San Francisco Giants Roundtable: First Half Surprises and Disappointments

ANDREW NUSCHLER

Biggest Surprise—Ryan Sadowski

Again, you could go a lot of different ways here.

Nate Schierholtz should be a popular choice and for good reason.  However, several Giant loyalists from our friendly little community hipped me to Nate the Suddenly Great well before he got his shot.  It still can be stunning to watch the bazooka-armed right fielder flash his bulging bag o' tricks, I was somewhat prepared for him to excel.

The same can be said about the entirety of the Matt Cain, Sergio Romo, Barry Zito (although that one's getting rickety), Aaron Rowand in the lead-off spot, and Pablo Sandoval.

All are off to great starts and either beating or matching considerable expectations, but the signs were there.

For me, it comes down to Travis Ishikawa's increasingly potent bat and Sadowski's explosion into the Show.

This one is neck-and-neck—if you look at Ishikawa's game log, you'll see a rosy little trend. The 25-year-old got off to a rough start, but then was settling into a nice .300 groove until Sandoval went down with a sore arm. When Little Panda returned, he had to be slotted in at first to ease the strain on his arm.

With the fine-fielding first baseman stashed on the bench, his bat cooled and it was back to the drawing board upon his return (in fairness, Ishikawa did find his power stroke on the pine). But don't look now, because Travis has found that groove again.

And yet Sadowski gets my nod despite only three starts and 18 innings pitched in his entire career.

Those 18 frames have produced two wins and a loss, 10 whiffs against eight walks, a 1.11 WHIP, and a 1.00 earned run average. Opposing splinters are flailing to the tune of a sub-Mendoza .194 average, .226 slugging percentage, and .292 OBP.

The 26-year-old former Florida Gator debuted by going six scoreless and surrendering only four knocks while beating the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee.

Sadowski followed that with seven clean innings and shaving one of his previous hit total to register his second win—this one over the Houston Astros in his home opener.

Ironically, though, it's his lone blemish convincing me to dub him my Surprise of the First Half. He clearly didn't have his best stuff and perhaps the native Floridian who stayed there for college was wound a little tight hurling against his boyhood favorites. I don't know.

What I do know is he battled and pitched well enough to win without this A-game.

Every professional on the bump can win with his full arsenal working—the ability to improvise and win when you've been abandoned that keeps 'em in the Bigs.  Sadowski showed he has that, too.

With Randy Johnson on the shelf for a while, we'll get to see if the kid can do it for the long haul.

Biggest Disappointment—Fred Lewis

This one's easy for me.

You could go with Jonathan Sanchez because his overall body of work has been, ahem, unsightly, but who wants to do that after the kid throws a no-hitter? Bobby Howry's been shaky at times, but I think we probably expected or should have expected that. Ditto Edgar Renteria.

There are others as well—Randy Winn, Emmanuel Burriss' asinine demotion and subsequent injury, Noah Lowry and his agent, etc.

But for me, it's Fab Five Freddie (last time I'll use that nickname) and it's not particularly close.

Fast Freddie has regressed at the plate and this after a hot start to the 2009 season. Through April, the San Francisco Giant left fielder was hitting .299 with an on-base percentage of .420. His power had yet to surface, but there were ample reasons to be optimistic and patient.

Coasting into the All-Star break? Not so damn much...

His average currently sits at .250 with a .332 on-base in 212 at-bats with 37 runs scored, 13 doubles, two triples, four home runs, 12 runs batted in, 63 strikeouts, five stolen bases nullified by four caught-stealings, and a .387 slugging percentage.

Mediocre as that line looks, it's not what cost him his job in the outfield.

The fleet-footed 28-year-old is the biggest disappointment because he can't catch—pure and simple.

I'll never understand how an athlete can stay about the Mendoza Line against Major League pitching, but struggle to put leather to baseball and squeeze. It is simply a matter of coordination and concentration in both cases, and hitting is MUCH harder.

And Freddie Lewis gets to the pill—range isn't his problem, which makes the conundrum so much more frustrating. Let's move on...

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