Kuzul

Matt Cain is the 2010 stopper. Lincecum was the go-to guy last year; whenever the Giants had a losing streak, he would stop it; which is actually not surprising at all, considering that he pitched behind Joe Martinez and Randy Johnson for a good part of the season, and he was a Cy Young winner.

This season, Matt Cain is becoming that guy. With consecutive bad performances from Sanchez, Bumgarner, Lincecum, and Zito, Cain stopped the bleeding. It wasn’t a brilliant outing: 6.1 IP, 3 ER, 7 K; but it got the job done nevertheless. The relief was terrible, except Brian Wilson, of course. Casilla, Affeldt, and Lopez combined for four earned runs and five hits in one inning pitched. But Wilson came in and shut the door for 1.2 innings.

Five Giants had multi-hit games: 

Freddy Sanchez – 3 for 5, 2 RBI
Andres Torres – 2 for 4, 2 RBI
Matt Cain – 2 for 3, 1 R
Eli Whiteside – 2 for 4, 2 R
Pablo Sandoval – 2 for 4, 2 R

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The San Francisco Giants are a team built around their starting pitching.  Over the past month, it’s this aspect of the team that has been letting them down.

GM Brian Sabean has made several moves during the course of the season to bolster the offense.  Outfielders Pat Burrell, Jose Guillen, and Cody Ross give manager Bruce Bochy a lot of flexibility to go with the hot bat.  Infielder Mike Fontenot was a much needed acquisition when Edgar Renteria went on the DL.

In addition, the trade of catcher Bengie Molina opened the door for Buster Posey to play every day.  These moves have given the Giants a solid lineup and also a potent bench.

Now, the key for the Giants to make a playoff run is the pitching, most notably the starting pitching.  Two time Cy Young award winner, Tim Lincecum, has been struggling and has now lost five straight decisions.  His overall record has slipped to a very pedestrian 11-9, with a 3.80 ERA.

The alarming thing about this recent run is the loss of velocity and command that has plagued Lincecum.  Against Arizona tonight, Lincecum’s fastball was usually in the 90-91 mph range, down from the 94-96 mark he was at for most of the past two years.

The decrease in velocity means that Lincecum is unable to get as many hitters to swing and miss with the fastball.  Not only does this mean more balls are put in play, but also more foul balls, so Lincecum’s pitch count rises too rapidly.

The decrease in velocity also means that the speed differential between Lincecum’s fastball and changeup is a lot less.  This, again, means more contact and more foul balls.  Lincecum is having trouble putting hitters away quickly, even when he gets two quick strikes on them.

In addition, Lincecum has been having trouble with his command, both in and out of the strike zone. Lincecum walked two in the first inning.  They both came around to score on Adam LaRoche’s home run.  Lincecum missed badly with his location on an off speed pitch, leaving it over the plate for LaRoche to smash.  LaRoche blasted it into McCovey Cove, giving the Diamondbacks a three-run lead.

The second starter, Barry Zito started the season quite well.  However, he has also struggled of late.  In Zito’s last three starts, he has given up five runs once and four runs twice.  Zito has not made it out of the seventh inning in any of those outings.

Matt Cain has been the most reliable starter in the month of August.  His overall record is 10-10 with an ERA of 3.07.  Cain’s WHIP ratio, (Walks + Hits allowed per innings pitched), is a phenomenal 1.14.  Cain has endured poor run support from his offense. Otherwise, his record would be much better.  Right now, Cain is pitching like the ace of the staff.

Jonathan Sanchez, the fourth starter, has great talent and can have tremendous games.  He threw a no-hitter against the Padres last season.  However, as good as Sanchez can be at times, he has struggled with consistency his entire career. 

In the past four outings, Sanchez has had one great outing and three poor ones. Against Philadelphia, Sanchez threw eight innings, giving up only two hits and one run.  In the other three starts, Sanchez threw a total of 13.2 innings and give up twelve runs.  These short outings also cause the bullpen to become overworked.

The fifth starter, rookie Madison Bumgarner, just turned 21 years of age.  He is under pressure to deliver, as the Giants need him to do well in their playoff chase. 

Bumgarner had been pitching well, then had a terrible outing earlier this week against the Reds.  He was unable to get out of the third inning, giving up seven earned runs.  The Giants trailed at one point 10-1, but staged an incredible comeback to take the lead 11-10.  Unfortunately for the Giants, the Reds were able to tie it in the ninth inning and win it in the 12th. 

Having lost the past two games, the Giants need to get back to their winning ways in order to keep their playoff hopes on track.  The starting pitching for the Giants must improve immediately, or this season will be lost. 

