Kuzul

The Giants’ season-long chase after the San Diego Padres has finally paid off. San Francisco is half a game back of the Padres.

Getting here has been a lengthy and remarkable pursuit marked by the resilience and dedication of the boys in orange and black.

And it isn’t over. Much will depend on how the Giants play their last remaining games.

And yet there are some things beyond the Giants control that may happen to hamper their run at NL West Pennant.

Let’s take a look at 10 key things to watch for down the stretch for the Giants.

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The San Francisco Giants did three significant things during their humongous four-game series against the San Diego Padres. Call it a pleasant coincidence that the team also won three of the weekend contests.

By taking three of four in Petco Park, the good guys exorcised some serious demons in a personal house of horrors. Since the start of the 2009 campaign, the Giants had only won three of the last 14 contests played in the Friars’ home. You have to imagine the lads enjoyed doubling a two-year win total in four days.

More importantly, the trio of triumphs moved the Orange and Black into a virtual tie with the Fathers atop the National League West—one up in the win column, one back in the loss column, and only percentage points behind the technical front-runners.

Finally and most importantly, San Francisco showed that it was strapped in for the 2010 stretch and ready to make a hard charge at the playoffs. By pennant or by Wild Card, SF seems intent on reaching Major League Baseball’s second season.

And that development has to disturb the other contenders from the Senior Circuit.

Though we’re not yet sure who will be vying for the NL’s ticket to the World Series, any team hoping to be one of those fortunate four can’t be relishing the prospect of a date with the City’s nine.

Here are the top 10 reasons nobody wants to see the San Francisco Giants in the postseason.

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Where were we?

Oh, right, nothing about yesterday’s game matters once today’s game starts.

The Giants belted the Padres 7-3 to win the opener of the important four-game NL West series Thursday in San Diego. Giants fans were roaring that everything had fallen into place.

Then on Friday night, the Giants squeaked out a gut-wrenching and fascinating 1-0 win over the Padres to move into a tie for the NL West lead.

San Francisco SP Jonathan Sanchez pieced together the five most maddening shutout innings that one could imagine. Five scoreless innings despite seven walks prove that even big league hitters aren’t crazy comfortable hitting against a guy with nasty stuff but no idea where the ball’s going.

San Diego’s Clayton Richard, an All-American sort who looks like he fell off the front of a Wheaties box, was breezing through the same Giants who crushed four home runs Thursday night. If he did not make quick work of the Giants, Sanchez and his search for the strike zone might have resulted in the top of the utterly intriguing seventh inning starting somewhere around midnight.

Truly, the top of the seventh might have been the most intriguing half inning a Giants fan has witnessed all year.

Richard hit Huff with a pitch to start the sixth. The lefty was cruising, but his first pitch was a ball to right-hand hitting Pat Burrell. It was Richard’s 85th pitch of the game. It was also his last. Manager Bud Black replaced Richard with righty Luke Gregerson. Richard was wavering and Black, understandably, didn’t want the next misplaced pitch to float out over the middle of the plate to Burrell.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy, in contrast, let Sanchez work through his walk on the wild side, figuring the lefty had pitched two wonderful games and that the Padres hadn’t solved him through five.

Still, once Sanchez escaped a jam in the fifth with a double play ground ball, Bochy pulled Sanchez with his shutout still in tact. There have been times in his tenure with the Giants where Bochy might have stuck with Sanchez as long as the game was scoreless. Credit him for calling the pitcher down from the tight rope and giving the game to the bullpen in an important game on Friday. (Also, remember the move when the pitcher bats for himself to start the sixth inning of a scoreless tie in April. All games are not created equal.)

Bochy deserves credit for sending Huff as Burrell struck out. The knock on the manager has been that he’s unwilling to put baserunners in motion or try to create runs. When he put Huff in motion, the first baseman stole his sixth base of the season.

