Exciting Baseball at the Cove

The Giants have won 5 in a row and the youngsters have been shining. All of a sudden, many players are performing up expectations and some exceeding them. Of course, there are some underachieving...yes, I'm talking to you, Mr. Wilson.

The Giants finally figured out the Pirates, winning the last 2 of a 3-game series, then for the 2nd time this year, swept the Diamondbacks. The Giants got solid performances in their sweep of the Diamondbacks from Cy-Young candidate, Tim Lincecum, a resurgent Barry Zito, and from Brad Hennessey, who hadn't started a game since 2006. The sweep over the Diamond backs, provided, arguably, the most exciting series of the season. In game one, Tim Lincecum struck out 9 in 8 1/3 while only giving up 1 ER in a 6-2 win. In game two, Barry Zito pitched 6 innings, while only giving up 2 ER, and striking out 9. Brian Wilson blew a save and a win for Zito, but Eugenio Velez picked up Wilson by singling to right field, bringing in Pablo Sandoval who chugged his way home and performed an ugly, but effective hook slide to beat the throw. In the third game, Brad Hennessey pitched 6 innings while only giving up 1 ER and striking out 3. Eugenio Velez saved Wilson for the second day in a row after Wilson blew the save in the top of the 9th. Velez hit a game-winning double, bringing in 2 runs to finish off the Diamondbacks.

This current 5-game winning-streak that the Giants are on has shown the loads of young talent the Giants have. Sandoval, Schierholtz, Burriss, Velez, and Romo have been performing great and should see ample time next year. Zito has been improving every week and is proving he deserves to be in the rotation next year. These last five games have been exciting and the Giants are showing resolve and the ability to be clutch. The team appears to be having fun and the Giants play the Dodgers 6 more times, and the Diamondbacks 3 more time, giving the Giants 9 more opportunities to play spoiler.

Unlike my recent post, where I stated what I would do if I were GM, here is my projected lineup for next year (keep in mind, I am not including free agents, because that it too hard to predict):

LF: Fred Lewis
SS: Emmanuel Burriss
3B: Pablo Sandoval
C: Bengie Molina
RF: Nate Schierholtz
CF: Aaron Rowand
1B: Travis Ishikawa
2B: Conor Gillaspie

I could also see:

LF: Fred Lewis
SS: Emmanuel Burriss
1B: Pablo Sandoval
C: Bengie Molina
RF: Nate Schierholtz
CF: Aaron Rowand
2B: Kevin Frandsen
3B: Conor Gillaspie

Rotation:
Tim Lincecum
Matt Cain
Barry Zito
Brad Hennessey
Noah Lowry

Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner could end up in the rotation as well and don't count the Giants out when it comes to signing C.C. Sabathia.