The talent is definitely there.  Now, it’s up to Lincecum, Zito, Cain, Sanchez, and Bumgarner to step up and lead the Giants to the playoffs.

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As of late, Tim Lincecum has not been at the top of his game.

Around this time last year, Tim Lincecum was an NL Cy Young candidate in which he later won. But right now, Lincecum is not pitching like he used to… so what’s wrong?

The two time defending Cy Young award winner is certainly not where he was last year, but why? Lincecum has the stuff and we know what he can do with it, he’s just not showing us at the moment.

First of all, his velocity is down. When he’s not throwing hard enough, he tries to throw harder and when he does that his delivery and balance are thrown off. Lincecum may also have too much on his mind. He knows he’s not pitching like he is expected to, and that is probably getting to him. If Lincecum would just let it fly this slump could get turned around.

Comparing Lincecum To His Rotation

This year, Lincecum is 11-8 with a 3.72 ERA. Lincecum has K’d 173 and walked 64 which equates to a good WHIP of 1.35. That is not horrible considering he has a relatively low ERA and a winning record. But the thing is, he hasn’t been living up to his hype and status that his preseason No. 1 pitcher ranking created. Last year, Lincecum went 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA and 261 K.

Matt Cain, even though 1 less win and 2 more losses, has seemed to pitch better than Lincecum. With a 3.07 ERA and 137 K’s, you don’t consider that too horrible for a No. 2 starter.

Jonathan Sanchez has posted a 9-8 record and an ERA of 3.67. Sanchez is still himself comparing last years stats, as he sits at 157 K’s.

Madison Bumgarner, although being called up not too far back, has posted some nice numbers. Madison is 5-4, a 3.95 ERA, and 52 K’s in only 73 innings pitched.

Barry Zito hasn’t pitched as well as he did to start the season, currently holding a 8-9 record with a 3.78 ERA and 121 K.

It may seem that Lincecum has pitched better than the pitchers in the Giants rotation, but he is just not doing what he’s done over his last 2 years in the bigs.

If Lincecum tries not to throw as hard, just lets it go, and tries not to think too much, he should return to his superstar status and bring back his nasty stuff.

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The NL West hasn’t gone the way most of the “experts” thought it would. The team leading the division, the San Diego Padres, was expected to be the bottom feeder, while the predicted leader, the Los Angeles Dodgers, sits in third place seven games back.

That sets up for a showdown in the bay area this coming weekend between the first place San Diego Padres and the second place San Francisco Giants who are just two and a half games back. The two teams have met eight times this season with the Padres coming out victorious in seven of those games.

Giants’ right-hander Jonathan Sanchez has already thrown down the gauntlet in a recent comment to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle saying, “We’re going to play San Diego, and we’re going to beat them three times. If we get to first place, we’re not going to look back.”

The only problem with the comment from Sanchez was the fact that he was confident in the first part then questionable in the second part. First, it was “we’re going to beat San Diego,” but then said “if we get to first place.” Why not go all the way and say “when we get to first place?”

When Shea asked Sanchez about the Giants losing seven of eight to the Padres so far this year Sanchez responded, “That was a long time ago. Doesn’t matter. We’ve got a better team now.” While he wasn’t quite as colorful as Cincinnati’s Brandon Phillips calling the St. Louis Cardinals “little b******,” it still gives the weekend series a different feel than early on in the year.

Tale of the tape:

Pitching:

San Diego Padres – 3.26 ERA

San Francisco Giants – 3.44 ERA

Analysis: The San Diego Padres have been towards the top of the NL West all season long. Much to the chagrin of a lot of “experts” who picked them to finish last. The biggest reason for their success is their pitching staff. Not only their starters but also the guys out of the bullpen.

Adding Jon Garland, a veteran that knows what it takes to get to the World Series, was a good off season acquisition, but adding a young and talented right-hander in Mat Latos behind him makes for a solid one-two punch in the rotation. Not only have those two guys been getting it done but guys like left-hander Clayton Richard, right-hander Kevin Correia, and young left-hander Wade LeBlanc have stepped up at the right time to provide solid outings.

As for the Giants, they also boast one of the best rotations in baseball with guys like Tim Linecum, Matt Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez, not to mention Barry Zito, all of which have ERA’s below 3.60 with Matt Cain leading the way at 3.06.

The problem this team has had in years passed was the failure of their bullpen to hold a late inning lead. They seemed to have fixed that with guys like Brian Wilson (2.19), Sergio Romo (2.18), Javier Lopez (2.51), and Santiago Casilla (2.32). It give the starters confidence to turn the ball over to them when the game is on the line instead of worrying whether or not the lead would hold. 

