One thing the sickness did allow me to do, was really take a good long look at the San Francisco Giants from afar. It's been about a month now since I've been out to AT&T for an actual game, so I have been watching everything on TV, which I'm not so much used to. Normally I'll watch about %20 live in attendance, %20 on TV, and listen to the other half or so, mostly just away game
s, but I got to watch them play all homestand against the Cards and Cininatti as well as this Arizona series so far, and they've really caughten some fire. Their bats were starting to heat up over the weekend, as you could start to see signs, but it wasn't until Aubrey Huff started going to left field like a natural righty, Billy Hall's signing and immediate impact in place of the oft-injured Freddy Sanchez and finally capped off by The Panda's anticipated return Tuesday night. They were looking so locked in offensively, they even go some surprisingly good play out of Eli Whiteside and the catchers spot over these last 5-6 games. We know this team will battle injuries all year long and should be deep enough to override most of their lineup mishaps. I liked the move for Hall, another low-risk possibly huge-reward type player who looks hungry. I mean, the only guy who's really been healthy and in their since Game 1, 2011 has been Huff, and he was hitting just .230 with 30-RBI heading into Arizona June 15th. (though he did have a few 3-hit games to add 14 points to his batting average) They didn't pull off the sweep, thanks to Justin Uptons game winning walkoff shot, but the Giants are still up 2 on the D-Backs in the West... Good series overall for Giants!There is no doubt in my mind, that if the Giants are indeed intent on winning another World Series, which, barring any setbacks to the rotation, looks like a legit possibility. That said, this lineup isn't producing quite as well at this pace as they were last year after the arrival of Posey
lifted them to that next level. Even with Sanchez and Sandoval out there, that ".175 hitting catcher" and whoever has been at short, is going to rear up and bite them in the behind later on in the year if they don't end up upgrading. Again, they don't need another Posey, but someone who can handle the day-to-day duties and at least support a respectable average up over .250. I still wouldn't mind Pudge, but would rather have a little bit younger of a guy like Miguel Olivo or John Buck if they could pry him from Florida! Right now, I like how Sabean is going at it though, not making any panic moves and staying the coarse while his team writes the ship. It's a weird thing to say, since he hasn't done too much to add to the team, but I think Sabean is the perfect guy to be leading this club's pursuit of players and I do think he'll get something done before the 31st of next month!Giants Draft Picks: I also didn't get a chance to talk much about the Giants draft picks, but I did watch it. I didn't hear too much about SS top pick Joe Ponik before the pick and haven't had a chance to look at him play yet so I'll hold off on comment on him until a later date, but I really liked the 2-3 picks in Prep right-hander Kyle Crick out of Texas and Oregon State catcher Andrew Sussac, who I actually watched play a few times in the College World Series over the weekend as part of my slumber-stupor. He looks like a nice young player, quite possibly Buster's replacement a few years down the line at catcher, allowing Posey to go to 2nd or 3rd Base full time (which will eventually be his destination at some point especially in light of injury)? Could certainly be if Sussoc develops like he's supposed to! The Giants stuck mostly with polished college guys for the most part of the top of the draft, and we'll look at it a lot closer in the coming days after I get back in touch with our College Baseball Daily guru, Brian Foley! We should be back onto a normal schedule now, going back to every other day or so, possibly more, so check back after the game each day for updates! Thanks guys!
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