The Giants looked truly terrible against the A’s this weekend, getting swept and scoring only one run in the three game series. It doesn’t get much worse than that on the scoring side.
After this performance and in light of the recent road trip to L.A. and San Diego, where the Giants couldn’t buy a run, I thought I’d take a look and see if their problem was they just can’t hit on the road.
As it turns out, however, they’ve actually scored more runs on the road so far this year than at home: 89 (11th in the NL) on the road and 86 (13th in the NL) at home.
The real problem is that team hasn’t pitched as well on the road. The Giants have the second lowest runs allowed total at home (58), but are only seventh lowest on the road (91).
The Giants have obviously played better at home (13-8) so far than on the road (9-13), but the difference isn’t extreme for this early in the season. Still, a quarter of the way through the season, the Giants look like a team that can’t score anywhere and are only a great pitching team at home.
I wish I had some recommendations for what the Giants could do to improve at the plate. They will have streaks where they score some runs, but their fundamental problem is that they look an awful lot like the team that couldn’t score enough runs last year to make the postseason with only a few over-the-hill, injury-prone veterans like Mark DeRosa and Aubrey Huff added to try to squeeze out just enough runs to squeak into October.
At the margins, the team could do things like demote John (“Looks Like the Second Coming of Todd Linden”) Bowker and call up Joe Borchard. However, it seems clear to me that the only way the Giants can really turn the offense around is to trade for a real hitter after the All-Star Break.
Unfortunately, I can’t see them getting the bat they need, unless they’re willing to trade one of their really honest-to-goodness pitching prospects like Madison Bumgarner or last year’s first round pick Zack Wheeler. That, or Jonathan Sanchez.
There are some other players I would want if I were a general manager ready to trade off a veteran slugger, like, say, Lance Berkman, but I’d want a legit prospect in exchange for anyone really playing well, unless the Giants are willing to take on all of the veteran’s remaining salary commitments.
I don’t see Buster Posey as the answer in 2010, even when the Giants are ready to call him up. He’s hitting well but not phenomenally so at AAA Fresno, and I’m doubtful he’d give the Giants much more than they are getting out of catcher Bengie Molina or first baseman Aubrey Huff at the positions Posey can play.
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