"Despite Struggling, Giants Winning"
"Despite Winning, Giants Struggling"
Which one is more accurate?
The Giants reach the All Star Break 12 games over .500 and 3 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks atop the NL West.
The Giants also reach the All Star Break with its best player out for the season with a devastating injury. Their $11 million first baseman has homered in only 5 of his first 90 games. According to John Shea, the 2011 Giants have provided the lowest amount of run support since the 1902 New York Giants. And that team finished 53.5 games out of first place. Up until last week, the Giants had gone the entire 2011 season without scoring more than 5 runs in a home game. Then they scored 6. According to Mike Krukow (who can count nano-seconds in his head), the 2011 Giants are the first team in franchise history to go an entire first half without scoring more than 6 runs in a home game.
And yet, they are 28-16 at home this season.
So which is it? Are you amazed that in spite of the injuries and horrendous offense, the Giant are still in first place? Or are you amazed that in spite of incredible pitching and clutch hitting, the Giants still look like a team that could go out and lose 15 of its first 20 after the break?
How about in Haiku form?
Giants hit nothing
Giants pitch everything
Win, loss, win, happy
I invite you all to enter the Giants First Half Haiku Contest. Your early leader is Enjioh with this work of genius:
Zito, Ross, Torres,
Sandoval, Posey, Sanchez,
WTF First Place??
This season has been one of high highs and low lows. And the elevation change has been sudden. Consider:
- March 31 - April 5: Giants lose 4 of 5 in LA and SD to open the season -- "Oh no, we suck again!"
- April 8 - 21: Giants win 8 of their next 12 -- "Wait a minute, maybe we're actually still good"
- April 22 - May 5: Giants swept by Atlanta, lose to the Pirates, Pablo injured -- "Strike that, suck."
- May 6 - May 22: Giants win 12 of 15, sweep A's -- "WE ARE THE GREATEST TEAM EVER!"
- May 23 - May 29: Lose Posey forever, swept by Marlins, climb into fallout shelters -- "It's all over."
- May 30 - Jun 16: Giants somehow win 11 of 17 -- "Well, wait a minute, maybe this is all going to be..."
- June 17 - June 21: Giants swept by A's, score negative runs, Tim struggling -- "No, no. Nevermind. When does the Women's World Cup start?"
- June 22 - 28: Giants win their next 7 straight: "I don't even like soccer! The Giants are amazing!"
- June 29 - July 5: Giants lose in excruciating fashion, drop 5 of 7 -- "[swaying back and forth] I don't feel so good..."
- July 6 - 10: Giants wrap up first half winning 4 of 5, finish 3 games in 1st place -- "[in fetal position, silently weeping in the corner]"
So there you have it.
As expected, the Giants rank in the Top 5 in nearly every major pitching category. The bullpen has been nothing short of astonishing. And while every starter has had bumps, some larger than others, overall the pitching has been as advertised -- spectacular.
That's the good news. The Giants rank 24th or lower in every major offensive category. With the exception of Pablo Sandoval, who missed about half of the season so far, the Giants continue to win without a single offensive force. Kudos to Nate Schierholtz has come on lately, but hasn't done it consistently yet.
I think we need to sit back and appreciate that for a second. The Giants have one of the worst offenses in baseball. They lost their star player for the season. And weeks later, they lost their only competent hitter for the foreseeable future. Freddy Sanchez and Buster Posey have been replaced by Emanuel Burris and a platoon of Eli Whiteside and Chris Stewart. And they're still winning.
It really does blow my mind. A team that has been so ravaged by injury, so offensively incapable, can somehow, someway make everything work out. It hasn't been easy, and in a lot of ways, it hasn't been fun. But I say this in all honesty, I think it's made Giants fans love them all the more. Deep down at least.
For as often as the Giants fail to get a runner in from third, or pop out with runners in scoring position, more often than not, they've found a way to get it done. And here's the thing -- it hasn't been Adrian Gonzalez getting it done. It hasn't been Matt Kemp getting it done. It hasn't been Prince Fielder. It's been Miguel Tejada. It's been Brandon Crawford and Manny Burris. It's been Nate Schierholtz and Darren Ford. Guys who in all honesty have no business being on a big-league roster have helped propel this team to a first-half, first place finish. It is, in a word, remarkable. And regardless of how this second half shakes out, this will have to be seen as one of the more remarkable Giants teams in a long time. For their ability to do so much with so little, and to do so little yet win so much.
MVP of the Half: Ryan Vogelsong
Pretty easy call here. Think of the players on this team who've struggled in the first half at one point or another. Lincecum, Sanchez, Bumgarner, Wilson, Huff, Ross, Torres, Burrell -- pretty much everybody, right? If Ryan Vogelsong doesn't enter this rotation and pitch a gem every fifth day, the Giants are not in first place. Plain and simple. He is not only one of the most remarkable stories in baseball, he is the most important player of the Giants season so far.
