San Francisco Giants' 10 Biggest Nemeses
In the long-and-storied history of the San Francisco Giants, the team has had some of the greatest stars ever. Players like Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal, all living legends, have worn the orange and black.
Throughout history, the Giants have had several opponents who always seemed to raise their game whenever they played the Giants. Players like Don Drysdale, Greg Maddux, Bob Gibson and Maury Wills were more than thorns in the side of the Giants. They were downright despised as opponents.
The current Giants, which won it all in 2010, have their own share of stars. Players like Tim Lincecum, Aubrey Huff, Matt Cain and Buster Posey lead the Giants on their quest to repeat as world champions.
Who are the players that stand in their way?
Let's take a look at the top 10 opposing players who are the biggest nemeses to the Giants.
10. Clayton Richard, San Diego Padres
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Clayton Richard is one of the top young pitchers in the NL West. Pitching in the spacious confines of Petco Park in San Diego also helps Richard keep his stats looking good.
In six games against the Giants in 2010, Clayton Richard has a 4-1 record and 2.39 ERA. His WHIP ratio is 1.14 and the Giants are only hitting a weak .237 against him.
In 37.2 innings, Richard has allowed only 32 hits.
9. Hong-Chih Kuo, Los Angeles Dodgers
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Hong-Chih Kuo is one of the top left-handed relief pitchers in baseball. Last season, when Jonathan Broxton struggled, Kuo stepped in and did an admirable job closing games for the Dodgers.
Kuo has been tough on the Giants. In 23 career games against San Francisco, he has thrown 30 innings, giving up only 21 hits. He has also struck out 27 Giant batters in those games.
Kuo fashioned a 2.70 ERA and an excellent 1.07 WHIP against the Giants. Their batting average against him is only .196.
8) Scott Hairston, New York Mets
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Scott Hairston is a journeyman player having played in the Major Leagues for five different teams in eight Major League seasons, including two separate stints in San Diego. Hairston, a utility outfielder has never had more than 340 at-bats in any year.
Somehow, the San Francisco Giants seem to bring out the best in Hairston. In his career, Hairston has a total of 68 home runs and 200 RBI.
Against the Giants, Hairston has 11 home runs and 27 RBI, more than against any other team he has faced. Some of those hits have also been game breakers for whichever teams Hairston played with at the time.
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7) Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies
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Troy Tulowitzki is one of the top players in baseball. The reality of the situation is that he is not only a nemesis of the Giants but of every other team in the league.
Entering his sixth season, Tulowitzki is batting .299 with 10 home runs and 40 RBI against the Giants. Only against Arizona does Tulowitzki have more home runs with 12. His 40 RBI against the Giants is topped only by his 42 against the Padres.
Troy Tulowitzki was an All-Star in 2010 and also won the Gold Glove last year. He is one of the main reasons Colorado will give the Giants a run for the money for the 2011 NL West title.
6) Mat Latos, San Diego Padres
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Mat Latos had a breakout year in 2010. He has yet to pitch this season due to a shoulder injury, but is expected back shortly.
Latos not only pitched well against the Giants, but he also fueled the rivalry by autographing some baseballs with the words "I hate SF." There will be many catcalls when Latos comes to San Francisco, of that you can be sure.
Latos started six games against the Giants last year and went 2-2 with one complete-game shutout. He threw 38 innings and allowed only 31 hits and four walks with 30 strikeouts.
His ERA against the Giants was a very solid 2.37, along with an outstanding WHIP of 0.92. His batting average against was .221.
5) Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado Rockies
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In the first half of the 2010 season, Ubaldo Jimenez looked like a lock to win the NL Cy Young award. Although he was not as strong in the latter portion of the season, Jimenez still had an excellent year.
Against the Giants, Jimenez went 2-1. He started four games against San Francisco and pitched extremely well in three of those games. The Giants did rough him up in a start in July for seven earned runs.
Even with the one bad outing, Jimenez, had excellent numbers against the Giants. In 30 innings, Jimenez only allowed 17 hits and 10 earned runs. Considering the fact that seven of those runs occurred in one game, you can see how effective Jimenez was in the other three.