Offense:

San Francisco Giants – .261 average

San Diego Padres – .250 average

Analysis: There’s no secret when it comes to the struggles of the San Diego Padres as far as scoring runs. Sometimes, pitchers can hold an opposing team to a single run and end up losing the game 1-0. General manager Jed Hoyer is hoping that the addition of both Miguel Tejada and Ryan Ludwick will help some of those issues and give their pitchers more runs to work with.

Outside of those two, the Padres have been getting better than expected production from Jerry Hairston Jr. and as expected production from Adrian Gonzalez. However, having David Eckstein out of the lineup for an extended period has definitely hurt the team. They are hoping to have him back by this weekend.

As for the Giants, they have become a better offensive team but still lack that one big bat that general manager Brian Sabean really wanted. They attempted to acquire Adam Dunn from Washington as well as Corey Hart from Milwaukee but were unable to get a deal done for either player.

What they did get came from inside their own system. After trading away catcher Benji Molina, it gave them the opportunity to call up Buster Posey who has since surprised even the Giants with his performance. Posey played in just seven games for San Francisco in 2009, hitting .118 and striking out four times in 17 at bats. This season however, something must have clicked because the young catcher is hitting .345 with eight home runs and 42 runs batted in.

Padres will take the series if…

They can score early on the Giants’ starters. The longer they go, the stronger they seem to get. Get to their pitchers early and get into their bullpen.

They can go into the late innings with the lead and hand it to their bullpen.

Giants will take the series if…

They are patient and take pitches. The Padre pitchers will attempt to get ahead and early but wait them out and they will make a mistake.

Their pitchers can keep Ryan Ludwick from becoming a factor. His bat has started to heat up and that’s the last thing they want to see.

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Baseball managerial practices are organic. They change and shift according to knowledge into the laws of physics, culture, and economics.

In times of yore, a five-man rotation was thought to be useless, Cy Young started 49 games in a single year, and the concept of a closer would have been bizarre.

Getting back to the present, Stephen Strasburg’s muscles flared a few weeks ago, and it seems he may be shut down for the year.

Baseball’s “chosen one” had never pitched more than 128 innings in a season, and so nearing that number between the minors and majors this year, the Nationals began to tread carefully.

With his inflammation not abating, what are the chances they let him pitch again this year?

We live in the age of the pitch count and caution.

Looking at the numbers for the Giants’ starting pitching staff this year, some interesting trends start to emerge.

At the start of the year with a well-rested staff, the Giants came out firing on all cylinders, with the exception of Todd Wellemeyer’s road starts.

At home, however, Wellemeyer joined the party and the Giants maintained first place in their division.

Some ups and downs took them through the first half, but it was the offense’s impotence during stretches that prevented them from winning, e.g. the series in Oakland.

But before the All-Star break, the pitching seemed to completely break down and looked fatigued. They lost seven in a row and the formerly dominant pitching staff became average to subpar.

Of course, many will point to the obvious friction—holding Buster Posey back and continuing to use the very much depleted Bengie Molina—as the source of the teams’ woes.

The Giants traded Molina on June 30th, and the team has been much better since then.

Right before the All-Star break in Milwaukee, the team was able to get healthy on a fairly inept team, and Posey redonned his Iron Man suit and put the team on his back.

But the starting rotation really seemed to find themselves after the extra rest of the All-Star break.

Lincecum started the second half with a shutout. Zito followed with eight shutout innings.  Cain then gave up 2 ERs in seven innings. Sanchez also gave up 2 ERs in seven innings. And Bumgarner finished up the first cycle by going 5.2 IP and allowing 1 ER.

The Giants won four of five, and the starting rotation posted an ERA of 1.28.

Since then, the offense has outperformed every other one in baseball while the pitching has stayed solid.

But those first five games are instructive—with a little extra rest, the starting rotation dominated.

Furthermore, Lincecum needed to skip a start at the end of last year to refuel.

Now Wellemeyer is ready to return to the big league club and the Giants will have five-and-a-half starting pitchers.

Yes, I said five-and-a-half. Earlier this year I wrote an article suggesting Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde should be separated at the hip. In other words, Wellemeyer should just make his home starts. It was supposed to be funny…a joke.

But now, it actually seems to make sense. If the staff pitches better with a little extra rest, why not let Wellemeyer take a few home starts from here on out?

The Giants can go in one of two directions: either say we’re embarrassed that the guy can’t pitch on the road and not start him at all, or say we’re proud the guy can knock it out at home and send him out there.

The glass is either half empty or half full.