LVP of the Half: Aubrey Huff
I love Aubrey. He's one of the biggest leaders of this team. But again, he's homered in 5 of his first 90 games. His .361 Slugging Percentage ranks behind Eli Whiteside and Jonathan Sanchez. He had a nice month of June in terms of average and he's on pace to drive in around 80 runs. But if the Giants expect to widen their lead in the West, he will have to harness his chi, start hitting the ball harder and stop rolling over more than a dog in obedience training.
Game of the Half -- Good: April 9, 2011
Miguel Tejada has done many things to upset Giants fans in the past few months. But on this night, he could do no wrong. On a night when the Giants received their World Series rings and paraded around the field to "Fanfare for the Common Man," Miguel Tejada transformed a sullen exodus from AT&T Park into likely the most thrilling win I've ever seen in person. I wrote about this at the time, but rarely do you see games in which a hit transforms a loss into a win. More often the game is tied, or the hit ties the game. But in this case, down 2-1 with two outs in the ninth with runners on first and second, Miguel Tejada belted a two-strike pitch deep to left center field for a walk off win. Tejada was a weak swing and miss away from ending the game, and I was 89% that would indeed happen. Instead, he saved the day and 42,000 fans jumped around with the same shocked expression as if they'd just seen a mouse life an elephant. As the fly ball appeared it would be caught, Kuiper's voice said it all:
"Swing and a drive, hit to deep left center field...this is.....DROPPED! AND THE GIANTS ARE GONNA WIN THE GAME!"
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?c_id=mlb&content_id=13639081&query=game_pk%3D287011
Game of the Half --Bad: June 30, 2011
Speaking of down to their last strike... Brain Wilson's (ongoing?) slump began by giving up a game-tying home run in the 9th in Chicago. If only that were the end of it. The Giants were no-hit for 10 1/3 innings before a Pablo Sandoval home run gave them a lead in the 13th. Ramon Ramirez then proceeded to quickly retire the first two batters and get two strikes on the third. Then Harry Carry arrived and teamed up with Bill Murray and Henry Roengardner and proceeded to ruin everything. Twice the Giants were one strike away from victory, and both times those darn Cubbies got the big hit. Christopher Lloyd from Angels in the Outfield must have been there too. I saw Tony Danza in the stands and the Angels were off that day.
Song of the Half: You Really Got a Hold on Me
"I don't like you, but I love you
Seems that I'm always thinking of you
Oh woah woah, you treat me badly
I love you madly
You really got a hold on me"
Looking ahead:
The Giants open the second half with a bang. After a trip to San Francisco South to kick off the second half, they kick off a stretch in which they play the Dodgers, Brewers, Phillies, Reds, D-backs and Phillies in consecutive series. If they can survive that stretch, they'll be in good shape. The final 8 weeks of the season pits them against the Astros twice, the Pirates, the Cubs and their NL West foes (against whom they've been very good).
Your San Francisco Giants are most certainly in this thing. And yet, that unstable feeling in the pit of our stomachs is in this thing too. How on earth did we get here? 12 games over .500 with 6 automatic outs in our lineup? What large, mystic gray-haired man is making this happen? Because it sure as heck ain't Eli Whiteside.
I think there's a lot of reason for optimism. If the Giants can finish the first half 12 games over while fielding an offense comparable to that of the Visalia Rawhides (RIP Oaks), then imagine what they're capable of if they can get better production for 1 or 2 guys and make a trade for an above-average bat!
But there are two sides to every story. And those flip side to this story is, why should I believe this offense will perform any better? Maybe what's going to happen is the Giants will be the same team, but won't be able to pull out so many one-run games. Then where will we be?
The Giants season has been so puzzling, so confounding, so void of logic, that it's a rational fear that at some point, whatever cosmic machine is making this team go is just going to break down. That at any moment, the curtain could be pulled away and reveal a small, sickly, bald man pulling levers and turning wheels -- and that man is batting cleanup for the Giants.
But if there's one thing I've learned in this first half, it's that baseball is meant to be enjoyed, not stressed over. There are moments we want to pull out our hair. There are 48 hour periods in which all we can think about is that game-ending error. But at the end of the day, it is all baseball. And it is all good. We are privileged to be able to follow such a great team and love such a great game. We'll be disappointed if the Giants lose, but that disappointment would be 100 times greater if we didn't have the team at all. Thus, the joy in them winning is not nearly as great as the joy we should receive in just watching our boys play ball.
Here's to the second half.
Let's go Giants!
Critical team flaws,
ReplyDeleteHow are Giants still #winning?
Their little engine.
Thanks for the S/O Frank!