The Last 10

Hard for me to say I remember the first three games of the 2012 season. Do you? I didn’t think so. That’s why it’s important to look at what the Giants have done in their last 10 games. So let’s look at what’s happened in the first/last 13 games in the standings and from an offensive perspective:

And a pitching perspective:

Look at how four-ball-patient those Giants hitters are at the plate! Aggressive, yet are not striking out as much as their divisional buddies. Honestly, I’m a little surprised Colorado’s wOBA is as high as it is with them being only 7-6. But they’re the Rockies. The pitching shows us that we don’t walk many people, while our pitching, despite that first round in the rotation and Tim Lincecum doing an over-the-top impression of Barry Zito, is pretty good still.

7-3 in their last 10 against the Rockies, Pirates, Phillies, and one game against the Mets is something you’d shoot for, and the Giants have won 3 of those series, which is the least your team can do for themselves to put themselves in a contending position. The Giants have actually outscored their opposition 40-36 in the last 10 despite nearly half of those runs (17) coming in that dreadful BP session of a game in Colorado. They’ve also thrown 3 shutouts in that time, Matt Cain taking part in 2 of them (with one going to 11 innings, you might’ve heard about it), and Barry Zito masterful in one that had Denver fans steamed.

Players I’m liking: We all (I think) love Pablo, Buster, Matty Cain, MadBum, and want to believe Timmy will come back (I think he’s getting there), but these are guys we’re familiar with. What about the guys we haven’t seen as much? Melky Cabrera. Love this guy, and if you follow me on the 140 character machine, you know I’m the bandwagon leader and quite happy to be driving that vehicle. Clay Hensley is another one I like. His movement on his sinker is straight up sick and Chris from Bay City Ball has some .gifs up on the unfairness that is the sinker. I’m hoping Barry Zito makes a comeback season, but everybody’s taking what we’ve seen with not just a grain, but a whole hill of salt, almost waiting for him to revert back to the San Francisco Zeeter we’ve come to know.

Lukewarm: Angel Pagan. I have a feeling I’m going to really like him more as the year goes on, as Julian from Giants Nirvana has talked about the slow starts for the speed demon before. Brandon Crawford. Nobody is expecting him to produce much offensively, but his defensive woes have me a little concerned, but if Troy Tulowitzki can go through it, why can’t @BCraw35?

Players I’m not liking: Emmanuel Burriss. If Burriss was allowed to start his offensive stuff at 1st base, I’d probably love him, but that’s not how baseball works. Bruce Bochy. Driving me absolutely nuts more often than not, especially with the baby giraffe, although recently it appears he has been getting more of a leash than he did in the games following the DBacks series. He has a difficult job though, I will give him that.

Smacktalk in Socal

Recently I’ve had a lot of Dodger fans coming up to me talking about their beloved Los Angeles Dodgers. Who wouldn’t be excited starting 11-3? But it’s fun to stay calm and ask them who they’ve played (6-0 vs. San Diego, which is still good; 3-0 vs. Pittsburgh; 1-2 at Milwaukee; 1-0 vs. Houston), and while it probably makes me a bad person, it makes me happy to have shut ’em up a little. Give them credit, they have beat the teams they’re supposed to beat, but it’s hard to say they’ve earned the “favorite to win the West” title. They’re a team to watch, not the team to beat.