San Francisco's Best Kept Secret

By Kalen Patrick

Ryan Vogelsong has been setting the Baseball World on fire since re-joining the San Francisco Giants in 2011. Vogelsong once a high draft choice of the San Francisco Giants had a forgettable MLB career. He was in the Majors between 2000-2006 spending most of his time in Pittsburgh. He then played overseas for 5 years before his triumphant return to MLB with the San Francisco Giants.

In his 1 and 1/2 seasons with the Giants he has an ERA a shade over 2.5, a WHIP under 1.2 and an impressive 21 W's to 11 L's. The Giants prior to Vogelsong's arrival had a very good rotation, heck we won the World Series the year before and that was mostly due to the Starting Pitching. However, that does not take away the importance of Vogelsong's arrival to this team.

SF GIANTS SP - RYAN VOGELSONG

He has no doubt been the most consistent and reliable pitcher on the 2012 SF Giants. Lets look at the numbers: He has not gone less than 6 innings this year, the most Earned Runs he has given up in a game has been 4 and that was way back on April 26th against the Reds in Cincinnati. Vogelsong is Mr. Consistent, you know you will get between 6-8 innings and he will only likely give up a 1 or 2 and put the team in a position to win every single time.

I think the most fascinating part of the Vogelsong story, is the fact that while he has been the best pitcher for the Giants this year and maybe for the last year and a half, he is not even well known outside of San Francisco. He lives in the Shadows of Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner. Maybe that is a good thing though, he doesn't have the pressure of those guys, he does his job, and does it very well. Sure he doesn't have the flashy numbers but you know what you're gonna get and that is something I know Bruce Bochy and all the Giants players and fans love.

The Mystery that is Barry Zito

By Kalen Patrick

Barry Zito may be the most overpaid player in Baseball, no, Professional Sports, he may always be remembered for this and on numerous MLB Network and ESPN shows for Baseball/Sports worst contracts, he may be a lot of these negative things, but one thing he definitely is, is pitching excellently. Coming off the 60-Day DL Zito was expected to just fill innings while Jonathan Sanchez gets healthy and back in the groove of things, but now, Zito is making a serious legit case to keep him in the starting 5 rotation.

In his last 3 starts Zito has put up the very impressive stat line of: 21 IP, 3 ER's, 11 K's to only 4 BB.

Looking at that in his 3 starts he has averaged going 7 Innings and giving up 1 Earned Run in each appearance. Of course we have seen this before from Zito, even in a Giants uniform, but there seems to be something very different this time around. Before he was trying to thro w 5 different pitches and just trying to do too much to justify his contract. Zito now has stuck to his 3 pitches which he has got down, his Fastball, Changeup and of course that lethal Curve Ball. Zito's curve may be one of the best in the Majors when he's got command of it.

BARRY ZITO SEEMS MORE CONFIDENT AND DETERMINED THAN EVER BEFORE

Not only this but the biggest change I have seen is that he just seems focused and confident. He isn't doing too much and can focus on what he does right and now has the confidence on the mound. Of course there will be games that Zito will get beat up on, but if he can give the Giants a bunch more games like he has done so far since coming off the DL, that would be huge.

The Giants are stuck with Zito, so if Zito can contribute that makes either Jonathan Sanchez or Ryan Vogelsong expendable, especially with a guy like Zach Wheeler in the minors who will be up in another year or two. Sanchez could be the trade bait in order for the Giants to get themselves another bat. A good Zito gives the Giants so much pitching and flexibility. And that is always a good thing.