Kuzul

With the San Francisco Giants 8.5 games out of first place with just 18 games remaining in the regular season, the defending world champs face many significant questions as they head into the offseason.

One of those questions, though not directly related to the club’s performance on the field (or is it?), is the subject of The Beard.

We’re all familiar with the tale behind the outgrowth of the massive and formidable jet-black monster that resides on the chin of San Francisco’s All-Star closer.

Brian Wilson began to grow it in 2010 as the Giants approached the stretch run in their race to make the postseason. He told teammates he wouldn’t shave it until the Giants were eliminated from contention.

And we all know how that went.

After the Giants won their first world championship in 56 years, Wilson continued to grow the beard into the offseason and arrived at spring training 2011 with it having doubled in size.

Wilson was apparently very serious about his commitment to growing the beard until the Giants were eliminated from playoff contention, even if it meant the next year.

Well, now it looks as if it’s finally going to happen. The Arizona Diamondbacks are running away with the National League West, and following a frustrating season of injuries and setbacks (including two for Wilson himself), the clock is ticking on San Francisco’s season.

So, will Wilson shave the beard should the Giants be eliminated later this month? And if so, will there be some sort of official ceremony to commemorate the occasion, closing the book on one of the most famous locks of facial hair in baseball history?

Ah, the questions that face the Giants as they approach the offseason. With all of the serious issues for the club to consider, make some time to put all of those aside come the end of September, because something far more important for the moment may be on the horizon.

The Beard will forever be linked with the first World Series championship ever won in San Francisco and might just end up in a showcase somewhere.

The Hall of Fame? AT&T Park? The living room of a rich Giants fan with the winning bid at auction?

Who knows?

One thing’s for certain: The Beard was integral to the world championship in 2010, and it will always have its rightful place in San Francisco Giants lore.

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Before Friday night’s contest against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Carlos Beltran had four RBI in 21 games played as a Giant. On Friday night, Beltran had three more after a 4-for-4 performance in which he was a double shy of hitting for the cycle.

Though Beltran has hit well as a Giant overall, with a .296 batting average, prior to Friday’s game against Arizona he had not produced with runners in scoring position, a scenario all to infrequent for the lowest-scoring team in all of baseball.

Giants fans, and perhaps even Giants management, began wondering whether Carlos Beltran was a bad investment, and whether giving up San Francisco’s top pitching prospect, Zack Wheeler, was actually a poor decision given the wrist problems and lack of run production from Beltran.

Suddenly, Beltran is the toast of San Francisco, single-handedly crushing the Diamondbacks in the opening game of the most important series of the season for his new club, and sending Arizona to its first loss in nearly two weeks.

Beltran has appeared, on the surface, as a very reserved an unemotional ballplayer since joining the defending world champs, and when he’s failed to come through in the clutch for a hopelessly unproductive offense, his lack of outward passion stood out and was very likely deemed as un-Giant.

After all, the Giants are a club that thrives on emotional fire, enjoying the “torture” of living on the edge in close games that require late-inning heroics, and taking a pennant race right down to the wire.

Carlos Beltran is a professional who’s been around the block a time or two, and his reservedness and calm is part of his own brand of baseball swagger.

The Giants witnessed first-hand Friday night what this quiet, visibly unemotional cleanup hitter was capable of.

As his towering drive into left center field descended from the fog that was rolling into AT&T Park, Carlos Beltran had officially arrived in San Francisco, leading his new club to a victory over the first-place Diamondbacks, and doing it with bravado.

It remains to be seen whether Beltran’s awakening will lead to a sustained hot streak through September, and it remains to be seen how many games will be relevant for the Giants pending the outcome of the remainder of their series with the Diamondbacks.

But Carlos Beltran put on a show for the hometown San Francisco fans on Friday, and he went from zero to hero, if for just a night.

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Yes, you read that title correctly.

The San Francisco Giants are having a miracle season.

And no, the idea that 2011 has been a miracle season is not a delusion-generated confusion with 2010 following the utterly inept display of offensive futility from the defending champs over the past several weeks. The fact is, the Giants shouldn’t be eight games over .500 right now.

Why?

