The Giants just need to be up by one run and instantly they win.  No its not that simple but it seems to be that simple.  The Giants have won one run games quite unusual in most cases but today’s case may just be the one that takes the cake.  Tony Sipp, the Indians reliever balked in the winning run with the bases loaded in the seventh inning of today’s heated struggle with the Cleveland Indians.  Honestly when the Giants are at home they seem to win only in unusual ways, but that is how this ball club gets wins.  Unbelievably a team that can not score and only wins close games has a 43-34 record.  The Giants have a 22-11 record in one run games which is a 66.7 percent clip.  Now can the Giants frustrate you?  Yes, but they seem to have taken on the personality of Bruce Bochy.

Matt Cain pitched another stellar performance going seven innings without allowing a run to score.  He’s been doing this his entire career but the past three seasons, he actually has wins to show for it.  He is a perfect example of how the Giants play and how even when it appears everything is against them, they just keep plugging along.  This will be an all-star year for Cain because Bochy is the manager and Cain has the most wins on the staff.

The Bruce Bochy hiring until last year seemed like another one of Sabean’s puppet managers.  But ever since that game against the Dodgers, where Mattingly came back to the pitcher’s mound, he noticed it and got Jonathon Broxton out of the game.  He just knows how to handle bullpens as a manager.  Look even at his career with the Padres, he never had many bad bullpen decisions.  Bochy is just the perfect manager for this team, who have a bunch of guys that nobody wanted, yet they band together and form an unbelievable team.  His patience and his work ethic day-to-day has really shown up with how the team plays, and how they will always find a way to win and capitalize on other team’s mistakes.

Now the Giants go for the sweep tomorrow against the Indians.  It will be another close one run game, I can guarantee it.  However, this is the first start since Bumgarner had that epic proportion of a meltdown against the Twins.  But like I mentioned earlier, this team moves on and never gets discouraged no matter what situation comes in front of them.  This series and the next series’ before the All-Star break could have the Giants ten games above .500.  But, the team still needs that bat to get through mid-july through August to take advantage of tired pitchers in the National League.

Alright, the first game of the series was just flat out horrible for Madison Bumgarner who did give up 9 hits before two outs which was a modern Major League Baseball record.   However, the Giants, like only the Giants can do, get back up, dust off their shoulders, and just play ball.  Last night, Eli Whiteside had one of his better games with a two-run triple and an RBI single for the Giants.  But today, shows Giants fans why Tim Lincecum will probably be an all-star.

He won’t just be an all-star because of his numbers, but Bruce Bochy is the National League manager for the All-Star game.  Now, Cain in my opinion will be an all-star for this reason as well, but he is 6-4 with a 3.44 era, so he will be an all-star.  Wilson, the Giants closer will definitely be an all-star, I mean let’s be honest, his commercials are good enough for him to be an all-star.  Now here’s where it gets interesting, we all know the usuals will be in the all-star game among pitchers, except Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals, who is 1-7 with a 3.40 era.  So that takes one pitcher off, yet Cliff Lee is back from the American League, hence he’ll be an all-star.  I would say there is a decent chance that Ryan Volgesong will be an all-star this season with Bochy being the manager his chances remain high, and the only problem is he hasn’t pitched enough innings as of yet to be considered the ERA leader, but with more starts he’ll get there.  So in my final analysis, Lincecum, Cain, and Wilson are going to be all-stars this season, with Volgesong in contention if someone gets injured before the all-star game.

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Today’s game featured the two-time Cy Young Award winner at his best, 12 strikeouts in 7 innings against the Twins lineup.  Giants’ fans, breathe, he’s back.  Honestly he was going to come out of it because he had went too many starts without a quality start.  Now he went through this in August and you saw what he did in the postseason.  He won’t be winning any Cy Young Award this season, but he’s still who you want in a series clinching game.  Baseball is a long season, it just keeps going and going, and things don’t always go your way, but if a player is in the prime of his career he’ll perform to the back of his baseball card.  No real worries anyway, with being a half game out of first place and your two best offensive players are done for the season (Sanchez is in rehab), but as long as our pitchers stay healthy the Giants are favorites to repeat.  They go through the season like a playoff game, tight, low-scoring, and a grind until the end.  That’s why Duane Kuiper touted the phrase, “Giants baseball, Torture!”  Keep this in mind, the Giants are 20-11 in one run games this season, so the Giants will be ready for the stretch run in September, but can they get through the dog days of summer with this lineup?

