Giants hang tough in crucial series vs. Arizona

In what is easily the biggest series of the year for the defending World Champion Giants, they got off to a good start last night, defeating the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks 6-2. Their victory also snapped Arizona's nine-game win streak, which helped the Snakes vault to a commanding six game lead in the division prior to their loss. The Giants' work isn't finished however, as they will definitely have to sweep the series in order to stay alive in the NL West. While the deficit San Francisco faces isn't insurmountable (five games back with 24 left), the season has definitely gotten to the point where they almost need Arizona to cool off a bit for them to come back.

The scary thing about the Diamondbacks however, is that they look legitimate this year. They don't have that "fluke" feel to them like San Diego did last year, not to mention that Arizona actually got hotter in late August as opposed to last year's Padres. Ian Kennedy is quietly putting together a fantastic year in their rotation, as he enters today with a 17-4 record and a 3.03 ERA in 187.1 innings. Justin Upton is leading their offense in nearly every major statistical category, including batting average (.295), home runs (26), RBIs (80), OBP (.374) and hits (152). While their team ERA ranks a pedestrian ninth in the NL at 3.88, they are fifth in the NL in runs scored with 614. Arizona is also just one of two teams with a positive run differential in the division at +35 (the lackluster, third-place Dodgers are the other at +8).

The Giants certainly will not go out quietly, as Matt Cain twirled a gem for them last night, and they have Tim Lincecum on the hill this afternoon against Kennedy. However, time is running out for the defending champs, and it is against a team that may be a little better than people give them credit for. At this point, the Diamondbacks can go just 13-11 the rest of the way to finish with 91 wins, while the Giants will need to go 18-6 just to match them. They still have five games left against each other, including the final two of this weekend's series. If the Giants want to have another shot at October glory, they better get busy.

The Greatest Pitching Duel in Baseball History

Before July 2 comes to a close, I thought I would inform you baseball fans out there of a very special anniversary.

On this day in 1963, future Hall of Fame pitchers Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn locked horns in perhaps the most epic pitching duel of all-time. The game went scoreless into the 16th inning, with both starting pitchers still on the hill!

Giants manager Alvin Dark tried several times to take Marichal out of the game, but "The Dominican Dandy" refused, saying that as long as the 42-year-old Spahn was still out there, he was staying in (Marichal was only 25).

Willie Mays would end the game with a walk-off homer off of Spahn in the bottom of the 16th, as the Giants won 1-0.

What a game!

Here is the boxscore from the game, courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

It's easy to say that we will never see a game quite like this one ever again.

The 30 Team/30 Day Report Cards: Day 26- San Francisco Giants

Finally, we have reached the reigning World Champions, the San Francisco Giants! Let's take a look at how the 2010 season fared for the G-Men.

San Francisco Giants
Record: 92-70 (NL West Champions, two games ahead of San Diego. World Series Champions).

Batting Leaders
Batting Average: Aubrey Huff (.290)
Home Runs: Aubrey Huff (26)
RBIs: Aubrey Huff (86)
On-base Percentage: Aubrey Huff (.385)

Pitching Leaders
Wins: Tim Lincecum (16)
Strikeouts: Tim Lincecum (231)
Innings Pitched: Tim Lincecum (223.1)
ERA: Jonathan Sanchez (3.07). Bullpen- Brian Wilson (1.81).
WHIP: Matt Cain (1.08). Bullpen- Sergio Romo (0.97).
Saves: Brian Wilson (48)

Highlight of the Year: On November 1, the Giants defeated the Texas Rangers in Game 5 of the World Series 3-1 to take home their first championship in 56 years.

Lowlight of the Year: Following a 4-3, 15-inning loss in Colorado on July 4, the Giants sat at just 41-40 on the season, 7.5 games behind San Diego.

The Lowdown:
The San Francisco Giants made an improbable run at the World Series championship last fall, built largely off the strength of their outstanding pitching. While many prognosticators believed the Giants would be a tough team, many did not see them taking the division, as Los Angeles and Colorado appeared to be stronger heading into the season. However, as we all know, baseball does not play out the way we expect it to, and surprisingly enough, the San Diego Padres shockingly took control of the division for most of the summer.

Heading down the stretch into September, the Giants were able to gain steam just as the Padres were losing theirs. San Francisco got white-hot in September, going 18-8 to catch and eventually surpass the fading Padres. However, the division would not be decided until the last day of the season, as the Giants were finally able to extinguish the Padres 3-0 to take the NL West for the first time since 2003.