Jose Guillen hit the ball hard into the hole at shortstop. Baseball rules dictate that a ball hit in front of a runner, like Huff, at second base requires the runner to stay put. Huff, however, broke at the crack of the bat because he thought the ball was going to scoot past Miguel Tejada into left field. (Don’t believe the talk of aggressive baserunning. Huff’s a veteran and breaking for third there means he misread the ball off the bat.)

Two things happened that didn’t have to happen and both benefited the Giants.

Tejada could’ve thrown out Guillen easily at first base, leaving Gregersen to deal with slumping Juan Uribe with Huff at third and two out. Instead, Tejada threw to third base where Huff should’ve been out.

However, third baseman Chase Headley was oddly positioned on the outfield side of the bag and had to take the throw with only Huff’s bent right trail leg to tag. Huff’s left foot reached the bag first. Headley was guilty of anticipating, rather than simply covering third base, straddling it so that a simple tag would’ve nailed Huff.

Now, Nate Schierholtz won’t go down as one of the Giants’ all-time playoff stretch heroes, but his takeout slide that kept Padres second baseman David Eckstein from doubling up Uribe on a bouncer to third allowed Huff to score.

Inside baseball note: Eckstein didn’t position himself with his left foot on the outside of the base to protect himself from Schierholtz, who has shown a few times his best position might be fullback. If Eckstein had been more on the left field side of the bag, Schierholtz would’ve needed to slide after he reached the base, but Eckstein would have still been able to get Uribe. Instead, Schierholtz had time to reach and take Eckstein’s legs out from under him.

Fans will long remember the home run barrage on Thursday night, but that seventh inning sequence that plated the lone run will go down as a wonderful example of why true baseball fans simply love the game. Headley was just slightly out of position. Huff read base hit to left. Tejada made the right play, but it turned out to be the wrong play.

Then, the Giants bullpen kept the door closed for four innings on what has been a resourceful San Diego offense.

Simply magnificent.

Bochy, again, showed that fans who groan that he isn’t suited to manage this Giants team are wrong. His willingness to let Sanchez work in and out of jams proved that sometimes the best thing a manager can do is be patient and do nothing. Then, when he does something, do it quickly and don’t look back.

Everything starts new with the first pitch on Saturday.

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

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Both Aubrey Huff and Pat Burrell had 2009s worth forgetting. 

Huff had the worst year of his career, batting .241, hitting only 15 home runs and racking up 85 RBI between Baltimore and Detroit. 

Burrell signed a big deal with Tampa Bay after winning a World Series with Philadelphia (against the Rays, coincidentally), but never lived up to the signing, batting only .218 with 16 home runs and 77 RBI over 146 games.

Yet here in 2010, in the heat of a suddenly interesting race for the National League West title, these two 30-somethings, supposed shells of their former dominant selves, have come together in San Francisco to emerge from the ashes and produce. 

If the Giants make the playoffs this year, and that is still a big if, there’s no doubting that Aubrey Huff was a huge part of it throughout the season. I think Giants fans realized his presence about halfway through his inside-the-park homer way back on April 14th, and there might still be some fight left in this castoff. 

Since then, he’s hit at or around .300 all year long, and is the Giants current leader in hits (145), runs (87), home runs (24), RBI (81), total bases (257), and on-base percentage (.386). That’s almost every offensive category, and this is not the same feeble offense that Bengie Molina lead in the last couple years. 

Burrell had a lot to prove, and while a lot of fans were clamoring for a more established hitter (more Prince Fielder rumors, Jayson Werth, Corey Hart), Burrell came on the cheap, and after coming home to San Francisco and reuniting with former teammates Aaron Rowand (Philadelphia) and Huff (University of Miami), he made an immediate impact.

His 15 home runs and 40 RBI since being called up in the first week of June have been a boon to the team. Burrell had a four-game stretch in August, where he homered three times and had 10 RBI, all of which figured in the final score.

He homered in his first at-bat back in Philadelphia. He homered in the four-home run comeback against the Dodgers. His slugging percentage is a team-high .531, and he’s back to being Pat the Bat.

