Kuzul

Manager Bruce Bochy and the boys have kicked around some ideas that they hope will spark the San Francisco Giants’ lifeless attack.

“We keep trying things and see if we can get something clicking here,” Bochy said after the Giants were shut out for the second straight game in the process of being swept by the A’s in Oakland.

Bochy and the rest actually have come up with what are being called major changes: a big shake up of the lineup and the batting order.

The big changes to the batting order result in making room for Edgar Renteria to take back his job at shortstop.

And?

That’s it! The big change in the batting order results in Renteria returning to play shortstop and bat second.

Oh, Andres Torres is going to hit lead-off and play right field. The 32-year-old outfielder has been in the starting lineup for 14 of the last 15 games. He’s been on a hot streak, too, raising his average to .282 with two home runs and 12 RBI.

The Giants are 5-10 since Torres got hot and started playing every day.  It’s unclear how much more he can do and how things will change now that he’s the everyday right fielder, rather than an everyday outfielder.

The Giants don’t have the available talent to just rearrange the batting order or tweak the lineup and expect magic to happen.

Renteria is the only player who’ll be in the lineup now who hasn’t been in the lineup during the 5-10 stretch that gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a chance to blast past the Giants in the National League West.

Torres will replace centerfielder Aaron Rowand in the lead-off spot.  Torres will bat first in every game, then bat right after the pitcher for the remainder of his plate appearances.

Anyone really think that’s going to open the flood gates and start runs pouring across the plate?

The lineup changes have, in most cases, actually been mentioned here before.

Pablo Sandoval is likely moving to first base to open a spot for Juan Uribe’s bat in the infield. With Renteria healthy, the Giants need to put Uribe at third base. He’s sizzling with the stick, batting .290 in his last 13 games.

It’s unclear why the Giants would move all-star second baseman Freddy Sanchez to third base to allow Uribe to play second base.  That seems like a move that weakens the club defensively at two spots.  Regardless, the Lineup Tweak 2.0 simply results in an infield of Sandoval, Sanchez, Renteria and Uribe.

That would be an infield that would really help a batting order with a real power hitter
—and the Sandoval we saw tear the National League up a year ago. Instead, that infield has the heart of the Giants attack.

Bengie Molina got older really, really fast. The catcher is 2-for-19 and hasn’t driven in a run since May 5. The “Big Money” nickname no longer applies to the 35-year-old.

Torres and Aaron Rowand will play the outfield with relentlessly willing, team-oriented veteran Aubrey Huff moving to left field. It’s too bad that Mark DeRosa has no experience behind the plate. When he does return to test his injured wrist, he’ll bump somebody from this new and improved lineup.

Huff, like Rowand, should be a complimentary player in a lineup filled with gifted hitters. Instead, the Giants need Huff to produce runs.  Huff’s hitting .263 with runners in scoring position and all four of his home runs came with the bases empty.

Rowand’s numbers compare almost identically to the numbers he posted when he was helping the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies to championship seasons. There’s no reason for fans to expect him to do more simply because the Giants signed him to a rich, five-year deal.

So, yeah…the Giants are making big changes. Renteria and Torres at the top of the order. Huff in left field.

Boom goes the dynamite.

One fan lamented that the Giants are showing signs of panic—specifically that there’s still a lot of baseball be played and that there’s no reason to make big changes.

Big changes?

Bochy’s just doing what he can with the talent he has and, probably, is wondering exactly what Buster Posey needs to do in Fresno to prove he has mastered Triple-A ball sufficiently to convince general manager Brian Sabean to bring him to San Francisco.

So, just another critique of Bochy, right?

Wrong.

What’s the guy going to do when he’s gone through three right-fielders, can’t get the club’s best Triple-A hitter to the big leagues, and is left to tinker with a group of complimentary players who’ve never really shown they’re in position to spark a truly productive offense?

It can’t get worse, though, right?

Wrong.

Imagine if Sandoval is, gulp, a .282 hitter who doesn’t hit the long ball? What if last year was…an aberration?

For now, the Giants need to focus on the big changes they’ve made.

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Contact Ted at: tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

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The San Francisco Giants are on the verge of pulling the plug on No. 5 starter Todd Wellemeyer.

They’re not ready to recall 20-year-old Madison Bumgarner or to bring right-hander Joe Martinez back to the big club. The organization is reportedly set to call right-hander Eric Hacker, 27, up from Triple-A Fresno to take Wellemeyer’s scheduled start on Tuesday against the Washington Nationals.