But if the corollary that a better rested staff is more dominant is true, then a “5.5 Man Rotation Giants” would have the best staff in baseball going into September and October.

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The San Francisco Giants have won four of their first five coming out of the All-Star break — five of five if not for a blown call at home plate that cost them a win over the New York Mets on Sunday.

The Giants blew into Los Angeles and beat the suddenly slumping Dodgers, 5-2, on Monday night. The Dodgers have lost five in a row after being swept in a four-game series by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Things are going well for the Giants. They look as though they could win the National League West.

Wait.

We’ve been here before, only to have things go terribly wrong. Right?

It’s different this time. These Giants aren’t winning by utilityman Juan Uribe is on a hot streak or because one of the half-dozen or so prospects-turned-suspects has shown a flash of big league talent. The Giants are winning because, well, they’ve somehow pieced together a team that does things that successful teams do.

The starting pitching is back in gear. Lincecum’s arm isn’t dead. Zito’s coming off a brilliant outing against the New York Mets. Matt Cain reminded fans the other day that only people with no understanding of the game or the patience of a gnat would ever suggest trading him for the ever elusive “big bat” that the Giants always seem to need.

Heck, forget the top three guys in the rotation for a second. The Giants have guys in the fourth and fifth slots who would be in the top three rotation slots for many teams. Madison Bumgarner is flashing signs of being the once-a-generation young pitcher that most teams only dream about. (The fact that he’s the third big-time pitching prospect the Giants have produced in this rotation alone is worth noting before the club loses and someone demands Brian Sabean’s head on a platter.)

And, the pitcher folks feel would be so easily to replace if he was traded for that “bat” pitched well again, too. The idea of messing with this rotation and trading Jonathan Sanchez to get a hitter like Corey Hart is ludicrous. Fans and media types who insist that no team has a good fifth starter and that Sanchez is expendable are loopy. There is a precipitous drop-off from Sanchez or Bumgarner to Joe Martinez. Man, how quickly people forget how dreadful things were when the Giants just had any, old fifth starter and he was Todd Wellemeyer.

The bullpen’s in chaos but the burning need to trade for a set-up man subsided a little on Monday when Jeremy Affeldt looked like he did in 2009. Everybody wants to trade for a vetean set-up man, while ignoring that the new guy would cost a prospect and would come with no more assurance of success than Affeldt does. Affeldt got an NL MVP vote last year. And, folks think just some guy on the Pittsburgh Pirates roster can come west and most assuredly be better than Affeldt could be when, as relievers so often do, he rights himself out of the blue?

Brian Wilson has become a lock-down closer. He’s still not at the level of consistency that Robb Nen was in his prime, but not many closers were as good as Nen in his prime.

The Giants are winning because the pitching staff appears in good shape at the right time of the season.

The biggest reason this this Giants hot streak is the real thing centers around the middle of the batting order. There are three, big-time run producers in the lineup. And, none of them cost the organization Sanchez or a package of prospects.

Aubrey Huff is having a big-time season with the bat and, frankly, playing defense and running the bases so well that teams who labeled him nothing more than a designated hitter seemed to have look right past the things he can do.

Buster Posey has become, well, Buster Posey. The phenom is hitting like a phenom. He’s batting fourth and hitting the devil out of the ball — even with the power some insisted he would never have. He’s handling the pitching staff, in spite of everyone saying he couldn’t do such a thing. And, is he making it tough on would-be base-stealers?

Where are the folks who suggested that Pablo Sandoval be sent to the minor leagues to rebuild his confidence or his swing or both? Patience, man, it’s a beautiful thing. Sandoval couldn’t have had the season he had in 2009 if he was really incapable of breaking the slump that haunted him through the first half of this season.

It was written here that Sandoval would supply the offense that others insisted could only come in trade. He has pounded the ball from both sides of the plate since the All-Star break. And, don’t mumble something about five games being a small sample size. Sandoval crushed the ball through the entire 2009 campaign and — he’s doing the same thing over the last five games. He showed what he can do last year. He’s doing it again right now.

The Giants are for real because they have two home-grown run-producers in the middle of an order anchored by Huff. Again, those who will want Sabean fired again at some point need to realize that four of the five starting pitchers, the closer and two of the top three run-producers came out of the Giants farm system. There are lots of teams with general managers who’d like to be able to boast of that type of minor league production.

Bruce Bochy’s going to get blamed for losing games. There’s no getting around that. He’s found a formula that works for this Giants team and is getting incredible output from first baseman Travis Ishikawa, center fielder Andres Torres and left fielder Pat Burrell. Ishikawa didn’t suddenly wake up a .340 hitter. Bochy’s used him against pitchers where matchups favor Ishikawa. The same has been true for Burrell. And, they’ve produced.