In the dugout (visible) and in the clubhouse (less visible), Burrell and Huff seem to be each other’s fountain of youth. They scream at their teammates, they punch each other in the chest, and are pretty much back in college having a great time. 

Yet neither of them is signed for 2011, which brings me to the point of my article. 

The Giants and their fans have had nothing but appreciation for the Water Buffalo since they formed their alliance of awesomeness. And if they can produce in 2011 like they have in 2010, I doubt you’d find anyone who would be running for the hills in protest. 

But that’s just it. Both these guys are in their 30s, and probably past their primes on the baseball field. Both could probably get a multi-year deal on the open market, and both probably will. Yet there’s something about them being together that is beneficial.

So here’s what the Giants do:

Keep them together. 

They love playing together, and that can’t be denied. They’re as much of a gruesome twosome that you can find on this team.

So sit them both down in the front office, and lay it down on the table.

They’ve got to be a package deal. 

They might both be able to make more money for another team, but San Francisco is most likely the last place they’ll ever be able to play on the same team. Not many other teams in the league have the luxury (if you can call it that), or the audacity (or luck, or whatever you want to call it) to sign two aging hitters to fill separate holes in their lineup.

It’s also not a given that they can recreate the magic that they did here in San Francisco, and I think that they’ll both take one-year, incentive laden deals (around $5 million each, I’d say) to be given the chance to catch lightning in a bottle twice.

If they do, the Giants will have two veteran presences in their clubhouse again, much different from the days when everyone stayed clear of Barry Bonds and kind of led in their corners. They’ll also be leading the offense, something that other veterans (Rich Aurilia, Randy Winn, Ray Durham) failed to do in their last years in San Francisco.

To have players on your team that can get it done both on and off the field is a boon to younger players like Buster Posey and Tim Lincecum, who can continue to perform but defer to the older players for guidance and leadership. 

If, for some reason, Burrell and Huff do not perform, the Giants will not have locked them in for multiple years (a la Renteria and Rowand), and will have the financial flexibility to make the moves without losing a long-term investment. 

This is all speculative, but getting Huff, Burrell, and Brian Sabean in a room and discussing altogether could end up benefiting both sides. Huff already knows what it’s like to lose (a lot). Burrell knows what it takes to win, but also knows the expectations that come from a winner. 

We still have a long way to go in 2010, but I would love to see these two both back in Giants uniforms in 2011. 

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Down 4-0 by the fifth inning, the Giants did not throw in the towels. Not one bit.

Matt Cain settled down and threw shutout innings in the fifth, sixth, and seventh for a final line of 7 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 K.

The Giants offense put together a noble (and successful) comeback effort. In the seventh inning, Posey cut the deficit to three with a solo home run. In the eighth, Renteria and Burrell cut the lead to one with back-to-back solo home runs. Finally, in the ninth, after a Cody Ross single (which he just barely beat out), Juan Uribe crushed a two-run homer to left-center field off of Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton.

Brian Wilson came in, and after Dodgers had runners on the corners and just one out, he was able to settle down and shut the Dodgers down, securing the Giants win.

The Giants, now that the Padres have lost a staggering nine games in a row, are now just two games back in the NL West. 

Now, here are some notes:

Each day brings more evidence that Jose Guillen should not be a starting outfielder. Pat Burrell hit a home run, Andres Torres is, well, Andres Torres, and Cody Ross scored the game-tying run. Oh, yeah and Jose Guillen had a golden sombrero (four strikeouts in a game, for those of you that aren’t well-versed in baseball terminology).

Although not completely relevant to the Giants, it’s quite interesting to note that the Dodgers have not caught a runner stealing since July 23. Darren Ford stole second in the eighth inning with two outs and the Giants down 4-3.

The Giants have now executed three comebacks of four runs or more: June 4 against the Pirates; July 20 against the Dodgers (you might remember that as the game in which Bruce Bochy got Broxton taken out of the game because Mattingly stepped on the mound twice); and of course, Saturday, September 4 against the Dodgers. 