The Giants could skip the fifth spot in the rotation and use Tim Lincecum on Tuesday, thus pushing back the next start for the No. 5 starter to May 29 against visiting Arizona.

As was suggested here on Wednesday night, the Giants are unwilling to rush Bumgarner to San Francisco after he has finally shown signs of regaining the form that earned him starting assignments in the big league playoff race in 2010.

Hacker has been the most effective Fresno starter. He’s 7-1 with a 2.20 ERA. The righty has 38 strikeouts and 12 bases on balls in 45 innings for Fresno.

He has the numbers to earn a spot in the big leagues, but he’s a 27-year-old who was drafted by the New York Yankees and bounced around the minor leagues since 2002.

Hacker is pitched three games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2009, working three innings in three relief appearances. That’s the extent of his big league experience.

Hacker’s career minor league statistics are virtually identical to those of Joe Martinez, who became very familiar to San Francisco fans during his time with the big club in 2009.

Martinez is 39-20 with a 3.51 ERA and Hacker 36-22, with a 3.19 ERA, in the minor leagues. Martinez has worked 592 innings, averaging 7.4 strikeouts and 1.9 bases on balls per nine innings. Hacker 531 innings with an average of 2.5 walks and 6.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Martinez has a minor league WHIP of 1.18 and Hacker a 1.27 WHIP.

Martinez, like Hacker, is 27.

Wellemeyer is 2-5 with a 5.71 ERA in seven starts for the Giants. He has walked 27 and yielded 33 hits in 41 innings.

(Hacker and Martinez statistical comparison provided by thebaseballcube.com. )

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Contact him at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

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Todd Wellemeyer’s hold on the fifth spot in the starting rotation has more to do with who the Giants have waiting in the minor leagues than it does with how the veteran has pitched.

The 31-year-old journeyman is 2-3 with a 5.71 ERA. His 27 walks and 29 hits yielded in 41 innings have kept in the stretch far too long. His five inning outing in a loss to Arizona on Wednesday would most certainly, call for the club to consider the state of the No. 5 spot behind Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez, Matt Cain, and Barry Zito.

The problem?

The Triple-A pitchers who are performing well aren’t exactly the frontline prospects the club would turn to if they were to give up on Wellemeyer, a veteran they signed as a free agent over the winter.

Top pitching prospect Madison Bumgarner entered spring training as the No. 5 starter, but the lost the job with a string of weak performances. He lost his control and, worse, zip off his fastball.

While the young left-hander is 3-1 with a 3.64 ERA in Fresno, it seems like an organization scared to death of rushing catcher Buster Posey to the big leagues will try to avoid bringing Bumgarner back right now.

He has regained the fastball, back to 92-94 mph most nights. He’s fanned 32 and walked just 13 in 42 innings, but the organization might want him to get more than a month pitching like they think he can before they expose him to big league hitters again.

Eric Hacker has been the most effective Fresno starter. He’s 7-1 with a 2.20 ERA. He has the numbers to back a bid for, at least, a spot start in the big leagues. However, he’s a 27-year-old right-hander who was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2002 — the 696th player drafted.

Hacker is a journeyman minor leaguer who pitched three games for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2009, working three innings. That’s the extent of his big league experience.

Given a choice between hanging with Wellemeyer and calling on Hacker—expect the conservative Giants to stick with Wellemeyer.

Joe Martinez, who gets a start in Fresno tonight, is 3-1 with a 3.92 ERA in seven starts in Fresno. He made the big club out of spring training last year, but was struck in the head with a line drive early and missed most of the season.

Martinez, 27, was 3-2 with a 7.50 ERA in nine games for San Francisco last year. He walked 12 and struck out 19 in 30 innings. His 1.933 WHIP resulted in him spending the final playoff stretch run in the minor leagues. He gave up an average of 13.8 hits per nine innings.

The Giants might consider calling on Martinez, but he hasn’t worked longer than seven innings in a Triple-A game this year. Four of his seven starts ended in or before the fifth inning.

Martinez has an edge on Hacker. The Giants don’t want to rush Bumgarner. But, Martinez doesn’t have numbers to indicate he absolutely would be an upgrade over Wellemeyer.

Remember when 25-year-old Kevin Pucetas was tearing things up in spring training? Things haven’t gone that well for him since two atrocious starts to end camp and send him packing for Fresno.

