The Hunt For Orange October

Baseball in October, what a wonderful thing. Can this year's San Francisco Giants be among the teams playing baseball when it really counts in the Fall?

Only time will tell, but as the second half season begins the G-Men have some work to do if they want to return to the postseason for the first time since 2003.

Here are five things the Giants need to do in order to stay in the playoff hunt:

1. The obvious: acquire another bat for the middle of the line-up. This will mean giving up some pitching to do so; most likley Jonathan Sanchez or Matt Cain. Too many games have passed with the Giants scoring 3 runs or less.

2. Drop Pablo Sandoval to the 8th spot in the order and see how he responds. His continued practice of swinging at almost every pitch thrown, along with his lack of plate discipline has made The Panda a non-threat in the lineup.

3. Make Chris Ray the permament set-up man for closer Brian Wilson. Ray has been lights out!

4. Have the guts to put veteran players such as Aaron Rowand and Edgar Renteria on the bench more often if they are not producing. Winning games trumps coddling players with large contracts.

5. Obtain one-more solid bullpen arm for the stretch drive. The Cincinnati Reds pitching staff of the late 80's and early 90's had it right. Get the lead early from the starters, then bring in three closer type pitchers for the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.

The Giants finished the first half strong, with impressive showings in Milwaukee and Washington. But they need to do more to catch and pass San Diego, which shows no signs of slowing down, the Dodgers who are seemingly unbeatable playing at AT&T; and Colorado who have that underdog/cardiac comeback feel to the team which is dangerous if you're an opponent.

Among the bright spots for San Francisco are that Aubrey Huff has been a very pleasant surprise, the first half MVP for the Giants, they have a burgeoning star in standout catcher and hitter extraordinaire Buster Posey, a consistent hitter and fielder in Freddie Sanchez who has been extremely valuable; and San Francisco made a nice trade for pitcher Chris Ray who has given the bullpen a huge lift.

But the Giants need more protection around Huff and Posey, and who knows if they can count on Pablo Sandoval in the second half of the season. So far this year The Panda has regressed in terms of his hitting. He leads the league at one dubious distinction: hitting in to double plays.

Maybe dropping Pablo to the eighth spot will make him mad and ignite a fuse that brings back his concentration, focus, patience, and confidence at the plate. I hope the last year and a hallf hasn't been a fluke and now that National League pitchers have seen Pablo consistently they are exposing the flaws and deficiencies in his hitting approach to the point where Sandoval cannot adjust.

If Aaron Rowand and Nate Schierholtz can muster some magic from their bats, and Juan Uribe can get in to another of his hot streaks, and Travis Ishikawa stays consistent along with Andres Torres then the Giants can confidently compete with their National League West division foes.

The Hunt for Orange October begins now, and with a little luck, better hitting, and stellar pitching we very well may see more of those orange jerseys playing deep in to the Fall.