Props to Pat Burrell: he was able to come off the bench and battle for an eight-pitch at-bat, culminating in his solo home run off of Octavio Dotel. 

The Giants had four home runs. Quite satisfying.

Saturday’s game was symbolically a juxtaposition of the Dodgers’ and Giants’ relative seasons. At home, the Dodgers blew a game they should have won thanks to yet another poor performance by Broxton, who has brought the Dodgers down with him during his second-half downfall.

The Giants, in contrast, executed a beautiful comeback, and Brian Wilson was able to settle down and shut down the Dodgers to win the game, as he has done for most of 2010. 

Uribe had a WPA of .622 on Saturday: he raised the Giants’ chances of winning the game by 62.2 percent with his offensive performance. 

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Major League Baseball wasn’t necessarily meant to be enjoyed with one finger extended in an attempt to find a target for today’s round of criticism.

Oh, the 2010 San Francisco Giants have made it easy for fans who want to affix blame, find solutions to every potential problem, and moan about what will go wrong next from Opening Day through the dog days of summer.

The Giants’ talented staff of starting pitchers has hit the skids. Pablo Sandoval, until very recently, lost his stroke after a brilliant 2009 campaign. The big hitter fans wanted never arrived. The bullpen has struggled. The club has yet to clinch first place in the NL West or the wild-card race, so those who find joy in finding misery can always finger general manager Brian Sabean or field manager Bruce Bochy to blame for something.

Not today. Not here. Not with the Giants in the thick of the NL wild-card race and within striking distance of the mercurial NL West leading San Diego Padres (it’s beginning to look like maybe the Padres aren’t going to fold, huh?).

This is a day for the top 10 feel-good stories of the Giants 2010 season:

10. The Giants built an offense on the cheap

No Adam Dunn, but the Giants have big league hitters at virtually every position these days. Jose Guillen can’t run well, but he can hit better than any right fielder the Giants have had in awhile. Pat Burrell (more on him higher up the list) is, to the uninformed fan, swings it like the Giants must have built the batting order around him. Now, they’ve added outfielder Cody Ross from the Marlins (fans will love the guy, honest).

Then, figure that they threw Buster Posey in as the big bat in the overhaul—by recalling him from the minors. A team can’t add that much punch for that minimal financial outlay very often.

9. Pablo Sandoval is finding his mojo

He won’t replicate his 2009 offensive production. Even if he does, fans and the media are ripping his defensive skills (did they actually think he was a good third baseman at some point?). Still, Sandoval’s worked hard and persevered and is swinging the bat well after fans and even some media “insiders” though he should be sent to the minor leagues.

Great story.

8. Travis Ishikawa has a big league job

He’s a late-inning defensive replacement. The guy proved he can play first base everyday in a pinch and produce (he’s also shown he’s not an everyday big leaguer…his value diminishes the more he plays). Fans love the guy. Well, people who value patience and hard work love the guy. Finally, Ishikawa has established himself as a fine pinch-hitter.

Long after fans forget John Bowker, Fred Lewis, and all those guys who were supposed to help save the offense, they’ll be talking about Ishikawa becoming a serviceable big leaguer.

7. Aubrey Huff can play defense

How all those American League teams that employed Huff refused to let this guy play defense is an absolute mystery. His offensive output makes him a guy who will get NL MVP votes, but the great story has been his play on defense.

In spring training, it appeared he’d struggle at first base. Huff was fine, good even. When Buster Posey was recalled to play first base, Huff moved to the outfield. And…he’s a serviceable outfielder with an adequate arm.

Best of all, he’s joyfully accepted the chance to prove he’s a big league defender.

How often do professional athletes happily accept, even joke about, having their role changed three times in less than one season?

Huff’s a guy to keep around awhile.