He’s currently 2-2 with a 4.22 ERA in eight starters. He’s given up an alarming 55 basehits in 42 2/3 innings pitched.

Wellemeyer look any better yet?

One interesting candidate could be 30-year-old lefty Horacio Ramirez. He’s 1-1 with a 4.12 ERA in six appearances, three starts, in Fresno. While he has given up 23 hits in 19 2/3 innings, he has walked just two.

Actually, his claim to a shot at taking a start from Wellemeyer comes from his previous big league experience. Ramirez was 30-22 in four years with the Atlanta Braves. His 4.13 ERA in the final years of the steroids era seemed to show he was headed for a long big league career.

The wheels came off for the 6’1″, 220-pound lefty. A shoulder injury resulted in his going 9-13 with an out-of-this-world ERA the last three years—including a stint in the Kansas City Royals starting rotation.

Still, the lefty does have big league experience with 1.478 WHIP and good control—and he’s gone 30-22 in the National League while going 9-13 in the American League. His fastball hovers in the low 90s and he throws four pitches.

Hacker’s a journeyman. Bumgarner’s just now getting back on the fast track. Martinez hasn’t shown much. And, Ramirez is in Fresno on a minor league contract. Pucetas, regardless of the fabulous spring fans remember, isn’t a viable alternative.

It might be that the Giants don’t really feel they have a better pitcher than Wellemeyer to slip into that No. 5 spot right now.

What about Bumgarner?

Well, a month ago the same folks screaming for his recall now were insisting that the 20-year-old was a head case gone bust. Remember? Fastball was below 90 mph and all? This doesn’t seem like the opportune time to send a desperate call to Fresno simply because one-fifth of the Giants rotation is really struggling.

Or, is it?

If Wellemeyer can’t turn things around in his next four starts, it might be worth one of those inexplicable stints on the disabled list to get (fill in the blank) a big league start or two while the Giants wait to be convinced that Bumgarner’s ready to return to and stay in San Francisco.

And, Let’s Not Forget…

Noah Lowry hasn’t pitched since he was sidelined by an injury in 2007. He was a key member of the Giants rotation, but has undergone a series of surgeries and claims his initial injury was mis-diagnosed by the club’s medical staff. Lowry was slated to throw for a group of big league scouts in February in Arizona. At the time, he reportedly had interest from the Astros, Mets, Phillies, Rangers, and Red Sox.

Lowry, 29, opted to push back his scout day. His goal was to be in spring training with a big league team, but he remains unsigned and off the radar.

Pedro Martinez is still unsigned and it is getting closer to the time of the year when weather warms up and the future Hall of Famer will be ready to help a team down the stretch. The Giants have never expressed any interest in signing Martinez.

He was a cult hero—”The Big Sadowski.” Remember? Ryan Sadowski came out of the Giants minor league system with a mid-80s fastball. He got the call for an emergency start in 2009—the team provided run support—and he won. He kept on winning for San Francisco—until he started losing. He is currently pitching in the Korean Baseball Organization for the Lotte Giants where he is 0-4.

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The San Francisco Giants put left fielder Mark DeRosa on the 15-day disabled list on Monday, and recalled utility man Eugenio Velez from Fresno in the Pacific Coast League.

Meanwhile, former National League batting champion Freddy Sanchez is continuing his injury rehabilitation assignment in the minor leagues with the Triple-A Grizzlies. Fresno played a doubleheader in Oklahoma City on Monday night.

DeRosa’s DL stint was made retroactive to May 9, as he has nerve inflammation in his left wrist. He underwent wrist surgery in 2009, and, apparently, the surgery failed to fix the ailment.

DeRosa is hoping to bounce back sufficiently to play through this season, and have wrist surgery in the offseason. 

Velez was batting .186 following an 0-for-17 slide, when he was demoted on May 7. He hit .292 in six games with Fresno. He had one extra-base hit, a double, and one RBI.

The Giants did consider calling on Sanchez to take DeRosa’s spot on the roster. The second baseman entered Monday’s Triple-A doubleheader with two hits in seven Triple-A at-bats.

Sanchez, reportedly, wants more time with Fresno to fine tune his game.

“It’s a case of deciding what’s right for Freddy and the ball club. He’s had a handful of at-bats facing Triple-A pitching,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said as the club prepared to open a two-game set in San Diego. “For his sense of comfort to come up here and be ready, we want him to have the confidence to say, ‘You know what? I’m ready to face major-league pitching.

