Good First 2 Weeks

This is a blog about the San Francisco Giants and their progress throughout the season and their offseason dealings. For a team without its two best hitters, the Giants offense has been playing solid baseball. Role players young and old have been stepping up in big ways. The aspect of the team that was supposed to carry them through the month without Bonds and Alou is as of now, the Giant's weakness. Edgardo Alfonzo is looking more like the Fonzy that hit went .304-27-108 for the Mets in 1999. All we can do is hope that his hot streak keeps up when we get our sluggers back. What I would like to know is what the Giants are going to do with Pedro Feliz when Bonds gets back. He won't move to third because our third baseman is leading the world in batting average right now. He won't move to first with Snow patrolling the bag as an already established presence. The Giants are running out of things to do with Feliz. He can't be a regular starter because there's no where for him to start and they can't trade him because he's way to valuable to just ship off for minor leaguers.


The Giants are 6-5 right now, and five-sixths of their wins have come against the Rockies. If the Giants are going to stay in the race in April without their 3-4 hitters, they're going to need to start beating teams that are actually going to challenge for first place. Once Bonds and Alou return, the Giants offense should be one of the more potent lineups in the majors. If they are going to win against the Padres in their coming series against them this week, the Giant's starting pitchers are going to have to last more than 4 innings which right now, seems like a lot to ask of them. Once we can get our starters through 7 innings, Herges/Brower/Eyre can pitch the 8th, and once we can get more work for Benitez, all we can do is hope that he becomes at least a shadow of the dominating pitcher he was last season. Right now, Benitez is pitching like a rookie just out of the minors with a cannon for an arm and nothing to back it up (a la David Aardsma). Before today, Tyler Walker has been getting shelled. He's been hanging his slider and his velocity hasn't been there. Today's outing showed the promise that came with Walker pitching 12 scoreless innings from the pen to start last season. His fastball was up around 95 mph and his sinker/slider was biting below the strike zone.


Overall, a good way to wrap up the week for the Giants with an 8-6 win over the Rockies. Tucker felt right at home at Coors but don't expect much more power out of his bat unless a mountain grows under San Diego overnight and lifts it a mile above sea level. I wasn't too pleased with Benitez' outing today but all any good fan can do is hope that he'll find his slider once he gets out of the mile high air.


Next post will cover the Giant's starting rotation and its performance (or lack thereof) in the early stages of the 2005 season. Until then, it's Bye Bye Baby