A Terrible Weekend, But It Could Have Been Worse

After a rough 12-game stretch against the Padres, Phillies, Cardinals, and Reds, this weekend's home series against the D-Backs was supposed to be easy pickings for the Giants. The D-Backs are awful, sitting in last place, and the Giants had won 7 straight against them before Friday night. Plus, one thing the Giants had done well all season was beat up the weaker competition, as evidenced by their 36-12 record against teams below. 500 entering Friday night.

But except for today's somewhat miraculous win to prevent an embarrassing sweep, the Giants didn't show up to play this weekend. They slumped in all areas: pitching, hitting, and defense. The Giants actually looked like a last-place team this weekend. Thankfully, the Phillies swept the Padres in San Diego, leaving the Giants within striking distance of both the NL West and the Wild Card.

If Jose Guillen and Bengie Molina were to compete in a race, who would win? It'd be close, and that's alarming considering that Guillen is in charge of patrolling the spacious right field at AT&T Park. He can still swing the bat, but he's like a statue on defense, and he definitely cost his pitchers a few runs this series. It's time for Bruce Bochy to start Cody Ross or Nate Schierholtz more just to upgrade the defense and to help the pitching staff as they try to get out of their collective slump. Guillen's bat certainly lengthens the lineup, but whatever contributions he gives at the plate are negated by his hideous defense.

September could not come sooner for Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito. Here are the ugly August numbers for Lincecum and Zito:

Lincecum: 0-5, 7.82 ERA, 1.83 WHIP

Zito: 0-4, 7.76 ERA, 1.91 WHIP

Lincecum took a step back on Friday night from his outing in St. Louis. He didn't have any command of his fastball, the most important pitch for any pitcher. Also, Lincecum was tipping his pitches, as an astute cameraman caught footage of Stephen Drew relaying signals to Adam LaRoche before he hit that monstrous 3-run homerun. He allowed only 1 run in his remaining 5 innings of work, but he wasn't fooling any of the D-Backs' hitters. He got lucky that the wind and the fog on Friday night tracked out a few fly balls that would have been homeruns earlier in the week.

Zito had been a 2nd-half pitcher throughout his entire career, except for this season. He actually was terrific for his first four starts after the All-Star Break, but he ran into a brick wall in August. He might benefit from an extra day or two of rest before his next start. His fastball velocity, like Lincecum, has dropped a few notches. Zito is effective when he's throwing his fastball 87-88 MPH, but he has no chance when he misses with a 84 MPH fastball. That's like batting practice for major league hitters.

As I've written many times, the 2010 Giants will live and die with their starting pitching. Matt Cain has been the only consistent member of the rotation in the 2nd half. This team can say goodbye to postseason aspirations unless the pitchers carry this team on their shoulders.