We talked about Freddy. Could we risk him? Yeah, but where we’re at this point of the season we decided to give him a couple more days, a little bit more if he needs that, to make sure he’s comfortable and feeling he’s ready.”

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The lineup and batting order that makes the most sense for the Giants—and why it makes sense—is of some interest as the club hits San Diego looking to move into first place in the National League West.

1. Aaron Rowand, center field

Rowand’s been more productive in the leadoff spot than he has anywhere in the lineup in his two-plus seasons in San Francisco. Don’t mess with a good thing…unless he goes 0-for-4 and the Padres win 2-1 in the opener.

2. Freddy Sanchez, second base

Not sure why another three, four at-bats in Triple-A are necessary now that he’s made it clear he’s feeling good and swinging well.

3. Aubrey Huff, left field

The guy’s willing to play the outfield, and I’m willing to watch Buster Posey get four ABs a night at first base. (The move is more aimed at taking some heat off Pedro Sandoval.)

4. Bengie Molina, catcher

It doesn’t matter if B-Mo insists he’s a No. 6 hitter on a good team. He’s the most productive run-producer on this Giants team—which, actually, disproves Molina’s theory. He hits well in the four-hole, and the Giants have a good team.

5. Juan Uribe, shortstop

It’d be nice to see him produce on the road like he produces at home.

6. Buster Posey, first base

Posey’s arrival solves the left field problem with Mark DeRosa out. Posey will also see more fastballs here (even if this lineup’s No. 7 hitter is struggling).

As mentioned earlier, the Giants have convinced me that they aren’t sure Posey’s ready to be a full-time big league receiver. (Frankly, sending Travis Ishikawa to Triple-A seems the civil thing to do. He’s a good clubhouse guy, and it’s hard to watch him in the dugout knowing there’s no chance he’ll pinch-hit and no reason to provide defense at first base.)

7. Pablo Sandoval, third base

He’s wondering how the rock star Kung Fu Panda suddenly became a near automatic out. The field microphone picks up the sound of him squeezing sawdust out of the bat handle. The guy’s still “The Man” in San Francisco, but he needs to realize that the fame he seems to relish disappears if he doesn’t produce.

8. Nate Schierholtz, right field

It’s tempting to bump Sanchez into the leadoff spot, with Schierholtz using his speed and ability to hit behind runners in the No. 2 spot. However, Schierholtz has prospered in the eighth spot, and there’s no reason to mess with him…yet. Plus, if I’m a pitcher, I’d rather challenge Sandoval with a fastball than have to pitch to Schierholtz.

(Note: Moving Schierholtz to the second spot was mentioned here weeks ago—great speed, lefty hitter, etc.)

If Sandoval doesn’t start to swing it, Matt Downs could give him a break at third base. Again, don’t know why a kid Sandoval’s age would need a rest in May, but…Downs has done a job with the bat, and he’s a tough guy. Downs has earned a chance to play the middle infield too. He was at shortstop in Fresno when the season started.

Downs has, interestingly, become the guy fans so desperately hoped Kevin Frandsen would become.

Andres Torres can do what he does best—play late-inning defense, provide the big hit out of the blue when the pitching matchup is right, and play outstanding defense at all three outfield spots.

Oh, sure, the lineup is based on Posey’s recall. What to do if he stays in Fresno? Well, then, I’d put Torres in left field platooning with Downs. (Frandsen took fly balls in batting practice for a week and was in left field during a regular season game.) The left field platoon guys would hit No. 8. Schierholtz jumps to No. 7…but that’s not really very exciting, is it?

Don’t think Downs can play left field? He does! He’s got that look of a guy who believes he can do anything—a look the Giants can use in the everyday lineup.

The club is getting close to having an everyday lineup and a potentially serviceable bench.

The Padres will help show how close they are beginning Monday night.

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Damn that Brian Sabean!

Bruce Bochy is ruining everything!

Geesh! How in the world could Sabean not anticipate that Mark DeRosa’s surgically-repaired wrist ligament would rupture even after DeRosa was given a clean bill of health by team doctors and other physicians?

DeRosa wasn’t considered that “old” when the club signed him and then got off to a fast start in April. But, hell, now it’s apparent that Sabean just can’t help but sign broken down old free agents—like the 35-year-old DeRosa.

The Giants need hitters. They need a veteran presence in the middle of the order. How could Sabean have not signed a frontline slugger like (name a frontline slugger who hasn’t been injured or flopped since entering free agency) ?