Oh, yeah, when fans are lining up to gripe that Bochy always sticks with veterans or high-paid players no matter what — remember that Aaron Rowand is a reserve outfielder and that Torres has won the center field job and has been a catalyst in the lead-off spot.

Bochy doesn’t have patience? He wouldn’t give John Bowker or Nate Schierholtz a chance? Not so fast. OK? Not so fast.

Torres won the job in center and got the lead-off spot — and kept it. When he slumped, Bochy stuck with him. If Bochy was pulling names out of a hat like his critics suggest, Torres would’ve been out of the lineup before the break.

Just because this Giants team is on a hot streak that makes them real postseason contenders does not mean that they’ll win five of six, 10 of 12, 16 out of 18 and 25 out of 27. They’ll be on a roller coaster, like most other teams in the National League. The bullpen will let some games get away and, eventually, Posey won’t be hitting at a .500 clip. (Of course, by then, Freddy Sanchez could be hitting like the NL batting champion he once was.)

San Francisco beat the Dodgers on Monday because Schierholtz, the guy who many whine never gets a chance, hit a two-run home run. Add Ishikawa and Schierholtz to the list of home-grown Giants contributing on Monday.

Now, really, would it improve the Giants markedly if they could get Jose Guillen from the Kansas City Royals to play right field? Fans have called for Schierholtz to get a chance and Rowand has shown that he can help in spots coming off the bench. Guillen’s a remarkable upgrade? For sure? Even if his arrival means Schierholtz becomes a full-time late-inning defensive replacement and Rowand bumps Torres out of the lineup more often?

Didn’t think so.

Forget getting Hart from the Milwaukee Brewers. No baseball man on the planet would trade Bumgarner to get Hart. So, while they’re at it, the Giants should dismiss out of hand the idea of creating a hole in the rotation and gutting the minor league system to get first baseman Prince Fielder. The San Diego Padres aren’t running away from the pack and, really, isn’t it more fun to be pulling for Giants we know as opposed to some highly-paid slugger who just happens to be wearing the black and orange uniform?

There might be a time, perhaps soon, when everyone groans, “They have to trade for a shortstop,” or “(Pick a reliever) has blown his last game! He has to go!”

Remember, though, that after the first game of the Dodgers series in Los Angeles in late July — the Giants had the pieces in place to be considered a real postseason contender. And, the bulk of the talent making that so came out of the Giants farm system.

Eugenio Velez is on the big league roster so the potential exists for a disastrous mistake that costs the club a game, and brings Sabean’s ability to fill the roster into question. Wilson will pitch — a lot — and the question will come up about how many times the closer can do the job without some help.

This isn’t the first chapter of a fairytale that will certainly end with the Giants winning the World Series. Got it?

It’s just written record that, really, the Giants have what it takes to win.

—

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

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The San Francisco Giants lost to the Colorado Rockies in 15 innings on Independence Day to fall further back in the NL West and NL wild-card race.

Since frustrated fans have run out of cockeyed ways to fix the lineup or the pitching staff, firing manager Bruce Bochy is now their solution to all of the club’s problems.

Fair enough.

If you invest five hours of your July 4th holiday in watching a ball game on TV, you’re due the right to question Bochy for removing catcher Buster Posey, who was reportedly ill.

It’s understandable that the near mandatory double-switch that prompted Bochy to remove hot-hitting first baseman Travis Ishikawa would leave fans raving mad—even if the switch did help give the Giants a chance to use their entire bullpen in shutting the Rockies out for eight innings.

Look, if your veins are bulging because Edgar Renteria played shortstop instead of Juan Uribe—OK. We’ll ignore, for the moment, that Uribe was two for his last 25 entering the weekend.

Blame the manager. Blame the general manager. Blame the ownership.

How could they let the team we loved, which played so well in the spring, become a team we could barely tolerate in the summer?

Take your best shot.

Maybe a manager whose only claim to fame is that he’s not Bochy would turn things around. It could be that firing Sabean and giving his job to one of his subordinates would change everything.

This is a call for common sense, a holiday reality check.

The 2010 San Francisco Giants have the talent of a team that should be one game over .500.

If the club hadn’t kicked away a few games early, they’d be five or six games over the break-even point today.

We all remember when we’d sit through a loss and smile, mumbling, “It’s early…there’s a long season ahead. Renteria’s crushing the ball. Rowand’s hitting. No reason to bring Posey up from the minors! Molina’s on fire and he’s really helping the best pitching staff in baseball.”