6. Madison Bumgarner is a big league pitcher

He’s only 21 years old, but…didn’t media types and lots of fans think that his abysmal spring training effort showed that the left-hander was overrated and, worse, a potential bust? His numbers are special because he’s only 21 and because he knows folks were counting him out. It takes stones for a kid to do what he did after losing a starting spot in spring training. He came back and, now, is pitching as well as anyone in the rotation.

5. Aaron Rowand is taking his diminished role like a pro

It might not mean much to fans, but bet that the Giants front office is overjoyed that Rowand is quietly accepting his ever-diminishing role in the lineup. The guy signed a multi-million-dollar free-agent deal and went bust in San Francisco. He lost his starting job to a career minor leaguer after an extended period when making contact with any pitch was a challenge. Now, he’s behind former Florida Marlins star Cody Ross, too.

Rowand hasn’t been heard to utter a single complaint. Fans can boo him and shout about his .230’ish batting average. He gives the appearance he’ll respond like a pro and do whatever he can, in the few times he’s called upon, to help the club. And Rowand is a key clubhouse presence—a veteran leader—so if he wanted to try to completely unhinge the chemistry with media tirades, he surely could.

4. Barry Zito bounced back

He’s struggling right now, but Zito has returned to be an effective big league starting pitcher in 2010. He’ll never truly earn the salary the Giants are paying him—unless he solves the crisis in the Middle East, cures the common cold and wins 20 games.

Everybody seemed so certain that the butt of every Giants’ fans cruelest joke was finished…done. Many roared that Zito was stealing money and that he should simply retire early in 2009.

When you hear a naysayer spouting off about something that, “can’t possibly happen” or about a player who “is absolutely finished,” remind him of the story of Zito in 2010.

3. Pat Burrell salvaged his career to key the bat attack.

It’s impossible to feel sorry for a millionaire, especially one who was getting paid millions to do nothing. Burrell flopped so miserably with the Tampa Bay Rays that they released the veteran outfielder and said, “Here’s your millions of dollars, just leave and give us an empty roster spot.” Burrell’s great seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies were forgotten. He was considered finished at 33 years of age.

The Giants were so desperate for home run power that they gave Burrell a minor league contract and two weeks to prove he could regain the form he showed in Philly. Burrell did the job in Fresno, got a call to San Francisco and …

His story has evolved as the type story that should give fans and general managers hope, regardless of their team’s plight. Paying him virtually nothing, the Giants are being led by the Bay Area native who joins Aubrey Huff to sandwich Buster Posey in the middle of the order.

Burrell brought the Giants the longball power, sure. He’s got 12 homers—two fewer than he had in about 200 games for Tampa Bay. Better, Burrell knows the strike zone and is the patient, veteran hitter that the Giants have lacked for years. Go ahead, gripe that he can’t run and that he isn’t a good defensive left fielder. Just acknowledge his .884 on-base percentage and his 41 walks.

A power hitter…who will take a walk…in the middle of the Giants order. And, another team is paying his salary?

Great story.

2. Buster Posey arrived in the big leagues as advertised

The young catcher arrived in San Francisco exactly as advertised. Well, he arrived as a first baseman for a team that couldn’t hit a lick, but eventually earned the everyday catcher’s job and became the player a franchise can plan to build around for a decade—or more.

The numbers don’t sufficiently explain why Posey has been such a wonderful story for the Giants. He is not only a Rookie of the Year candidate. The kid is clearly a calming presence, mature beyond his years. Since his arrival in May, there hasn’t been a player on the roster who hasn’t briefly appeared to have forgotten how to play the game.

When Posey doesn’t get the job done, it’s because the opposition just outplayed him. He knows, and fans believe, it won’t happen very often.

Who among Giants fans didn’t have some fear that Posey might be a .280 hitter, drive in 75 runs and hit 12 homers? Oh, and, remember all the skeptics who didn’t think he could handle big league pitching?

The story ends with Giants fans breathing a sigh of relief and planning on Posey becoming a Bonds-like franchise cornerstone—a big-time hitter around whom the Giants can build for years to come.