Sure, DeRosa’s a veteran. And, OK, he’s put up good numbers while playing up to five different positions.

Sabean was wrong to sign him, though, because after doctors told Sabean that DeRosa was healthy, Sabean signed DeRosa and then DeRosa got hurt.

The Giants can’t start Buster Posey’s arbitration clock. It wasn’t that important to have their No. 1 minor league hitting prospect on the roster because that fast start in April made his presence in San Francisco irrelevant. Sure, they lost a couple games in that early-season burst that, maybe, Posey could’ve turned around.

The Giants’ long-term financial health is far more important than two, three wins in April.

Man, this is laughable! The Padres are 3.5 games ahead of the Giants in the NL West. The division is right there to be won and the Giants’ brass must be held accountable for frittering away games in the spring for lack of hitting or for lack of speed. They have a kid like Posey in Fresno and they let that fast start become increasingly meaningless because the big club didn’t have him around when they really needed him.

Jonathan Sanchez is running out of rope. Tim Lincecum’s been brilliant. Barry Zito’s bounced back from being lost in the wilderness to being incredibly good. Matt Cain’s the best No. 3 starter around. Ol’ Cainer…”Shotgun,” fans love him! Then, out comes Sanchez to muck things up.

Sanchez had a 3.00 ERA entering Thursday’s start against the Padres. It’s such a luxury to have him as the fourth starter. Instead of always wondering how the club can get a hitter, it would make so much sense to build a stronger defense behind him. Cain walked six batters in Tuesday’s loss. Sanchez was magnificient in Wednesday’s loss.

Let’s get it fixed.

Sabean just doesn’t get it!

It’s not easy being a Giants fan who believed that the fast start was greasing the skids for a quick, easy glide to the NL West pennant.

Everything we believed in the off-season got turned on its ear in the first month. The club pitched better than we expected and, obviously, was far more productive with the bats than anyone had reason to imagine.

We even went a couple weeks without someone demanding that John Bowker and his .200’ish batting average be inserted in the lineup. Things were really good, remember?

Now, they’re really bad and we don’t know what to do. So, we blame the general manager and we blame the field manager.

It’s ridiculous.

Have you noticed how terribly the bullpen has performed lately? The club really thought it could win with young set-up guys like Sergio Romo and Dan Runzler?

Come on.

Hold on. We all loved them when they were mowing guys down in April, but we must’ve secretly acknowledged that, when the club hit the skids, we’d be able to quickly blame those relief pitchers for failing to deliver.

The Giants are exactly who we thought they were.

Well, there two positive surprises. The starting pitching has been even better than anyone anticipated…and we’d never have imagined that was possible. And, the MVP has been a player most fans wanted to run out of town — center fielder Aaron Rowand.

Beyond that, the Giants have good-not-great bullpen, a worthless bench and an everyday lineup that could reasonably stand an upgrade at every single spot. They’re not, nor have they been, in position to tweak and tinker and steam to a title.

This bunch can win or it can implode and finish far off the pace. Just consider the three key everyday players fans count on the most:

Pablo Sandoval keeps getting bigger and bigger and that makes him an increasing defensive liability at third base. The idea that a guy as young as Sandoval is struggling at bat because he’s fatigued from playing every inning is a red flag. It’s May 13 and the guy is already tired? (Personal experience shows me that carrying 30 extra pounds, or more, around will tire a guy out really quickly.)

Bengie Molina has gotten to that point where his thickly-muscled legs are causing him enough trouble that he’s a bit of a liability once the club relies on him to hit No. 4. He’s not going to be out there every single day, so…who else can hit fourth?

Juan Uribe will be in the lineup every day, even with former batting champion Freddy Sanchez returning to play second base. Wherever Uribe plays in the field will make that position a defensive liability.

Anybody still calling for Uribe to be the everyday shortstop? Didn’t think so.

All that and they manage to keep Travis Ishikawa on the bench, eating a roster spot, because he’s a wonderful defender at first base.

The Giants can win it all, even with the shortcomings we all knew they had all along.

Remember when we all agreed that patience was key?

The Giants were cruising in first place and the idea of bringing Posey to the big club was mocked because, how much impact could he make? Remember?

It’s a long season.

Hang in there.

Things will get better and, man, after that hot start…it’ll be worth the wait for Posey (starting in June) and for Bowker to get the next last chance in left field and all.

