A Sweep Of The Marlins

One of the Giants' obstacles to making the playoffs last season was their play on the road. They posted an unimpressive 36-45 record on the road last year. The offense struggled mightily and in many instances, they wasted solid starting pitching. The team's play on the road had to improve dramatically for the 2010 Giants to have a shot at the playoffs and by sweeping the Marlins in Miami, the Giants showed that they have what it takes to make a serious postseason run.

The Giants in these three games demonstrated their winning formula for the season. They pitched great in all three games, aside from a bullpen meltdown in the 1st game. They manufactured runs as a team without much homerun power should (the first run of the first game of the series). Their hitting was timely, and they came through with runners in scoring position (Juan Uribe and Aubrey Huff in Game 1, Mark DeRosa in Game 3). They also played excellent defense and didn't give the potent Marlins lineup with the likes of Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Cantu, and Dan Uggla any gifts to capitalize on. When the Giants excel in all of these phases, they're pretty much unbeatable.

MVP of the series: Aaron Rowand. Rowand in these three games went 6-14 with 2 HR and 7 RBIs and he played phenomenal defense. He looked every bit as the $60 million player that the Giants envisioned he'd be when they signed up in 2008. His homerun off of Leo Nunez in the 9th inning of Monday's game saved the Giants from what would have been another hard-to-swallow loss in a Tim Lincecum outing. I guess we didn't realize how much the team missed Rowand's presence until this series.

The Giants face a tough assignment this weekend against a surprising Mets team in New York. They'll face the Mets' best pitchers Friday and Saturday: Mike Pelfrey, who's turned his career around with a 4-1 record and a 2.40 ERA, and the great Johan Santana, who'll definitely be looking to bounce back from his horrendous outing last Sunday in Philadelphia. But the Giants are on a roll and they need to sustain the brand of baseball they're playing now.