San Francisco Giants' Pennant Hopes Could Be Derailed by an Atrocious Defense

The only thing I hate more in this world than the San Francisco Giants losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers is the Giants being blown out and embarrassed by the Dodgers.

I write this after turning off the TV in that ridiculous eighth inning Monday night when the Dodgers put the game away (they went on to win 9-1). The Giants absolutely handed the Dodgers the game tonight at Chavez Ravine in a disgusting fashion.

Reminds me of my dear late mother. When the Giants would be getting blown out she would turn off the TV. She loved her Giants so much, at a certain point she couldn't bear to watch anymore.

I have been a bit more tolerant, but when it comes to Dodger games my tolerance is much lower.

Let's not even talk about the number of errors, because some of the Giants' miscues were ruled hits. But this isn't even necessarily about tonight's game.

The loss tonight is systematic of the Giants' defensive woes. Granted, it's a bit early to be hitting the panic button, but after 29 games, 18 percent of the season, some very troubling trends are showing up.

This team can't catch the ball. It's as simple as that.

With the exception of the defensive brilliance of Melky Cabrera, Nate Schierholtz and Gregor Blanco in the outfield and Joaquin Arias and Brandon Belt in the infield, the rest of this team is playing very poorly in the field.

Yes, Buster Posey does a nice job behind the plate, but he has made plenty of mistakes in his return from leg surgery. And Hector Sanchez is throwing out runners at an amazing rate, including speedster Dee Gordon tonight, but balls are getting by him as well.

With Pablo Sandoval out, Conor Gillaspie, known as a good defender, has been nothing short of a disaster at third.

He's not there for his hitting, that's for sure. 

The usually reliable Brandon Crawford has been shaky at short; in fact he seems to be slowly losing his job to minor league free agent Arias. Again, he's not there for his offense.

Posey has also had a rough time at first, and understandably so; it's a new position for him.

In center field, despite the fact that Angel Pagan has been very strong at the plate and on the bases lately, his defense runs from average to terrible.

He played Travis Ishikawa's single into a double last night, trying to make an impossible play, when the smart play would have been to field the ball and prevent the run from scoring. This cost Matt Cain a win. Fortunately the Giants came back to win 4-3 in 11.

I watched Pagan stumble and bumble his way through the Cactus League for almost a month. It wasn't pretty. I spoke with Shawn Estes about it and he told me "don't worry, Pagan will be all right."

I'm worried. Pagan always seems to take the wrong first step on the ball. Remember Marvin Bernard? Pagan is making about a mistake a night and even when he catches the ball it's an adventure.

So what's the solution? Well, that's not easy. You can't fire the entire team.

But with the Giants being so poor offensively, certain guys have to play.

The first base platoon of Belt and Brett Pill is working fine and it's not a bad thing to mix Posey in when Sanchez is behind the plate. But he needs to work hard on his defense at first. Buster is a tremendous athlete and a former shortstop; he'll get it eventually.

At second we need to see more of Manny Burriss, who seems to be back in Bruce Bochy's doghouse for some reason, in favor of Ryan Theriot. Perhaps Theriot is being showcased for a trade, anticipating Freddy Sanchez's eventual return.

Hard to say, but with Burriss' speed and good defense, he needs to play.

Arias should probably be moved to third, with Crawford playing every day at short. Arias has shown the ability to get on base and knock in runs. As long as it lasts, stay with the hot hand.

Crawford will be fine with more reps, but being yanked in and out of the lineup couldn't possibly be helping him. Let him play against lefties and righties. 

In the outfield Pagan needs to be shifted to a corner outfield spot, with Blanco or Cabrera in center. Schierholtz needs to play as well, so using a rotation there, depending on who's pitching, is the way to go.

Pagan is hurting the Giants in center and this can't continue.

Even with Aubrey Huff now activated, the best place for him is as a bat off the bench. With the Giants' defensive woes we don't need Huff in the outfield or any place for that matter. That will just make things worse.

And Gillaspie needs to go back down to Fresno where he belongs. The Giants are short a reliever, so now would be a good time to bring up Heath Hembree.

OK, that's my manager and GM work for today. Bochy and Sabes, are you listening?