Or, not …

It’s mid-May and the club isn’t scoring runs. The defense has booted games away.

Damn that Sabean! Letting Bochy foul up such a good thing!

Oh…oh…you know, one of the KNBR guys said that Lincecum is going to the Yankees?

Yep. The Yankees!

Well, the guy said that the Giants haven’t mentioned Lincecum being a “career Giant” and that the Yankees have more money than any other team and that, he figured, most great players pass through New York but…

Timmy’s gonna be a Yankee? Great. What else can go wrong?

How could they let us believe that the bright, happy April would become a dismal mid-May?

The Giants are who we thought they were. Who they become as the season unfolds will be up to the guys who swing the bat, throw the pitches and make the plays.

Feel free, however, to blame every loss on Sabean or Bochy and every win on the grit of a bunch of over-achievers — and to worry about where Lincecum will be when he turns 30.

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The Colorado Rockies scored a run off Jonathan Sanchez in the fourth inning on Sunday to take a 1-0 lead over the San Francisco Giants.

Sanchez left the game with the Rockies still on top 1-0, with runners on first and third, with one out in the fifth inning.

It’s going to require a more patience than what fans and, perhaps, the Giants are showing in order for the hard-throwing left-hander Sanchez to truly emerge as a consistently solid starting pitcher.

It’s just a hunch. No second-guessing Bruce Bochy. More of an amateur psychologist’s view of not repeating the same treatment for the same guy who consistently runs into the same problem.

Just wondering if taking a sideways look at Sanchez might result in giving him credit for strides he’s made and, maybe, agreeing that he’s got such electric stuff that … we can learn to stick with him just a little longer.

Sanchez got the hook down by a single run, while the Giants were being no-hit by Jhoulys Chacin…in the top of the fifth inning on Sunday. Sanchez had thrown 94 pitches.

Imagine if Bochy hooked Tim Lincecum in a similar situation — down a run in the fifth after throwing 94 pitches. Instead of walks, imagine that Lincecum had given up bouncers for basehits.

The game is certainly a great deal more relaxing when Lincecum or someone like him is pounding the strike zone and keeping the Giants in the game. However, it might be worth exercising a little more patience with Sanchez because—he isn’t Lincecum, but he has all the tools to be one nasty left-hander.

Sanchez goes from unhittable to unable to find the strike zone in the blink of an eye. In 2009, he blew up and let a scoreless tie turn into a 3-0 deficit—because he got wild. He’d groove a fastball in a desperate attempt to throw a strike and, most times, 3-0 became 6-0.

In his outing before Sunday’s start, he struggled through a tough fifth inning, got the hook and got a win. On Sunday, he was removed after walking two hitters in the fifth. The Rockies blew the game open against Brandon Medders and won 4-1

Instead of remembering the throbbing headache fans feel watching Sanchez feel for the strike zone, consider the lefty’s downfall on Sunday.

Sanchez recorded two quick outs in the fourth on Sunday. Then, he hit Jason Giambi with a pitch.

Then, he walked the bases loaded. Fans stirred. Announcers’ voices hinted at disgust.

Sanchez walked in a run with Medders up in the bullpen.

Admit it, the Giants and all their fans wanted Sanchez out of the game. Right?

By the time Chacin finally flied out to end the inning, the Rockies led…1-0.

It’s gut-wrenching to watch Sanchez lose the strike zone in the middle of what seems to be a fine outing. That hasn’t changed from 2009.

This season, though, Sanchez has minimized the damage and shown he’s at least learning to avoid the complete meltdown that ended innings like Sunday’s fourth for him in 2009.

That painful fourth that left the Giants fidgeting in the dugout and that prompted boos from corners of AT&T Park resulted in the same number of runs that Lincecum or Matt Cain would’ve yielded on, say, a single, a walk, a sacrifice bunt, and a sacrifice fly out.

A 1-0 lead is a 1-0 lead. It doesn’t matter how the other team scores the run. So, maybe don’t be so quick to call for Medders just to get Sanchez off of the field. Maybe?

Regardless of how well Sanchez had pitched Sunday, he could’ve done no better than enter the bottom of the fifth inning tied. The Giants didn’t get him a hit, let alone a run.

Granted, Sanchez walked two more batters in a row after getting an out to start the fifth. But, he’s making it clearer with every outing that he’s a better bet without good location than Medders and some others are with middle-inning relief type stuff.

Medders came in and gave up back-to-back hits. The Rockies grabbed a 4-0 lead.

