Zito Finally Wins

Barry Zito overcame his struggles several starts ago, and posted his third decent start in a row this evening. More importantly, the Giants scored more than three runs in support of Zito for the first time this season. With the combination of a quality start and run support, Zito won his first game, and avoided becoming the only Giants starter to ever start the season 0-9. Zito still struggled controlling his curveball, but the break on the pitch was much sharper, and he rarely missed in a spot where he could get hurt. If he continues to regain the movement and command of his curveball, Zito could become a legitimate number three starter for the Giants.

The Recent Struggles of Brian Wilson

This should be prefaced by saying that Wilson has been the first truly effective closer for the Giants since the days of Tim Worrell and Robb Nen. He has converted 14 saves in 16 attempts, including 13 saves in his last 14 attempts. However, his outings this month have revealed a disturbing trend of relying only on his fastball. He has a very good fastball, which tends to be around 95 MPH, but can fluctuate from 93 to 98. His control of the fastball is typically decent, but he tends to leave a mistake out over the plate every once in a while. This allowed the homer that was hit yesterday in Coors, as well as the tenth inning, game winning shot that Burrell hit earlier this month off of Wilson. Mistakes are always problematic, but when hitters have already seen the fastball up to five or six times in the same at-bat, mistakes in location become even more worrisome. Hitters have had ample time to judge the speed and movement of the pitch when they have only seen the fastball, and are in a 3-2 count. So, when the 3-2 offering comes belt-high over the middle of the plate, it's far more likely that they'll crush it.

The answer to the problem is very simple. Wilson has four pitches, and needs to use at least two of them in every outing. For a closer facing only three or four batters, two pitches is typically sufficient to disrupt the hitters' timing. Robb Nen had a hard slider and a great fastball. Joe Nathan mixes breaking pitches with his fastball. Trevor Hoffman knows that he needs to throw fastballs for his changeup to be effective. It's time for Wilson to learn that he needs to throw breaking pitches or changeups to every batter he faces in order to complement his fastball. By allowing the hitters to see a different movement and a different speed, Wilson's occasional mistakes to location with the fastball will be far less likely to be hit out of the park. Hopefully he learns this lesson quickly so that he can continue to be an effective closer for the Giants.

Game Preview 5/20

The Giants play in Colorado at 5:35 today. Lincecum (5-1, 1.92) will be pitching for the Giants, going against Aaron Cook (6-2, 2.82). In his last start, Cook struggled, giving up 5 earned runs over only 5 innings against Arizona. Lincecum struggled with his control in his last start, and ended up giving up 3 runs over 6 innings. However, he still managed to strikeout 10 batters. The Giants have done much better when playing behind Lincecum, and therefore have a very legitimate chance to win this game. Randy Winn will look to extend his 14 game hitting streak, but faces an uphill battle against Cook, against whom he is 3-18 (.167) in his career.

Giants Minor League Report

This will be a new weekly section on the Giants Baseball Report, tracking the progress of the organization's prospects. Here are the performances for some key prospects so far this season.
Angel Villalona, Class A Augusta: Bad news (or at least poor performances) first. Despite the great expectations for Villalona, he has yet to produce. Last season, his power numbers were lacking. This season, his power has been better, but his average has dipped. To this point in the season, he is batting .231 with 5 HR. There is hope, however. Over the last 10 games, he has hit .341 with 4 HR. Just remember that he's 17, so there's plenty of time for him to develop into a star.
Madison Bumgarner, Class A Augusta: Over his first three starts, Bumgarner struggled. However, over his next four starts, he gave up no runs over 22 1/3 innings. Over the same period, he also struck out 30 while walking only 5. Overall, he is 4-2 with a 2.56 ERA and 47 strikeouts against only 9 walks. However, Bumgarner still has a long way to go. His success at this point is encouraging, but his main problem is developing pitches other than his fastball, which has been enough so far to get him through high school and the low minor leagues. However, before the Giants give him a shot much higher than this level, he will have to prove that he has other pitches, as well as post impressive numbers.
Tim Alderson, Class A San Jose: To much disagreement in the blogging world, Sabean projected Alderson's arrival in the majors as 2010. So far, he's making Sabean look very right. The Giants placed him in high-A to begin the season, which is even earlier than Matt Cain reached that milestone. Alderson has responded by posting a 6-1 record with a 3.14 ERA.
Eddy Martinez-Esteve, Class AA Connecticut: Martinez-Esteve is having a good season so far, hitting .300 with 2 HR and 2 SB.
Nate Schierholtz, Class AAA Fresno: It won't come as a surprise to anyone that Schierholtz is doing well. The only reason he wasn't in the majors to start the season is that he had options left, while Davis didn't. He is batting .302 with 4 HR and 8 SB. At this point he could be considered a "blocked prospect," as Winn, Rowand, Roberts, and Lewis have effectively cemented their places in the outfield.