Because Friday night against the worst team in all of baseball, a team with a majority of its lineup made up of very recent minor league call-ups, the Giants were shut-out 6-0.

It was the second consecutive shutout loss for San Francisco, whose lineup was missing Andres Torres, Jeff Keppinger, Pablo Sandoval, Carlos Beltran, Orlando Cabrera, and Eli Whiteside. That’s six out of eight position players that would be starting for the defending champions under normal circumstances.

But alas, circumstances are far from normal. All of the above-mentioned players are either on the disabled list, or were out of action due to tightness, soreness, bruises, or muscle pulls of one kind or another.

The Giants are last in the National League in runs scored and on-base percentage, and second-to-last in batting average. Their now famous pitching staff, which has certainly been stellar in other areas, has nonetheless issued the second-most walks in the NL.

As of now, they publicly have no fifth starter in mid-August.

Their infamously-bearded closer’s ERA this month is 7.36. They’ve lost 15 of their last 21 games. And somehow, despite all of that, the San Francisco Giants are 2.5 games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks with 36 games remaining in the regular season, including six head-to-head contests with the Snakes.

That sounds like a miracle.

And for the Giants, with all of the obstacles and adversity that have hampered them along their journey in defense of the World Series title, it will now take some semblance of a miracle for them to win their second consecutive championship.

But miracles seem to be following this band of misfits around.

With all that’s happened with this club since Opening Day 2010, now would not be the time to lose faith in the miraculous.

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As we hit mid-August, it’s time to consider which players from contending teams are most susceptible to breaking down, whether in terms of injury or performance.

Some of those on the following list are likely to break down because of the natural limitations that come with age and some because of the pressures of having the expectations of an entire fan base placed squarely on their shoulders.

Here are the 10 most likely players from pennant-chasing clubs to break down as the latter part of the season plays out …

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Three days ago, Brandon Crawford was a shortstop for the Giants.  The San Jose Giants. 

Three days ago, the topic for sports talk radio shows all over the Bay Area was whether the Giants would make a move to acquire a shortstop, particularly Jose Reyes of the New York Mets, as the July trade deadline nears, to boost the Giants’ chances at repeating as world champions.

Miguel Tejada, the man the Giants signed in the offseason after the departures of Edgar Renteria and Juan Uribe, hasn’t exactly panned out at short.  He has been hitting in the low .200s all season, showing limited range defensively, and has made several costly errors so far.

Then the unthinkable happened. Buster Posey, the unofficial captain of the club, the stalwart catcher and cleanup hitter for the defending champions, was severely injured in a home plate collision that left his lower leg broken and several ankle ligaments damaged.

With Posey likely out for the rest of the season, dealing a further blow to the already anemic Giants offense, drastic moves had to be made. The two men central to that decision-making process—Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean—chose to call up the 24-year-old Single-A shortstop from San Jose.

On Friday night, Brandon Crawford was the shortstop for the Giants.  The San Francisco Giants. 

The bar was certainly not high for a Single-A shortstop who has been thrust into the major leagues, without even 24-hours notice, following an injury of enormous proportions to the most important position player the Giants have.

Well, since the bar wasn’t high, Brandon Crawford took it upon himself to raise it.

The Giants, who were shutout in the series finale against Florida at home on Thursday, were down 3-1 in the top of the seventh inning to the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on Friday. 

After Aubrey Huff hit a leadoff double, Nate Schierholtz singled Huff to third.  Miguel Tejada followed with a walk, loading the bases.

Up stepped Brandon Crawford, who up to that point was 0-for-2 in his major league debut.  His first major league hit would be one to remember.  On the first pitch he saw from right-hander Marco Estrada, Crawford belted a grand slam over the right-center field wall to put the Giants ahead 5-3.

The Giants went on to win the game, 5-4, giving San Francisco its first win since the devastating injury to Buster Posey, and a huge confidence-booster after the somber realization hit the clubhouse that Posey wouldn’t be returning anytime soon.

Brandon Crawford lifted the Giants not only to a victory on Friday night, he lifted the spirits of the entire club, mired in the sad and sudden aftermath of the Posey injury.

