San Francisco Giants: Why They Are Not out of the Playoff Race

You know the Giants. They don't make things easy, right?

Usually, they don't get many runs or hits. It's all about the pitching and that's what happened Friday night.

The Giants won the same type of game they won all last year, and they scored their thirtieth one-run win on the year. They are three games back in the NL West, but they still have a great chance.

San Francisco still has their next eight games, fourteen of their next seventeen games at home and the toughest opponent they face is Arizona, by far. The Giants will have Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo, Pat Burrell, Jonathan Sanchez and Andres Torres back before season's end.

The Giants are 8-4 against their Arizona rivals this year, with a couple of tortuous wins thrown into the mix. They have superior pitching, as Tim Lincecum is at his best, and Matt Cain, Ryan Vogelsong, and Madison Bumgarner have been stellar.

With Carlos Beltran, Aubrey Huff, Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Belt, Cody Ross and all their guys who can hit, it doesn't seem possible that they score about three runs a game (on average) but it's true.

Eric Surkamp is making his big league debut against Houston, and he would benefit from some run support. Beltran, Sandoval, and company look to provide it.

While Arizona has the bats to dominate in September, the Giants have the arms to win back-to-back titles. While that is unlikely to happen, what is likely is that they beat Arizona in the NL West.

The Diamondbacks don't have the best staff, but Justin Upton and Chris Young can hit but so can the Giants, and while they don't hit as well, they don't always need many runs.

On Friday night, Jeff Keppinger hit an outside pitch into the gap for a two-run double in a one-run win. Madison Bumgarner pitched into the seventh inning and gave up just one run in his eighth win of the year, and Ramon Ramirez and Santiago Casilla pitched well.

Casilla struck out two on borderline pitches and had that usual buzz saw movement on his pitches. Ramon Ramirez had that two, and they combined to retire the last eight hitters. Casilla got his second save.

The Giants have the pitching (as we all know) but do they have the bats? Can Cody Ross get hot at the right time? Can Aubrey Huff turn it on? Can Carlos Beltran and Pablo Sandoval continue their success?

It's all up to the orange and black.