For the first time in years, the San Francisco Giants have a
respectable offense. Led by the trio of all-stars in Melky Cabrera, Buster
Posey and Pablo Sandoval, the Giants have put together an impressive season
thus far offensively.
Only one team in baseball has two players in the top-10 in
batting average (Cabrera and Posey) and the Nationals are the only team other
than the Giants to have two starting pitchers with ERAs under 3.00.
Put together the following five reasons and the Giants have
more than just a realistic shot at the National League pennant.
1. Buster Posey is an
MVP candidate almost solely based on his second half play
As mentioned in the introductory slide, Posey’s .332 average
is good for one of the best in the majors.
That number is even more impressive when you consider his mediocre
.289 first-half average. The nearly fifty-point increase has occurred in the 27
games since the All-Star break in which Posey has hit a scorching .449 with
nine home runs.
Posey may not look like
the prototypical middle-of-the-lineup slugger but he gets the job done
efficiently and effectively. He is a leader in the clubhouse and on the field,
and someone who the Giants will certainly lean on when they make their playoff
push.
He showed he was capable of carrying a heavy load in their
2010 championship and has only gotten better and gained experience in his
nearly two years since then.
2. Melky Cabrera is
leading the offense to the best it’s been in years
Nobody could have expected Melky “The Melk Man” Cabrera to
have the year he is having for the Giants.
Earning All Star Game MVP honors, even rival Dodger Matt
Kemp told him, “you can hit.”
His .348 average does not lie. Cabrera is becoming one of
the games’ best, and the Giants could not be happier. He is a jovial player and
someone who fits nicely into a clubhouse with personalities like Pablo
Sandoval.
The question is, though, would the Royals traded Cabrera if
they knew what they now know?
Probably not.
3. The starting
pitchers may look slightly different, but they are just as dominant
Ryan
Vogelsong is a Cy Young candidate with his impressive 2.72 ERA.
Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner are top-5 in the league with
identical 1.03 WHIP (a sabermetric statistic that measures baserunners per
inning pitched).
Tim Lincecum has been much worse than one would expect of a
two-time Cy Young Award winner, but the Giants will retain hope that he can
figure it out and decrease his abysmal 5.35 ERA.
Even Barry Zito, the most overpaid player on the Giants
roster, is having his best season as a Giant. His 9-8 record is just above .500
and he has put together some rather impressive starts over the course of the
regular season. (And yes, Zito’s “best season” only means so much considering
he has never had a winning record in a Giants uniform nor a season with an ERA
below 4.00.)
As fellow B/R
featured columnist Kyle Brown pointed out, San Francisco’s bullpen may be a
weak spot. But if the starters can limit the innings for the bullpen, that weakness
can be hidden.
4. Hunter Pence’s best
baseball is ahead of him
Hunter Pence’s contract may be daunting, but if he plays to
his true ability, he will be more than worth it.
Pence has undoubtedly gotten off to a very slow start with
the Giants, hitting .154 with one home run in 12 games in the orange and black.
However, his energy is something that will benefit the Giants down the stretch
and he does not have the same pressure that Aaron Rowand did when he came over
from the Philadelphia Phillies.
His three-run
home run to give the Giants the lead in Sunday’s game against the Rockies
may be the trigger that settles Pence down. Not only that, but he has Cabrera
to lean on in the outfield. Pence will find his niche with the Giants.
Once he does that, the San Francisco offense will be right
there with the best in baseball.
5. The Giants have
playoff experience
The current Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds and
Pittsburgh Pirates are all very new to the playoff race. The Braves and the
Dodgers are not even the best teams in their division, even though they are
certainly legitimate threats in the playoffs.
The core nucleus of the 2010 championship team is still in
San Francisco, and even Melky Cabrera and Hunter Pence had some playoff
experience (as members of the New York Yankees and Phillies, respectively).
San Francisco still is not given the respect they
deserve—and have earned—but they will once again show the nation that Giants
baseball is here to torture not
only Giants fans, but also the rest of baseball.
View this article, which was originally published on Bleacher Report, here.
After tonight's game, it sure seems like that's a possibility. For me, our offensive lineup needs at least one player who can reliably get on base before the melky-posey-pablo combo, and then someone to bring any runners in scoring position home. Between Scutaro and Pagan in the upper half, and Pence, Belt (!) and Crawford, I think that can happen. When Pablo gets back into his pre-DL form, our lineup will be better then it has been all year. And After June and the better part of July, that's damn good.
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