Short Post Saturday in Giants Loss

Short Post: One Handed- GBB Writer Trevor Cole has suffered a (hopefully) short-term injury to his right hand and cannot function properly with it. For that reason, I'll keep it simple and stick to the banter on the first two losses in the Atlanta series.

The Giants had a great time on the road, and have now returned for a short weekend series with the Braves, and they've all the sudden hit a wall. Everyone was expecting the team, myself included to take off once Cody Ross returned and guys got back into their 2010 rhythm. But through 2 games, that hasn't been the case. The Giants offense was shut down by Braves' youngster Tommy Hanson, who out-dueled fellow youngster Madison Bumgarner in the win. Hanson held the Giants to just 3 hits and a run in 8 strong before relinquishing duties to right-handed, flame throwing Billy Wagner -clone, Craig Kimbrel. What was more concerning for Giants fans was the outing had by stud lefty Madison Bumgarner. The guy who had a 2.18 postseason era in '10 is sporting a 7.79 mark with more walks than strikeouts in 4 stars. Now keep in mind, MadBum is still crazy young at age 21, so to expect him to be Tim Lincecum/Matt Cain already is unrealistic. That said, if he can't make it out of April with an era down closer to 5, the Giants may need to consider giving him some work back in Fresno.

Saturday's game was a little better offensively, but they still mustered just 2 runs off of Timmy Hudson. The Braves didn't get to the Giants' Timmy early, which normally bodes well for the right hander, but they knocked him out in the 7th before opening the game with a hit off of Javier Lopez (the first RBI hit I think I've seen him surrender in an SF uni, LOL). Lincecum didn't have his A-game, but once again, the offense hid under a rock and wasn't heard from at all. The ace suffered through his roughest start of the year, allowing 6 runs and 6 walks in 6.1 innings of work. Then Lopez came in and the flood gates opened. What surprisess me though, is that the Cody Ross-infused lineup hasn't produced better results. Now, don't take my concern for worry, cause these guys will figure it out, just would like them to take advantage of their home time before leaving for the road again on Monday... Another point I wanted to touch on was the fact that Pat "The Bat" seems to have found his stroke. The long ball has been there all year for Burrell, but the average hasn't, and now after a 3-hit game Saturday, he's at a respectable .250. Respectable only because he's amongst the league leaders in home runs. Now for most players hitting sub-.250, it'd likely cost them their everyday gig, but as long as Burrell can stay there (with his power), his spot is safe.

Note: Again, sorry about the incapacitated hand, which I hope relieves itself in the coming days. Regardless though, stay tuned cause we should keep our normal posting schedule, though the posts may be shorter. Again, THIS IS ONLY TEMPORARY and I probably should take a week off, but now I know what players feel like when they're told they can't play but itch to so badly. I couldn't rest right now! Certainly not with this team, this early in the year!