While the Giants were not necessarily underdogs against the banged-up Braves in the Division Series, they were huge underdogs against the well-stacked Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS. With the way the Phils blitzed through the Reds in the first-round, another National League Pennant seemed like a mere formality for Charlie Manuel's crew. Nonetheless, the Giants shocked everyone with the way their lineup (universally regarded as one of the weakest in baseball) ran right through the formidable trio of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. Their pitching also was able to stay on point facing a powerful offense, and San Francisco was able to take down the Phillies in six games, in one of the more shocking postseason upsets in recent memory.

Seeking their first title since moving to San Francisco did not appear to be easy on the outset, as the Giants would take on the Texas Rangers, another team with a long World Series drought, and one that also featured a fantastic offense and solid pitching. Even though many thought the World Series would be a close one, it nearly turned out to be a laugher, as the Giants made easy work of Texas in five games to finally bring a World Series trophy home to San Francisco. They weren't the prettiest team in baseball, nor did they feature a great deal of star-power. Their lineup was essentially the Island of Misfit Toys, consisting of a bunch of castoffs from other teams. However, they featured some of the best pitching in baseball all year long, and their lineup, albeit flawed, was able to come through with clutch hits time and time again.

Offense:
As mentioned earlier, the Giants were not a strong team at all offensively, as their main power source resided in the bat of Aubrey Huff. The former Baltimore Orioles castoff led the Giants in nearly every major offensive department, including home runs (26), RBIs (86), batting average (.290), on-base percentage (.385) and hits (165). Huff proved to be the unexpected anchor of the offense last year, as Pablo Sandoval suffered from a sophomore slump. "Kung Fu Panda" was very sub-par last year, hitting only .268 (a 62 point drop-off from 2009), with just 13 home runs and 63 RBIs. Even though Sandoval's lack of hitting crippled the offense, Huff stepping up to jump into the void left by Sandoval was huge.

The Giants also received some unexpected power from shortstop Juan Uribe, as he would hit 24 home runs and drive in 85, both career highs. The team also received help from rookie catcher Buster Posey, who joined the club on May 29th and helped spark their run to the Series title (more on Posey in the "Wild Card" section). Other major contributors include Freddy Sanchez (.292 average in 111 games) and Pat Burrell (18 home runs in 96 games).

Overall, the Giants finished 17th in runs scored (697), 15th in batting average (.257), 11th in home runs (162), 19th in on-base percentage (.321) and 13th in slugging (.408). All in all, the numbers suggest that they weren't terrible, but really it's just another classic case of the whole being better than the sum of their parts.
Final Grade: C-

Pitching:
The real backbone of this team resides in their pitching, however. Anchoring their staff at the top of the rotation were their two mainstays, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. While Lincecum wasn't able to garner his third-consecutive Cy Young Award last year, he was still terrific for the Giants, going 16-10 with 231 strikeouts in 212.1 innings. Even though his ERA rose by nearly a full run in 2010 to 3.43, that rise was more indicative of a sluggish August for "The Freak," a month in which he featured an ERA of 7.82.

Matt Cain was also able to follow up a terrific 2009 campaign with another one last year, going 13-11 with a 3.14 ERA and a WHIP of 1.08. His innings total also rose to a career-high this past season, as the 26-year-old righty logged 223.1 of them, a modest rise by six.

Behind those two was lefty Jonathan Sanchez, who seemed to figure things out last year. Sanchez finished with the lowest ERA in the rotation at 3.07, along with finishing 13-9 with 205 strikeouts. His emergence will undoubtedly give the Giants an extra element of intimidation heading into 2011, as they will feature three quality starters who are each good enough to shut down any team's offense.

Also emerging onto the scene last year was lefty Madison Bumgarner. While the 21-year-old lefty only started 18 games last year, he showed off flashes of potential, recording a solid 3.00 ERA during the regular season before going on to have a fantastic postseason, going 2-0 with a 2.18 ERA. His performance against the Rangers in the World Series definitely caught the attention of many people, throwing eight shutout innings while showing great poise working through a fantastic lineup.

The Giants' bullpen was also very strong last year, finishing with the second-best ERA in the game at 2.99. Leading the way in the 'pen was eccentric closer Brian Wilson, who recorded a major-league best 48 saves last year. His 1.81 ERA was also the best among Giants relievers.

