We knew from the beginning that this team was and is built around its starting pitching. It is the straw that stirs this drink.
But what we've seen so far this season is a team that depends entirely on its starting pitching to be elite to have any chance at winning a game.
Luckily for the Giants, the starting pitching is fully capable of being just that. And as we saw in their recent 6 game winning streak, it's capable of being elite for an extended period of time. They won 6 straight at home without scoring more than 4 runs in any one game. That's never happened before in the history of Major League Baseball.
But as we saw last night, the Giants' starting pitchers are going to falter from time to time. As hard as it is to believe, Tim Lincecum is human and even he cannot pitch at an elite level every time he takes the mound.
The problem is when the starters do falter, no one has their back.
The Giants offense has shown no ability whatsoever to pick up a starter after he's struggled. Those games you see where a team goes down 5-0 early and then comes back to win 8-7? The Giants know not of these things.
The stats say it all.
Guess how many times the Giants have won a game this season in which the starting pitcher gave up more than 4 runs?
Zero. Not once.
Now you may say, "Well hey, wait a minute. That's not fair. How many times have our starters given up more than 4 runs anyway..."
I'm ready for you. 6 times. They're 0 for 6. And that's only counting Earned Runs. So Tim's start last night isn't even included.
Heck, what about even 3 runs? Guess how many times the Giants have won when their starter has given up more than three runs?
4 times. Out of 16.
Let's throw the starters out. How many games have the Giants won in which they've given up more than 4 runs period? Starters, bullpen, everything....
One. One game. The 7-6 win over the Mets in 10 innings.
We're not talking 7 or 8 runs here. To this point in the season if the Giants give up more than 4 runs in a game, they have an 8.3% chance of winning (1/12).
Even the Oakland A's have 3 wins in which they gave up more than 4 runs. The A's, people!
This Giants team will never be an offensive juggernaut. It's not what they were made to be. But on those occasions in which the starters don't have it, the offense needs to at least have a chance of bailing them out every once in a while.
It's a bad situation, but it should improve. The Giants may never been an offensive juggernaut, but they do have good hitters on this team that are simply under-performing.
The Giants are currently 23rd in the league in batting average at .238. Their six position players with 100+ at bats are hitting .204, .220, .258, .264 and .272. Freddy Sanchez, the only regular above .265, is looking like a batting champ at .272. And that's 25 points below his career average.
The Giants did well to sweep their last home stand and end their slump in terms of wins and losses. But the Giants collective offensive slump is still very much alive. The good news is, it's a slump that they are capable of breaking. Let's just hope the starters' backs don't break first.
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