The Giants are winning again as I'm watching, to my everlasting delight. But I can't but think -- two runs through eight innings isn't exactly lighting it up. Heck, nevermind lighting it up, because that's hardly even plugging it in the electrical socket.
In their first 10 games, the Giants have been limited to three runs or less half the time, with two of those times being held to a single run and once being shut out. Tonight, assuming they don't score again, will make it six of 11 games scoring three or less.
Is it time to worry yet?
Looking at this objectively, they've faced a few capable pitchers in and amongst these games. These have been the starters in those games: Jake Peavy, Shawn Estes, Roy Oswalt, Brad Penny, Odalis Perez, and tonight it was Jae Seo.
Three very good pitchers, one decent pitcher, and two mediocre pitchers. All in all, it's understandable to struggle from time to time, but you'd hope to be able to get to a very good pitcher sometimes if you want to be a very good team.
Well, they've beat up on Tim Hudson, and was able to touch up John Smoltz early in his start against them, so I'm thinking that qualifies to some degree.
What I'm saying is (again), is that it's still a bit early to panic. I want the offense to break out as much as anyone, but with Barry Bonds still missing a few games, Moises Alou being in and out of the lineup, and with what looks to be some early-season slumps from a couple of players we all know can hit better, I think we should exercise a bit more patience with the offense.
The next two series will be played in Arizone and Colorado, so not only will they get to play in two ballparks which usually help offense, but they'll be hitting against two pitching staffs which cannot be considered elite by any means. There will be the opportunity to show what the offense is capable of over the next seven games, and they'll do it in first place with a 7-4 record after shutting down the Dodgers 2-0 tonight.
It's nice to have a host of team deficiences to address, yet win at a 63.6% clip while you do so.
Oh, and welcome back Brad Hennessey. Not really dominant, but he kept the Dodgers off balance long enough for his team to score behind him, and the bullpen finished up nicely (Scott Munter's pitching style has just been weird so far this year, but I'll take it).
2 comments:
Omar Vizquel's double-play on Furcal and Ross was the single greatest defensive play in the history of baseball.
If you assume that our hitters will regress to the mean over the course of the season, then the offense must improve. It might not get to league average, but it can't stay this punchless all season.
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