Giants Take Two Of Three From Phillies In The Most Frustrating Series Win Ever

Coming into this current homestand, the Giants were in a horrible rut. They had just been swept by the Padres and overall, had lost 5 out of 6 games. Their schedule didn't get any easier with the Cardinals, Phillies, and Rockies looming. Thus, if anyone had said that the Giants would take two of three from both the Cards and Phils, any Giants fan would have taken that in a heartbeat. However, the finales in both of these series have left such bitter tastes in our mouths that it's hard to step back and realize that the Giants have been playing good baseball as of late.

KNBR today was rightfully dominated by the "Did Bochy make the right call?" debate. I think Bruce Bochy is a very good manager, and I'm not like many of the Giants fans that call for his head after a backfiring move. Even Bobby Cox and Tony LaRussa makes mistakes; it's part of the game. Bochy uses his pitching staff very well and the job he did last year, squeezing 88 wins out of a team with that crappy of an offense was unbelievable. I understand why he removed Tim Lincecum after he walked Shane Victorino in the 9th inning. They were watching Lincecum's pitch count and location, and Brian Wilson hadn't allowed a run all season. On those levels, the move to take out Lincecum made sense, and I appreciate that Bochy trusts his closer. But I would have kept Lincecum in the game and let him pitch at least to one more hitter. Brian Wilson is the closer in title, but on this team, Lincecum is the REAL closer. Lincecum threw 4 complete games last year in an era where complete games are becoming obsolete. He was dominating the Phillies all game, striking out 11 batters. Shane Victorino even said in today's Philadelphia Inquirer that his team was thrilled to see Lincecum leave, and that his departure gave them a sense of hope. Lincecum is the best pitcher in baseball, the back-to-back NL Cy Young Award Winner, and the face of the Giants. Even though he got into a little bit of trouble in the 9th inning, he deserved a chance to finish the game. How much more clout does he have to build up? The great Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle summarized this sentiment beautifully today.

I'm not knocking Brian Wilson at all. He has been a very good closer for the Giants, and 95% of the time, he would have wrapped the game up. He just got burned on a fly ball that landed 1-inch fair in the 1 spot in the whole stadium other than the stands that would have cleared the bases. You have to tip your cap to Jayson Werth of the Phillies, who battled and put together an unbelievable at-bat. That at-bat showed why Werth has been such a key member of the Phillies' recent success.

It was nice to see the offense show up this series. The at-bat of the year so far for the Giants was Mark DeRosa's 2-out RBI single off of Roy Halladay in Monday's game. DeRosa aptly said after the game that you could hear the whole stadium breathe a sigh of relief. He fouled off and took some tough pitches from Halladay and worked the count to 3-2, got his pitch, and slammed a single to left field. I hope Bruce Bochy and Hensley Muelens showed that at-bat to everyone on the team because it is those types of approaches that this lineup that is short on homerun power needs to have. Edgar Renteria is swinging the bat well again, Torres has been great in the leadoff spot, and Nate Schierholtz has been lighting it up, going 5-5 yesterday. Give the Giants credit for continuing the battle even after things went sour on them. They could have easily rolled over once the Phils took the lead in the 10th inning yesterday.

I've never been a fan of Eugenio Velez, and I think it's finally time for him to be off the team. Send him back to Fresno now. He really blew the game with his lazy approach to that fly ball he dropped in the 11th inning. Hello Eugenio, use two hands to catch the ball! He's almost 28 years old and should be in the prime of his career, yet he has the fundamentals of a 5 year old playing Tee-Ball. He can't lay down a bunt even though that should be part of his game as a speedy player, he's awful defensively, and it just looks like he's not learning. I know he has flashes of great power and speed, but I'll always take a player who has sound fundamentals over a player who has more raw talent but never demonstrates any knowledge of how to play the game. As Mike Krukow said last week, "With Velez, it's always two steps forward and one step back." Well, we don't have any more patience for those backwards steps.

The Giants now welcome the Colorado Rockies in an important divisional series. Another strong outing by Barry Zito would help alleviate the bitterness from yesterday's loss.

