A's and Giants Weekly Review: Week Three

It's been three weeks since the baseball season officially began. Teams are starting to show their true selves—gelling together so to speak.  People are forming their opinions based on what they have seen, and this is how I see things after three weeks of San Francisco Bay Area baseball.

Let's start with the A's, shall we?

I have to say, although they are two games below .500, I am not worried.

Why?  For one thing, they have one of youngest pitching staffs in the league.

Are they going to struggle? Of course, but that doesn't mean they are bad.

Another thing is that through the last decade and a half, the A's have gotten off to a slow start. Whether it be due to injury or lack of performance, the A's always seem to heat up in the middle or end of May.

The A's starting pitchers have shown some great work, but are inconsistent at times.  I do believe Curt Young will be very instrumental in turning these young pitchers into pure studs. At least some of them. 

The hitting will come.  It's the pitching that's still a question mark.

With that said, I now come to the Giants. 

It appears they have the bats to win over weaker teams (i.e. Diamondbacks and Padres). 

In the last eight games, they faced the Diamondbacks six times. Winning four games out of six is good, but against a team that is struggling to find their offense is not encouraging.

They have a major test to pass before I can put some of doubt away.

I was surprised with Zito's performance against the Padres. I only hope he can do it again tonight against Dodgers. The Giants need to win this series in order for me to relax. The Dodgers are the team to beat in the west.

The Giant bats need to wake up big time and they need to play spotless defense. 

Most of all, they need to pitch lights out. The Giants need Zito to pitch six or seven strong innings.

The bullpen is taxed and the sole reason they lost yesterday was that Brian Wilson's arm is tired.

If the starting pitchers can't go at least five innings consistently, there is major problem. Any manager knows that. Bochy knows that.

That's why Cain is in between Johnson and Zito. It helps to have a work horse, so the bullpen doesn't have to pitch so much.

The A's just need to focus on getting hits and I have a feeling the pitching will come. 

Oh, they need to stay healthy as well. Chavy is getting hammered and Nomar is playing, but he can go down at any time. Right now the A's have defensive depth in AAA, but are lacking offense.

Zito, I'm rooting for ya!

And remember, there's nothing like the smell of baseball in the air!