Five Reasons to Thank Magowan

With Peter Magowan's recent announcement of his retirement, there has been much discussion of his role in the steroids era. There is no disputing these negative aspects of his tenure with the Giants. However, it's important to remember that Magowan's time with the Giants also saw many positive occurrences in San Francisco.
5. 2009-2010. Magowan will be gone before people realize that he has setup the Giants to rebound from the last four years. With a young and talented starting staff and an emerging relief core, the Giants will have one of the best pitching staffs in the majors as soon as next year, but will be paying comparatively little to maintain it. As Bumgarner and Alderson make their way to the majors, look for the Giants to trade at least one starter for some hitting. With the one-two punch of Lincecum and Cain, and the ability to bring out Chulk, Valdez, and Wilson in the 7th, 8th, and 9th, all the Giants need is some hitting at 1B and 3B. The potential acquisition of Teixeira and Crede in the offseason would catapult the Giants back into contention. It's a long shot, but just the fact that it's a possibility demonstrates that Magowan has left a team that is ready to succeed again soon.
4. 2002-2003. The Giants made the playoffs before this under Magowan's watch, but these two years truly announced the return of the San Francisco Giants. They featured an appearance in the World Series for the first time since the 80's, and a season in which the Giants were on top of the division from the first day to the last.
3. Brian Sabean. Sabean is also mentioned in the Mitchell Report, and not in a good manner. He'll undoubtedly go down as the man who was GM of the Giants when Bonds cheated. However, his role in the renewed success of the Giants can't be ignored, even if it seems to have been forgotten recently. Brilliant trades in his first year as manager brought Jeff Kent, JT Snow, and Kirk Reuter to San Francisco. He also acquired Robb Nen and Jason Schmidt. His strategy of drafting pitchers in the late first round allowed the Giants to convert late first round draft picks into a key part of the team. Among the pitchers he selected as GM are Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Noah Lowry. Can you imagine the Giants from 1997-2008 without Lincecum, Lowry, Cain, Kent, Snow, Schmidt or Rueter? Didn't think so.
2. Pac Bell Park. Pac Bell, SBC, AT&T, China Basin. Whatever you prefer to call it, it's one of the best parks in baseball, and it replaced one of the worst parks in baseball. It is an essential part of what Magowan did during his tenure: raise the Giants from a mediocre team to a high budget, high profile, competitive team. The huge jump in attendance when it opened provided the Giants with more money, and rewarded the fan base for its patience through the poor early 90s.
1. The San Francisco Giants. When Magowan took over the position of General Managing Partner, the Giants were looking at moving to Florida. As a Giants fan, I couldn't be more grateful that Magowan prevented this move. First, the Giants belong in San Francisco. The Giants are as important to San Francisco as San Francisco is to the Giants. In case that leaves any doubt, read it as "very important." Second, since considering the move, two teams have been created in Florida. Neither can draw fans, even when doing well! Imagine how poor attendance would have been for the Giants, a team which had struggled for years at the time. Quite simply, Magowan blocked the move that would have buried the Giants.

Giants Baseball Report is Back!

After an absence of nearly a year due to personal issues, Giants Baseball Report is back! As before, the blog will give you all the news and analysis concerning the Giants that you could ever hope for.