The Giants CAN Win Without Melky

By Kalen Patrick

Over the last few days there has been a lot of pessimism and "the season is over!" talk among Giants fans. Heck I was probably one of them when I first heard the news about the Melky Suspension. Now that it has sunk in and we are moving on from it, I still look at this Giants team and I still see a team that can Win and make the playoffs. Before I get in to the lineup, lets talk about the pitching.

The pitching is absolutely playoff caliber, even with the struggles of Tim Lincecum and the usual struggles for Barry Zito.Cain, Bumgarner and Vogelsong have been so good that it limits the damage the other 2 starters are doing. I know I have been saying this all season but if Timmy can pitch the rest of the season at a 3.5-4 ERA for the rest of his starts I will take that. Zito is Zito and if we get a Win when he takes the mound that is a huge positive. Lets not forget the bullpen cause those guys have been doing their jobs for the most part. Led by Romo, Affeldt, Casilla, Mijares and Lopez, it is very solid. Again definitely playoff caliber. Now lets get done to brass tax and talk about the lineup without the MelkMan.

The main guys replacing Melky are gonna be Gregor Blanco and Justin Christian. I have more faith in Blanco considering his amazing defense, and he isn't terrible at the plate either. Christian is still a big question mark in the majors. One of the most underrated trades of the season so far has been the trade the Giants pulled off to get Marco Scutaro. In the 20 games he has played with the Giants his line reads .330 BA .360 OBP 2 HR's and 18 RBI. Now that is production right there. Another great trade that gets forgotten is the one for Angel Pagan too, he has been very solid leading off for the Giants with a .283 BA .333 OBP and considering he usually leads off he solid production with 46 RBI and comes with some power hitting 7 HR's. The way I see the Giants lineup going forward you will have Pagan leading off with Scutaro batting 2nd.

POSEY, BELT AND SANDOVAL - ALL 3 WILL BE KEY FOR THE GIANTS

Then you have the big boys of the lineup. I imagine Bochy will go regularly with Sandoval hitting 3rd, then Posey and then Pence. Both Panda and Posey just gotta keep doing what they are doing and that will be fine with me, I absolutely expect Hunter Pence to get hot soon. He had the big HR to essentially win the game against the Rockies a week ago, but realistically he needs to be better, he needs to be much better with regards to his Power and Average. Hitting only 1 HR in 16 games, batting .211 and his OBP at .250 is unacceptable. I think he can and will improve upon this by leaps and bounds, and the Giants need it in the worst way.

Brandon Belt is a guy who has come on lately, he has an impressive OBP of .361 which isn't bad considering his mid-season struggles. Belt should get better as the season rolls on, Arias, Crawford are OK options at the end of the order. Ultimately the point I'm trying to make is that knowing the Giants pitching being as good as it is and with the lineup having some nice options the Giants CAN win without Melky.

Over and Out.

The Melk has Gone Sour

By Kalen Patrick

Wednesday, August 15th, I wake up and start thinking of the afternoon game for my Giants vs the powerhouse Washington Nationals (that's still weird to say). I was feeling confident after yesterday's win, we finally had THE lineup we have been waiting for. Then, in a flash, a tweet by Ken Rosenthal changed everything " Just announced by MLB: SFGiants' Melky Cabrera suspended 50 games without pay after testing positive for testosterone." 

As a die-hard fan, I went through the usual list of emotions, First: Denial "Hey maybe the report is wrong! It has to be wrong!" Second: Sadness "We are screwed!! No playoffs!!" Third: Anger "F**k Melky! He is a cheating piece of S**t!" Finally: Accepting Reality, we no longer have Melky for the rest of the regular season, we can start looking at names as to who can replace him. I like Gregor Blanco but he shouldn't be an every day player. Other names float around, and an interesting one is Alfonso Soriano from the Cubs, but the Giants wouldn't go near him unless the Cubs eat a significant portion of his contract. 

WHO KNOWS WHAT THE FUTURE NOW HOLDS FOR MELKY CABRERA

Ultimately the whole situation just sucks. Plain and simple. After yesterday's game confidence was sky high, we beat the Nationals, we have our lineup and things were looking great. Now we have no Melky, Timmy got beat up by the Nationals today, and confidence is near an all time low. 

Going forward this season either one of two things will happen, the Giants will let this drag them down and they will get to the finish line gingerly, maybe ending up 3rd in the NL West with a record slightly over .500. Or else the team can rally around this, play the whole "Nobody Believes in Us" card and make a great run to the playoffs and beyond. Obviously I am hoping for the latter but right now the former is firmly stuck on my mind. I just hope Bruce Bochy and the Giants can think as positive as possible about the whole situation.

Until Next Time....

San Francisco Giants Update

By Kalen Patrick

The Giants are back at it, and for the most part it is all good news, however, there were some early scares surrounding the team. Early on both Tim Lincecum and Ryan Vogelsong reported back pain, that seems to have been more about knocking the rust off as opposed to anything serious. Brian Wilson right now is still a concern and the status on his elbow still seems up in the air. It does appear that he will be more than ready to go when the season starts.

Looking at the hitting side of things, the big concerns were how Buster Posey was gonna look and what kind of shape Pablo Sandoval was would come in at. Again, both appear to be in tip top shape and ready to go. I do agree with Bruce Bochy's approach about Buster Posey avoiding plate collisions if at all possible, probably not worth the risk especially when you consider the serious lack of depth behind Posey at Catcher.

GIANTS WILL BE RELYING HEAVILY ON PABLO AND POSEY FOR OFFENSE

In other notes it appears that Bochy has a good idea of his outfield. Bochy wants Melky Cabrera to play LF, Angel Pagan in Center and for now Nate Schierholtz in RF. This now leaves Question Marks about Brandon Belt and Aubrey Huff, and who will play 1st base. If I know Bochy he will go with the guy who is hot at the time. As the season rolls on and if Huff isn't doing well, I would expect Belt to get a lot of the AB's and Huff to be more of a pinch hitter.

WHATS NEXT: A more in depth preview of the season will be coming shortly and a full report on what to expect from the San Francisco 49ers this offseason. Also keep an eye out for posts on all the other goings on in the world of Sports.