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

A tough loss

Blue Jays 3 - Giants 2

There are going to be tough losses over any 162 game season.  Even the best teams are going to lose at least 50 games in a season.  Most teams are going to lose more.  What makes Thursday's loss to the Blue Jays so tough is that the way that they were unable to score runs off of a mediocre pitcher is the same issue that plagues them a lot of times even when they are winning.

Barry Zito pitched well enough to win today.  It's not often that you give up 4 hits in a complete game and still lose.  It's beginning to be a cliche to say that a Giants pitcher is a tough luck pitcher.  It seems like it will just suffice to say that they are a Giants pitcher.  But Zito has managed to go 7-3 and his resurgence has been one of the better stories of the season.

I am liking Aubrey Huff more and more.  He hit a long fly ball in the 6th and took a moment to look at it while coming out of the box and made it only to second when a lot of people thought he might have made it to 3rd if he ran a little harder.  To his credit he addressed it, didn't make any excuses, and took responsibility for it saying:

"I hit it with all I had, it just didn't go," Huff said. "And a veteran guy like myself, can I get the three if I don't hotdog it a little bit? I don't know. It would have been bang-bang, probably close. I could have given myself a better read on the ball.


"But it's unacceptable. I've got to bust out of the box there. That slight hesitation might have cost me getting to third, but then again even if I'm busting out of the box, I'm not sure if I can get to third. I didn't want to make the first out at third. You've got to go hard. I take responsibility."

Fred Lewis is apparently glad to be out of San Francisco when asked about the trade to Toronto earlier this season he said: “Anything that’s dead should be buried” He also said he would be playing the same anywhere even San Francisco. 

I'm not so sure about that. 

The Fred Lewis is one of the things that makes me irritated with the Giants fan base.  last season the fans were screaming for this guy to be traded for a pack of bubble gum and called Bochy a moron for running him out there every day.  Well this spring they got their wish and Lewis was traded for the MLB equivalent of a pack of gum ($75,000) and has played pretty well.  Now they are saying that the Giants management mismanaged him and it is their fault that Lewis isn't doing what he is now doing in SF.

I believe one of the reasons Fred was playing so poorly was because of the fan reaction towards him.  No matter what they say the players do read the papers and the forums.  The hatred for the kid was so intense it had to have an effect on him.  The change of scenery to Toronto absolutely was needed for him and the Giants fans would do good to remember that next time they want a player traded for so little.  Remember we wanted Jonathan Sanchez gone too.

Nate watch:
Nothing.  Bochy managed to get both Rowand and Molina and they collectively went 0 for 6.