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Monday August 5, 2013

The defending champion San Francisco Giants aren’t having a championship season in 2013. They are 12 games back of the National League West leading Los Angeles Dodgers. The clubs of the past have relied on pitching and little offense. In 2013, they have received little offense and even less pitching. Their number one starter (Matt Cain), has had one of his worst seasons since 2008. Lights out closer Sergio Romo hasn’t been lights out – and the bullpen has been iffy at best. The bright spot for the Giants pitching staff was Tim Lincecum’s 148 pitch no-hitter. It will take a miracle for them to come back, but it is possible.  The Dodgers, despite playing lights out baseball,  continue to fight the injury bug to Hanley Ramirez and Yasiel Puig, and it SF can encounter any hotstreak, they may be able to make up a lot of ground in a short-term, being the NL West.

Ryan Ritchey (Baseball Writer): Follow @baseballaddicts

The defending champion San Francisco Giants aren’t playing like champions in 2013. They are 12 games under .500 and are 12 games back of the National League West leading Los Angeles Dodgers.

The pitching staff has carried them to greatness, but this season it has been far from great.

They will need to tear it up in the next 3 weeks to have any chance at all. 

Once the Divisions all play each other the majority of the way, 2 NL West playing each other – will ensure at least  one team SF is chasing in the Division – will put up a ‘W’ on a nightly basis.

Chances are, they would likely need to win about 86 or 87 Games minimum to be on the cusp of a spot in the Wild Card – and hope the Dodgers play under .500 the rest of the way in. 

The Giants would need to reel off a clip of about 37 – 15 mark in their last 52 games (over.700 baseball).  Of course this not PROBABLE!

Tim Lincecum’s No – Hitter

Matt Cain hasn’t been himself in 2013. He has won 7 games in 22 starts with a 4.57 ERA. He is the number one on this staff but hasn’t shown it thus far. He just signed a long-term deal with the Giants, they are just hoping he doesn’t keep regressing like he has in 2013. He is a competitor so look for him to finish strong through these last 50 or so games left this season.

Their number one starter Matt Cain, who pitched a perfect game in 2012, has been far from perfect. He is having one of his worst seasons since 2008 when he was 8-14.

It hasn’t only been Cain that hasn’t had the best year.

Tim Lincecum has been decent at best ever since the middle of last season. He has had one flash in a pan moment when he threw a 148 pitch no-hitter on July 13th.

Other than that the Giants have been flat all season. The hitting hasn’t been much better than pitching.

The bats rank in the bottom third of the league in runs scored and slugging percentage but they are 8th in average at a .262 clip.

The Giants don’t rely on the offense, but it times of need this season it has yet to step up to the plate.

Buster Posey is the leader of the Giants offense and game caller for the pitching staff. He has had a down year in respect to his numbers in recent years. He will finish 2013 with another 20 Home Run season and he will be looking forward to 2014 and another chance at a ring.

Buster Posey and Marco Scutaro are the only players hitting over .300. To add to that not only player has recorded 15 home runs on the season. Buster Posey and Hunter Pence lead the team with 14 a piece.

The Giants are out of contention for a playoff spot with a little over 50 games left but what can they accomplish in those 50 games?

The pitching staff as I said has been down but has been coming on as of late. Matt Cain pitched 8 innings in his last start and did really well. It was his best start of 2013.

He just signed a new contract with the Giants so he can work towards next year and figuring out what he needs to do to be more consistent. 

The young stud on the staff Madison Bumgarner has been the most consistent in 2013. Bumgarner is 11-6 with a 2.69 ERA. If he keeps working he could end up with 16 to 17 wins and build on next season. 

Ryan Vogelsong has missed much of 2013 after his great 14 win season last year. He needs to work on getting healthy and looking forward to the 2014 season. The Giants aren’t going to rush anyone back since they are so far back in the division. 

The Giants are going to lose starter Barry Zito this offseason most likely. That means they will need to have a replacement for him.

They could bring up a prospect to take his place and make a big deal at the Winter Meetings to bring in a guy.

Either way they will need to add someone. 

The last part of the pitching staff that they need to look at is Sergio Romo. This was the first season that he has closed for a full season. It hasn’t gone as planned.

It could be from a lack of work since they aren’t winning many games or from fatigue. Either way Romo is a huge question mark for this Giants team going forward. 

The problem with the Giants has always been hitting. It hasn’t changed this season. If the Giants want to be a more consistent team they need to pick up a big bat that can compliment Posey.

Pablo Sandoval just keeps gaining weight and has lost a lot of talent and numbers because of it. If they could replace him with a free agent in offseason this team will be better off. 

As for the last 50 games, I don’t see the Giants just rolling over. They will be a team no one wants to face at the end of the year because they will want to be the spoilers.

If they can’t win the division they sure don’t want Los Angeles winning it. They will do anything they can to beat up on them any chance they get.

There have been multiple teams erase deficits such as the one that the Giants face for the either the west – or even against the suddenly struggling Reds – who have an 11 Games Lead over the San Fran franchise.

Tampa Bay Rays and St. Louis both came back from nowhere in late August – to make the playoffs.  Last year, the Athletics trailed the Rangers by double digits in games heading out of the ALL – Star Game.

It will be fun to watch and see how this team reacts in the last two months of the season, and through the offseason. Just watch out for the spoiling Giants as they come to your favorite teams ball park in late August. 

As you can see the Giants and Dodgers aren’t big fans of each other. You can bet on the Giants wanting to spoil the Dodgers playoff hopes in the last two months of the season. The Giants and Dodgers will face off seven more times in 2013 so look out for that heated series come September. With the rest of the NL West teams (besides LA) – playing .400 baseball or worse in the last month, it would stand to reason if they became hot, and LA cooled off, they could pick up a lot of ground quickly.

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com or their partners ***

A big thank-you goes out to Our ‘Baseball Writer‘ Ryan Ritchey for preparing today’s featured article.  Ryan is a Baseball Writer for MLB reports. He is a sophomore at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky.

Ryan is a huge fan of Barry Larkin and Brandon Phillips  He has been a baseball fan his whole life and has been writing about baseball since his freshman year of High School.

You can reach Ryan on Twitter  Follow @baseballaddicts

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