To say the San Francisco Giants recent 10 game road trip was a trying time is an understatement. Each day a new face (or faces) made his way to the trainers’ room with an injury. All-Stars Brian Wilson and Carlos Beltran were placed on the disabled list. Joining them on the DL were set-up man Sergio Romo (elbow), Eli Whiteside (concussion), and Andres Torres (leg). The list of players missing time on the trip was quite extensive. Jeff Keppinger missed a few games after injuring his wrist during a collision with Atlanta first basement Freddie Freeman. Jonathon Sanchez was also hurt in Atlanta, spraining his ankle fielding a bunt and missed his next scheduled start Sunday. Orlando Cabrera sat out with a sore groin. Aaron Rowand was unavailable nursing a ribcage injury. Pablo Sandoval had to come out of the opener against Atlanta after fouling a ball off his foot. The Kung Fu Panda also missed a game with left shoulder soreness that limited the switch-hitter to hitting strictly from the left side. Additionally, Nate Schierholtz missed action with an ailing hip.

With the injuries piling up at an alarming rate, it is pretty remarkable that the Giants finished 4-6 during the trip. After taking 2 of 3 versus Florida, the Giants dropped 3 of 4 against Atlanta with all 3 losses coming by 1 run. The series opener was a 5-4 loss where the bearded wonder Wilson blew a 2 run lead by surrendering 3 in the ninth (his last appearance). Game 2 was a walk-off for the Braves in extra innings. San Francisco took game 3 behind a dominant effort from Matt Cain, but dropped the finale with 1-0 shutout. Ace Tim Lincecum pitched 7 strong innings allowing only one run on a location mistake that Chipper Jones sent into the right field seats. The Giants can take a deep sigh of relief after a gritty 11 inning win Sunday to avoid being swept in the final game of the swing to the lowly Houston Astros, especially after Arizona dropped 5 of 6 and was swept by Atlanta, allowing the Giants to decrease their deficit to 1.5 games in the NL West.

After a day off Monday (to hopefully receive much needed treatment and heal up), the Giants begin a twelve game homestand, their longest of the season. The stand starts with 2 games against an improving San Diego Padres squad, 4 games with the Astros, 3 with the Cubs, and concludes with a huge series against division leading Arizona, the first of the final two series between the NL West contenders. The Giants have their fingers crossed that one of their fallen soldiers with be able to return during the week with Beltran eligible to come off the DL Tuesday. Beltran’s return would provide the paltry Giant offense with some much needed punch. If the Giants are to regain their health and winning ways for a stretch playoff run, this homestand would seem like the perfect springboard to do so.

Is Tim Lincecum in a funk or is it something that the Giants should seriously worry about? Lincecum’s last three starts have been bad by most starting pitcher’s standards and horrible by the lofty standards that the reigning two time Cy Young winner has set. In his last three starts, Lincecum has not gotten out of the 6th inning and has given up 5, 6, and 3 earned runs. While some believe that his small frame and awkward delivery may be taking its toll, I believe it is just a small blip on a career that will continue to astonish. Lincecum has toyed with a new pitch this season, a changeup, that he is starting to throw too much. Early in the year, when Lincecum was his usual dominant self, he was throwing the changeup sparingly and had great results. Due to the success that he had with the pitch, he began to fall in love with it and has forgotten what made him such a great pitcher in the past. If Lincecum only sparingly uses his changeup, the two time Cy Young winner will be fine and Giants fans will have no need to worry.

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The San Francisco Giants are off to a pretty good start and figure to be a factor in the National League west all season. Through 14 games, the Giants looks as if they are exactly what everyone suspected they would be coming into the season: heavy on starting pitching and light in power. The Giants have gotten fantastic starting pitching from their top four, headed by the two time reigning NL Cy Young winner, Tim Lincecum, who has given up just two earned runs in 20 innings pitched. In addition to Lincecum, Barry Zito, Matt Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez have all been very good for the club as they sit in a tie for first place in the NL West. The team is also expected to call up prized prospect Madison Bumgarner in the early summer to complete the 5 man starting rotation.
While the Giants pitching has been great, fans of the Giants have to be worried about their offense and whether they can continue to score runs at a high pace. 14 games into the season, no Giant has more than 2 homeruns, and only one player on the roster has hit more than 30 homeruns in a season, and that was Aubrey Huff who did it once in 2008 with 32. As the season moves on, it will be interesting to see if the Giants offense can provide enough support for their dominant starting rotation. If the Giants are able to add a bat at some point in the season, the Giants could be a very dangerous team in October.

by Josh Weiner at the Sports Fan Blog Network

Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda are regular visitors around the San Francisco Giants.

But when Muhammad Ali showed up in the clubhouse Tuesday to tout his Athletes for Hope charity campaign, players, coaches, clubbies and even the general manager and owner stood in line for photos with the 68-year-old former heavyweight champion.

“I thought he was going to react and give me a right hand in the chin,” catcher Bengie Molina said jokingly. “I was afraid.”

Right-hander Matt Cain put his pitching fist up to Ali’s left fist. Mays greeted Ali in an adjacent conference room before leaving the ballpark following the closed-door meeting.

“I know Ali,” Mays said afterward, refusing to speak further about their friendship.

Ali, who lives in Scottsdale, suffers from Parkinson’s disease. He rarely talks in public and speaks in a barely audible whisper.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Right-hander Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants have settled their arbitration case, with the two-time NL Cy Young winner signing a $23 million, two-year contract ahead of Friday’s originally scheduled hearing, baseball sources tell ESPN The Magazine’s Buster Olney

For arbitration, the Giants filed for $8 million while Lincecum countered with $13 million. He earned $650,000 last season.

Lincecum, the reigning Cy Young winner, was 15-7 last season with a 2.48 ERA. He’s 40-17 in his three major league seasons with a 2.90 career ERA.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

If Randy Johnson’s career is over, he finished it with a strikeout. The Big Unit and Pablo Sandoval each provided some final memories for a San Francisco Giants team that stayed in the wild-card chase until the last week of the season.


Johnson made what could be the last appearance of his brilliant, 22-year big league career, pitching one adventuresome inning of relief in the Giants’ 4-3, 10-inning win over the San Diego Padres on Sunday.

Although the Big Unit gave up an unearned run in the seventh that tied the game 3-3, Sandoval provided the go-ahead run when he homered on the first pitch of the 10th inning. It was Sandoval’s 25th.

The 46-year-old Johnson said Thursday that he’ll take his time in the off-season deciding his future. The 303-game winner also hoped to get one more outing this season, and manager Bruce Bochy wanted to oblige.


Click here to read the full article – By Bernie Wilson of The Canadian Press

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“Stranger things have happened,” Bruce Bochy was saying late Wednesday night.


San Francisco’s manager referred to a long-shot rally by the Giants into the playoffs — not to Jonathan Sanchez stepping up as the rotation’s stopper.

Although that was strange enough.

In a rotation of marquee pitchers with headlines and honors, you wouldn’t expect Sanchez to be the one to put his foot down and call for order, as he did in taking a shutout into the sixth inning of a 5-2 victory over the D-backs that kept the Giants’ playoff hearts beating.

Click here to read the full article – By Tom Singer of MLB.com

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