Jimenez stuck out 33 in those 30 innings, to go along with one shutout. He had an ERA of 3.00 and an outstanding WHIP ratio of 0.93. To further warrant being on our nemesis list, the Giants could only manage a batting average of .168 against him.
4) Yorvit Torrealba, Texas Rangers
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Yorvit Torrealba played for the San Francisco Giants from 2001 to the mid part of the 2005 season, when he was traded to the Seattle Mariners. Since his departure from the Giants, he seems to have made it a point to put a hurt on them whenever he gets the chance.
In 2010, Torrealba had just seven home runs for the San Diego Padres. However, two of those long balls were against the Giants.
In his last two years with the Rockies, Torrealba was also a thorn in the side of the Giants. In 2009, Torrealba hit only two home runs, but one was against the Giants. He also hit a scorching .412 against the tough Giants pitching staff.
2008, was not much different. Torrealba hit six home runs, with one coming against the Giants. He hit .318 against his former team.
The Giants are thankful that Yorvit Torrealba has moved from the NL West to the American League with the Texas Rangers. They won't have to face him as often.
3) Bell, Adams and Gregerson, San Diego Padres
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The San Diego Padres have mastered the art of shortening the game. The Padres have a lights out bullpen and if they have a lead heading into the seventh inning, they are almost unbeatable.
The Padres offense did not scare anyone in 2010, but their stellar pitching staff had them in the lead for much of the season. The Giants were able to overtake the Padres during the September stretch run, but it wasn't easy.
Whenever the Padres have a lead going into the seventh inning, the formula often is the same. The seventh inning man is Luke Gregerson. He has a devastating slider and in his 11 appearances against the Giants last year, stymied them with a 1.59 ERA and a .150 batting average against.
Mike Adams usually pitches in the eighth inning. He was equally effective with a 1.80 ERA and holding the Giants to a .231 batting average.
Heath Bell then comes in for the ninth inning save situation. In his 10 appearances against San Francisco, Bell has eight saves, an ERA of 1.74 and batting average against of .263.
The 2011 season will be another challenging one for the Padres pitching staff. The trade of star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox will put an even greater emphasis on the pitching staff. With Gregerson, Adams and Bell, the Padres are in good hands.
2) Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles Dodgers
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Several years ago when my daughter was just learning the game of baseball, I taught her how to keep score. The very first game she scored was against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Rafael Furcal had a monster game, with three hits, on base four times and a couple of steals. My daughter quickly learned his name as one of those hated Dodgers.
"That Furcal guy is really good," she remarked. To this day, she remembers that name.
That was just a microcosm of the success Rafael Furcal has had against the Giants. Since 2006, when Furcal joined the Dodgers, he has a .310 batting average against the Giants.
In 73 games, Furcal has 53 runs scored and also 16 stolen bases. That definitely qualifies as a nemesis.
1) Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
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Clayton Kershaw has earned his position as the No. 1 nemesis to the San Francisco Giants. He has pitched eight games against the Giants, seven of them starts. His 3-1 record against San Francisco only begins to tell the story.
Kershaw is one of the top left-handed pitchers in the league and has been especially dominant over the Giants in his recent outings. Dating back to 2010, Kershaw has now thrown 23.2 innings against the Giants without allowing an earned run.
His career numbers against the Giants are also tremendous. In 50.2 innings, Kershaw has allowed only 31 hits and struck out 54 batters. His ERA of 1.07, WHIP ratio of 0.91 and batting average against of .175 are outstanding. He also has one complete-game shutout against the Giants.
Clayton Kershaw is only 23 years of age, so the Giants will be seeing plenty of him over the upcoming years. It will be a good idea if they can find a way to start hitting him with more authority.
2011 Is a New Season
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The San Francisco Giants celebrated their World Series title in style. There were festivities prior to each of the first three Giant home games of the 2011 season.
Now the festivities are over and the team is settling in for the long grind of the season. Starting out 4-6 over their first 10 games, it is now time for the Giants to focus in on the 2011 campaign.
On paper, the Giants look even more formidable than the team that won the world championship in 2010. However, as they proved last year, the games are not played on paper.
It will be up to the Giants to play good baseball if they want to make a run at the playoffs in 2011. I think it will be another exciting season, especially if the Giants can find a way to subdue some of the nemesis-type players I mentioned in this article.
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