As a New York Yankees fan it is easy to get to know the players in the American League.
Due to geographical circumstances and interleague play, I have learned more about some of the teams in the National League, like the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Over the past few seasons, the San Francisco Giants have not come to the Bronx and have not factored in the postseason.
The Giants actually resided in New York City from 1930-57, in which the franchise won five World Championships and 17 pennants. Since making the move to San Francisco, the city still awaits for their Giants to bring a World Series title to the Bay.
Mainly known as the home to starting ace Tim Lincecum (“The Freak”), who has won the Cy Young Award the past two seasons, the Giants are another team residing in the NL West along with the Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
The organization’s biggest star, Barry Bonds disgraced the team’s mainstay. It seemed that the last special baseball moment for the Giants was Bonds hitting for his home-run record. It is his record because MLB can’t count it as baseball history when it was unauthentic.
Other than a cheat and a freak, there wasn’t much reason to get to the Giants over the last five seasons, until now.
After watching a few Giants games I understand their team’s appeal. The Giants players are scrappy, good, fundamental baseball players who are darn fun to watch because they never seem to give up.
STRENGTHS:
The team’s biggest asset is pitching. Three aces: Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner, follow Lincecome.
The Giants starters finished the regular season with a 3.36 ERA, which was the lowest in baseball. The Giants rotation also tossed a total of 1461 innings, gave up the least hits with 1279, 546 earned runs, and struck out the most batters.
All stats led the majors for 2010. They tied for third place with the Dodgers and Marlins for the least home-runs allowed with 134 in total.
The Giants have the top closer in baseball, Brian Wilson. A guy I would want on my team. Not only can Wilson shutdown batters, but he radiates a superior, daunting presence from the mound, making batters wince. Wilson led the majors with 57 saves in 73 save opportunities.
The Giants only offensive strength comes from pure, home-run hitting power. It is the only way the Giants know how to win.
Strategy is finding a way to beat the other team by holding up the opponent’s hitters and capitalizing at the plate on the two, three or four mistakes the opponent’s pitchers inevitably make.
WEAKNESSES:
The Giants approach has no surprises.
Slow is an understatement, as the team is tied with the cubs for the slowest runners in baseball stealing just 55 bases on the season.
The batters hit into a lot of double plays and rely too much on home-runs with nothing else as an offensive back-up. It explains how the Giants wins/losses coincide with the starting pitcher’s performance.
It is not a safe way to make the playoffs, as small ball can get a team those extra wins when other aspects are slumping. In many ways the Giants are an upgraded or superior version of the Toronto Blue Jays, as Toronto’s pitching keeps improving so does the team’s record.
How do I think the Giants will do against the Texas Rangers?
The Giants pitchers need to set the tone and dominate the games from the start. Other than Cliff Lee, the Texas Rangers pitching doesn’t hold a candle to the Giants. Keeping the speedy Rangers completely off the base-pads is essential.
I see no reason why the Giants couldn’t win it in six, only because Lee will win both his starts almost without a doubt.
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