The San Francisco Giants are exactly where they need to be — right around .500 despite key injuries, slow starts by some players and an incredible early run by the team they”re chasing.
The darkness arrived early in the 2012 season when closer Brian Wilson found himself out of the lineup indefinitely after making just two appearances.
Early May dealt another blow when Pablo Sandoval (the Giants” best power hitter) broke a bone in his hand. Then this week, second baseman Freddy Sanchez suffered another setback while rehabbing his injury.
Important San Francisco players are banged up, but the team still manages to win games.
One reason is the offensive consistency provided by three guys who weren”t on the field for the orange and black for most or all of last season.
Buster Posey continues where he left off before his season-ending injury nearly one year ago.
Entering Wednesday, the young catcher was hitting .280 with four home runs, 13 RBIs and an on-base percentage of .336 — he”ll need to cut down on his team-leading strikeout total though.
Offseason acquisition Angel Pagan is starting to come around after a slow start. The center fielder had a .288 average with four homers and 10 RBIs coming into Wednesday.
But the star performer thus far has been new addition Melky Cabrera. The outfielder dominates offensively, leading the team in batting average, hits, runs and total bases.
Those three stars have worked to fill the void left by the injured Panda.
Unfortunately, replacing the recuperating Sanchez hasn”t been as easy.
Second base is San Francisco”s least efficient offensive position, with players batting just .194 with no homers and six RBIs, entering Wednesday. Shortstop hasn”t been much better, with guys hitting .252 with one home run and 12 RBIs.
The Giants need much more production out of Emmanuel Burriss, Brandon Crawford and Joaquin Arias.
The other reason for the team”s success is pitching. San Francisco came into Wednesday night”s game ranked in the top five in ERA and quality starts.
Santiago Casilla has done a solid job to date replacing Wilson as closer. Right-hander Sergio Romo and lefty specialist Javier Lopez have also pitched steadily well out of the Giants bullpen.
Madison Bumgarner and Matt Cain are the team”s best, most consistent starters (though the latter”s record might not indicate it). Ryan Vogelsong is off to a slow start but still has a great 2.66 ERA.
The two other starters have been the biggest surprises.
Veteran Barry Zito shined in most of his early-season outings, putting together a 2-1 record with five quality starts, a 2.53 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP in seven games. He also threw an improbable shutout – his first since 2003.
The beginning to Tim Lincecum”s season has been more shocking though.
The two-time Cy Young winner is 2-3 with a 5.77 ERA, 1.56 WHIP and just one quality start in 43.2 innings pitched. Although his strikeout numbers are still there, the right-hander looks uncomfortable and lost on the mound.
One thing that no doubt negatively impacts Lincecum and all San Francisco pitchers is the deficient defense playing behind them.
The Giants have the most errors in the majors and have given up 20 unearned runs, entering Wednesday.
Still, in spite of the ups and downs, the Bay Area squad only trails the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers (the best team in the National League) by single digits.
And with the Dodgers” MVP candidate, Matt Kemp, suddenly on the disabled list, the Giants should close the gap in the coming weeks.
San Francisco has an easy-to-moderate schedule during the next month, including should-be-painless series against the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Houston Astros. The only trouble spots could be matchups against the Miami Marlins, Oakland A”s and Texas Rangers.
In order for the Giants to successfully gain ground in that stretch, they need to stabilize their starting pitching, improve their hitting, fix the shaky fielding and most importantly, avoid injuries.
If those things don”t happen, a single-digit deficit in May will turn into a double-digit one by early summer.
But if San Francisco corrects those problem areas, it will find itself near (or maybe even in) the NL West lead come late June.
