Giants Sweep D-Backs, Finish 6-1 Road Trip

A Majors' best 16-6 record in thus far in July, a league-leading 122 runs scored this month, and 3.08 pitching staff ERA. No, those aren't numbers from the Yankees or the Braves; they're from the Giants, who completed they're second 4-game sweep on the road to cap a 6-1 road trip against the Dodgers and D-Backs. The Giants have now won 16 of their last 20 games and are now a season-high 13 games over .500.

While the Giants remain 3 games behind the Padres, who have continued to play great baseball, the Giants have separated themselves a bit from the Dodgers and Rockies, who are now 6 and 7.5 games out of first place respectively. Although it's way too early for this, the Giants lead the Reds in the Wild-Card Standings by 1.5 games.

Usually, a Giants hot-streak coincides with a homestand, but what has been most impressive about the team's 16-6 record in July is that they have played 18 of these 22 games away from AT&T Park. Entering July, the Giants were only 15-20 on the road, but they upped it to 28-25, and they are one of only three NL teams with a winning road record.

What is the secret to the Giants' success? With a 3.08 staff ERA and an average of 5.54 runs per game in July, the Giants for the first time this season look like a complete team. Although the Giants during the first half of the season won more games than they lost, the brand of baseball that they're playing now is a far cry from the one they were before this month, when they were tremendously over-dependent on their pitching. Now, the offense is potent enough to swallow a rough outing by one of the starting pitchers. Case and point: Tuesday's game against the Dodgers. Tim Lincecum was awful, and the Giants fell in an early 5-1 hole against Dodgers' ace Clayton Kershaw. However, the Giants battled against Kershaw and pulled out an improbable victory against Jonathan Broxton in the 9th inning (with Bruce Bochy's brilliant managing against Don Mattingly mixed in). Neither the 2009 team, nor the 2010 team before July would have won that game. In the end, the Giants will live and die with their pitching, but the pitchers are clearly pitching with a bit more confidence as they know that with the new offense, they don't have to pitch a shutout every game.

All hail Buster Posey, his 18-game hitting streak, and his ridiculous .469 batting average in June. Watch out Stephen Strasburg and Jason Heyward, because you both have stiff competition in the Rookie of the Year race.

The Giants' recent success has been very exciting, but the schedule from here on out only gets tougher, as 44 of their remaining 63 games will be against teams with winning records. The Giants will have to sustain this winning formula if they want a shot at October baseball.