Giants Take Two Of Three From Cardinals Despite Anemic Offense

The Giants snapped out of their 4-game funk nicely by taking 2 out of 3 from the Cardinals, a very good team, this weekend. In usual fashion, they won entirely on fantastic starting pitching and just barely enough offense. In fact, the offense was plain painful to watch all weekend.

Tim Lincecum continued his high-flying start on Friday night, upping his record to 4-0. He completely shut down the Cardinals despite not having his best arsenal of pitches. He was consistently behind in counts all night and as a result, he threw 120 pitches in 7 innings. But Friday's outing by Lincecum demonstrated another aspect of his development. He kept finding ways to hold off a very potent lineup featuring the likes of Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday, Ryan Ludwick, Colby Rasmus, and Yadier Molina by mixing up his pitches well and throwing his devastating, unhittable change-up in fastball counts. Outings like the one Lincecum had on Friday show that he's still getting better as a pitcher. For the rest of the league, that's absolutely frightening.

The biggest development of the weekend was Barry Zito's superb 8-inning performance Saturday evening. Zito allowed only 3 hits and struck out 10 in route to his 3rd win of the season. His ERA is now a sparkling 1.32 and his WHIP is 0.84. I guess we don't have to question anymore whether or not Zito is completely back; he's providing the answers to us with his brilliance so far this season. He's clearly pitching with a chip on his shoulder, and he looks like the pitcher he was in 2002 when he won 23 games and the AL Cy Young Award. In his last 15.1 innings, Zito has allowed only 1 earned run on 7 hits with 13 strikeouts against 4 walks. Opponents are hitting only .161 off Zito this season. I don't think that us Giants fans cringe anymore when Zito is on the mound. Keep it up Barry!

Matt Cain was the hard-luck loser again today. His record fell to 0-2 even though is ERA is 3.80. It must feel like 2007 or 2008 for Cain, when he received zero run support. However, he's still not pitching up to his capabilities. In his last three starts, he's had trouble at the beginning of games establishing good location with all of his pitches. As a result, he's been behind in the count a lot and his pitch count has piled up quickly, as evidenced by today's start where Cain threw 98 pitches in 5 innings. Matt Cain is not a 5-6 inning pitcher. He needs to go deeper into games and he knows that. But it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if the offense SCORED HIM SOME RUNS!!!

Going back to last Saturday's game against the Dodgers to today's game against the Cardinals (8 games), here is what the Giants starters have done: 50.1 inning pitched, 37 hits, 9 earned runs, 18 walks, 49 strikeouts. That adds up to a 0.54 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP. The Giants are 3-5 in those games. Pathetic.

And now to the offense...

Mark DeRosa put it perfectly when asked after today's game about the Giants' offensive struggles: "We're very thankful we have the pitching staff we do." DeRosa, a fellow Ivy-leaguer, is absolutely right. Just imagine if the Giants' pitching approached league-average; their record would be 5-13 instead of 10-8. The Giants at the beginning of the season showed some signs of taking a more patient approach at the plate, but that trend has disappeared. The Giants now average an awful 3.62 pitches per plate appearance, last in the majors. They haven't been able to string any series of hits together and they've been awful in situational at-bats as of late, particularly in the at-bat with a runner at 3rd base with less than 2 outs. Over the last eight games, the Giants are a laughable 5-54 with runners in scoring position, with four of those hits being infield hits. 5-54! Little League teams do better than that! The only two guys hitting the ball with any authority are Nate Schierholtz and Pablo Sandoval, and it's about time that Bruce Bochy put Schierholtz in the leadoff spot so that Sandoval can have an at-bat here or there with a runner on base.

It's time for the Giants to bring up Buster Posey from AAA Fresno, where he's hitting .359 with a .438 OBP. Play him behind the plate or play him at 1B...it doesn't really matter. Just get his bat into the lineup. This anemic Giants offense needs him. If this team averages 4 runs a game, the Giants will win well over 90 games. Guaranteed. Forget about Posey's service time and arbitration clock. He'll help the team win now, and great organizations put winning ahead of when a player becomes arbitration-eligible. The Giants have a World-Series caliber pitching staff, and it's way beyond time to help them out a bit.

