Moving Day

Right now, the Giants are in 3rd place in the National League West, one game behind the Colorado Rockies and 3.5 games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks. It's only June 8, not yet time to panic. But like Saturday is "moving day" for players in the PGA tour - the day to either make a move to the top or drop out of contention - June could prove to be "moving month" for the Giants. They can either take over 1st place in the division or fall farther behind. After going 14-13 in May, they're 2-4 so far this month, are currently playing the Diamondbacks, and have 20 games left before July rolls around. Oh yeah, and they play 18 of their 27 games on the road.

In order to really make a move, the Giants will need to start getting back to basics. They won their two World Championships in three years on teams built on pitching and defense. It's not secret that the starting pitching has struggled so far this season, amassing an ERA of 4.77 and a record of 19-21. However, they've seemed to gather some positive momentum lately, recording quality starts in three of their last four games. Last Sunday, Chad Gaudin went six innings, giving up two runs and giving the Giants their first win of the month. Tim Lincecum followed that performance with his own gem, tossing seven innings of one-run ball against the Blue Jays. And last night, despite the loss, Matt Cain threw seven-plus innings, allowing one run.

(And currently, Madison Bumgarner is through four shut-out innings in Arizona. So, there's that.)

Assuming the starting pitching is returning to it's old ways, the next big area of concern is the defense. The Giants have committed 40 errors so far this season. They finished 2012 fourth in baseball with 115 errors. However, if their starting pitchers are allowing more base-runners through the hit or the walk, the defense has got to buckle down and play tighter behind them. While in the field, this team needs to get to doing the little things to eliminate base-runners.

(As I was writing that, Gregor Blanco made a great throw to Joaquin Arias, who made a great tag to get Cody Ross out at third base. They also haven't made an error in their last seven games. So, there's that, too.)

And lastly, if the Giants hope to survive this tough month, their offense has got to come alive. So far this month, they've scored just eight runs in six games. They've been outscored 25-8 during that stretch and have a team batting average of just .216. They've hit just one homerun (a 2-run shot by Andres Torres to give them the win over Toronto on Tuesday) and have worked only six walks while striking out 38 times. Not pretty. They need their big guys - Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Belt - to start finding their swings. Now that Belt is getting consistent playing time, his .242 average should be significantly higher. He looks brilliant at times, and is tied for second on the team with 19 walks, but he needs to be much more consistent. Belt does have two RBIs this month, while Pence has one, but neither Posey nor Sandoval have any. Sandoval has been battling a foot injury and isn't running well, but now is the time for these bats to get going and start driving in runs. Without them, this offense will continue to struggle.

(And now, tonight, the Giants have scored ten runs so far in this game. Posey is 2-for-3 with a homerun and three RBIs, Pence is 1-for-3 with his team-leading 10th HR, Sandoval went 1-for-2 before leaving the game with a foot injury, and Belt has gone 3-for-5. He's raised his average almost ten points to .251. Also, Brandon Crawford is 4-for-5. Unbelievable.)

Bumgarner eventually ended up going five innings and giving up three runs (although, Torres should've made a catch to prevent at least one of those...). Not a quality start, but a solid start none-the-less, and it was enough to give him the win.

Tonight was a game that showed what the Giants are capable of if they do the things that they should be doing. The starting pitching was solid, the defense was (near) perfect, and the offense poured on the runs using their 3-4-5-6 hitters. If they can play this type of baseball, especially for the next month, first place should be easily attained.