Sometimes I worry a bit about Bumgarner when I look up and see that he's sitting at 0-6 with a 4.25 era for the season entering Thursday. This kid deserves a W more than anyone in the league with the way he's been throwing, and the Giants have to give him one to ease his mind. His season is reminding me of the year Matt Cain had in the 2008 season when absolutely nothing went his way and he finished the year at 7-16 despite having a 3.65 era and a .234 BAA. The Giants just didn't score for him, and when they did, the bullpe

With the way the Giants offense has been in such a funk lately, it was so nice to see Cody Ross step up Wednesday night and hit that game winning, 3-run shot. Ross missed a lot of spring training with that injury, and played only 9 games in April in which he was far from impressive, but you could tell he was just getting his time back. Now since May's hit, he's found his groove, and I expect him to keep on producing the way he has over the last few weeks. In fact, all 3 of his homers and 9 of his 10 RBI have come in the month, along with a .325 batting average and 1.026 OPS. It's just too bad they can't take one of their plethora of outfielders and plant him over at third or shortstop. I know Nate Schierholtz (check his minor league career) and came up playing 3rd base, and in a blowout, why not give him an infielders glove and let him play. He's got the cannon arm, so even if he knocks ground balls down, he'll get the guy at first. I know it's a big move, but hey, I'd be willing to bet Schierholtz plays a better 3rd base than Aubrey Huff did RF.
Still though, it's been so long since he was a 3rd basemen, it would jeopardize the defense too much I think, otherwise they would have already explored that option (though with Belt down now, they don't really have another first basemen besides Buster). All I know is, the Giants have 4 outfielders who deserve to be in the lineup most days in Burrell, Torres, Ross and Schierholtz. All of those guys really are outperforming the infielders, and by a wide margin. Also, on a side note, with at least one corner outfield spot opening up next year (Burrell on 1 year deal, also believe Ross is a 1st time FA too), Nate's playing like he wants consideration for that spot, the Giants have to give him at least 450 at-bats to see what he does with them. I personally say he takes off, like (.300/15/60/.850/15 SB) kind take off, by years end if given the opportunity.
And they Do, Kind of: Well, the bats certainly didn't explode by any means, collecting just 3 runs vs. the Dodgers tough righty Chad Billingsley. Fortunately, all Madison Bumgarner would need was 2 runs, as he took a shutout into the 9th inning with 2 outs before yielding an RBI

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