San Francisco Giants' Plan B for 2009 Is Looking A-OK

"That's a healthy fastball right there, he's got some pop going."—Mike Krukow while observing Brian Wilson's flirtation with triple digits on the radar gun

You gotta love Kruk—he's prone to prattling away and slobbering all over certain subjects, but he comes through on frequent occasion (like this one) with stellar nuggets.

For those who missed it, Wilson did indeed have his A+ heater during Saturday night's game against the Texas Rangers.  And he had just used it to dust Chris Davis, hitting 100 miles per hour on FSN's gun in the process. 

The bullpen's top dog proceeded to open an Omar Vizquel at-bat with two equally intimidating rockets, prompting the comment.

Krukow would go on to remark how Wilson's straighty seemed to be getting better in the closer's second inning of work.

Again, the former 20-game winner nailed it because the stopper needed some excellent defense and a gust from the Baseball Gods on an almost-big fly to right field in order to coax a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.

The exchange got me thinking that the tattooed one's fastball and his appearance on were perfect excuses to write about San Francisco's 2009 season to date.  It went like this:

"Kruk's absolutely right—hold on, why is our (the fans') closer getting six outs in June—because it's a close game with a chance to win the series—whoa, win the series against a first-place, American League club—and the Gents swept the Oakland Athletics as well—holy [expletive], I keep forgetting San Francisco is among the leaders in the National League Wild Card Race—not bad considering how ugly the year started."

It's not the firmest of parallels, but it'll do.  Especially since I don't really need any excuse in the first place.

See, the San Francisco Giants are threatening legitimacy with each series win.

Incidentally, chalk up another one after the boys survived Saturday night's contest by riding superlative pitching from Matt Cain, Wilson, and Sergio Romo.  The Orange and Black emerged with a taut, 2-1 victory in 11 innings (courtesy of a walk-off wild pitch) leaving itself with the option of a sweep on Sunday.

Aside from the debacle with the Los Angeles Angels (which can arguably be forgiven if we cast the Halos as the City's boogeyman), the fellas haven't dropped a series in the month of June.

You have to go all the way back to the penultimate weekend in May to a three-gamer on the road in Seattle for a stinker.

That particular Mariners series wrapped up the second of two vomitous losing jags.  The first one came in early April and saw San Francisco drop eight of 10, while the club dropped nine of 11 during its most recent scuffle.

Other than those two painful stretches, the Bay Area's NL squad is 32-14.  Even better, the Giants have been playing good baseball against some better opponents since the Ms put them out of their misery in May.

The team swept a trio from the Atlanta Braves, took two of three from the St. Louis Cardinals, grabbed another two of three from the Washington Nationals in D.C., split a soggy four-gamer in Florida against the Marlins, and finished a long road trip by taking two of three from the Arizona Diamondbacks before returning to the City for a sweep of three from Oakland.

Then came the Halo hiccup, but the home nine have recovered and taken the first two from the AL West-leading Rangers in impressive fashion—showing heart/resilience, timely hitting, and superb pitching from both starters and relievers.

But what's getting me really excited is there are reasons to think 2009 might get even better (or at least stay this good).

Consider that Randy Winn's not hitting and Jonathan Sanchez isn't pitching so much as he's throwing batting practice or walking the stadium. 

Figure one of those two will shake his funk—Winn's been too consistent over the years and Sanchez has too much talent for both to stay down.  Statistically, it just shouldn't happen.

Of course, if the Baseball Gods adhered to the odds, it would be the first time.

Even if those cruel puppetmasters have a go at us Giant faithful via Winn and Sanchez, there's still plenty to like moving forward.

Sergio Romo's absence in the early going was probably more debilitating than anyone realized, but he's back and looking as filthy-gnarly as ever.

Nate Schierholtz is finally getting some serious burn and he looks like a player capable of delivering on considerable potential—his speed and deceptive thump would be a welcome addition to the offense (provided he can contribute regularly).

Then there's Aaron Rowand.

This cat was frigid before being moved into the lead-off spot.  Since then, he's been a different hitter altogether—almost immediately catching white-hot flame. 

I've been waiting for the cliff to come and I'm sure I'm not alone, but the center fielder is giving every indication of staying this good atop the batting order.  Again, a welcome surprise.

Even Travis Ishikawa's splinter is beginning to stir, which would be gravy at this point since the Giants have already proven they can win without his offensive production.  His key is to keep pickin' it clean at first base.

The cup's runneth over so much, San Francisco's been squeezing out wins despite a struggling Bengie Molina.

So, here we are.

It's almost July and the San Francisco Giants are tied for the NL Wild Card lead in the loss column—they're only one game back overall.  There's still plenty of baseball to be played and a wary eye should be kept on both the Chicago Cubs and the New York Mets.

Both clubs have the talent to make a run that could leave our guys in a cloud of dust.  A big one and in a hurry.

Nevertheless, every day becomes a heavier burden for those teams because they're failing to hit expectations and that's what time does to unmet potential.  Meanwhile, even the starry-eyed dreamers have to admit our Giants are exceeding theirs.

After all, even fans like me—people who thought los Gigantes were sincere contenders before the first pitch of 2009—were probably relying on a watered-down NL West for such optimism. 

Even sans Manny Ramirez, the Los Angeles Dodgers have pretty much shredded those plans.

Luckily, the organization had a different blueprint ready to go.

One that included three vicious arms from the bullpen, a front-loaded starting rotation with some trickery on the back-end, and young hitters who would learn on the job (and do so quickly).

So far, that one's doing just fine.

**www.pva.org**