Giants Start Exhibition Season 3-0

Despite general consensus on Spring Training, like not take the numbers too seriously, and the fact that wins and losses rarely translate over into the regular season, it's still good to see the Giants get off to a strong start in the Cactus League.

Surprisingly, it's been the Giants' bats that have started off ahead of their pitchers, as the offense has carried the team through the first couple of games. In the Cactus League opener, Tim Lincecum was touched up by the Mariners a bit, allowing 3 earned runs in his 1 inning of work while throwing in the low-90's. I mentioned in the last few posts that there would be some focus on Timmy's velocity, as it came down at the end of last year. The same can be said for Madison Bumgarner, who followed Lincecum on Wednesday with 2 shutout innings. Bumgarner's fastball was in the upper 80's for most of his 2 innings, but he said in an interview on the Giants hot stove league show that he's not too worried about it and he plans on building his velocity throughout the spring. Barry Zito started Thursday's game and was pretty mediocre, allowing a run and a couple of hits over 1 2/3 innings. He did nail Prince Fielder in the hip with a fastball as retaliation for Fielder's choreographed home run celebration vs. the Giants last September. Matt Cain got the nod in Friday afternoon's game and provided the best start for the Giants so far this spring, going 3 strong innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits with 2 strikeouts.

Helping support Cain's solid outing Friday were Bengie Molina and Juan Uribe, who both hit towering home runs. Uribe hit a 3-run jack in the 2nd inning off Colorado's Jeff Francis, and Molina's 2-run job came in the fifth inning off a young Rockies' hurler. Molina didn't stop with just the home run either. He went 3-3 all together, amd scored one more run after that. The only other Giant to homer so far this spring, has been newcomer, Aubrey Huff, who hit a bomb out to right field on the very first pitch he saw this spring on Wednesday. Not a bad way to start endearing himself to his new fans. Fred Lewis, Aaron Rowand and Kevin Frandsen are a few other guys who have helped carry the Giants offense early and both Frandsen and Lewis need to be outstanding this spring for the Giants to consider carrying them on the major league roster. Frandsen could have an opening with Freddy Sanchez's injury likely keeping him on the DL to start the year, but like I said, he'd have to really make a case for himself over the next month, as the Giants do have other options like Juan Uribe and Mark DeRosa for 2nd base. If DeRosa gets some time there, it could open up a spot for Fred Lewis in left. Lewis is out of options, so he'll need to make the team out of spring, or else other teams will have the opportunity to swoop him up. I'd say Lewis may have the edge on Frandsen because of options, and because Lewis posses the speed that the Giants projected lineup really lacks. However, there are about 4 outfielders (Andres Torres, Eugenio Velez, John Bowker, Fred Lewis) vying for 2 bench spots, so Lewis is going to really have to outplay all of those guys if he wants to guarantee himself a spot!

Prospect Watch: None of the Giants prospects have done a whole lot yet. As I said at the top of the post, Madison Bumgarner had a solid 2-inning outing. The Giants top-2 hitting prospects haven't done anything yet though, as Buster Posey's gone 0-4, and Thomas Neal has flied out in his only at-bat thus far. The youngster who's stuck out the most is a name that's pretty familiar to Giants fans and it's Emmanuel Burriss. The 25 year-old infielder went 2-3 with 2 RBI and a steal in the Giants opener vs. Seattle.... Steve Edelfsen and Henry Sosa, 2 top-30 prospects, each have had outings of 1 2/3 scoreless innings.