Giants Continue Strong Play In Cactus League

After the Giants most recent victory on Monday vs. Texas, they have bumped their record up to 15-6 this spring after totaling just 9 wins during the 2009's Cactus League. Again, these numbers and wins during March don't mean much, but I do like a lot of what I'm seeing go on with this Giants club, spring training or not.

Giants fans have to be pleased with what they've seen out of the Giants' top two offensive free-agent signees so far, with Aubrey Huff leading the team with 3 homers, second with 9 RBI and is carrying a .380 batting average. DeRosa missed the first half of the spring schedule, but has looked solid in his seven games played since, hitting .300 with a pair of RBI's. Also, Edgar Renteria has looked moderately better than he was last year, and apparently looks like he's a little bit quicker in the field. They don't really have an everyday player, minus Freddy Sanchez who is still out with that shoulder recovery, who is having a bad spring. Aaron Rowand has really heated up over the last few games and is now sporting a team best .500 batting average. The only projected regular who isn't performing up to expectation is the one guy that needs to in order to secure his starting spot and that is Nate Schierholtz. Their defense has actually been a little bit better than expected as well. They've only committed 5 errors as a team all spring long, and Huff, who's never been known for much of a defender, has really put everyone at ease with the way he's played there so far. He's even got J.T. Snow's stamp of approval.

The only thing I want to see Bruce Bochy do more of as the spring wears on is to continue to get their top youngsters into as much game action as possible. I understand that it's getting to the point in spring where the regulars are going to start getting stretched out a little more as the regular season is just 2 weeks away, but I would like to see much more of Darren Ford and Brandon Crawford. Ford showed his wheels again in Monday's game, hitting a stand-up triple in the ninth inning vs. the Rangers, and ended up scoring the game-winning run on a sac fly. Goes to show you what speed can do to a ballgame, and the Giants desperately need it. As far as the young pitchers go, the guy I've been monitoring closely is lining up to get his first start of the spring on Wednesday as the Giants split up to take on Kansas City and Cincinnati. Sosa has yet to allow a run this spring and has been very impressive with velocity and location. He's my dark horse pick to get one of the final bullpen spots, as he can both start and relieve for Boch.

Note: Our Annual MLB Divisional Previews start Tuesday or Wednesday and will probably run through the beginning of April, as I'll break down each division in baseball and pick the winners. It's one of the rare times here at the Giants Baseball Blog in which I'll touch on topics having nothing to do with the Giants, but I'll be sure to report on any big news or happenings with the club as it happens!