MLB: San Francisco Giants Hitting Is Worse Now Than It Was in 2011

This headline might make you say "impossible, there's no way the San Francisco Giants hitting could be worse than 2011. After all, they did set historical lows in many departments."

Well, I'm here to tell you that, after 22 games, there is one very big area the Giants are down from last year. And it's a very important one—hitting with runners in scoring position.

Last night, when Buster Posey grounded into a double play late in the game with the bases loaded, I decided to check the numbers. Sure enough, the 2012 Giants have reached a new low.

Despite the return of Buster Posey, the addition of Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera, and a team record hitting streak from Pablo Sandoval, the Giants are just not getting the hits when they count.

Their overall average is up. Through last night's game, the Giants are hitting .259, which is good enough for 19th in overall hitting in the bigs.

But with runners in scoring position, they have been terrible! As a team, the Giants are hitting a putrid .197 with an OPS of only .602.

Only the San Diego Padres and Oakland Athletics are worse!

With two outs and runners in scoring position, it gets even worse. The Giants, in that situation, are hitting .176 with an OPS of .596!

In 2011, when they didn't have Posey, Pagan or Cabrera, the Giants hit .219 with ducks on the pond and had an OPS of .630.

Granted, that's nothing to write home about, but if those were the numbers this season, they would likely have two or three more wins.

It doesn't help that their best clutch hitter, Freddy Sanchez, is still on the DL and hasn't even begun his rehab assignment. 

But all is not lost, Giants fans. This isn't likely to last the entire season. With guys like Posey, Sandoval, Cabrera, Pagan, Brandon Belt, Nate Schierholtz, rookie Hector Sanchez and hopefully Sanchez, this team has lots of pop.

This is a much better hitting team on paper. They can hit, and they're deep at pretty much every position from an offensive standpoint. Things should get a lot better.