1. Andres Torres emerged as an everyday center fielder

If you like underdogs, you love Andres Torres.

The Giants grabbed Torres from the scrap heap entering spring training 2009. The chances that a 31-year-old outfielder could end 12 years in the minor leagues by becoming a big league team’s starting centerfielder and lead-off hitter are virtually nil. Torres is the Giants centerfielder, lead-off hitter, and arguably their heart and soul at the age of 32.

Never saw that coming, did you?

Torres has provided the Giants with a base-stealing threat with 23 thefts in 116 games. The switch-hitter has 13 home runs and ranks among NL leaders with 41 doubles and 5 triples. Playing alongside outfielders who don’t have much range, Torres has anchored the outer defense. For those who can’t forget the negative—Aaron Rowand is on the bench because Torres has become a big league contributor.

Posey’s going to be a star for years to come. Torres might be having the year of his life, so his is the Giants’ top story in 2010.

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

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Lately a lot of the fresh faces in new places are making the most out of their change of scenery. This week it’s time for you to take advantage! Let’s stroll though and see who to sit and who to start.

Start ‘Em

Ian Desmond, Washington Nationals, 23 percent owned

As long as your league doesn’t count fielding percentage or errors, then Desmond is your man this week. He’s been hot after the break, hitting .304 with a .790 OPS since. All of his games next week are at home where he’s hit all but one of his home runs. Against his team’s two opponents next week (CHC, STL), Desmond’s hitting .500 through 20 at-bats this year.

Ryan Theriot, Chicago Cubs, 84 percent owned

You can expect this new acquisition to pay some major dividends this week for the Dodgers. First up, he plays in Milwaukee against the Brewers, where he has a career mark of .368 and a .451 OBP through 102 at-bats—great numbers with a large sample size. 

He also has a .400-plus average against three of the five Brewers starters. His numbers against the Rockies and at Coors Field are great too. Lifetime he’s hitting .327 at Coors Field and .299 against the entire current staff.

Pat Burrell, San Francisco Giants, 18 percent owned

“The Bat” has been on fire since being acquired from the Rays. Five of the six pitchers that he faces this week are right-handed (40 points higher against righties, and 11 of 14 home runs). Against Cincinnati’s pitching, Burrell has a career mark of .333, in 33 at-bats, with great individual numbers against Arroyo (.333, two HR in 18 AB).

Sit ‘Em

Jason Kubel, Minnesota Twins, 94.8 percent owned

This week is going to be Jason Kubel’s gauntlet. He’s hitting .200 with a .290 OBP against lefties this year (a career-long weakness of his). Four of the seven starting pitchers that Kubel will face this week are left-handed. Included in those four are Cliff Lee and C.J. Wilson.

Against both the Rangers pitchers and Mariners pitchers, Kubel has a combined career line of .206 in 102 AB and only one home run. This might be a career year for him, but this week showcases his career weakness.

Jorge Posada, New York Yankees, 92.6 percent owned

Posada’s numbers away this year are dismal and his numbers at both the Rogers Centre and Kaufman Stadium fall in line. In away games Posada is hitting .197, 101 points lower than at home. This year at both fields he’s a combined two for 19 (.105).

John Buck might be an affordable option to back-up since most teams only have one catcher on their roster and Buck is only owned in 12.2 percent of leagues. Over the last month he’s quietly hit .297.

Two-Start Pitchers To Use

Jake Westbrook, St. Louis Cardinals, 16 percent owned

Since being acquired from the Indians, Westbrook has thrown four consecutive quality starts. He has amassed 26 strikeouts in only 25 innings, while walking only four, and has posted a phenomenal 3.5 ground to fly-ball ratio. While he is not likely keep that rate up, this week shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for him to maintain those numbers.

