Giants vs. Braves: Series Recap

Well that sucked.

It seems the Easter Bunny hid a lot more than candy from the San Francisco Giants.

After playing arguably their best ball of the season in Arizona and Colorado, the Giants promptly flushed all momentum down the toilet after being swept at home by the Atlanta Braves.

He's just crazy enough to do it...

There are a lot of reasons this weekend didn't go well. In probably the most encouraging moment of the series, KB suggested, "maybe the Braves are just paying them back for the playoffs. See! I remembered they played the Braves in the playoffs!" I seriously feel like Henry Higgins sometimes. And she is my Eliza Doolittle. "The hit and run stays mainly on the #2 hitter."

Playoff redemption certainly could have had something to do with it. I'm sure the Braves were amped to play the team that ended their season.

But more than that was the fact that the Giants just aren't playing very well. Their offense is their offense. Like a John Cusak movie, we know what we're going to get there. The real issue is they've had inconsistent starting pitching (particularly from Bumgarner) and their defense simply isn't playing at the level that a team build on starting pitching requires. A team built around starting pitching and winning low scoring games needs, at worst, average defense. And you can't spell Miguel Tejada without spelling "Jamtag" which in Finnish of course means "below-average defense."

Friday, April 22
After a glimpse of improvement in Phoenix, Madison Bumgarner once again imploded his second time through the lineup. After two perfect innings, Bumgarner failed to get out of the 3rd, lasting only 2.2 innings, giving up 4 runs, 3 earned (Tejada) and throwing 67 pitches. Everyone knows what a tremendous jump in innings Bumgarner had in 2010 and its likely that extra workload is causing some of his early season struggles in 2011. What will be interesting to see is how he comes out of it. I'm sure management would like to get him extra rest, but he has now become a integral part of this team's plan. Without Bumgarner, the Giants are looking at three solid starters and two question marks. The difference between a team having four solid starters and three solid starters is enormous.

At the dish, the Giants managed only 3 hits off the Braves' Tommy Hanson. As I said in my preview, Hanson is a great pitcher and the Giants would have had a tough time beating him even if Bumgarner had gone 6 or 7 innings. But you can't win many games with only 3 hits, regardless of what your pitcher does.

Saturday, April 23
Giants fans love all the characters on their team. Part of what makes the group so special is the absence of any true prima donna who hogs the spotlight. That said, Tim Lincecum is special. Anyone who watched the World Series Ring ceremony and heard the roar he received knows that to be true. He's the one. Everything else can go wrong as long as Tim is Tim. So when Tim struggles, I think it takes a bigger toll on fan morale. If Jesus can't slay the dragon, how does anyone else stand a chance? As Kevin Malone would say, call it.

Lincecum walked 6 batters in 6.1 innings, including the pitcher and Nate McClouth. Four of those walks led either directly to runs or put a runner in scoring position who would eventually score.

The Giants offense gathered 9 hits, but mustered only 2 runs.

Sunday, April 24
If there were going to be a way for the Giants to win only one game against the Braves but still leave town with some momentum, Sunday's game was it. Almost.

After going down 5-2 in the 7th, the Giants did the unthinkable and scored 4 in the bottom of the 7th to take a 6-5 lead. They were 6 outs away from stealing at least one win and leaving for some R&R at Club Med Pittsburgh. And let's face it, 1 run leads in the 8th inning is what the Giants do. They had it right where they wanted it

That is, until Dan Uggla got it right where he wanted it. I'm not calling myself Nostradamus, but: "Don't expect [the slow start] to last however, particularly with Uggla. He murdered the Giants in his trip to AT&T last year and you know he'll be looking to break out soon." He didn't have many hits, but he got one when he needed it. He kills the ball at AT&T and Sunday was no exception.

The Good:

The Bad:
While I was tempted to select Lincecum for his 6 walks (including the pitcher), Jeremy Affeldt's performance on Sunday takes the cake. While he wasn't protecting a lead, he was trying to hold a tie in the 7th inning. Going 3 balls 0 strikes and eventually walking Brandon Hicks (hitless on the year) and then walking Martin Prado on four pitches just can't happen -- particularlly when it proceeds a home run from Jason Heyward. While the Giants were able to comeback and take the lead, it was a dreadful inning from Affedlt that put the Giants in a three run hole late in the game. Affedlt is now sporting a 4.82 ERA with 9 hits and 5 walks in 9.1 innings.

Play of the Series:
Aaron Rowand with a huge two-out, two-strike double to cap a four run 7th and take the lead:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=14143377

Gag of the Series:
Sergio Romo: "Hey Slider, wanna hang?"
Slider: "Sure! How about right now?
Dan Uggla (from off-stage): Muahahaha!
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=14143715

Song of the Week:

In Summary:
As the great Dennis Green once said, "They are who we thought they were."

It was a frustrating weekend for the Giants, particularly considering they came off a 4-2 road trip and are embarking on another winnable trip this week. They had a chance to string a few series victories together and finally get in that much elusive groove. But let's not kid ourselves. This isn't devastating.  Not yet anyway.

The Giants are not a great team. They're sitting just below .500 and 4 games back in the NL West. But honestly, what were we expecting?

The Giants won the World Series last year after catching fire and burning white hot from September 1st on. But what were they before that time? Essentially, the same team we have right now.

We have an almost identical lineup and rotation and shouldn't be surprised to be receiving similar results. Winning the World Series will obviously elevate expectations considerably, but there's no reason to think the Giants are suddenly going to be one of the elite teams in baseball. They weren't considered "elite" at any point last year, that is until they put together 18 straight pitching gems, shocked the world and won the Series. And there's simply no way they're going to be in the same kind of zone in April 2011 that they were in October 2010. Not yet.

On Deck:
Whoever was in charge of putting the Giants schedule together must have been a prophet. I hear Pittsburgh is great this time of year -- when you're puttering around .500 and just came off a 3 game sweep. I say that knowing full well the baseball gods will likely spite me and give Karstens, Morton and PhillieBot the starts of their careers and sweep the Giants.

But in all honesty, this is a big road trip for the Giants. They are playing 2 of the worst teams in the National League and need to take advantage. There has been a lot of talk about making major lineup changes. I wouldn't be surprised to see Bochy keep things in place and let this road trip decide whether or not significant changes are necessary.

But hey, we're in this thing!