While Wilson usually receives most of the accolades from their bullpen (and deservedly so), there are others whose performances are worth noting. Set-up man Sergio Romo appeared in 68 games last year, and he was lights-out, recording 21 holds, a 2.18 ERA, a WHIP of 0.97 and 70 strikeouts in just 62 innings. Santiago Casilla was also great out of the 'pen last year, recording a 1.95 ERA in 52 appearances.

The Giants staff collectively would finish first in the majors in ERA (3.36), first in "batting average against" (.236), third in quality starts (95), fourth in WHIP (1.27) and 27th in home runs allowed (134). If you were to call this staff the best in baseball right now based off their performance last year, you wouldn't get too much of an argument from people.
Final Grade: A+

Wild Card: Buster Posey
While Atlanta's Jason Heyward certainly made a strong case for winning Rookie of the Year, the award ended up going to catcher Buster Posey, and deservedly so. Posey joined the team on May 29th, and he impressed nearly everyone in baseball, hitting .305 with 18 homers and 67 RBIs in just 108 games. The 23-year-old was also thrust into the challenging position of managing a pitching staff mid-way through the season that featured Cy Young Award winners Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito, not to mention the experienced Matt Cain. Posey not only handled this with ease, he handled this challenge with aplomb as well. His rise to this unique challenge culminated with the team winning the World Series. As the late broadcaster Mel Allen would often say, "How about that?"
Final Grade: A+

Overall:
Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper summed up the Giants season succinctly last year following the conclusion of one game. He simply said, "Giants baseball: torture." While watching some of their games certainly had to be torturous for their fans last year, being able to parade down Market Street in downtown San Francisco following their World Championship had to be pure bliss.
Final Grade: A+

Check back soon for the report card on the Minnesota Twins!

True devotion to your team

While going through my daily routine of combing through baseball stories and headlines today, there were two stories that really caught my attention. The first one, which comes from the New York Times' website, details how a particular segment of fans in New York are being shut out from the NLCS and World Series because of the Cablevision dispute with Fox. The other story comes from ESPNNewYork.com, which is a writer's reminiscence about becoming a baseball fan in New York during the game's golden age. The most striking thing about each story though, are who those fans are. They are San Francisco Giants fans, but more appropriately, they are New York Giants fans at heart, people who never quit on their team despite the heartbreaking move 3,000 miles west 52 years ago.

I find it remarkable that there are still people around New York City who have never given up their allegiance to the baseball Giants. Even in spite of the unconscionable decision that then-Giants owner Horace Stoneham decided to make in 1958, these fans have never given up on their loyalty to their team. I even thought about how difficult it must have been to continue to follow the team despite being 3,000 miles and three times zones away. Both articles describe how a broadcaster by the name of Les Keiter would recreate Giants games for listeners in New York for the three years after the team left, but once the Mets came into existence in 1962, that was no longer necessary.

Over the last 52 years, there were plenty of opportunities for them to jump off the bandwagon. They stuck with their team after losing the 1962 World Series to the despicibale New York Yankees. These few and dedicated fans still stuck with the Giants, even after the Mets came to town (although I have a sneaking suspicion that they likely have adopted the Mets as their other favorite team). Even with waning interest, they hung with them through a nasty 23 year dry spell between 1963 and 1986, that saw the team make the postseason just once, and even then, they were no match for the eventual World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1971.

These fans likely had to watch their Giants whenever they came to town to play the Mets, or if time allowed, they could have made the trip south to Philadelphia. It really is remarkable that they managed to stick with their team through all these years, especially when the majority of that time, technology was very limited for them to keep up with their team. During the 1960s and 1970s, the only way these people could have kept up with Mays, McCovey and Marichal if they weren't on national television was to follow the box scores in the morning paper (which wouldn't be present if the game started on the West Coast until two days later), or by picking up copies of The Sporting News. Fortunately for these dedicated few, technology started to cooperate with them over the course of the last 15 years, especially with the advent of the internet, the expansion of cable television and the MLB extra innings package being offered in homes and bars everywhere. Could this be their reward for sticking with their team after all these years? While it might be nice, I'm sure the reward they're looking for is for the Giants to get just two more wins in this year's World Series, which will be their first title since they still called the Polo Grounds home over a half a century ago.

What on earth is happening to the San Diego Padres?

Earlier this afternoon, the San Diego Padres fell at home to the Colorado Rockies by a score of 6-2 to lose their ninth consecutive game. The Friars, in that time span, have seen their six game lead dwindle down to just a meager 2.5 games pending the outcome of the Giants/Dodgers game later this evening. This substantial slide has made many people wonder if this is indeed it for the Padres, who have basically been baseball's version of "The Little Engine That Could" the entire season.