While Posey’s injury could have been a blow that caused the defending world champions to spiral downward and out of control, Brandon Crawford gave San Francisco a desperately-needed shot in the arm.

If the Giants are able to weather this storm—the greatest challenge to their bid to repeat as champs—then this game, the “Crawford Game,” will be looked back on as a pivotal turning point.

And if Brandon Crawford continues to contribute the way he did Friday night, the clamoring in the Giants’ fan base for the acquisition of Jose Reyes might be replaced with the clamoring for Brandon Crawford jerseys to be put on the market.

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The 2010 San Francisco Giants shocked the baseball world when they tore through the postseason with an 11-4 record to win their first World Series championship since 1954.

How did they do it?  One word would suffice in explaining their amazing run—pitching.

San Francisco’s staff gave observers of the game something to remember.  With performance after performance of historic proportions, Giants hurlers utterly shut down offensive juggernauts from Philadelphia and Texas on their way to claiming the crown.

When all was said and done, San Francisco’s arms had produced four shutouts, compiled an ERA of 2.47, and struck out 133 opposing hitters while limiting opponents’ batting average to just .196 in 15 postseason games.

After being labeled underdogs in the NLCS and the World Series, with the chief reason being that their opponents had better offensive capabilities, the Giants proved the old adage true yet again—good pitching always beats good hitting—always.

In a season that was called the “Year of the Pitcher”, pitching won the day when Tim Lincecum tossed eight masterful innings in Game 5 of last year’s fall classic, helping his Giants clinch the title.

San Francisco’s success has led many baseball analysts to ask, who will be 2011’s version of the Giants that won it all last season?

Looking Across the Bay

The search for this year’s version of the 2010 Giants could involve just a short drive across the Bay.

The Oakland A’s led the American League with a 3.56 team ERA in 2010.  Oakland’s staff also led the league in shutouts, with 17.  A’s arms yielded just 566 earned runs last season, lowest in the league, while holding opposing hitters to just a .245 batting average.

This season, the staff in Oakland has picked up right where it left off, leading the American League, with a 2.86 team ERA and just 127 earned runs allowed so far in 2011.  And opponents’ batting average?  Just .244, a point lower than in 2010.

The A’s, much like the Giants in 2010, are struggling offensively in 2011.  They currently rank 23rd in baseball in runs scored, and 25th in team batting average.

But if there’s one thing the 2010 Giants proved about winning, it was that a lot of pitching mixed with a little timely hitting is a recipe for success.

Potential World Series Preview?

The Giants and A’s are two teams on very different tracks.  While the composition of their clubs may be very similar, with pitching as the centerpiece and strength, and hitting being almost a secondary consideration, the Giants are the defending world champions while the A’s are still in a success-building mode.

That doesn’t mean, however, that we won’t see both of these clubs in the playoffs.  The Giants are primed to make another serious run in the NL West, having nearly the same personnel back to defend the title. 

The A’s have the potential to become what the Giants were last season, given their young pitching talent and the presence of veterans Hideki Matsui and Josh Willingham to provide just enough offense.

Much like San Francisco last season, if Oakland can just reach the playoffs, whether by winning the AL West or claiming the AL Wild Card spot, anything can happen.  With the likes of Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, and Gio Gonzalez leading a stellar pitching staff in a short series, the A’s could find themselves in the American League Championship Series before they know it.

With the A’s visiting AT&T Park this weekend for a three-game set with the Giants, look for low-scoring games, playoff-caliber baseball, and maybe even a preview of what’s to come this October.

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The Giants offense has been lifeless over the past week and now, their best offensive threat is injured.  Third baseman Pablo Sandoval broke the hamate bone in his right hand while taking a swing in Washington on Friday and will have surgery to remove it this Tuesday in Arizona.  He will likely miss at least 4-6 weeks, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The injury to Sandoval couldn’t come at a worse time for a Giants lineup that is struggling to score runs.  The Giants have been shutout twice in the past four games and many of their key hitters currently have batting averages in the low .200s.