Things don't get easier for the Giants as they welcome in the Phillies for 3 games. Roy Halladay, whom many argue is the best pitcher in baseball, will take the ball for the Phils tomorrow. It makes me sick to think how the Giants will fare against the dominant Halladay. The Giants' hitters should watch the Phillies closely at how they take their at-bats. They should watch how Chase Utley and Ryan Howard work counts to their favor. Maybe by watching great players around the league, they'll learn how to help their own team win games.

A Sweep By The Padres And A Dismal 1-5 Road Trip

Last season, the Giants won 88 games, narrowly missing out on winning the NL West and the NL Wild Card. You can make a strong argument that an 0-6 stretch in April of 2009 on the road against the Dodgers and Padres kept the Giants out of the postseason. The same 6-game swing this season was almost identical to last year, as the Giants, after being swept by the Padres, finished a 1-5 road trip through LA and San Diego. Their schedule doesn't get any easier, as they'll come home and play their next six games against the Cardinals and the Phillies.

The Giants' current 4-game slide is eerily similar to the same stretch of games from a year ago. In 3 of the 4 losses, the Giants wasted superb outings by their starting pitching. Jonathan Sanchez yesterday allowed only 1 run on 1 hit while striking out 10...and still lost! By the way, the last time the Giants lost a game when they allowed only 1 hit was 90 years ago. During this losing streak, the Giants have scored a grand total of 5 runs. 5 RUNS IN 4 GAMES! That's beyond pathetic. While their offense has been absent for the most part, in the very few run-scoring opportunities they've had, they're situational hitting has been abysmal. I know that the Giants have been missing two of their regulars in Aaron Rowand and Mark DeRosa, but everyone on the roster should be capable of laying down a sacrifice bunt, and everyone on the roster should be able to hit a fly ball to the outfield to bring a runner home from 3rd base with less than two outs. These are supposed to be major leaguers right?!!

The saying that numbers in spring training don't translate to the regular season is ringing true for Tim Lincecum and Todd Wellemeyer. Lincecum had a shaky spring, but has been unhittable so far. Wellemeyer had a very solid spring winning the 5th starter's job over Madison Bumgarner, but so far, he's been well below average. Wellemeyer had a decent opening outing, but his last two starts have been awful. As a result of being all over the place with his command, he's consistently put himself in hitter's counts and subsequently been hit hard. In his 14.1 innings pitched, he's allowed 13 earned runs on 16 hits with 11 walks. That amounts to a 1.88 WHIP and a .271 opponent's batting average. He's slated to pitch next against the Phillies and I don't want to even think about how ugly that might get. Yes it's very early in the season, but the Giants have to be considering alternatives for the 5th spot in the rotation. Both Joe Martinez and Eric Hacker have put up nice numbers so far at AAA Fresno. Plus, Wellemeyer is better suited as the long reliever rather than a member of the rotation.

It's time for the Giants to snap out of their funk and turn it up. If they don't, the Cards and Phillies are going to bring them hell.

Manny Haunts The Giants Yet Again

Manny was lurking on the dugout bench and you know that Joe Torre was waiting for the right moment to use his star slugger. In true Hollywood fashion, Manny Ramirez belted a 2-run HR off of Sergio Romo in the bottom of the 8th inning to give the Dodgers a 2-1 victory and 2 out of 3 wins in this first series between the two rivals. You can't blame Bruce Bochy one bit for bringing in Romo in relief of Barry Zito. Up until serving up the homerun to Manny, Romo hadn't given up a run all year. Romo didn't throw Manny a hanger either. It was simply the case of a great hitter beating a well-placed pitch.

After the first two wild games of this series, it was nice to watch a pitcher's duel. Barry Zito was FANTASTIC again and deserved his 3rd victory of the year. He had command of all of his pitches and he attacked the strike zone all day. Unfortunately, his walk of Garrett Anderson in the 8th inning was his lone misstep. Zito after 3 starts sports a 1.86 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. Let's hope he keeps pitching like this.