Around the beginning of the season, many prognosticators (myself included) had the Padres tabbed for a last-place finish in the National League West. In fact, you might have been lucky to see anyone who had them picked to finish above fourth place this year. However, one of the beautiful things about baseball is that when you watch the season unfold, you always have the chance to see something unexpected happen, and the Padres have been a prime example of this. They have shocked everybody in the baseball world up to this point by not only contending, but by leading the National League West for the majority of the season over heavy favorites like the Giants, Rockies and Dodgers.

The Padres are not a flashy team, and they certainly are not a team that lends itself to excitement. In today's homer-happy culture in baseball, the Padres are decidedly different than most teams, as they are absolutely reliant on their pitching to win them ballgames. Their starting rotation that features Mat Latos, Jon Garland, Clayton Richard, Kevin Correia and Wade LeBlanc is arguably the best in baseball in 2010, and those who would even bother to argue against that are likely just playing devil's advocate. Their starting pitching had to be the best in the game this year in order for this team to survive, since their 579 runs scored as a team ranks 12th in the National League and 21st overall in MLB. Their starting staff has not only met many people's expectations, they have went above and beyond them.

The starting staff cannot do it all by themselves though. The Friars have featured the best bullpen in all of baseball by far this year, with a fearsome trio of Luke Gregerson, Mike Adams and Heath Bell closing out games. With the combination of a rock-solid starting rotation and a bullpen that slams the door shut on rallies time and time again, it's no wonder why the Padres have the best team ERA in baseball at 3.36.

However, this team has had their fair share of detractors and non-believers this season. They'll point out the fact that their starters are overachieving, their bullpen is being overworked, and that their lineup is anemic, even with Adrian Gonzalez. All throughout the season, they have been waiting for the other shoe to drop with this team, and for most of the time, they have been coming away disappointed. Now that the Padres are suffering through their worst slump of the season, everybody- supporters and detractors alike- is eagerly waiting to see what will become of baseball's biggest surprise this season. Do the Padres have the intestinal fortitude to snap out of this slump and ride on to the postseason, or has midnight finally struck for this Cinderella team? They still have a whopping seven games left with second-place San Francisco, including the final three games of the season at AT&T Park in early October. When looking at the glass half-full, you could say that this slump is just a prelude to what could be a fantastic finish in the NL West. In the meantime, I'll just hope that this is nothing more than just a temporary slump for the Padres. Besides, what fun would a pennant race be if you didn't have the twists and turns that come with it?

The 30 Day/30 Team Report Cards: Day 23- San Francisco Giants

We're "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" today, as the 23rd report card in our series will be issued to the San Francisco Giants. Let's see how things shook out for them in '09.

San Francisco Giants:
Record: 88-74 (Third place in the NL West, seven games behind Los Angeles).

Batting Leaders:
Batting Average: Pablo Sandoval (.330)
Home Runs: Pablo Sandoval (25)
RBIs: Pablo Sandoval (90)
On-base Percentage: Pablo Sandoval (.387)

Pitching Leaders:
Wins: Tim Lincecum (15)
ERA: Tim Lincecum (2.48). Bullpen- Jeremy Affeldt (1.73).
Strikeouts: Tim Lincecum (261)
Innings Pitched: Tim Lincecum (225.1)
WHIP: Tim Lincecum (1.05)
Saves: Brian Wilson (38)

Highlight of the Season: Tie between Jonathan Sanchez's no-hitter versus San Diego on July 10, and Randy Johnson's 300th career victory in Washington on June 4.

Lowlight of the Season: Losing four out of their last six games against the Dodgers in September, which cost them a shot at the division title.

The Lowdown:
The Giants, much like yesterday's Texas Rangers, made a big turnaround in 2009 themselves, as they improved from a paltry 72 wins in '08 to 88 this year. This was largely based off of the strength of their pitching staff, which was arguably the best in baseball this season. They received another Cy Young performance out of young starter and staff ace Tim Lincecum, as well as great performances out of Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Barry Zito, and to a lesser extent, Randy Johnson, who was 45 for most of the year. They definitely needed their pitching to come through, as their lineup was one of the most anemic ones in MLB this season.

Offense:
Perhaps the only bright spot in the Giants' lineup this past season was third baseman Pablo Sandoval. The 23-year-old switch-hitter- who is known affectionately as "Kung Fu Panda"- put together a spectacular breakout season in his second year in the bigs, as he hit .330, with 25 home runs and 90 RBIs. He also got on base at a solid clip of .387, and hit 44 doubles, as well. He was clearly the person who carried this lineup, as no other regular hit over .270 on the season. In fact, only him and catcher Bengie Molina hit at least 20 home runs this season, as Molina checked in at 20 on the spot.

