Giant Second Half

The San Francisco Giants open up baseball’s second half tonight against the Houston Astros and sit just a half game back of the NL West leading, Los Angeles Dodgers.  To say that the play of Giants All-Stars Matt Cain, Pablo Sandoval, and Melky Cabrera (All-Star MVP) last Tuesday night, didn’t mean anything would be misguided.  Cabrera and Sandoval had a hand in all of the eight total runs scored on the AL and Matt Cain only gave up one hit in the two innings he pitched.  Their performances clearly sent a message that they are ready to make a second half push for the NL West division title.

The Giants have to feel somewhat disrespected given all of the attention their bitter rival, the LA Dodgers, received early on. 

The Giants are just two years removed from winning the World Series and are still loaded with talent.  Their pitching as a whole ranks in the top ten of the four major statistical categories (ERA, Qt Starts, WHIP, BAA) and their newly acquired All-Star left fielder Melky Cabrera, is second in the NL behind Andrew McCutchen in batting average (.353) and leads the NL with 119 hits. 

Yet, the Giants have made headlines in other areas. 

Despite the negative reaction that surrounded it, Pablo Sandoval was voted in by the fans to start in the All-Star game at third base over Mets third baseman, David Wright.  Wrights numbers are better than Sandoval’s, but Sandoval is still having a very productive year for his team with a .863 OPS, which is higher than his career average of .857.

San Francisco has garnered more attention concerning the struggles of starting pitcher Tim Lincecum; rather than their star laden pitching lineup.  Couple that with the love their rivals to the south have obtained and the bad press that got stirred up when Sandoval was selected as a starter in the All-Star game…..San Francisco now has a giant chip on their shoulder to play with going forward; and that could be a scary thing for the rest of the NL West.