The Giants scored 17 runs in the first two games of this series, but were able to get only 1 run across today on a solo HR by Juan Uribe. Clayton Kershaw, who's only 22 years old, was dominant as he struck out 9 Giants in 7 innings. However, the Giants had chances to score more runs off of Kershaw. They stranded Nate Schierholtz and Aubrey Huff in scoring position in the 3rd and 4th inning, and left the bases loaded in the 8th inning. They weren't able to execute with good situational at-bats, which are even more important against a commanding pitcher such as Kershaw.

It's time for the Giants to put this tough loss behind them, regroup, and play tough against the San Diego Padres, a team that is much worse than them. With Cain and Sanchez lined up to start the first two games of the series, the Giants have a great chance to at least take two out of three.

***I bow down to Tim Lincecum's greatness. Not only did he completely dominate the Dodgers for 6 shutout innings yesterday, he also collected 3 hits and drove in 3 runs. He's unbelievable.

Giants Take Two Of Three From Pirates; Win Third Consecutive Series

With a handy 6-0 win today over the Pirates, the Giants won their third series in a row and continued their fast start, upping their record to 7-2. Remember, last year's 88-win team started the season 2-7. Today, Jonathan Sanchez was absolutely dominant, striking out 11 batters in 8 innings while giving up only 3 hits and 3 walks. The Giants scored all 6 runs today via the homerun, which is something that they won't do often. Aubrey Huff hit an inside-the-parker (hilarious to watch him run the bases), Aaron Rowand smacked a two-run homer, and Eli Whiteside hit a three-run bomb (sorry Eli for writing that you're useless with a bat). In his two starts this season, we've already seen the two sides of Jonathan Sanchez: he went only 4.1 innings against the Braves while being erratic with his command, yet today against the Pirates he was unhittable. We know Sanchez has all the talent in the world; the issue is whether or not he can put together some consistency. He doesn't have to strike 10+ hitters as he did today, but consistent quality starts out of Sanchez will make this team even tougher to beat.

Poor Aubrey Huff. He crushed the ball this entire series and if he were playing in any other ballpark, he'd have at least 2 or 3 homeruns by now. Alas, he had to settle for an inside-the-park homerun. Welcome Aubrey to AT&T Park, which is death to all left-handed hitters not named Barry Bonds. He's not going to approach the 32 HR he hit in Baltimore in 2008, but as long as he keeps driving the ball to the gaps as he did this series, he's going to drive in a ton of runs.

News-flash: Barry Zito is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA. He wasn't nearly as sharp on Monday as he was in his opening start against Houston, but he still held it together despite not having good command of his pitches. In his first three years as a Giant, he would have imploded. It's clear that the fan base is turning around and beginning to appreciate Zito. No one expects (they'd be foolish to do so) him to pitch up to his $126 million contract, but a winning record that drives this team to the playoffs would absolve him of most of the ire directed his way.

The Giants have continued their stellar pitching from last year. The offensive numbers across the board are also very encouraging. So far, they're hitting .295 as a team and have a robust .367 on-base percentage. They've also drawn 30 walks in the 9 games they've played (not great, but better than last year). Bengie Molina has drawn 2 walks in 6 games thus far; he drew 13 in 132 games last season. Maybe hitting coach Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens is having some type of impact on the hitters. They've been much better at taking good at-bats and making opposing pitchers work.

Giants Take Two Of Three From Braves

The Giants continued their fast start to the 2010 season by winning the rubber match of their series at home against the Braves. Tim Lincecum, aside from a 2-run homerun to Brian McCann in the 1st inning, was dominant, striking out 10 batters in 7 innings. So much for his shaky spring training. Lincecum is now 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA with 17 strikeouts against 1 walk. He was able to locate his fastball on both sides of the plate and his change-up was nasty as ever.

Braves starting pitcher Kenshin Kawakami was making quick work of the Giants for the most part until Pablo Sandoval tripled in the 4th and came home on an Aubrey Huff single. He had thrown only 51 pitches at the start of the 6th inning when the Giants eventually took the lead on a Mark DeRosa single and throwing error by Jason Heyward. The Giants, just like on Friday, drew only one walk in today's game. Aubrey Huff walked in front of Mark DeRosa and on DeRosa's single and Heyward's fielding error, he scored the go-ahead run. The Giants are not going to be a team like the Phillies that has patient hitters 1-8. But especially as a team that's not going to hit many homeruns, they must realize that walks lead to rallies.

