Is it Time to Turn Out the Lights on the Giants’ Playoff Hopes?

Turn out the lights, the party’s over! That is the famous line that Don Meredith paraphrased on Monday Night Football almost 30 years ago. Is it time to turn out the lights on the Giants’ playoff hopes? After last night’s crushing loss to the Cubs (7-0, Lincecum rocked for 3 HR’s), the Giants’ have hit rock bottom. Not only are they 5 games back of the Dbacks as of August 29, there is not much help available on the current roster or in the minors once the rosters expand. As chronicled almost everywhere, the Giants’ hitting is pathetic. They are last in the Major Leagues in almost every offensive category. The Misfit gang of last year that led the Giants’ to the World Series title is now just a fond memory. Guys like Huff, Ross, Torres, Burrell and Rowand are having career downer years. Other contributors like Renteria and Uribe have taken their talents elsewhere. Of course, the Giants’ season started going south when Buster Posey went down for the season at the end of May. Shortly thereafter, Freddy Sanchez also was injured and out for the season. So, basically the Giants’ best 2 hitters from last year were taken out of the lineup. The resurgence of Pablo Sandoval has been refreshing, but he has been plagued by nagging injuries that have limited his effectiveness. In fact, the Giants’ have been forced to use the DL a team record 28 times this year. At times this year the DL has included not only Posey and Sanchez, but also Burrell, Torres, Sandoval, Schierholtz, Tejada, Beltran and Whiteside from the position players. Add to that pitchers Sanchez, Wilson, Romo, Zito and Casilla and you have to wonder how the Giants’ are anywhere near first place in the National League West.
There does not appear to be much hope coming from the minors once the roster expands. The Giants’ best prospect, Brandon Belt, has already bounced up and down 3 times and is currently striking out at an alarming rate. Probably the next best prospect is Gary Brown, a single A CF who is having a monster year at San Jose. it is probably unrealistic to think that he can come up to the big club and contribute this year. It would be nice to see Brandon Crawford back at SS for his fielding ability alone. But it was painfully obvious that he needed more work on his hitting after his first stint in SF earlier this summer. The only hitter that looks like he may be able to help at all is triple A 1B Brett Pill, who is hitting .313 with 24 HR’s and 104 RBI’s. But Pill is a first baseman and the Giants’ already have Huff, Belt and DeRosa playing that position. The rest of the call ups will probably look like this: From Fresno – Justin Christian, Edgar Gonzalez (yes, Adrian’s brother) and Emmanuel Burriss. From Richmond – Francisco Peguero and Wes Hodges. Like I said, it doesn’t look like much help will be on the way.
So, keep a fresh light bulb handy in case the lights do actually go out!


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