Location: San Francisco, Calif. | Ballpark: AT&T Park (41,777) | Spring Training: Scottsdale, Ariz.
Owners: William Neukom, Sue Burns | GM: Brian Sabean | Manager: Bruce Bochy | World Championships: 5
If you'd told me before the season the Giants would not end 2008 as one of baseball's five worst teams, I'd have called you a crazy person, then backed away slowly while maintaining eye contact and dialing 911 on my cell ... The positional players remain a mess -- enjoy those next four years of a decaying Aaron Rowand, Giants fans -- but the young arms are abundant ... I keep hearing that Matt Cain will be dangled in a deal for the soon-to-get-very-very-very-expensive Ryan Howard or Prince Fielder. Bare positional-prospect cupboard or not, that strikes me as a big risk for the Giants to take.
09/23/2008
23
22
If Tim Lincecum's Sunday start against L.A. is somehow a must-win game for the Dodgers, think about how much delight Giants fans will take in the possibility of screwing their in-state rivals. Yeah, that'd be sweeeeet.
09/16/2008
22
23
Bruce Bochy deserves a punch in the gizzard and a citation for criminal negligence for having kept Tim Lincecum in the game for 138 pitches on Saturday night. Sure, you'd like to get your guy the Cy Young, but not at the cost of his long-term welfare. ... No RBI yet in September for Aaron Rowand. Good thing they have him locked up through 2027.
09/09/2008
23
24
Go ahead, just try and make me sit through one of those inevitable "inspired by" flicks based upon the life and crappy times of Scott McClain, who notched 362 homers and 7,300 at-bats in the minors before hitting his first big-league shot Wednesday. ... It's fun to watch the San Fran rookies figure things out, especially after so many Aurilias and Sweeneys, but come on: Maybe two of the current cast members will be around when the team approaches contention again in 2011. Let's not confuse "feisty" with "able."
09/02/2008
24
22
There is no chance that you'll hear San Fran's recent call-up, 36-year-old minor-league masher Scott McClain, described as anything other than "the modern-day Crash Davis," so you might as well embrace the inevitable ... 132 pitches for Tim Lincecum in his last start? Some teams have to learn the hard way.
08/26/2008
22
22
Five wins in a row! I'm genuinely proud of them, like a father whose kid has just learned how to tie his shoes. ... Pablo Sandoval's pre-at-bat routine -- he draws a cross in the dirt, taps his bat on his shoes, puts his left arm in, puts his left arm out, hops around the umpire on one leg -- might be even twitchier than Nomar Garciaparra's, which is saying something. ... Giants pitchers rank third in MLB in strikeouts, which augurs good things going forward.
08/19/2008
22
26
Between Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, they have a better shot of winning two times every five days than anybody below them on this list. Hence the lofty ranking for a rebuilding team that trots out a nothing lineup. ... Twenty-three of Barry Zito's past 25 innings in his past four starts have been scoreless ones. Granted, he got massacred in the other two innings, but that's still mildly half-OK for a guy we've all written off.
08/12/2008
26
27
I don't know why, because I'm a fan of neither the Giants nor jurisprudence, but I was kinda thrilled to see Barry Bonds back in a ballpark on Saturday. ... Back-to-back walk-off wins against the Dodgers suggest they still give a hoot, which is more than can be said for most of the teams that appear in the bottom third of this little exercise.
08/05/2008
27
28
The Giants are giddy after getting consecutive decent starts by Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito (no, really!) and Kevin Correia in San Diego over the weekend. Not to burst any bubbles here, but handcuffing a sad offensive team in a ballpark that suppresses offense doesn't constitute legitimate progress. Do the same at Houston next week, and we'll talk.
07/29/2008
28
27
Bruce Bochy does a lot of cray-zee things, but trusting Tyler Walker as his primary setup guy is right up there with "Bengie Molina, pinch runner." ... I wasn't sure the Giants would reach 40 wins this year, so 44-61 with two months to go qualifies as somewhat of a success in this first of several low-expectation campaigns.
Preseason Power Rankings
Date
Ranking
Previous
02/28/2008
26
-
If not for the young pitching of Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, this is the worst team in baseball. That everyday lineup is easily the worst. Pitching can still keep them from being in the basement, though.
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