Morse, Bumgarner named San Francisco Giants’ weekly MVP’s

I choose one position player and one pitcher as MVP each week from the San Francisco Giants.  I looked at the games from last Sunday (May 25th 8-1 victory over Twins), through Saturday, May 31st (2-0 loss to Cardinals).  

Michael (Clutch) Morse is this week’s selection for San Francisco Giants’ MVP from the position players; Madison Bumgarner gets the award for the pitchers.  Morse batted .455 with a .500 on-base percentage, and had nine RBI’s, five of them with two outs.  Bumgarner won two games for the Giants, pitching 14 innings, giving up one run, while striking out twenty.

The Giants had a 5-2 week, taking the final game from the Twins, and taking two of three from both the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals.  The fourth and final game of the St. Louis series was played on Sunday.  Going into Sunday’s game, San Francisco had the best record in baseball, and Michael Morse and Madison Bumgarner were huge reasons why.

Oh, Pablo Sandoval had another monster week, batting .434 with a  .565 on-base percentage, but he had only five RBI’s and did not have the same impact as Morse.  No other pitcher won two games last week and no other pitcher struck out twenty batters.

Michael Morse began his week by clobbering three doubles on Sunday, as he helped Madison Bumgarner forget that awful outing back in 2011, when the Twins rattled Madison for eight runs in the first inning on the way to an 8-3 win over Bumgarner and the Giants.  Morse even added a sacrifice fly to bring his RBI total to four.  The Giants won handily, 8-1.

In Sunday’s game Bumgarner pitched seven innings, giving up one run (on a sacrifice fly), while striking out ten and walking none.  He even drew a walk leading off the fifth, and scored when Morse hit his second of three doubles.

Jun 1, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA;San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner (40) delivers a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals during game two of a doubleheader at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

On Monday, Morse went two for three with a single and a triple, while adding a walk and scoring a run.  On Tuesday he went two for four, with a single and a double, while knocking in a two-out run.  Bruce Bochy gave him a well-deserved day off on Wednesday.

Thursday, Morse was back to business as usual at the office.  He went two for four with a home run and a double, while knocking in three runs, two of them with two outs.

Friday Morse went two for four with a single and a double, added a walk, and drove in a two-out run.  Saturday, he had one of the three Giants’ hits, a double.  For the week Michael Morse totaled 23 bases.

In the second game of the St. Louis series, Bumgarner again pitched seven innings, while again striking out ten.  This time he allowed no runs, but he did walk one.  For the month of May, Bumgarner went 5-0.  Had the Giants been able to snag that game on Saturday, it would have given them 20 victories in a month for the first time since 2003. 

Bumgarner managed to single in Friday’s game and once again he scored, a clear indication that his .238 batting average is no joke.  He helps his own cause on a regular basis, including that grand slam he hit against the Rockies earlier this year.

Michael Morse and Madison Bumgarner are the two guys who really upped their game this week, contributing to a red-hot Giants team that is attempting to cope with a couple of key injuries.  Guys are picking each other up, and not trying to do too much at the plate because they know the next man up will get it done if that’s what it takes.

Right now it takes monster weeks like the one the Morse and Bumgarner just produced to give the Giants the best record in baseball.  Next week it will be two other guys’ turn.  After all, they all want to be MVP, even if just for a week.

Pablo Sandoval hit .434 for the week with two home runs and five RBI’s. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports