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This is really weird. The Giants get a ton of flack for having a terrible offense, yet here I sit with Baseball-Reference in front of me, and I'm looking at this. That's right - the Giants offense is pretty damn decent, especially when considering that they're the Giants. Now, most of their fans will tell you that the players aren't necessarily the problem, and that the blame mostly falls on manager Bruce Bochy for using them incorrectly, and well, they're right. But, he hasn't been given much to work with as far as middle infielders are concerned, and naturally that's where the holes reside in this San Francisco lineup.
Those three guys are all kinds of horrible at the plate, but Crawford is a pretty slick-fielding shortstop, so at least his existence on their roster can be justified. Although Crawford is bad against most of the league, naturally he absolutely owns the Rockies (.359/.444/.692 in 45 plate appearances), so you can pretty much ignore the numbers shown above. Burris has been neutralized, for the most part, in his time against Colorado, and Arias has never faced them. In addition, with Pablo Sandoval on the disabled list with a broken hamate bone, the Giants have resorted to using Arias and newly-called up 23 year old Charlie Culberson at third base, so that likely won't help their cause. Still, the Rockies will have to figure out the rest of the Giants lineup, which has abused them in the past, and has actually held their own against everybody else this year, too. This guy hasn't been a whole lot of fun for opposing pitchers to face:
(Fun Fact: People in Utah pronounce the word 'milk' as 'melk,' but I don't think Cabrera was born in Utah - and probably hasn't even ever been there - so I'm not sure how he got his name.)
The Melk Man has become the Giants' top hitter, as he has racked up a 155 OPS+ in a team-leading 154 plate appearances. He's not hitting for home run power (as he has just two HR's), but he has 14 extra-base hits and has walked a club-leading 12 times to help supplement his OPS. With Sandoval out, Buster Posey and Angel Pagan share the club lead in homers with four apiece, while Nate Schierholtz has hit three (two of them, OF COURSE, coming in Colorado). Each of those players is above-average in terms of OPS+, as is Buster Posey and Brandon Belt (though Belt's is strictly because of his fairly-high OBP, and not because of hitting for power to this point).
On the mound, the Giants have been just as good as always, though it's different guys this time. Tim Lincecum, who will pitch in the second game of this series, has been dreadful so far in 2012; his 5.89 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, and 58 ERA+ are all by far the worst among San Francisco's starters. Everyone else in their rotation has an ERA under 3, including Barry Zito, although he's walking on dangerous ground with his 1.15 K/BB ratio. Matt Cain has been absolutely lights-out, boasting a 2.28 ERA and 0.74 WHIP. He has struck out 48 batters and walked just nine in 51.1 IP. Luckily, the Rockies won't see him in this series.
The bullpen is still good, even with the losses of Brian Wilson (injury) and Guillermo Mota (PED suspension). Sergio Romo has yet to allow a run in 12 appearances while lefty specialist Javier Lopez (1.35 ERA, 268 ERA+) and closer Santiago Casilla (1.38 ERA, 254 ERA+, 7 saves) have been exceptional as well.
Probable starters and more after the jump...
Game 1 - tonight @ 8:15 PM MT (ROOT Sports):
Christian Friedrich (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. Ryan Vogelsong (1-2, 2.94 ERA)
Game 2 - tomorrow @ 8:15 PM MT (ROOT Sports):
Jeremy Guthrie (2-1, 5.92) vs. Tim Lincecum (2-3, 5.89)