PNC Park provides Westbrook with the fifth-worst place for home runs and the Pirates lineup is virgin to Westbrook, limiting their scouting of him. Washington doesn’t fare much better against Westbrook. While their park isn’t as good at containing the yardball, their lineup has only 22 hits in a career 97 at-bats against him.

Gio Gonzalez, Oakland A’s, 29.9 percent owned

Gio’s week from a distance may look like a bumpy one since they face the powerful Rangers. Yet with good, current-year numbers, Gio should make it through this week easily. So far this year Gio has pitched two shutouts against the Indians (13.2 innings total). As for the Rangers, in three starts he has maintained a 2.65 ERA and has kept the batters in check throughout his career (.227 average through 75 ABs, only two home runs).

Two-Start Pitchers To Avoid

Fausto Carmona, Cleveland Indians, 23.6 percent owned

This week a large sports website posted an article about using Carmona because of his two-starts. I’m here to tell you why you should do just the opposite. As a team, the A’s are hitting .344 against Carmona, with the bigger bats crushing him. Cust is hitting .500 against him with two home runs in 10 at bats. Carmona’s BAA post all-star game is a disgusting .335. He’s given up seven earned runs in 10 innings against Kansas City previously this year.

Huroki Kuroda, Los Angeles Dodgers, 86.7 percent owned

Unfortunately for Kuroda owners, he’s taking a trip to two of the top 10 homer-friendly parks in the bigs (third place for Coors Field and seventh for Miller), and his career numbers at both places are horrendous. His career ERA at Coors is 9.00 and his career ERA at Miller is 20.25!

Adding to his troubles are his career numbers against the players of both teams. Colorado players have a combined career .325 average against Kuroda through 83 at-bats. Milwaukee players are hitting .294, however in his defense, this is only through 17 at-bats.

All Statistical Information was obtained through ESPN.com

Written exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com by James Bryce. James is a grad student at UCSD and is currently in his 13th year of fantasy sports.

Follow us on Twitter@TheFantasyFix

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Here are some more articles that will smack some sense into you…

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The Giants got off to yet another promising start to the game, as Torres led off with a solo home run. The Giants would only tack on one more run in the game, though (Pat Burrell solo homer), as they suffered an 8-2 loss to the Phillies.

Matt Cain did a decent job, pitching six innings and giving up only two earned runs. A Mike Fontenot error, however, would lead to a Jimmy Rollins three-run homer that the Giants never answered.

It’s hard to know where the blame is for the Giants’ poor month of August. They are 7-9, and their starters have not won any of the last 14 games.

Is it a coincidence, though, that this skid comes with the arrivals of Jose Guillen and Mike Fontenot, who are obvious defensive downgrades from Huff in right field, Ishikawa at first base, and Sanchez at second base?

Or should the blame be placed on the pitchers? How are they honestly to be expected to get outs with Burrell in left and Guillen in right covering minimal range (not to mention Pablo Sandoval’s rapidly decreasing range at third and the fact that no other Giants second baseman can cover the range that Freddy Sanchez covers)?

The fact of the matter is, the defensive downgrades that come with Guillen and Fontenot greatly outweigh their offensive upgrades (even though I don’t feel that Guillen is an upgrade over Ishikawa offensively).

The Giants won 20 games in July, behind a hot Buster Posey, reliable Torres and Huff, Burrell, and their usual great starting pitching. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…” Thanks for fixing it, Brian Sabean. Thanks so much.

Of course, Lincecum needs to get his act together. Huff needs to get his act together. Other than that, all signs point to Guillen and Fontenot as the source of the Giants’ struggles. I was right with my original instinct—these were unnecessary acquisitions.

The Giants have a chance at making the playoffs. Fontenot and Guillen need to go on the DL, though, for that to happen. The Giants’ defense is pathetic. And is their offense really that much better? They scored just two runs off of  Joe Blanton. They’ve scored seven runs in the last three games.

As it stands, the Giants are two games back in the wild card, which is a manageable deficit. The division is quickly slipping out of their grasp, however, as they are six games out.