Ryan Rohlinger, who got some playing time with the Giants last season, has been called up from Triple-A Fresno and should be with the club for Sunday’s game against the Nationals.  On Saturday, Bruce Bochy moved Miguel Tejada, who has played the last several years at third base, to the hot corner and gave Mike Fontenot a start at shortstop.

After their dismal offensive start to the current ten-game road trip, questions arose about what the Giants need to do to wake up at the plate.  Now those questions will only intensify, as the Giants’ leading hitter, Sandoval, is out for at least a month.

One of the questions that is certain to come up is whether the Giants should recall Brandon Belt, who was sent down to Fresno to work on what has been called a minor tweak needed for him to square up fastballs.  Belt, since being sent back to Triple-A, is hitting .429 with two doubles, two home runs and six RBI’s in just five games.

It appears that Belt has made the minor adjustment to his swing and, from all accounts, he looked to be a very patient hitter at the plate during his 17 games with the Giants, walking eight times in 52 at-bats.  His high strikeout total and lack of productivity when swinging, however, led to his demotion to Fresno.

The Giants will need to give serious thought to the idea of bringing Belt back to bolster a lineup that is in dire need of new blood.  Last season, when Buster Posey was called up from Fresno in May, his presence gave the Giants a spark that led to a remarkable turnaround, from a .500 ballclub just prior to the All-Star break to a postseason berth and eventually, a world championship.

Perhaps what this club needs now is another infusion of new blood in the form of Brandon Belt’s bat.

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Though it’s still too early to determine who will take the field in Phoenix for the 2011 MLB All-Star Game, it’s always worth a look back at who has played well in the first month of the new season.

The San Francisco Giants are looking forward to having their manager, Bruce Bochy, lead the National League All-Stars and to having the most All-Stars from San Francisco in nearly a decade.

Here’s a look at the Giants All-Stars from the month of April, ranked in order of their impact for the club.

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Tim Lincecum has already etched his name in Giants history. His is the stuff of legend, and he’s only in his fifth major league season.

The Giants right-hander won back-to-back National League Cy Young awards in his first two seasons, becoming the only pitcher in major league history to accomplish that feat.

He led all of baseball in strikeouts in each of his first three full big-league seasons.

As well, he was unhittable in the 2010 postseason, including in Game 5 of the World Series, when he shut down the offensive juggernaut of the Texas Rangers and led San Francisco to its first World Series title in 56 years.

What more can this young man accomplish?

A third Cy Young award, perhaps?

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The Beard.

We know it’s power—power to intimidate and power to inspire.  The Beard was a big part of the 2010 San Francisco Giants and their World Series victory.  It spawned a whole new fashion statement for Giants players and fans alike.

But how long will it grow?

Brian Wilson told the world that he decided to grow out the beard during the regular season in 2010 and not shave it until the Giants were eliminated from contention or from the postseason.

But the Giants weren’t eliminated.

Now it’s a new season, and it’s pretty clear that Wilson was dead serious about what he said last year, because that thing is longer than ever.  Wilson looks like he belongs on the cover of the movie “300,” next to Leonidas with the jet-black beard.  In fact, looking at pictures of Wilson pre-beard, I don’t even recognize the guy.

Aubrey Huff, another Giant with an eccentric addition to his person—the “rally thong”—shed that after the Giants won it all last year.  But Wilson is following a long line of baseball superstition-sensitivity.

Perhaps the bigger question is, will the Giants closer continue to grow it if they repeat as World Series champions?  Technically, if he’s going to stick to his guns, he’d have to keep growing it, and it could become the facial version of Manny Ramirez‘s dreadlocks.

There really are a lot of questions about the Beard:

At some point, won’t it start to get in the way of Wilson’s delivery?  Well, I guess if Manny Ramirez could run around the bases with his hair flying around the way it did, Wilson’s task looks like a piece of cake.

What brand of hair dye does Wilson use on it?  (Hair dye manufacturers: jackpot—time for a Brian Wilson commercial with your product)

Does Wilson’s neck get sore with the beard becoming heavier and heavier?

Well, whatever happens, it’ll be fun to watch.  As if we didn’t have enough reasons to want the Giants to go all the way and repeat as champions this year, add one more to the list: the continued reign of the Beard.

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