Call me crazy but I for one feel the NL West is far from over. Padres have failed to seal the deal all year and with Bonds back and enough games to catch Padres due to head to head matchups, I feel Giants have a better than a mathematical chance of catching the Padres. They will likely need to play .700 to .800 ball to do it but really feel with Bonds and Benitez back team is growing in confidence and momentum. If someone knows the current odds of Giants winning the NL West please post as I feel this may be a longshot worth backing.
rob,
I agree they have pitching edge but they are so inferior to others in terms of offense that I believe it negates their pitching advantage. Some of their old stalwarts like Loretta,Klesko, and Giles better pick it up or there will be a huge collapse as they are not even a given vs Rockies or anyone else for that matter!
I agree they have pitching edge but they are so inferior to others in terms of offense that I believe it negates their pitching advantage. Some of their old stalwarts like Loretta,Klesko, and Giles better pick it up or there will be a huge collapse as they are not even a given vs Rockies or anyone else for that matter!
The Giants have dug a big hole, but they have a shot at winning the division. I am holding some nice futures on them to win the division, NL pennant, and World Series.
Their lineup is among the best in baseball now that everyone is getting healthy:
Winn (has been on fire since coming over via trade)
Vizquel
Bonds
Alou
Durham (on fire as well)
Snow
Alfonzo
Matheny
Compare that to what they were putting on the field all season and this team will score some runs.
Their pitching is a concern but if the young guys can continue to pitch well, their bullpen is also much improved with everyone healthy.
Cain goes today and if he can continue to pitch well, they have a decent rotation:
Schmidt
Lowry
Cain
Hennessey
Correia/Tomko
They need Schmidt healthy which is a concern.
Their bullpen is going to be one of the best in baseball again with everyone back in their roles. Scott Eyre and Scott Munter give them the 2 best lefty middle/set up men in the league and Tyler Walker and Hawkins are solid set up men. Benitez has saved 10 of 11 since coming off the DL.
They have 4 games at San Diego that will make or break their season (26th-29th). But the bigger problem for them is the upcoming Dodgers series starting tomorrow. They have terrible matchups the first 3 games of the 4 game series:
Hennessey vs Lowe
Tomko vs Penny
Correia vs Weaver
Their lineup is among the best in baseball now that everyone is getting healthy:
Winn (has been on fire since coming over via trade)
Vizquel
Bonds
Alou
Durham (on fire as well)
Snow
Alfonzo
Matheny
Compare that to what they were putting on the field all season and this team will score some runs.
Their pitching is a concern but if the young guys can continue to pitch well, their bullpen is also much improved with everyone healthy.
Cain goes today and if he can continue to pitch well, they have a decent rotation:
Schmidt
Lowry
Cain
Hennessey
Correia/Tomko
They need Schmidt healthy which is a concern.
Their bullpen is going to be one of the best in baseball again with everyone back in their roles. Scott Eyre and Scott Munter give them the 2 best lefty middle/set up men in the league and Tyler Walker and Hawkins are solid set up men. Benitez has saved 10 of 11 since coming off the DL.
They have 4 games at San Diego that will make or break their season (26th-29th). But the bigger problem for them is the upcoming Dodgers series starting tomorrow. They have terrible matchups the first 3 games of the 4 game series:
Hennessey vs Lowe
Tomko vs Penny
Correia vs Weaver
On paper, those are mismatches but I really like the way this kid Hennessey has pitched but unfortunately he goes up vs Lowe who looks like he finally has his A game sinker going. Penny and Weaver are like getting a prize out of a Cracker Jack box which is you never know what you are going to get this year. Giants best chance is to make these game slugfests as Dodgers simply are so inconsistent offensively that I don't believe they could keep up. With these pitching matchups, this old lineup better be superior with the gloves which has been another weakness. This 4 game series will eliminate one of them definitely.
whormoan said:
I am hoping he can return as it is not certain yet...but you are right, there is a chance he is done with that groin injury.
If so, they replace him in the lineup with Feliz which is a pretty big drop off, but he still puts up decent numbers. It just doesn't give much protection for Bonds and he will be back to being walked every other at bat.
