Location: San Francisco, Calif. | Ballpark: AT&T Park (41,915) | Spring Training: Scottsdale, Ariz.
Owners: William Neukom, Sue Burns | GM: Brian Sabean | Manager: Bruce Bochy | World Championships: 5
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POWER RANKINGS
Power Rankings
Date
Ranking
Previous
07/07/2009
7
7
Let's start a movement to vote Pablo Sandoval into the All-Star Game -- not merely because he deserves to be there (he does), but also because there's a chance he'll whack a ball into the gap that caroms off the wall just so, allowing us to witness the aerobic calamity that is a burly fellow legging out a triple ... The .313 team OBP is troubling, but help could be on the way: recent rumors link the Giants to Adam Dunn, Adam LaRoche and Freddy Sanchez ... How sadly ironic would it be if an injury incurred while hitting is the one that ends Randy Johnson's career? He deserves a better send-off.
06/30/2009
7
7
The Giants are roughly 7,200 times more watchable than anybody might've expected at the start of the season ... It'd be nice if they could get somebody on base in front of Pablo Sandoval, but at least he no longer glances up to see the human traffic cone that is Bengie Molina ahead of him in the queue ... I'm not yet ready to pronounce Nate Schierholtz an asset, but he's proving more adept with the bat than anybody expected ... And how about sorta-young Ryan Sadowski befuddling the Brewers in his first big-league start, and the considerably more talented Sergio Romo out of the 'pen? There are lots of little things to like here.
06/23/2009
7
10
I don't believe they're the seventh-best team in baseball, either, not with an offense that figures to go cold the second that teams start pitching around Pablo Sandoval. But who else ya got? Teams three through 14 are basically interchangeable, world-beaters one week and prone to Pirate ambush the next ... His contract remains baseball's worst (though Alex Rodriguez's deal might soon claim that honor), but Barry Zito has settled in nicely as a fourth starter ... I'm curious to see where they'll stand at the end of this 11-day road trip, which started flatly in Oakland last night.
06/16/2009
10
16
I've run out of reasons not to elevate the Giants. They can't hit? Well, the teams below them either can't pitch, field, run, communicate, get along or clean themselves. It's all relative ... Their recent success looks more sustainable than that of the Rockies owing to Lincecum/Cain/Unit ... Speaking of Matt Cain, he's looking positively Schillingy out there nowadays. Power pitchers with control set my heart aflutter.
06/09/2009
16
18
The team's recent appeal, in a curt four words: "They done pitched good." ... Aaron Rowand sure seems to be taking well to batting leadoff. He doesn't fit the profile of a leadoff hitter, of course, but most Giants don't fit the profile of a major-league hitter, so it's all good. ... In the wake of Randy Johnson's 300th victory last Thursday, everybody's been telling their favorite Big Unit stories. So here's mine, which never happened but certainly could have: Upon encountering him outside the home locker room at Yankee Stadium a few seasons ago, I told him about my grandfather, who was felled with back problems similar to the ones he experienced, and asked if he could pass along any advice. After glaring at me for what felt like a week, the Unit said, very calmly, "I hate your grandfather and hope he slips on a banana peel and your grandmother is a hussy." Then he removed a wad of gum from his mouth and stuffed it in my left nostril. The end.
06/02/2009
18
24
Their ascent in this week's rankings is less a reflection on their performance than it is on the putridity of the teams below them. ... Between his joyless demeanor and his snarly encounters with fans and cameras, Randy Johnson has been about as easy to root for as Procter & Gamble. But let's give him a little love as he claims his 300th win on Wednesday against the Nationals (yes, this is a foregone conclusion), because he's likely the last pitcher who will hit that particular milestone.
05/26/2009
24
19
"But our record isn't that bad!" says the Giants fan, clad in his black-and-orange Sunday finery. Well, you can't score. Defensively, you're sub-par. Your fastest player gets down to first base in six seconds; your slowest one requires a hydraulic lift to help him scale the dugout steps. And we saw last week how, even with your shiny starting pitching, you're not equipped to compete in close, low-scoring games due to the toxic-waste dump that is your bullpen. What's left? Beats me. So save your cards and epistles for Brian Sabean, will you?
05/19/2009
19
19
See what happens when they play teams that ply their craft in cities other than Denver, San Diego, Phoenix and D.C.? ... We might get a sneak peek at masher Jesus Guzman this weekend against the Mariners. Unfortunately, Guzman's defense is -- I'm not sure "raw" begins to describe it, so that there's only so much the team can do with him in NL parks. Even at first base, where MLB teams have long attempted to stash defensive nomads, Guzman makes Jason Giambi look spry and athletic.
05/12/2009
19
19
I can only give them so much credit for emerging from a lengthy stretch of games against their mostly splay-limbed division foes with a 13-12 record ... Randy Johnson has seized a 1-0 lead in his high-stakes battle with Bengie Molina to see who works the most walks. This one could go down to the wire.
05/05/2009
19
20
The pitching is so good that they can score five runs over the course of a three-game series and still take two out of three. The offense is so bad as to doom the Giants to defeat anytime an opponent puts up more than three runs ... My favorite 114 seconds of baseball last week occurred between the moment Bengie Molina struck a ball deep into the gap and the one when he arrived at third base with a triple. Fans knew they'd witnessed something as rare and elusive as a perfect game, or perhaps they were tipped off by the emergency medical personnel who swarmed the field with oxygen canisters as soon as Molina touched the bag, in the throes of full cardiac arrest.
Preseason Power Rankings
Date
Ranking
Previous
02/16/2009
19
-
Love the starting pitching, especially the low-cost flier on Randy Johnson. Hate the hitting, fiercely. Whoever assembled that group of no-hit-no-field position players should be drawn and quartered, or at least sternly scolded. ... Edgar Renteria is probably giggling with glee that he got a (wildly undeserved) two-year, big-money deal and nemesis Orlando Cabrera didn't. ... Manny would be a great fit here, just as he would be anywhere professional baseball is played. ... Relax, Bay City natives. That's not an earthquake, it's just 5-foot-11, 250-pound third baseman Pablo Sandoval rumbling around the basepaths, leaving a network of divots and sinkholes in his wake.
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