Well, the Giants faced an excellent pitching staff in the Athletics and it clearly showed the weaknesses in the Giants lineup.  Here’s the stat of the weekend, I was listening to KNBR and a listener mentioned the Giants took only 119 pitches in the game in which Lincecum pitched, and the A’s made him throw 113 pitches in six innings.  The Giants at the start of today’s game had an OBP of only .306 which is among the worst in the National League.  When the Giants face a good starting pitching staff they will struggle to score runs and they can not at all hit any  home runs.  I was absolutely shocked Bochy did not put Burrell in to start at DH in any of the games.  I know “Pat the Bat” does not like to be a DH, but he needs to be in the lineup for the threat of the home run and his patience at the plate.

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It irritates me as a fan to see this pitching staff and Cain especially continue to get absolutely no run support.  This is frustrating to see our pitchers have great performances wasted at least three days a week.  If the Giants even had an average offense, they would be the best team in the Major Leagues.  At some point, the Giants are going to have to make a trade to enhance the lineup, so it has some more threats with their injuries.  The problem is, when Sabean calls other team’s general manager’s they ask for Matt Cain.  Look, we have a great staff but honestly I’d rather see Jonathon Sanchez go because at times he can be great but an everyday hitter with some power would be more beneficial.  He helped us win it last season but the problem is its not going to get better because at this point Sanchez is not going to get past the sixth inning in most of his starts.

Now the Giants face a hot Twins team that has won 14 of 16 games with today’s win versus the San Diego Padres.  The problem is they may be 31-39, but they are starting to get healthy and they are playing so much better as of late.  Their pitching staff is 3rd best in the American League in not allowing walks.  So the Giants will have to hit in order to get past the Twins.  However, the Giants are 19-12 at home, but the Giants in my opinion should still win the division, but as they are constituted there is no way they could get hot again and win the World Series.

Although the Giants did win by three runs yesterday, which for the Giants constitutes a blowout, it wasn’t torture after they scored two runs in the 9th inning.  However, the game before where Wilson put two on after two outs and throwing a wild pitch to put both in scoring position, then striking out the last batter looking is torture.  Duane Kuiper coined the phrase, “Giants baseball, Torture!”, but it is true even more so this year with all of the one-run games.

This is truly a team that Giants fans have in San Francisco.  Their only true everyday all-star was Freddy Sanchez and their only all-star may only be Wilson.  But it has been a great showing for Bruce Bochy.  If the Giants were to somehow win this year again, he could put himself into the hall of fame down the road, because he would be manager of the Giants for the next ten years at the very least.  So this will be another year that the Giants go to the playoffs, even with all their injuries because of the weak division.  Now can Colorado go on another run, yes, but will they actually do it this year?  No, De La Rosa is out for the season and they cannot pitch in the starting rotation or the bullpen, which is the Giants greatest asset, not the starting pitching.

The Giants go for the sweep against Arizona tonight.  They are 18-9 against the NL West and they spend most of September playing the NL West.  If a starter or a key bullpen guy goes down, the Giants would be in trouble but, even with all of their offensive injuries they will win the NL West.

Nate Schierholtz tied the game in the ninth inning with two outs and hits the go-ahead single in the top of the 11th with two outs.  Although Lincecum did have a poor outing, the Giants were actually able to score runs against the Cardinals.  One of the things the Giants gained with this victory was Bruce Bochy’s confidence in Nate Schierholtz,

“His playing time has increased and it will now with the game he had and the way he has been playing.”  Really?  Bruce let’s be honest here, sure Schierholtz is not the greatest hitter, but he plays well above average defense in the outfield and could be further along offensively if the Giants ever stuck with him consistently.  As many Giants’ fans know, Bochy hardly ever expresses confidence in young players, and if they were to struggle for two straight days at the plate, he’d go right back to his veterans.  Don’t get me wrong, Bochy is a hell of a manager, but he still ticks me off when he sticks with his veterans.