If Uribe had maintained the pace of an All-Star shortstop and Posey had hit .700 for a full month rather than a full week, maybe the club would be 10 games over .500. Those are unrealistic expectations.

The starting pitching and closer Brian Wilson helped hide fatal flaws offensively and defensively. They enabled us to believe that Andres Torres was a guy who simply blossomed into a .300 hitter in the lead-off spot—at age 32. When the starters began to struggle, we realized the Giants can’t put together an everyday lineup that gives any reason to believe that the club should finish much over .500.

Guess what?

There’s nothing the Giants can do to fix things right now.

Sabean opted to sign Pat Burrell, while fans and insiders groaned at the thought of another aging, automatic out in the lineup. Burrell’s hitting over .300 and is among club home run leaders in a platoon role in left field. How much has the considerable upgrade Burrell provides over John Bowker and Eugenio Velez helped the won-loss record?

So, why would trading a prospect or two to acquire David DeJesus or Jose Guillen from the Kansas City Royals ignite a second-half burst? The fact that DeJesus and Guillen seem to be such fine fits for the Giants says more about the Giants than it does about either player. (Note: how many times do you figure the Giants have passed on dealing for Guillen?)

Cleveland’s Austin Kearns could key the Giants’ run to the playoffs? Oh, OK…Kearns and DeJesus…they join the outfield and magic dust starts falling at AT&T Park?

There’s more of a chance that Bowker could start hitting big league pitching like he absolutely crushes Pacific Coast League pitching. 

Adam Dunn will be signing a contract extension, most likely, with the Washington Nationals. Florida’s Jorge Cantu would help add a little punch at a corner infield spot, but he’s a fairly weak defender.

There’s not a big league-ready hitter in the Giants’ farm system, either. This is it for the remainder of the season—griping about how Renteria and Rowand shouldn’t have played ahead of Uribe and Ishikawa.

Not much out there in the way of sure-thing bullpen fixes, either. The Giants are going to trade for relief help, most certainly. They’ll try to fix the pen with a guy most of us won’t recognize.

Prince Fielder? Wouldn’t he look great in orange and brown?

ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote that the Giants won’t acquire Fielder because their refusal to trade Matt Cain is a “deal-breaker.” Shipping Madison Bumgarner or Jonathan Sanchez as centerpiece in a trade package wouldn’t be enough to get Fielder.

Anyone out there want to trade Cain and top prospects for Fielder? (Think, now—the argument could be made that Cain has a brighter future than Tim Lincecum.)

The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo says the Giants covet Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Corey Hart. Small problem, though—the Brewers feel like they can still reach the playoffs and aren’t trading Hart any time soon. (News flash: the Giants covet Albert Pujols, but the Cardinals are not anxious to trade him as long as they’re in the pennant race.)

So, this is it.

Pablo Sandoval’s going to return to form or keep breaking our hearts. It means Posey will have get hot again. Aubrey Huff will have to go from All-Star Game candidate to MVP candidate. And, remarkably, the Giants must hope that Ishikawa is the one Giants prospect in the Bowker-Velez-Schierholtz group who actually emerges as a truly productive big leaguer.

In a small way, it will be more entertaining following those storylines than it would be to suddenly root for Guillen or Kearns or others of their ilk. Not that Giants fans have much choice.

—

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

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Bruce Bochy hasn’t done anything differently from the San Francisco Giants’ fast start in April to the roller-coaster ride that got them spiraling downward in a seven-game losing streak.

Bochy didn’t make Tim Lincecum, oddly, less dominating. The manager didn’t have anything to do with Pablo Sandoval’s struggle at the plate. The bullpen many like to insist he mismanages really just isn’t very good.

There’s no reason to fire Bochy, unless you believe in momentum and chemistry and “shaking things up in the clubhouse.”

If you think momentum is further away than Sandoval’s next 3-for-4 game, with a home run and five RBIs—you want Bochy gone.

If you don’t realize that team chemistry goes from bad to fantastic when Lincecum, Barry Zito and Matt Cain each turn in consecutive outstanding starts, Bochy should pack his gear.

Should you be under the impression that guys like Guillermo Mota, Santiago Casillia, Andre Torres, Nate Schierholtz, and Aaron Rowand would be more consistenly good if the Giants hired a new manager, then you’re ready to call for the hiring of…

Oh, yeah…if you think Bochy needs to be replaced, you surely have a series of possible candidates who’ll come in and turn Jeremy Affeldt and Jonathan Sanchez into consistently dominating left-hand pitchers.

So, who ya’ got?

Ron Wotus? Don’t think the guy who has been standing behind and agreeing with Giants managers for so long is exactly going to be that spark plug fans think a new manager should become.