Sanchez has the masterful stuff that comes and goes. Someday, the Giants hope, it comes and stays for six or seven seasons. He doesn’t know what happens when he goes from wildly dominant to plain old wild. So, maybe give the guy a chance to right himself when the Giants are being no-hit?

As things stand right now, the Giants and their fans are in for three pretty relaxing games in every five. Heck, they skipped the No. 5 starter’s spot, so they’ll get Lincecum, Cain and Barry Zito one game earlier when the road trip begins in Florida.  The bullpen’s underworked to the point the club sent reliever Waldis Joaquin down to make room for Aaron Rowand coming off of the disabled list.

As hard as it is to sit through an inning where Jonathan Sanchez loses the strike zone, it might be that the Giants and their fans learn to sit through them. For all his struggles on Sunday, he only trailed 1-0 through 4 1/3.

The Giants and fans must learn to let Sanchez have time, given the score and the inning, to learn to work out of the trouble he causes for himself. He certainly has the stuff to minimize the damage.

If Sanchez keeps looking over his shoulder at the bullpen with runners on in a scoreless game, in the fourth or fifth inning, he’ll never develop into the pitcher that his stuff indicates he could become. The Giants have the talent at the top of the rotation to let Sanchez struggle through and, perhaps, learn to avoid those nightmare innings altogether.

Patience.

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Enough with watching these Giants snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and having to listen to some knucklehead impersonate a first-grade teacher and say, “There’s no reason to panic. It’s still early in the season.”

Oh, we’ll hang with the Giants through all 162 games. It’s the folks who think anything short of accepting every loss gracefully is actually a show of pure panic.

Some of us realize that the 2010 Giants could have put some distance between themselves and their NL West foes by now. We don’t look at the record they have and say, “Boy, that’s better than we expected!” We look at the record and think about the games the Giants gave away and we fume.

We don’t panic.

We know it’s a long season.

We just know how important it is to take full advantage of Tim Lincecum’s magic or the inexplicable games where Nate Schierholtz goes 5-for-5. (Or, of games where Lincecum was magical and Schierholtz had five hits.)

Look, we agree that this is a flawed Giants team. In fact, it’s knowing that they have flaws that makes a 12-9 record entering the big three-game set against the Rockies hard to swallow.

Is it a show of panic to suggest that the Giants need to be able to beat the Phillies twice—then figure out how to keep a 4-1 lead with one out in the ninth and Lincecum on the hill?

Lincecum is the best pitcher in the National League.

He had thrown 106 pitches the other day and needed to get two outs in the ninth—before the Phillies he’d baffled all day could score three runs to tie.

The Giants had a signature Lincecum masterpiece on their hands. He is the heart of the franchise. The crowd was ready to believe that anything was possible after he just embarrassed the defending NL West champions for 8 1/3 innings.

Then, he walked a batter on four straight pitches. (Yes, we realize they were high. And, we know that the average pitcher who misses high is showing signs of fatigue. There’s just nothing average about Lincecum.)

Juan Marichal was 25 years old in 1963 when he dueled Warren Spahn through 15 1/2 scoreless innings. Willie Mays homered in the bottom of the 16th. The Giants won 1-0.

Lincecum’s 25 right now and he got the hook in favor of Brian Wilson after throwing 106 pitches. One media type actually said, “Sure…leave Lincecum in to finish that game…then come and see me when his arm’s hanging off in September!”

Bullnutz!

Marichal threw 225 pitches that night in 1963. He skipped his next start, just to be safe. Then the Dominican Dandy came back to dominate the National League for seven more brilliant seasons. (Spahn was 42 years old. His arm didn’t fall off after 16 innings either.)

No one was worried about Marichal’s arm that night in 1963. So, it’s tough to yield to the beliefs of the touchy-feely types who fear for Lincecum’s health.

It’s impossible to let their voice rule the day. And, because we feel that Lincecum should’ve finished does not mean we’re in a state of panic.

Wilson came in and walked a batter, suffered some bad luck on that looper that landed on the foul line to clear the bases.

The Giants blew a chance to finish a win that would’ve further defined Lincecum’s reputation as the stud of all studs and the guy to whom the club can hitch its wagon when everything is on the line.

That’s the type game Lincecum has been groomed to start, dominate and finish.

So, never again!If Lincecum’s not pushed well past a reasonable pitch count, the guy deserves to win or lose his own games. Period. Talk about the reasons that going to Wilson made sense…but, nobody is ever a better alternative to Lincecum with the game on the line.