Good to see Pablo Sandoval have a monster day at the plate which included a Bondsian homerun through the howling wind in the 8th inning. I guess it was only a matter of time before he found his swing, but he was not looking good at the plate in the previous 5 games.

The Giants will take on the Pirates, who are coming off a rough series against the DBacks, next at home beginning tomorrow night. The Giants MUST take at least 2 of 3 from the Pirates, one of the worst teams in baseball. They have to be a dominant home team again like they were last year, and as the playoff teams do, they must beat the teams that are worse than them. Plus, after this series, the Giants will have some tough games such as facing the Dodgers in gross and smoggy Los Angeles, as well as hosting the Cardinals and Phillies.

Some final tid-bits:

*Saturday's game was plain ugly. The offensive output reminded me of a game in 2009. The Giants should have jumped all over Derek Lowe, who walked 7 batters. But they were horrible with runners in scoring position. Bruce Bochy any other game would have probably taken Todd Wellemeyer out after 6 innings, but he probably wanted to try to save his bullpen a bit after Friday's marathon game. Wellemeyer was great in the first 6 innings before things unraveled in the 7th.

*The great Andy Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reported that top prospect Buster Posey is 8-16 to begin the season in AAA Fresno. Since this team needs every ounce of offense that it can get, Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean have to be considering bringing up Posey sooner rather than later. Eli Whiteside is a fine defensive catcher and he calls a very good game (he caught Jonathan Sanchez' no-hitter last year), but he's absolutely useless with the bat. Bobby Cox intentionally walked Juan Uribe to load the bases with 1 out yesterday in order to face Whiteside. And what do you know, Whiteside struck out on 3 pitches.

*Jason Heyward is the real deal. I can't believe he's only 20 years old. He hit 2 opposite-field homeruns this weekend and he hits the ball to left field with authority as well as Adrian Gonzalez. The most impressive aspect of his game so far is his plate discipline. He rarely swings at pitches outside the strike zone. He's going to be a superstar.

A Thriller Of A Home Opener: Giants 5, Braves 4

Usually the games with the most drama occur in September. But the Giants' home opener, only the 4th game of the season, had all of the excitement of a pennant-race game. Aaron Rowand narrowly beat out an infield hit in the 13th inning to bring home Juan Uribe for a 5-4 Giants victory. Tim Hudson completely dominated the Giants for 6 innings before allowing 2 runs in the 7th, but thanks to a game-tying homerun by Edgar Renteria in the 9th, and a bit of luck in the 13th, the Giants remain the only undefeated team in baseball.

No one expected the start that Edgar Renteria has had. Not only did he tie the game with a homerun off of Billy Wagner, but he also doubled down the left field line in the 7th inning to set up that 2-run rally. Clearly, he's not bothered by the nagging elbow injury that hurt his play across the board last year. He's now able to pull the ball, and drive it into the gaps, something he couldn't do at all last season. Sure, he's not going to hit .688 for the season. But any improvement and consistency from Edgar Renteria will significantly help this offense that relies on timely hitting.

Huge props tonight to the bullpen, which took over after a shaky 4.1 inning outing by Jonathan Sanchez. The combination of Brandon Medders, Guillermo Mota, Waldis Joaquin, Dan Runzler, Bran Wilson, Sergio Romo, and Jeremy Affeldt combined to allow only 1 run in 8.2 innings. Bruce Bochy this season has a bullpen that is so good that he can confidently give the ball to any of his relievers in any situation. We Giants fans are familiar with garbage bullpens (2008 season with Tyler Walker). This year's bullpen gives a huge boost of confidence to the starting rotation, and also gives us fans some peace of mind.

Some final tid-bits:

*What started the winning rally in the 13th inning? A walk by Juan Uribe, which was the only walk that the Giants drew all game. I hope the rest of the team got this message (although Tim Hudson was around the plate all day). Working counts leads to productive rallies.

*Situational hitting, with the exception of Travis Ishikawa in the 12th inning, was fantastic again. They're bunting runners over and Sandoval and Huff had good at-bats in the 7th inning to bring home 2 runs.

