not so fast

Just a quick thought after the Giants longest game of the season so far. Let's all just calm down a quick second.

Now, normally I'm the first one to panic or to point out who in the Giants line-up should be benched or traded or who's not going to cut it in the big leagues. But, listening to and reading peoples reactions to tonight's game (a win, by the way), really shocked me. How fickle have we become as fans? Tonight, the Giants improved to 22-20. They haven't been more than two games over .500 all season and were last at this mark on April 29 against San Diego. Bumgarner pitched great, with his one mistake to the
MVP Ryan Braun in the 8th. And while I'm normally the first to jump on the blame-Bochy bandwagon, I'll give him a pass for not putting Romo in tonight to face Braun. Bumgarner had 10 Ks on the night and had struck out Braun in the first. Yes, hindsight is 20/20, and Romo has had success against Braun in the past, but the Giants pulled out the win, so let's just remember that.

People are also ready to throw in the towel on the Brandons. Yes, Crawford made a costly error tonight. His defense has been inconsistent at best and, at times, he looks pretty uncomfortable at shortstop. However, he's only 24. It's his first full major league season. He's got a cannon for an arm. I think he needs a year under his belt to be fully comfortable out there and, despite his struggles, he's shown promise of being the great shortstop that he's projected to be.

People are also ready to write-off Belt. Yes, he's batting .238 with no homeruns so far, but he, like Crawford, has the skill to be great. He plays a great defensive first base, and we saw his power last year, albeit briefly. He's in his first season as the primary first baseman for the Giants, although his playing time has been a big inconsistent. With consistency and more at-bats, the Brandons will be just fine.

Finally, there were even some fans saying that the Giants should trade Lincecum. This seems like an extreme reaction to a guy who's simply struggling on the mound for, wait for it, oh yeah, just two months. Two months! Of a long season. If Timmy is 2-17 in August, with an ERA over six and he continues to over-analyze himself start after start after start, then maybe it's something to look into. But, considering there were no Lincecum trade rumors prior to his start against the A's, this all just seems like a knee-jerk reaction to a guy who's been an amazing asset to this team for the last five years.

Yes, tonight's game had some low-points, but at the end of it, the Giants came away with a win. If we want to, we can always look for the bad parts of a game, but maybe we should just enjoy the good things while we can.