With the first half of the season over. No one including myself expected the Giants to have a record like they have. We knew they would have a chance to win games cause they had a good starting staff on paper. Well they starters came out and pitched just as well as advertised!
I did expect Lincecum to go out and pitch like he did last year. He’s been
doing that and has been on fire as of late. He’s even starting the All Star Game for the National League. Everyone kept saying Randy Johnson would just try for 5 wins and then shut down. Randy Johnson is an intense pitcher when he’s on the mound. There is no way this guy doesn’t try to go out there and go balls out every time he takes the mound. I did expect Matt Cain to have a good year, but 10 wins by the All Star break. Wow – that’s above and beyond what anyone could have asked for by this point of the season. We have two guys (Lincecum & Cain) that can be in it for the Cy Young Award. Zito has shown some good games and some bad games, but still better than last year. Sanchez was finally going to show up what he has this year and then ended up losing his starting spot in the rotation. Then he came back to the rotation because of a Randy Johnson injury. Sanchez then tosses a “No-Hitter”!
The Giants have the 2nd best home record in the National League. I know nobody seen that coming with this young unproven team. The NL West was said to be the weakest division in the NL this year. I guess all the experts were way wrong, cause the Giants have the Wild Card lead right now too. With that said the Giants still have a lot of upgrades they can do to help their batting order. They have been linked to a few different trade rumors. I know some fans think they should stay as is and roll the dice with these kids. I would make a deal if there is one to be made without giving up the farm. If they can’t get a big bat. I would at least make a trade to bring in a decent bat. Just someone to help spark the lineup. Many names have been linked – Uggla, Holliday, F-Sanchez, Dunn, Johnson, Dye, V-Mart and others. I wouldn’t make any trades that would include Bumgarner or Posey, but we do have guys in the minors that we can trade that have some value.
It would nice to see a big bat behind Pablo Sandoval. This guy can flat out hit. He’s hitting .333 with 15 home runs at the All Star Break. Sandoval is a guy that I try to see every AB. The last Giants player I needed to see every AB was Barry Bonds. Pablo is turning into a fan favorite very quickly. Giants fans should be proud of him since he came up through our system and is only 22 years old. We still have a lot more Sandoval ahead of us.
Even though the Giants are playing good ball right now. The are 10 games over .500 and still 7 games back of the Dodgers. They still have a long road ahead of them. If they can stay focused on trying to catch the Dodgers that might help them stay at top of the Wild Card Race. It’s very doubtful that they will catch the Dodgers but anything can happen with half of a season still left.
~King of Cali