What was supposed to be the teams strength, the starting pitching, was really roughed up this whole home stand. Jonathan Sanchez's start on Wednesday was just the boiling point, as it was Sanchez's second start since returning from the DL and 2nd ugly loss in is many starts. The Giants 28 year-old lefty continues his Jekyll and Hyde season which has seen him really tank in his last 4 starts, including the last 2 before his DL stint. Over those last 4 starts, Sanchez is 0-3 with a 9.88 era and 15 walks in just 17
innings pitched. Wednesday was basically those 4 starts in a nutshell, as all 4 batters Sanchez walked came around to score. The DL stint apparently did nothing for the left-handers confidence for effectiveness, cause he looks like a deer in headlights out on the mound. It's a tough situation for the Giants now too, because all the sudden, they have themselves a little problem with their fifth starter. We've seen Barry Zito get rocked in his last few starts so it's almost like a pick your poison situation for Bochy now. Do you want Sanchez, who has better stuff but will likely walk 4-5 batters a night, out there or Zito, who's much more accurate, but also throws just 84 MPH and has become a batting practice pitcher on most nights. I don't really expect the Giants to bring any youngster like Eric Surkamp up to throw in the heat of a pennant race, so it makes me wonder if the Giants would actually look into bringing in a 5th starter through waivers, a la Brad Penny from a couple years ago. There are a ton of starters out there who could get put on waivers, like Bruce Chen, Javier Vazquez and Rich Harden.While the pitching was roughed up pretty good all home stand long really, the offense looked even worse. Carlos Beltran missed the whole Pirates' series and could miss some time in Florida as well. On a positive note, one of the guys who the Giants are really hoping turns it around for these last months is slowly starting to get it going. Aubrey Huff has started contributing on a
much more consistent basis over the last few games, hitting .400 with 1 hr and 3 RBI over his last 7 games. He's gotten his average up to the .250 mark, which is the first step, and he just has to keep chipping away. It's especially key for the other outfielders and Huff to step up big with Schierholtz and Beltran each down. That includes Andres Torres, who's been way too easy an out in the leadoff spot. I really believe a solid .275 hitting leadoff man would really help kick start this offense, and it's really to bad Sabean couldn't find someone before the deadline to help out. There's still a chance he could look to upgrade the roster, mainly catcher and center field, if anyone of note gets put on waivers. That list includes Coco Crisp and Juan Pierre as potential leadoff hitters to look for this August. I'm surprised the Giants didn't go harder after Coco Crisp, who I'm sure the A's would have parted with before July 31st. I'm not sure what it would have cost the Giants in trade, but I sure know that Crisp's .275 avg. and 37 steals would look pretty nice in center right about now.The One That Got Away? It sucks watching the Giants offense take a nose dive, while one of their former farm-hands is absolutely tearing the cover off the ball for the Padres. Jesus Guzman, who spent 2009 in the Giants organization, has gotten a look with San Diego and he's been one of the best hitters in baseball since taking over at first. The 27 year-old first basemen enters the weekend with a .350 average, 6 HR, 30 RBI and 21 runs in only 123 at-bats (roughly 33 hr and 160 RBI projected into a full season) as the Padres new first basemen and their heir apparent to Adrian Gonzalez. I know their not in it now, but Guzman is young and will likely have the Giants kicking themselves a few times over the next few years for letting him slip away. Dude can rake!
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