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St. Louis tried to distract Brian Wilson by turning off the lights. When will manager Bruce Bochy turn off the lights on Miguel Tejada?  “Miggy” went 0-6 batting second in the lineup and now he has a .210 batting average with a .233 OBP.  Young Brandon Crawford hit that grand slam against the Brewers plus another clutch hit last night, and it may be the end for Tejada once Sandoval returns.  Leaving Tejada second in the lienup should make even the heartiest fan question why Bochy won’t move him down in the order. This guy is well past his prime and just doesn’t have the bat speed to cover the inside part of the plate.  With Crawford looking better in the field and much better at the plate with a .333 batting average it is time to say adios to Miguel Tejada.

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Earlier this week I said, “all they need is a split and now they need to win this game for momentum into the next home stand.” Hate to say “I told you so” but…

The Giants have a great chance to finish the road trip with a winning record and a win against the Cardinals.  San Francisco has always fared well against the Cardinals and the entire NL Central.  Despite their sporadic offense the Giants are just a half game out of first place in the NL West.

Watching the Giants hit can be as interesting as watching paint dry because they both leave the mind to unbearable boredom.  Did Cain pitch well yesterday?  No, but he wasn’t terrible as most of the hits were singles and bleeders into the outfield.  He as a Giant has always had a reputation of getting absolutely no run support, but with Posey gone for the year it could be all over.  Wait, the Giants play in the abysmal NL West, thank goodness, since nobody will run away with this division.

Honestly the Giants just have to do what they did last year, add some bats at the trading deadline before August 31 not July 31.  Remember the Giants got Ross after July 31st and they will probably just need a similar bat this year.  The Rockies lost their starter De La Rosa for the year so it even outs for the Giants in the end.  Even though the Diamondbacks are in the lead, the Giants have owned the Diamondbacks over the years and they are 16-9 within their division.  After the Giants play all of these road games they will have a heavy home schedule in the second half of the season, where the Giants have played flawlessly this year.  All the Giants have to do is tread water until Sandoval comes back and hope he can be the spark plug in their lineup.  The Giants have only scored 175 runs this season and are worst in the National League and second worst to the Twins who scored only 173 runs so far this year.

Brian Sabean just has to do what he did last year and add a little offense, but the only problem is Huff has been struggling and the Giants payroll has increased this season so it may be tough to add a significant bat.  The Giants are still above .500 and Zito hasn’t pitched at all and that appears to be good for the Giants not to have to see Zito labor through five innings every start.  Pitching will always be there for the Giants, they just have to muster up a little bit more offense and they can be a dominant team again.

The Giants start a 4 game series against the St.Louis Cardinals who are at the top of their division with a 32-22 record.  The Giants have always fared well against NL Central teams but this may be the best Cardinals team they faced in three years.  Let’s Go Giants and at least get a split in this series.  Bumgarner is on the bump today who has pitched well, just without the results.

In what looked like to be a loss for the Giants on Wednesday proved to be more than what they had even expected.  The Giants actually came back from a 4-run deficit in the bottom of the 9th to send the game into extra frames.  With all of the issues the Giants have had scoring runs it was a shock that they could score four runs in a game, nonetheless in one inning.

