My Scale of Nervousness about the San Francisco Giants

I've been football heavy for the past month and a half that it feels like I've been ignoring baseball. Part of this is true. I have ignored baseball by not posting any Foul Ball or Baseball Update posts. Once the playoffs start I'll bring back Foul Ball. I had to take a break from the feature because it became redundant and I'm also better at talking college football than baseball. One baseball topic I am good at talking about and that is the San Francisco Giants. My question for the Giants is can they hold on to this division lead?

As of right now the Giants are leading the NL West by .5 games over San Diego and 2.5 games over Colorado. The NL West will be won on the last weekend of the season and as of right now, every game is a must win for the Giants. The Giants have two games left in Chicago, then travel to Colorado with for a huge series with the Rockies. Then the Giants finish the season with a six-game home stand against Arizona and San Diego. Needless to say I'll be watching ever Giants game with an edge of your seat nervousness.

I have a scale of nervousness and here's where everything ranks. (1 lowest level, 5 highest level):



1. The Starting Pitching: The starting pitching staff this year has had their moments. Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito have been inconsistent, Matt Cain receives zero run support, Jonathon Sanchez is a wild card, and Madison Bumgarner is just a kid. As of right now though, the starting pitchers are lights out. They're doing what everyone expected them to do all season and that is carry this team to a division title. Every pitcher on this staff can win on any given night if he is given run support.

2. The Bullpen: The bullpen has been even better than the starting pitchers this month. Brian Wilson is untouchable as the closer and Sergio Romo is terrific as the setup man. The Giants bullpen is also set up for every situation imaginable. They have a lefty specialist (Javier Lopez), a double play specialist (Jeremy Affeldt), long reliever (Chris Ray), and dependable relievers (Guillermo Mota, Santiago Castilla, Ramon Ramirez). Once the playoffs start the bullpen will be further strengthen by Madison Bumgarner and either Jonathon Sanchez or Barry Zito. I'm almost never nervous when a Giants reliever enters the game.

3. The Health of Andres Torres: Torres has been out for a week now after he had to have his appendicitis removed. The Giants have had a rotation of leadoff hitters they have used in Torres' spot. Let's just say, Torres can't return soon enough. Torres has been the surprise of the season ripping the centerfield job away from Aaron Rowand and securing his spot as the leadoff hitter. Once he returns, I'm worried about how much rust he'll have to knock off. The Giants offense needs Torres to return to form as soon as he comes back. And I haven't even talked about how much his gold glove-caliber defense is missed.

4. Bruce Bochy: I along with other people have long been critics of Bruce Bochy. I have to give him this though, he squeezes as much talent out of the little talent he has on offense and he handles the pitching staff as well as any manager in baseball. Bochy still makes me nervous. His decisions are sometimes head scratching (Like replacing Pat Burrell in left field with Eugenio Velez as a "defensive replacement". Which is like replacing Alex Smith with JaMarcus Russell. You're better off with the first guy.) and his lineups can be appalling. Bochy will lose more games with his lineup decisions than win. Speaking of the lineup.

5. The Lineup: By far my biggest concern. This team has only scored two or more runs seven times in this month alone. Last night they were shut down by Carlos Zambrano even though they got on base. This team just has problems scoring runs. They can get on base, they just can't drive them in. Luckily for the Giants, the only team with a better offense the rest of the season is the Rockies. Even so, it would be nice if the lineup would score some runs for the pitching staff doesn't get burned out. Of course, these two guys could save the Giants.