Giants muscle up! Are they better than last year?

Giants 9 - Blue Jays 6

If you told me before today's game started that the Blue Jays were going to score 6 runs I would have told you that the Giants were going to lose.  However Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez, and Pat Burrell each hit homeruns to make up for a shaky start by Jonathan Sanchez on the way to the Giants scoring 9 runs in their 9-6 victory in Toronto. 

This Giants team is tough to figure out.  In the previous 4 games they had been held to 2 runs or less 3 out of the last 4 games.  One of those games they were shut out and another they only scored one run.  This stretch prompted everyone to wonder if the offensive explosion that the Giants flashed on the last homestand was a fluke. 

This made me wonder if the Giants are a better team than they were last year?

It's still tough to tell even after the Giants scored 9 runs today.  It brought their season record on the road to 14-18 which isn't as bad as their 36-45 record on the road last season but it's not much better. They have slightly increased their runs per game from 4.1 last season to 4.3,  their team ERA is down to 3.31 from 3.35, and their team batting average has gone from .257 up to .263.  All this has translated to a record right now of 38-30, last year they were 37-31 after 68 games so they are exactly 1 game better this year at this time than they were last year.

The Giants brass really will need to make a splash at the trading deadline to significantly change this team over the rest of the season.  There aren't that many big names out there.   Right now we have David Dejesus, Lance Berkman, Miguel Tejada, Derrek Lee, Carlos Lee, and Paul Konerko.  Kelly Johnson is possibly available too but it's tough to see Arizona dealing him within the division.

So what options do the Giants have out of those guys? Berkman and the two Lees are all batting in the low .200s.  I don't think the Giants can afford anymore automatic outs since they already have Rowand and Molina.  Tejada is batting a decent .271 and Dejesus is batting .331 but these two have combined for 9 home runs total and pop is what the Giants need right now. 

This leaves Paul Konerko as the guy the Giants MUST get.  I know I sound like a broken record but this guy is hitting .294/.396/.974 with 17 HRs.  he is the best option on the market.  Sure, his arrival will finally send Bengie Molina to the bench, but the Giants need this kind of power in the lineup rather than hoping that Pat Burrell can provide it.  With him you have a potential lineup of:

Torres CF, Sanchez 2B, Huff LF, Konerko 1B, Uribe SS, Sandoval 3B, Posey C, Schierholtz RF.  However more likely we would see a linup along the lines of: Torres CF, Sanchez 2B, Huff RF, Konerko 1B, Sandoval 3B, Uribe SS, Posey C, Burrell LF.  Either way I like it a lot better than what we are throwing out there right now.

Nate Watch:
Nate got in the game and did not get an AB.  Rowand on the other hand got 5 ABs collecting a hit in one of them.  He is batting a robust .220