Is Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval or Hunter Pence Most to Blame If Giants Lose?

New York isn't the only place where media and fans point fingers and lay blame at their teams for playoff failures.

Of course, no other city rips a home team better, as Friday's (Oct. 19) New York Post demonstrates wonderfully. While the San Francisco press corps isn't nearly as confrontational, many great reporters and outlets cover the Giants and will zoom their critical lenses on this team's flaws if it doesn't advance to the World Series.

Fortunately for the San Francisco media horde—and unfortunately for the Giants—there are plenty of players to single out for postseason failure if the team isn't able to beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. 

As the New York Yankees demonstrated in the ALCS versus the Detroit Tigers, it's difficult to win any series—let alone a playoff series—if your best players aren't making a meaningful contribution. As the San Francisco Giants' top stars have struggled, they face elimination in Game 5 of the NLCS and a disappointing end to a season that held so much promise just days ago. 

The crosshairs have to be aimed at Buster Posey, first and foremost. He will probably be the National League MVP, and for him to follow up his regular-season performance with a flameout in the playoffs will be viewed as a key reason for a Giants loss. 

During the regular season, the Giants catcher led the league in batting average and on-base percentage. He also finished with the NL's third-best slugging mark and was second in OPS. 

Compare that to the postseason, in which Posey is batting .182 with a .671 OPS. He has two home runs and five RBI, so when he gets a pitch to hit, Posey is still driving the ball. Six walks show that he's still showing some patience at the plate. But opposing pitchers aren't giving Posey much, and he might be trying to make something happen more than usual. 

However, Posey isn't alone in his failure to come through with big hits against the Cardinals, which is why the Giants are down 3-1 in the NLCS. 

Pablo Sandoval provided most of San Francisco's offense in Game 4 with a two-run homer off Fernando Salas in the ninth inning. But by then, it was too late. The Giants were still behind by five runs after Sandoval's blast. 

Yet that home run and 1-for-4 performance only boosted Sandoval's average to .235 (4-for-17) in the series. His OPS is .690 after four games. 

Overall in the postseason, Sandoval has been one of the Giants' most productive hitters, batting .289 (11-for-38) with an .800 OPS. The team can't ask much more from him than that. But in the NLCS, he's another middle-of-the-order bat that's not supplying enough run production. 

Another Giants hitter who slugged a home run in Game 4 was Hunter Pence. Perhaps no one in the San Francisco lineup needed a big hit more than the right fielder, who was batting .090 (1-for-11) in the first three games of this series. 

Pence is still hitting only .133 (2-for-15) with a .521 OPS in the NLCS, however. Giants manager Bruce Bochy had moved Pence from fifth to sixth in the lineup because of his inability to hit. But even at the sixth spot, he's in a position to produce some runs for San Francisco and just hasn't done so. 

Maybe "The Reverend" needs to give himself a rousing pregame speech, alone in the dugout tunnel or clubhouse. Preacher, heal thyself!

So which of the Giants' troubled trio should be singled out if the team ultimately falls short of its championship ambitions? 

If Posey is widely perceived as San Francisco's best player, and thus its best hitter, he has to carry the majority of the burden for the Giants' postseason failings.

No, that won't be fair, because Posey is hardly the only Giants player who hasn't produced in the NLCS. (This article hasn't even touched on the team's starting pitching, excepting Ryan Vogelsong.) The argument could be made that Posey is suffering from the hitters around him not doing well either.

Ultimately, however, more is expected from the MVP. 

But could the most blame eventually be laid on the player who wasn't even with the team before the July 31 trade deadline? Pence has become a popular figure in San Francisco. His fiery demonstrations of leadership and motivation are exactly the sort of things fans love to see.

Yet those same fans might not feel as much loyalty toward Pence because of his shorter tenure with the Giants. His postseason performance will surely be a point of discussion as the team decides what sort of offer it will make to Pence for a contract extension. And let's not overlook that he hit .219 with San Francisco during the regular season. 

The Giants will surely try to keep Pence considering what the team gave up to acquire him. But if he can't provide some clutch hits through the remainder of the postseason and supply quality run production in a full season with the team next year, he seemingly has the most to lose.

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