in 2007 and 2004. That would be the guy we signed and why.
Adoptive parental unit of Ehire Adrianza.
Godfather of Travis Ishikawa.
"I'm really proud to be on this team." - Nate Schierholtz
"Woo hoo" - Tim "The Kid" Lincecum
"Let's go get them in 2009!" - The Kid
by obsessivegiantscompulsive on Apr 20, 2009 11:10 AM PDT reply actions
Oddly (actually, maybe appropriately) enough, the Giants lost the game where they didn’t face a top pitcher.
Judgment Day is coming
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The starting pitching is definately showing signs of life, the starters will not have a 4.96 era the whole year, in fact the only member of the rotation who will probably keep that up is Barry Zito. The offense also should get better, I mean it has too right, RIGHT????
Why does Sabean always look constipated?
i dont think any of us thought the combined worst case scenario of sandoval and ishikawa would occur simultaneously. how sad is it that they are not upgrades, yet, to aurilia at 1st and joe castle at 3rd? hopefully dropping sandoval will get him started, but hell, nobody is really driving in runs on this team anyway.
if i am not mistaken, i also think we are bottom five in walks allowed and dead last in walks taken. that is heinous.
i agree with kitspool, its an embarrassment to be last in the league in walks taken and to have guys swing and get out on a first pitch. it is also an embarrassment to throw so many pitches and walk so many guys. i put the blame on bochy, lansford and righetti, especially with so many young guys that they should be “molding” and with all the veteran guys they needed and got to fix the problems.
i wouldnt mind a ceremonial bloodletting of one of those three to appeases the fertility god.
i adopt Les Plack, D.D.S. for the following reasons:
1. greatest name for occupation ever (except maybe lesbian prostitute sharon bottoms)
2. i am hoping for free dental care from my son (if he ever hears of this)
3. the giants need him more than anyone because their smiles are all they've got right now
by Headhunter Rollins on Apr 20, 2009 11:49 AM PDT reply actions
The Offense, expected to improve off of last season’s poor performance
was it really? I wasn’t expecting it to improve
by FluLikeSymptoms on Apr 20, 2009 12:10 PM PDT reply actions
I still am. I think
Sandoval > Castillo
Renteria > Bocock/Vizquel
Ishikawa >= Aurilia
more than makes up for
Burriss < Durham
Molina2009 <= Molina2008
Osiris, lord of the dead, and relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants.
I stated that because the general consensus I believed was that a full year of Sandoval, a whole year of Lewis, and Ishikawa would combined be upgrades on offense. It is still too early to make a call either way, but this was meant as an early look how the Giants are stacking up against the rest of the NL
Brand new adoptive daddy for the Big Unit. This is one of the only ways a 5' 10" father can have a 6' 10" son.
by Speedforthewin on Apr 21, 2009 6:47 PM PDT up reply actions
The starting rotation was absolutely dominant this weekend. Pablo is warming up at the plate. The Giants are winning at home, something they couldn’t do last year. There’s still plenty of time for the Giants to become the mediocre-to-average team we all thought they could be this year.
Right now Jon Miller is somewhere wearing a flamboyant tie and thinking about me.
I think we need to wait until we’ve played a few more series to accurately assess. Those Blanks stunk , and so did we – just not as bad (and then worse. and then not as bad again.)
NL West TempestTeapot
Nothing matters , and what if it did?
by victor frankenstein on Apr 20, 2009 4:21 PM PDT reply actions
Some bad luck too
Travis Ischikawa has hit several shots right up to the fence only to be caught. He has played some spiffy defense. Pablo is starting to play some better defense after looking horrible the first week. I would like to see them play a speed line-up for a game or two and see what that does. Torres in Center, Lewis in left, Winn in right, Velez at second, Burriss at SS, tje Panda catching, , Ischi at first, and lets try Schierholtz at third. At least it wont take a triple to knock in Molina from third base.
Poor Ishi....
He sure has had a rough week and a half. I think he will eventually pull out of it and start hitting. He kind of seems like a streaky guy; 3 weeks on, two weeks off. Still, I at least hoped he would draw some walks, but he has disappointed mightily on that point so far.
by Squire_Boone on Apr 20, 2009 10:22 PM PDT up reply actions
One out man on third.
Seems like that situation leads to an automatic strike out of whomever is batting. Also our baserunning, has been sucky, and Lewis forgot how to judge a flyball in left.
"And then Rich Aurilla propmtly grounds into a double play."
Proud supporter of the Fightin' Hydrants.
by Little Napoleon on Apr 20, 2009 6:47 PM PDT up reply actions
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