The Giants would finish 26th in runs scored (657), 29th in home runs (122), 25th in batting average (.257) and dead last (30th) in on-base percentage (.309). Even though this team had a great year, their lineup certainly wasn't the biggest reason for their success.
Final Grade: F

Pitching:
Their pitching however, was the complete opposite of their hitting in 2009. The Giants put together arguably the best pitching staff in baseball, one that was led by the eventual back-to-back Cy Young Award winner, Tim Lincecum. Even though his win total was relatively low for a Cy Young Award winner (15), the wins do not tell the complete story with him, as he got virtually no run support from their weak lineup. All 15 wins of his were well-earned. He also recorded a 2.48 ERA on the season, which was the second-lowest in the NL and the third-lowest in MLB, to go along with a National League-leading 261 strikeouts. His minuscule 1.05 WHIP was also the fourth-best in the bigs. Despite having such a young arm, manager Bruce Bochy was not afraid to let him go deep into games, as evidenced with his 225.1 innings pitched, which was 10th in MLB. You can't really blame Bochy for working him hard though; Lincecum is one of the best pitchers in baseball, and he showed everyone why once again this year.

Backing him up was a solid trio of Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Barry Zito. Cain put together the best year of his career to date, as he went 14-8, with a 2.89 ERA in 217.2 innings. Sanchez, despite the somewhat poor 8-12 record, fashioned a solid 177 strikeouts in 163.1 innings, to go along with twirling the Giants' first no-hitter in over 30 years on July 10 against San Diego. He was nearly perfect that evening, as the only thing that got between him and perfection was an error by Juan Uribe at third base in the eighth inning of that game.

Rounding out the great performances of the Giants' staff was former Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito. He was able to rebound from a truly horrendous 2008, as he went 10-13 this year with a 4.03 ERA, a great contrast from a 10-17 season in 2008, with a 5.15 ERA. His improved 2009 season was likely a result of him being dropped in the rotation, which enabled him to face more inferior starters. Still, the improved season from him has to have the Giants feeling more confident about him entering 2010.

Their bullpen also put together some great performances, even if they didn't have to pitch nearly as many innings as some of their rivals. The quartet of Jeremy Affeldt, Bob Howry, Brandon Medders and closer Brian Wilson all put together sparkling ERAs of 1.73, 3.39, 3.01 and 2.74, respectively. All four also appeared in over 60 games, with Affeldt leading the way with 74 appearances. Plus, despite a high total of seven blown saves, Wilson still proved to be pretty dominant closing out games, as evidenced in his 83 strikeouts in 72.1 innings.

Overall, the Giants finished second in ERA (3.55), first in complete games (11), first in shutouts (18), tied for the least amount of runs given up (611), had more strikeouts than anyone (1302), and opponents hit only .236 off of them, the second-lowest in MLB. In my opinion, this was the best pitching staff in baseball last year, especially when you take into account that nobody was getting any run support on this staff.
Final Grade: A+

Wild Card: Youth
While the Giants have been chastised in years past for fielding older teams, they have a great young nucleus in Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Pablo Sandoval. Having these four on your team has to give any Giants fan hope for the future.
Final Grade: A+

Overall:
Considering how bad their lineup was last year, it was quite remarkable that this team managed to stay in contention for all of that time. That just makes their pitching staff look all the more better, since they were the ones that kept the team in the race until the end. If their pitching continues their dominance of National League hitters next year, they should still be right there in the thick of contention.
Final Grade: B

Check back soon for the report card on the St. Louis Cardinals!

Tim Lincecum, your National League Cy Young Award winner (again)!

I don't have much to say today, so I would like to send my congrats to San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum for winning his second consecutive Cy Young Award today. He narrowly beat out Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter in voting, 100 to 94. Surprisingly enough, Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright actually received more first place votes (12) than Lincecum (11). The difference maker, however, was the fact that Lincecum received more second-place votes (15) than Wainwright (5). It was because of this that Wainwright actually finished third in voting behind Carpenter and Lincecum.

Well, enough of confusing you with the convoluted voting system for writers. Just enjoy it for what it is. A young pitcher moving into the upper echelon of MLB. Congrats once again to Lincecum! Somehow, I get the feeling that this won't be the last time he wins one.