San Francisco Giants: 0-5 Start On the Road; Time for Change

After taking two of the three games in their home opening series against one of the better lineups in all of major league baseball in the Milwaukee Brewers, the San Francisco Giants have then proceeded to drop their first five road games into the loss column.

Granted the presumed strength of the team (the starting pitching) has not nearly performed to their capabilities, the offense hasn't helped out either. In the first five road games (all losses as stated before), the Giants' offense has scored a total of 12 runs, barely over two runs per game on average.

Even when the starting rotation starts to turn things around, Tim Lincecum, Randy Johnson, and Matt Cain are going need more than two runs of run support to win games on a consistent basis.

However, for as bleak as the Giants offense may seem, their are some bright spots in the lineup. Rolina Mowand as coined by Giants broadcasters last season is a combined 18-55, a cool .327 average with four big flys and 15 RBI.

For those who haven't caught on, Rolina Mowand is the combination of Giants catcher Bengie Molina and center fielder Aaron Rowand. The two hitters have started the year on a solid note at the plate; however, despite hitting fifth behind Molina last season, Rowand has been demoted to hitting seventh.

Rowand did falter off at the end of last season, finishing the year at .271 after hitting over .300 into June. But the Giants center-fielder is their highest paid position player and should not be hitting seventh.

So far, in any given game, Rowand is hitting behind an unproven first-baseman in Travis Ishikawa (who has done nothing of significance at the big league level) or current utility-man Rich Aurilia.

Eight games into the season, and the Giants still have their most productive offensive threat hitting in the bottom third of their lineup while they have shortstop Edgar Renteria still hitting in the No. 2 hole despite a .138 average (four hits in 29 ABs)?

What is Giants manager Bruce Bochy waiting for? It is not like Renteria had a hot spring, the guy finished spring training with an discouraging .229 average.

Oh right, my bad, Bochy thinks he has to replace Renteria with another No. 2 type hitter and his only option is second-baseman Manny Burriss who is hitting .095! (2-for-21).

Here's some information for you Bochy: you have Rowand hitting .375, Molina hitting .290, Randy Winn hitting .313, and Fred Lewis hitting .357.

Currently you have the top four averages in your lineup hitting first, third, fourth, and seventh. Well hey, three of the top four hitters are starting out with solid numbers, shouldn't you be scoring some runs?

Ehhhnt, No.

A team will not score runs when their second place hitter is hitting below the Mendoza line.

How hard is this to figure out? Neither Renteria nor Burriss should be hitting in the second hole, until they can fight their way out of this funk.

Just think of it as Little League, remember that in Little League your best players hit higher in the lineup?

The change needed to end this losing streak is quite simple for Bruce Bochy and the Giants; make a significant lineup change.

Move Renteria down to seventh in the lineup, right next to Manny Burriss where the teams worst two hitters (average wise, and pretty much any other wise) so far on the season can sulk together.

Once that's done, move Fred Lewis up from the third spot in the lineup to the second spot, and finally bring Aaron Rowand up to the third spot in the lineup, in front of Bengie Molina, where he should have been all of last season.

Rowand and Molina are still the teams top power-bats (as sad as that is for me to say) and as such they should be in the middle of that lineup, and since Molina is super duper slow, Rowand should be hitting in front of Molina.

Therefore the Giants lineup for tonight's game against the Dodgers (if I were Bruce Bochy) should look as follows:

1. Randy Winn RF

2. Fred Lewis LF

3. Aaron Rowand CF

4. Bengie Molina C

5. Pablo Sandoval 3B

6. Travis Ishikawa 1B

7. Edgar Renteria SS

8. Manny Burriss 2B

Rowand is absolutely raking right now, and hitting in front of Bengie Molina will only get him more pitches to hit.

And having Rowand in front of Molina will provide another major benefit: A double from Molina will more often than not score Rowand from first, while last season a double from Rowand with Molina on first would hardly ever score the Giants catcher. Just another reason why the Giants need to have Rowand hitting in front of Molina.

Earth to the Giants, the season is 162 games long, you have only played eight of those games.

The starting pitching and the bullpen will start to turn things around soon. Pitching is the strength of this team, no doubt about it. Lincecum, RJ, Cain, Wilson, Affeldt, etc., won't be in this mini-slump for long, they are poised to hit their groove once they settle in.

But as for right now, a little tweak in the offense could be exactly what the doctor ordered.