The Giants can afford to fritter away a game like that.

It doesn’t matter if KNBR types are chuckling about how the Giants are going to lose heart-breakers in a long, sometimes painful, playoff run. There was no reason to lose to the Phillies on Wednesday. There have been other games they’ve lost that are no easier to swallow simply because they’ve won more than we expected.

Getting greedy has nothing to do with feeling panic after a loss that appeared for all the world to be a win.

Eugenio Velez has tools that few Giants possess.

He can run and flash power at the plate. If he can’t catch a routine fly ball like the one he dropped Wednesday, how many bases must he steal and home runs must he hit to help more than he hurts the club?

His speed can kill—and has killed the Giants a couple of times. There’s a reason that the New York Yankees haven’t signed Usain Bolt to pinch-run. It doesn’t matter how fast a guy runs if he doesn’t run based on situation and score.

Velez has run into boneheaded outs that breaks one of those baseball rules like, “Never make the first out of an inning at home plate.”

So, don’t buy the notion that fans are going to have to live or die with Velez in left field or running the bases like a runaway wind-up toy. John Bowker can catch every routine fly ball in left field. He can’t run like Velez, but he doesn’t run the bases like the Cub Scout who’s making his baseball debut at summer camp either. And, if it helps sell the idea, Bowker’s got longball power, too.

There was a point late last year when Fred Lewis botched a routine fly ball and some of us said, “He has to go! That’s it! He can undo eight wonderful innings from a starting pitcher with that glove of his.” On Wednesday, the Velez misplay that enabled the Phillies to plate the eventual game-inner became a he’s-gotta-go situation.

The Giants need Velez to run or hit off the bench?

Why?

Whatever he can do is lost in a sea of silly mistakes. Bowker has enough power to pop one out of the blue without ever missing a routine fly ball or just running blindly into an out.

(There’s a slightly better trade market for Velez than there was for Lewis. The Giants could get a minor leaguer in a trade—a minor leaguer who is actually identified. They dealt Lewis for a player to be named later.)

The Colorado Rockies are in town over the weekend for a big early NL West series. Given that the Giants have played better than expected overall, they should be 1 1/2 games ahead of the gifted Rockies.

The Rockets are going to get red-hot soon. They’ll blow past the Giants in the process if the locals can’t finish a sweep against a Phillies. And, the Dodgers won’t play .364 baseball all summer. So, some of us see reason to worry because the Giants have played well but are only 4 1/2 games up on a Dodgers team that’s struggling mightily.

The Dodgers and Rockies won’t get worse. The Giants might fall off precipitously, so they should do what they can to win while the other contenders are struggling.

There’s no panic involved. It’s common sense. Win while you’re playing pretty well, because there will be a long stretch where losses are well earned by ineffective hitting and weak defense.

Don’t argue against recalling Buster Posey from Fresno. Brad Penny said the Giants made his job easier by refusing to work the count and by swinging at first pitches. Posey works the count and he puts the ball in play. And, here’s betting he would’ve caught that fly ball that Velez missed…even if somebody had handed Posey an outfielder’s glove at the top of the inning, said, “Hey, do your best” and sent him to left field.

Posey’s a gamer. He knows how to win.

Recalling Posey’s not a panic move. It’s a savvy response to the weaknesses the club has shown. The Mets recalled their No. 1 prospect to play first base. Giants official Larry Baer said Posey’s recall is not at all based on his arbitration clock or money. So?

Aubrey Huff’s hitting .227. Don’t tell me that it’s too early to tweak the lineup.

If the No. 4 hitter’s struggling, it’s “panic” to suggest Bengie Molina hit fourth and Huff drops down to No. 6?

Finally, the club has shown the ability to really fight back. So, more Guillermo Mota and Dan Runzler to keep a deficit to a minimum would be in order, too. A two-run lead should stay at two, you know?

A club that gets giddy at the prospect of Andres Torres getting one or two hits probably has no business thinking about the playoffs. But, the Giants are different. If Torres gets a clutch hit or two with Lincecum, Barry Zito, Matt Cain or Jonathan Sanchez pitching well—it could win a game.

And, just because we figure this Giants team will be in contention and that every win needs to be locked away, rather than frittered away, doesn’t mean we’re in a panic.

We just realize that this could be a magical season.

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Ted Sillanpaa is a San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area sports writer and columnist. Contact Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com.

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