As much as the Colorado Rockies have struggled as of late, the San Francisco Giants have had just as rough of a time.
The defending champs have dropped nine of their last 12 games and are stuck in a third-place tie with the Rockies, who have "only" lost eight games in the same span. San Francisco's problems are wide-ranging; they've scored three or fewer runs eight times in that span and have allowed four or more runs on seven occasions.
The Giants' starting pitchers have ERA's that look similar or worse than those of the Rockies, and that's just crazy. Really, I just want to completely buy into and feed this narrative because it's so hilarious to me, but that would be irresponsible of me so I'll stop right here.
Madison Bumgarner is still awesome, and Matt Cain is Matt Cain so at some point, he's going to be better. And the offense -- it has already been a pleasant surprise, and it will probably get better as Pablo Sandoval continues to get healthy. However, the Giants will be missing the services of Angel Pagan for several months, and might not be able to count on him to give them much for the remainder of this season.
Gregor Blanco has been a very capable replacement, posting a 117 OPS+, which is quite a bit better than the league-average production that Pagan was providing before he was hurt. However, once you get past Blanco, there isn't much in the way of depth with this club. If another player in the starting lineup ends up getting hurt or becomes ineffective, San Francisco might be in trouble.
As it sits now, the Giants are rumored to be looking at Ricky Nolasco, Matt Garza, Yovani Gallardo and other pitchers on the trade market, but there haven't been many whispers of upgrading the offensive depth. San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean has been quoted as saying that he believes the asking price would be too high for worthy players, so there are no plans for the Giants' brass to make a deal for now. However, it wouldn't be wise to count them out once the trade deadline approaches.
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Probable pitchers
Game 1: Friday, June 28 at 6:40 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Barry Zito (4-5, 4.40 ERA) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (6-3, 3.92 ERA)
Game 2: Saturday, June 29 at 2:10 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Matt Cain (5-4, 4.54) vs. Jorge De La Rosa (8-4, 3.19)
Game 3: Sunday, June 30 at 2:10 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Madison Bumgarner (7-5, 3.20) vs. Drew Pomeranz (8-1, 4.20*)
* - Triple-A stats
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