Second to none

With the Giants having a day off today, it's given me some time to think about a position that's maybe flown under the radar a bit in the past couple years: second base.

Not that I don't love me some Freddy Sanchez (apparently all Giants fans feel the same, voting for him enough for him to finish 4th in the All-Star voting this year...without him having played a game. Yeah.), but, let's be honest, he hasn't been the most reliable second baseman during his Giants tenure. In June 2011, Sanchez went down with a shoulder injury that he just couldn't seem to recover from and that sidelined him for the rest of the season. This could've been totally devastating for the Giants - Mike Fontenot was on the disabled list when Sanchez went down, and Bill Hall was signed to replace Sanchez before Hall also went on the DL. Finally, Sabean had had enough. On July 20, he traded for Jeff Keppinger from the Astros. Keppinger went on to bat .255 with 17 RBIs and two homeruns in 56 games for the Giants. He stepped in and filled a void in a huge way for the 2011 Giants, who finished 2nd in the National League West.

When this season started out, Freddy Sanchez was once again leaving a void in the number four position. Sanchez managed to appear in five games during spring training this year but has since struggled to come back from his shoulder injury from 2011. With Keppinger signing with Tampa Bay in the off-season, second base for the Giants was once again a black hole. Luckily, Sabean signed Ryan Theriot in the off-season to back up, well, whoever was playing second base that day for the Giants. But when Sanchez started the year on the DL and Emmanuel Burriss started to flounder, Theriot stepped up. Even though he's struggled a little bit with staying healthy (is this position cursed for the Giants?), Theriot has come back and been a huge contributor to the Giants push for first place in the NL West lately. He's currently batting .272 in just 53 games this season. He's only got 22 strikeouts on the season and already has 16 RBIs. He's also only got two errors on the season so far. And, let's face it, that's pretty dang impressive in this line-up.

It may seem like a small thing, this whole "having-a-healthy-second-baseman thing," but these guys have helped give the Giants winning seasons the past two years. Without Keppinger, I don't know if the Giants finished over .500 in 2011 (they finished 86-76, ten games over). Theriot has been clutch and has filled the huge whole left by Freddy Sanchez. And while I don't know  how the Giants will finish off this season, I know that Theriot has helped them get to where they currently are...which, by the way, is first place.