*Pablo Sandoval already has 2 fielding errors in 4 games, and he's not hitting much as of yet. He's the Giants' most important player outside of Tim Lincecum. Let's hope he gets it going soon.

The Giants were an NL-best 55-29 at AT&T Park last year. Continuing that dominance at home would be excellent.

Giants Open Season With Sweep Of Astros

It was the perfect way to start the season for the Giants, sweeping a series on the road in Houston. Yes, the Astros might be the worst team in the National League, but a sweep on the road is always impressive.

In these three games, the Giants displayed their winning formula for the season: stellar pitching, a more patient approach at the plate, and timely hitting. Aside from yesterday's game, in which the Giants busted out for 10 runs and 19 hits, they did not slug their way to wins in the first two games of the series. However, the most apparent new feature of the lineup is the ability and willingness to work counts and have good at-bats, and the additions of Mark DeRosa and Aubrey Huff help in this regard. The key moment in the Giants' 3-run rally in the first game of the series was a walk by Mark DeRosa on a 3-2 pitch from Roy Oswalt. By the end of the second inning in yesterday's game, the Brett Myers had already thrown over 40 pitches against the Giants. Clearly, this type of patience is spreading to the rest of the offense, as even Pablo Sandoval drew a walk on 4-straight pitches in the second game. When did he ever do that last year?! The Giants have been much better with their situational hitting. They've been moving runners along with bunts, and they've been able to bring runners home from 3rd base with less than 2 outs with sacrifice flies, something that haunted the Giants last year.

Tim Lincecum was brilliant, as usual. Matt Cain pitched very well for 6.2 innings yesterday, and he's going to have another fine season. But the biggest development was Barry Zito's 6 shutout innings Tuesday night. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Zito intimated that he lost his appetite for success during the first two years of his contract with the Giants. I guess getting paid $18 million a year can do that. But this year, so far he's looked tremendously focused, and he located all of his pitches with pinpoint accuracy on Tuesday. He issued no walks in his 6 innings. Even though the pitching staff was great last year and almost single-handedly carried the 2009 team to 88 wins, the 2010 pitching staff has a chance to be even better. Barry Zito doesn't have to be the pitcher he was in 2002, but if he can put together a winning season (say 14 or 15 wins), that gives the Giants a scary 1-2-3 at the top of the rotation. Matt Cain would be an ace or a #2 starter on any other team. Also, Jonathan Sanchez was useless last year until his no-hitter, and the Giants were without Randy Johnson for most of the season. If Sanchez can finally get his head on straight and approach his potential, and if Todd Wellemeyer can just be a serviceable #5 starter, then the Giants will have the best rotation in the National League. Period.

The series this weekend against the Braves will be a good test for the Giants. The Braves have very good pitching and a rookie phenom in Jason Heyward. Let's hope the Giants can build on their sweep on the road, and continue their dominance at home.

Fearless Predictions For The 2010 Season

Usually these predictions are dead wrong, but what the hell, it's fun to prognosticate how the season will play out.

NL EAST:

PHILLIES--Roy Halladay is going to make the NL look silly and Placido Polanco, a huge offensive upgrade over Pedro Feliz and his .308 OBP, makes a loaded lineup even better.

BRAVES--They have a chance to be really good, but they're going to miss Javier Vazquez and Derek Lowe isn't the same pitcher that he once was. Plus, they're relying heavily on aging Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus.

MARLINS--Josh Johnson is the most underrated pitcher in the NL, but the Marlins don't have enough to match the Phils or the Braves.

METS--They're aging, injury-prone, and they hate their new ballpark.

NATIONALS--There's a lot of nice talent such as Stephen Strasburg, Ryan Zimmerman, and Nyjer Morgan, but they need a couple of years to put it all together.

NL CENTRAL:

CARDINALS: Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright form one of the best 1-2 punches in the game and the lineup is loaded with Matt Holliday, Colby Rasmus, and oh that other guy, Albert Pujols.

CUBS: They're talented, but Derek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, and the rest of the cast aren't getting any younger.