Notes:

Running statistic: Giants’ runs allowed per game with Guillen in the starting lineup – 8.33, record with Guillen in starting lineup: 0-3.

Buster Posey is now 6-for-12 in the two-spot. He appears to be starting yet another hitting streak, but it’s not helping that Huff isn’t hitting behind him.

Fontenot has made errors in two consecutive games. I think the saying goes, “A run saved is a run earned.” I’d rather have Freddy Sanchez out there saving the Giants runs with his defense, then Fontenot as a minimal offensive upgrade which is costing the Giants runs.

The Giants have hit four home runs in the last two games, all of them solo home runs. Pat Burrell has hit two of them, and guess who bats in front of him…Aubrey Huff. Aubrey Huff has carried this team thus far, and needs to continue if the Giants want to make the playoffs. Especially if he’s batting behind Posey and in front of Burrell.

Pablo Sandoval was 0-for-4. His week of magic has come to a halt.

Affeldt had a miserable return: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER. In his defense, though: 1) the defense behind him sucks, and 2) he was pitching at Citizens Bank Park.

The Giants have allowed 17 runs in two games to a Phillies team that is playing without Ryan Howard. Let’s say, hypothetically speaking, the Giants make the playoffs. How are they supposed to contain a lineup with Werth, Howard, Utley, Victorino, Domonic Brown, and Jimmy Rollins in the postseason, if they couldn’t contain them with Howard out of the picture?

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With the the final game of the weekend’s Giants-Padres series now played, and Giants find themselves 3.5 games out of first place in the NL West with 43 games left to play.

All season long, people have doubted whether the Padres would be able to hold onto their lead in the division, and with the Padres taking two-of-three from in the most recent match-up, the Giants now have some work to do if they hope to be playing in October.

What follows are the five things that must happen if the Giants hope to catch to Padres in the coming weeks and take home the NL West crown in what is shaping up as the most interesting division race in all of baseball.

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What’s that saying? “What’s one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure?” However it goes, that saying doesn’t hold more true than with the case of Pat Burrell.

Burrell was complete garbage in Tampa. He signed a two-year, $16 million contract with the Rays in the winter of 2009 and he couldn’t have been more of a bust.

In a season and a third in a Rays uniform, Burrell hit just .218 with 16 home runs and a .672 OPS. He was supposed to be the Rays’ big right-handed bat in the middle of the lineup and it just never worked.

Burrell looked old and worn out. It seemed like he never adjusted to be a full-time DH and it looked like his career was over.

Burrell was released by the Rays in May and the San Francisco Giants took a flier on him. Now it looks like one of the best low-risk, high-reward fliers of the season.

No longer a DH and playing the outfield, Burrell has been rejuvenated in San Francisco. Burrell hit his seventh home run last night in the Giants’ 10-0 win over the Colorado Rockies and the former Miami Hurricane is now hitting .282 with a .372 OBP and a .500 slugging in 145 at-bats.

He is right now for the Giants what he was supposed to be in Tampa. It’s amazing what a change of scenery can do for a guy.

So what is the reason for Burrell’s resurgence in San Francisco? I think it’s the simple answer of Burrell’s playing the field again. And I don’t mean picking up chicks in Miami.

Look at Burrell’s splits as a DH and a left fielder. It’s amazing.

DH: .209/.305/.365 with three home runs in 91 at-bats.

LF: .297/.388/.514 with six home runs in 111 at-bats.

I always thought it was hogwash when an announcer or team official would show concern over a player adjusting to the DH position. I always wondered what the big deal was? But apparently it is.

If you watch Burrell play now in San Francisco, he looks fresher and quicker at the plate and the stats match up with the eye test. He is making more contact in the strike zone (Z-Contact Percentage has improved from 79 percent to 87 percent) and he has improved drastically fastballs (wFB has improved from -4.7 to 2.3).

The Giants are leading the NL Wild Card race and Burrell’s resurgence is a big reason why.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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