The biggest difference between the Giants now and the Giants two weeks ago: consistent offensive production. In their last 10 games, the Giants are averaging 5 runs per game. That's not great, but it's a ton better than the 2.7 runs/game that they were scoring around the time of their previous against the A's. Also, if the Giants average 5 runs per game, they're going to win plenty of games as their team ERA is only 3.33.
Why the increase in offense? You have to point to the arrival of two new guys: Buster Posey and Pat Burrell. Buster Posey has done everything right since being called up from AAA Fresno. He's hitting .368 and playing excellent defense at first base, to the point that Bruce Bochy is no longer bringing in Travis Ishikawa as a late-inning defensive replacement. Burrell, obviously more comfortable in the National League, is hitting .381 and four of his eight hits as a Giant have been for extra bases. Maybe Burrell, after many productive years in Philadelphia, fell victim to baseball's toughest division, the AL East. Plenty of players fall into that category: Carl Pavano, Julio Lugo, Danys Baez. Aside from tearing the cover off the ball, both Burrell and Posey have brought a disciplined approach at the plate to balance the free-swinging tendencies of Pablo Sandoval, Juan Uribe, and Bengie Molina.
The starting pitching was once again fantastic all weekend. Tim Lincecum looks like he's rebounded from the previous erratic three weeks, as he went 8 innings allowing only 2 runs and striking out 7. Barry Zito followed with a terrific outing (his curveball was unhittable) beating his former team for the first time in his career. Zito has now beaten all 30 MLB teams. Today, Matt Cain continued his dominance, allowing only 1 run in 7 innings. Cain's ERA is now 2.11, his WHIP is 1.02, and he has a 65/28 strikeout to walk ratio in 92.1 innings.
The bullpen, however, as been another story as of late. The Giants were very fortunate the last two games to hold onto their leads. Aside from Brian Wilson, Santiago Casilla, and maybe Sergio Romo, I doubt that Bruce Bochy feels comfortable handing the ball to anyone else in that bullpen. Good bullpens (such as the ones Kevin Towers assembled in San Diego) are built with pitchers who pound the strike zone and right now, Guillermo Mota, Jeremy Affeldt, and Dan Runzler are not doing that.
The great Andy Baggarly in a tweet during the game praised the low-cost signings (1 year, $3 million) of Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe, the two steadiest hitters for the Giants all season. Huff after going deep twice today, has 10 HR and 33 RBIs to go with his .303 batting average, .395 oBP, and .926 OPS, which is 9th-best in the National League. Huff's defensive versatility has also been invaluable to the Giants. Uribe, after homering today, has 10 HR along with a .290 batting average and a .356 OBP. His 41 RBIs are best among all major league shortstops, and his .844 OPS ranks 3rd among all MLB shortstops.
Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe have also put up significantly better numbers than Matt Holliday (7 years, $120 million) and Jason Bay (5 years, $80 million), the big free agent signings from the previous offseason. Holliday is hitting .289, but has only 6 HR, 25 RBIs, and a .444 slugging percentage. Even worse for Holliday and the Cardinals is that he's posting that type of pedestrian production in the most enviable position: hitting behind Albert Pujols. Jason Bay has been worse, hitting .284 with 4 HR with 25 RBIs and a .435 slugging percentage. Brian Sabean receives a huge amount of criticism, and some of it is legitimate. But he spent the funds available to him this past offseason very wisely and for that, he deserves a ton of credit.
As interleague play continues, the Giants will begin play tomorrow against teams from the AL East. First up, the worst team in baseball, the Baltimore Orioles. The Giants better take care of business against the inferior Orioles before they face the Blue Jays and Red Sox.
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