Steve Decker? Oh, c’mon! You read somewhere that he’s one of the top minor league managing prospects and that he’s doing a great job with Giants prospects at Fresno. But, his Triple-A Grizzlies require a completely different type of attention than does this particular veteran group of Giants. Decker might be the Giants manager of the future, but he hasn’t done anything to show he can do more with Edgar Renteria than Bochy can.

Fredi Gonzalez? He was the NL Manager of the Year two years ago, then got fired by the Florida Marlins two weeks ago. (Tell you anything about how much we really understand about what a manager does?) Forget it. He’ll take over the Atlanta Braves job when mentor Bobby Cox retires at the end of this year.

Bobby Valentine? Great personality. Probably great with certain types of players. Fans would love his enthusiastic, go-get-’em approach. He has managed the Texas Rangers and New York Mets for 15 seasons combined and has a .510 winning percentage. The fact that he went to manage in Japan and loved it would, at least, bode well for KNBR’s pre-game manager’s show. Bobby V would have stories to tell. (The “Bruce Bochy Show” isn’t the current manager’s strong suit, nor should it be.)

The Giants don’t have a big league managerial candidate on the staff. Wotus? Why? After that? Third base coach Tim Flannery’s only back in the big leagues because he and Bochy are close friends. If Bochy leaves, Flannery would follow.

See the problem?

Fans know what they think Bochy has done wrong, but there’s no evidence that he’s had anything to do with the things that have really put the Giants on the brink of falling out of the playoff race. The hitters aren’t hitting. The pitchers aren’t dominating.

We don’t have any idea who would do a better job with this Giants team either. Decker? Maybe. Wotus? He’s a coach. Gonzalez? His dream gig’s coming. Valentine? His career win percentage is .510—hardly solid gold.

There are other candidates out there, but none could turn the Giants around until the Giants turn themselves around.

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

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Bengie Molina didn’t win the the San Francisco Giants’ Willie Mac Award twice because him teammates liked how he looked in his uniform. He was, obviously, a very popular and respected teammate.

Let’s put the idea that his departure to the Texas Rangers will spell doom for Giants pitchers to rest immediately, however.

Molina calls a great game. Tim Lincecum admits often that he feels he should share his Cy Young Awards with the veteran catcher. So, since the pitcher won’t do it, someone should mention that the right-hander should share half of the difficulties he has experienced in the last two months with Molina, too.

Matt Cain struggled early, went through a period where he was the best right-hander in the National League, but has had a couple of rough outings. Cain acknowledges how valuable Molina was to his development as a pitcher and to his success. Again, let’s point out that Molina was doing his job exactly as he did during Cain’s hot streak when Cain pitched poorly.

The Giants pitchers, who have been so fabulous for so long, have hit their first group slump in two years. So, if the hard times continue — let’s remember that Molina was on hand and calling pitches when the starting staff began to pitch like mere mortals, OK?

It’s going to be really tempting, with the Giants at the point where being swept in Colorado could turn them from NL West contenders to division longshot, to look back in two weeks and mumble, “What were the Giants thinking trading Molina? Cain and Lincecum haven’t won a game since he left? Buster Posey can’t handle this staff…”

Buster Posey and veteran Eli Whiteside can handle the staff. The catcher suggests the pitch and the location. The pitcher has to deliver the pitch to the spot where the hitter can make solid contact. And, even though they are still young in baseball years, Lincecum, Cain and Jonathan Sanchez have a good idea of what they need to throw and when to throw it. Sanchez, actually, has had Whiteside catching him most of the season. Barry Zito calls his own game.

Madison Bumgarner’s 20 years old. Posey knows him better than any catcher in the Giants organization. The Giants coaching staff should know every National League hitter Bumgarner and Posey will face. There’s not a reason in the world for Bumgarner’s progress as a big leaguer to be hindered if the guys who get paid to help the players do actually help Posey figure out NL hitters.

This is the point in a season where it’d be really easy for a team to make excuses for losing. Worse, it’s a time when the Giants are fading and really could be looking for one reason to say, “OK. That’s it! We give up!”

That holds for Pablo Sandoval, too. He’s failed to perform at the same level he did a year ago. He hasn’t been the lovable, run-producing Panda all season. So, there’s no reason in the world for anyone to point to Sandoval’s performance going forward and say, “He really misses Molina. The club never should’ve traded the guy.”

The Molina trade is not, and should never be, used as an excuse for any failure the Giants pitching staff experiences. If he had that much to do with the staff success, the staff wouldn’t be struggling today, right? And, Sandoval might miss his good friend — but, Molina apparently wasn’t able to get him going with the bat this season either.