But that’s not the story that came out of last night’s game, the story is the broken leg of Giants young catcher Buster Posey.  In his second year, he is clearly the Giants best and most consistent hitter on the team.  Yes, the Giants still have been winning games even with the worst offense in the National League.  Posey will be out for the rest of the season in all likelihood with a broken bone in his lower left leg.  It was a gruesome sight to see it live and to see him agonize in pain and I knew it was bad just by his reaction.  However, the play Cousins made was not a dirty play and he should not be frowned upon as a dirty player whatsoever.  He made the right play, although he did have room to slide, but in that situation he had though Posey caught the ball and he needed to dislodge the ball from Posey to score.  Plus, let’s be honest, it was a go ahead run in the 12th inning and its not like it was the 2nd inning.  I know people will go back to Ray Fosse and his injury, but that was in an All-Star game and the player was a revered player in Pete Rose.  This however will end Posey’s season and may have a dramatic effect on his catching career as he will no longer play catcher in the near future I hope.

The Giants against Kershaw this year are 0-2.  Kershaw has thrown 13 2/3 shutout innings versus the Giants this season while striking out 16 in two starts this year.  Going back to last year he has tossed 22 2/3 scoreless innings vs the Giants.  He is 3-1 against the Giants posting a 1.09 ERA in seven career starts vs the Dodgers.  Cain has done well in Los Angeles since 2008 with a 1.67 ERA there, however he only has two wins lifetime against the Dodgers overall. 

San Francisco is coming into Chavez Ravine losing two in a row vs Colorado late in games and losing three of four on this seven game road trip.  It is important not just because it is the Dodgers, but because this is the first game the Giants will return to Los Angeles after Stow was beaten on Opening Weekend against the Dodgers.  So this just adds to the best rivalry on the west coast, (since ESPN only cares about Yankees vs Redsox), and the Giants need to finish this two game stint in Los Angeles on a positive note and head back home for another long homestand.

The Giants have returned home and it has been “torture” again but at this point it does not matter.  The Giants are on a role with their starting pitching and they just will stop pitching.  Well tonight Jonathon Sanchez goes and he has to have a better showing than his last couple of starts.  With the Diamondbacks, he should be able to get at least 10 strikeouts tonight, but he has had control issues most of the season and now he has to keep this streak going.

Over the Weekend the Giants had swept the Colorado Rockies.  The Rockies off to a hot start, have cooled off over the past couple of weeks and are reeling again.  The Giants have done something right this season, and that is winning in the division with a 12-7 record has helped the Giants only remain a .5 game behind the Rockies.  With the Giants beating the Rockies 5 out of 6 to start off the season further confirms they are ready to make another run, even with their anemic offense.

The Giants had a chance to sweep their first series of the year with a victory over the Mets today, but they failed to deliver.  Sanchez, yet again walks six batters only giving up five hits but Beltran took him deep after the Giants tried to claw their way back from a 3-0 deficit.  In the 4th and 5th innings the Giants were able to squeeze a run out with a Fontenot home run in the 4th, and a Jonathon Sanchez RBI single in the top of the 5th.  And no surprise Sanchez walked the hitter before giving up a two-run home run to Beltran in the bottom of the 5th.

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Once again the Giants were only 2-10 with RISP and this should not come as a surprise as they have struggled offensively since the injury of Pablo Sandoval.  The Giants are T-14th in the NL with 110 runs after today’s game.  As no surprise the Giants are also the lowest OBP team in the NL with only .296 OBP as a team.  We need another bat since all Giant fans know Tejada will not even come close to Uribe on the field or at the plate.  So let’s hope there is truth to the Giants pursuing Mets SS Jose Reyes.

Sanchez is a phenomenal pitcher when he is able to throw strikes, but when he is all over the place his fastball becomes such an easy pitch to hit.  Do not get me wrong I do like Jonathon Sanchez and he played well in the postseason, but this is a recuring theme for Sanchez each and every year.  He consistently flies open and drags his arm to the plate every single year, then he’ll have a stretch of 5 or 6 really great starts before he decides he can’t throw a strike.  I am not saying trade him, but I am saying he has to become more consistent and these stretches of walking hitters has got to stop.

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Yet with today’s loss it is not all bad as the Giants still had a .500 road trip going 5-5.  The Giants are 11-11 on the road this season.  After losing three of four to Washington they were able to come back and take the series versus the listless Mets.  The Giants will come home for a six-game home stand with the Rockies over the weekend, then the Arizona Diamondbacks.