Bats Come Alive Back Home

The Giants ended a forgettable road trip over the weekend, a trip in which they went just 1-5 and struggled badly to score runs. However, in their two games since returning back to AT&T Park, their offense has come alive.

The Giants have scored 12 runs in the first two games of the three game set with Atlanta and won both of the games with ease. In those two contests, the Giants received solid outings from Jonathan Sanchez (who had been struggling a bit) and Tim Lincecum, but it was the offense that really provide the spark the team needed. Travis Ishikawa was likely on the border of being demoted, as he just wasn't producing offensively. However, Ishikawa may have bought himself some more time with a breakout, 4-4 game on Monday night. The Giants 25 year-old first basemen hit his first home run of the season while both driving in and scoring 3 runs. It looks like the promotion of Jesus Guzman definitely lit a fire under Ishikawa but he's not out of the woods yet. He's still just hitting .252 with a home and 15 RBI now, which are still poor numbers for a major league first basemen. His recent performance will certainly buy him another week as the teams starting first basemen, but he's going to have to follow up on that performance, otherwise people will quickly forget. Juan Uribe has been hitting the ball well over his last 7 games (8-23 with 5 RBI) and the possibility of moving him to third and Pablo Sandoval over to first base on a regular basis has been discussed. The Giants are especially leaning towards using the Panda at first now that his elbow is hurting anyway, so Ishikawa is going to have to keep stepping his offensive game up if he wants to keep his role.

Speaking of nicked up Giants, the team got Edgar Renteria back over the weekend and he provided a nice offensive spark for the team in the first games vs. Atlanta. Renteria, who had been nursing a sore hamstring, has been one of the Giants most clutch hitters this season, despite his .250'ish average. The 33 year-old shortstop has hit .350 with runners in scoring position, and an even .400 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position. And now Renteria has a new person hitting in front of him as Aaron Rowand has been moved into the leadoff spot in hopes of sparking his bat. Renteria and Rowand helped Lincecum defeat the Braves Tuesday as they both provided 2-RBI hits in leading the Giants to a 4-0 victory. Rowand has really seen his bat come alive since the move to the lead-off spot. As a lead-off hitter so far, Rowand has taken 33 at-bats and carrying a .364 average. In those 8 games, Rowand has 2 homers and 5 RBI while sporting a OPS right at 1.000. Rowand doesn't have the speed of your typical lead-off hitter, but he's getting on base and he's helped spark the offense the last two nights, so I wouldn't mess around with moving him until he starts proving otherwise.

Notes: The Giants have a couple of disabled players on their way back to the big club. Andres Torres was activated on Tuesday as Jesus Guzman returned to Fresno. One of the team's top relievers from 2008 is set to make his return any day now as well. Sergio Romo has completed his rehab assignment and is with the team, just waiting as they decide who they're going to ship out to make room for him. Romo went 7 2/3 scoreless innings in rehab work split between A San Jose and AAA Fresno... Randy Johnson goes for win #299 and a Giants sweep vs. the Braves tonight... Definitely a game you'll want to tune into if your not at the ballpark... The MLB Amateur draft is just 2 weeks away and the Giants have another high pick as they select number 6 overall. We'll start breaking down the possibilities of that pick in the next couple of posts, starting out our MLB Draft 2009 coverage, so stay tuned.