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

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Take a peek at the San Francisco Giants’ active roster and you’ll see a curious thing. You’ll see Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey checking in at a green 23 years of age—the Kung Fu Panda’s birthday is coming up in August whereas Gerald Demp the Third just had his in March.

There’s also newbie reliever Dan Runzler, who’s recently turned a grizzled 25.

Other than those three, there’s nobody else on the 25-man docket wetter behind the ears than stud right-hander Matt Cain (who turns 26 on October 1).

Perhaps it doesn’t jump off the page if you’re not amongst the team’s die-hards, but Cainer also happens to be the longest-tenured Giant player. He entered the organization soon after being drafted as a 17-year-old in 2002 and made his big league debut about a month shy of 21 in 2005, making this his sixth year by the Bay.

Granted, the margin’s not exactly huge.

Southpaw starter Jonathan Sanchez and closer Brian Wilson would join up in 2006. Meanwhile, the infamous Barry Zito deal would be signed before the 2007 season as would Bengie Molina’s first contract with the franchise. Lastly, the ’07 campaign saw Tim Lincecum’s much-anticipated premiere as well as Nate Schierholtz’s less heralded one.

Nevertheless, it bears mentioning that not a single player who suited up with Cain during his first experiences in Major League Baseball is still donning the Orange and Black.

That’s pretty crazy when you consider how young he still is and the fact that the Gents current roster doesn’t exactly give off that new car smell.

I mention this because his experience-beyond-years is underrated, like pretty much everything the Quiet Kid has done with San Francisco.

You might say it’s an odd time to be singing the praises of the Alabama native, considering he got absolutely torched by the Houston Astros on Thursday. I mean, he got battered from start to premature finish—Matty served up a three-run bomb to Hunter Pence in the first inning that might as well have been on a tee.

Carlos Lee, the dormant Lance Berkman—I drafted him in one fantasy league because he always seems to hit .400 against my make-believe squads and this is what I get, awesome—and rookie catcher Jason Castro each hit lasers off los Gigantes’ second ace. Luckily, only Castro’s ball left the yard, otherwise Cain’s final line would’ve been even uglier than it was.

And it was already every shade of ugly—2 2/3 IP (or eight outs), 9 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, and 4 2B. Yeah, that’s six hits for extra bases in less than three innings of work.

Oof.

Ironically, though, all that carnage should give you a better understanding of just how excellent the product of Tennessee high school baseball has been thus far in 2010.

Despite all the hideous Houston gore, Cain saw his earned run average skyrocket all the way up to 2.72 and his WHIP balloon to 1.10. Opponents can’t exactly brag about their .219 average, .61 HR/9, or .624 OPSA, either. Finally, his 1.9 wins above replacement ties him for ninth-best in the National League.

Those are superlative numbers even in a vacuum, but reconsider just how awful his twirl against the ‘Stros was. Of course, the statistics don’t tell the whole story.

Any assessor must also appreciate the intangibles.

Everyone realizes the San Francisco Giants are defined by their pitching staff and Lincecum sets that unit’s pace. But the two-time Cy Young struggled through a brutal month of May as his command abandoned him. When the Freak lost his control, the Giant ship lost its rudder.

Enter Matt Cain—with No. 1A in shambles, No. 1B stepped into the void.

Lincecum posted a 4.95 ERA, a 1.54 WHIP, a 5.70 BB/9, and was oddly hittable as the opposition tallied a .244 average for the entire month.

By contrast, Cain was a virtually untouchable workhorse—6 GS, 44 2/3 IP, 1.81 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, .154 BAA, .468 OPSA—and threw consecutive complete games without allowing an earned run. If not for his worst start of the season until the Houston debacle (against the San Diego Padres on May 12), he would’ve given Ubaldo Jimenez some stiff competition for Pitcher of the Month honors.

Instead, he had to settle for playing the Franchise’s role perfectly.

Actually, he one-upped his diminutive stablemate because Lincecum’s always enjoyed ample run support with San Francisco. Cain, on the other hand, constantly seems to draw the iron from the offense’s blood—he somehow managed to lose three May starts, including one of the complete games by virtue of a solitary, unearned run.

Regardless of what the record says, the youngest member of the starting staff led by example and became the reliable option at the front of the rotation that had gone missing.

In the process, he did as much as anyone to rescue the Giants’ season from sliding off a cliff.

Matt Cain’s demeanor and approach won’t earn him much attention outside the Bay Area, but the locals already revere him.

Thanks to his performances on the mound, the rest of baseball is beginning to catch on.

**www.pva.org**

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