REDS: They're loaded with young talent: Aroldis Chapman, Edinson Volquez, and Jonny Cueto in the pitching rotation and Gold-Glove 2B Brandon Phillips and 1B Joey Votto, who's blossoming into a superstar. But they're not ready to make the big push quite yet.

BREWERS: Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun are the best 3/4 combination in the league, but after Yovani Gallardo and Randy Wolf, the pitching is a mess.

PIRATES: The fans in Pittsburgh deserve so much better. At least they get to watch Andrew McCutchen develop into a star.

ASTROS: They're old and constantly hurt, and their farm system is completely barren.

NL WEST:

ROCKIES: They're the most complete team in the division. Their lineup has no holes, they play great defense, and they have a scary pitching rotation with Ubaldo Jimenez and Jorge De La Rosa.

GIANTS (Wild-Card): The offense is marginally improved, but that should be enough to supplement this fantastic pitching staff.

DODGERS: Andre Eithier, James Loney, and Matt Kemp are great, but Manny in the twilight of his career. Also, it's not a good thing if Vicente Padilla is your opening day starter.

DBACKS: Brandon Webb is hurt again, and Dan Haren and Justin Upton can't handle the load by themselves.

PADRES: The Adrian Gonzalez trade watch continues.

AL EAST:

YANKEES: They're even better than they were last year, adding Javier Vazquez to the rotation and Curtis Granderson in CF.

RED SOX (Wild-Card): They have the best rotation in baseball with a three-headed monster of Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey. Plus, with the likes of Adrian Beltre, Kevin Youkilis, and Mike Cameron, they'll play excellent defense.

RAYS: It's too bad they're in the AL East because they'd win any other division. They have a great team, but JP Howell is injured and they're relying heavily on a couple of young guys in David Price and Wade Davis to solidify the rotation.

ORIOLES: Brian Matusz, Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, and Matt Wieters are the future of this team, but they're not ready to challenge the top 3 teams.

BLUE JAYS: They couldn't win with Roy Halladay and now they're totally rebuilding again.

AL CENTRAL:

TWINS: Losing Joe Nathan hurts, but they have the league's best player in Joe Mauer, a loaded lineup, and great defense.

WHITE SOX: They might be very good, especially in the pitching rotation with Mark Buehrle and Jake Peavy, but they're really counting on Alex Rios to get it together and Carlos Quentin to bounce back from injury.

TIGERS: Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander are great, but they're going to be inconsistent with the amount of youth that they have.

INDIANS: They're back in rebuild mode, but they have some nice pieces in Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo.

ROYALS: They'll win more games than they did last year, but still, they're the Royals.

AL WEST:

ANGELS: Yes the Mariners are the trendy pick, but I never bet against the Angels. Sure they lost many key players, but Kendry Morales arrived last year, and they expect Brandon Wood and Howie Kendrick to finally fulfill their potential.

MARINERS: Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee will be a scary 1-2 punch, but the rest of the rotation and bullpen is weak, and they're relying on Milton Bradley for a full season as their #4 hitter. Good luck.

RANGERS: They have enough talent to win the division, but Josh Hamilton and Rich Harden can never stay healthy.

ATHLETICS: If Ben Sheets can stay healthy and pitch like he did in Milwaukee, and that's a HUGE if, then they'll pitch well. But the offense won't cut it.

WORLD SERIES: PHILLIES over RED SOX

The Phillies made it to the Fall Classic last year with monumental issues with their bullpen. There's no way it can be as bad in 2010. Roy Halladay put up dominant numbers facing the Yankees and Red Sox all the time. How good will his numbers be when he gets to face the Mets and Nationals?! Cole Hamels had a fantastic spring and looks ready to bounce back from a disappointing 2009. Also, if you didn't notice, they're lineup is ridiculously potent.

The Red Sox will win the AL based on their stellar pitching and defense. But the Phillies' offense will carry them to their 2nd championship in 3 years.

AL MVP: Evan Longoria, Rays

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, Cardinals

AL CY YOUNG: Felix Hernandez, Mariners

NL CY YOUNG: Roy Halladay, Phillies

AL ROY: Brian Matusz, Orioles

NL ROY: Jason Heyward, Braves