San Francisco Giants: Is It Time To Make Those October Vacation Plans?

Bruce Bochy called tonight's game the "low point of the season." With so many low points I wouldn't know where to start if I were him. Buster Posey's injury was a "low point." So was Freddy Sanchez's injury. But night after night the Giants have continued to set new lows, especially in the area of offensive production. 

However, I will admit that tonight's game told us all we need to know about the San Francisco Giants. The odds of them now catching the Arizona Diamonbacks are two, slim and none. Short of a complete collapse by Arizona (always possible; see the 2010 San Diego Padres) and your Giants starting to put some runs on the board (no comment), the Giants and their wives and the team's management can plan to start their vacations on September 29.

Curiosity got the best of me, so I did a little research after the game. It seemed that the Giants were getting shut down by a number of stiffs, guys with ERA's anywhere from the mid fours to the high sixes.

Tonight, it was Randy "Cy" Wells who not only pitched his first career shutout (imagine that, Giants fans!), but his first career complete game. In fact, Wells, who came into the game with an ERA of 6.10, hadn't gone more then seven innings in any of his 17 starts this season. The Giants managed two measly hits against the now almighty Wells, who made them look bad (once again).

This season, the Giants have been shut down by stiffs and has-beens like Tom Gorzelany, Mike Pelfrey, Graham Godfrey, Carl Pavano, Ryan Demster, Rick Porcello, Mike Minor, Jordan Lyles, Henry Sosa (yes, that Henry Sosa) and tonight it was Randy Wells. You're asking "who" and "is he still in the major leagues?" Yes he is, and he's shutting down your San Francisco Giants.

I could have run these numbers for the entire season, but the last 23 games, in which the Giants have lost 14 of them (and fallen five games behind the red hot Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West) the 23 starters had a cumulative ERA of 3.96.

Keep in mind that includes aces like the Phillies' Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay, the Braves' Tim Hudson and Jair Jurrjens and the Astros' Henry Sosa (just kidding about the last one). So if you take those five starts out of the equation the number is 4.35. In those 23 games these starters have an ERA of 2.18! Cy Young himself would be proud.

This Giants, without Buster Posey, Freddie Sanchez, Nate Schierholtz and the 2010 versions of Cody Ross and Aubrey Huff, cannot swing their way out of a bag made out of paper-mache. The futility night after night, even against pitchers that everyone else is tattooing, is just getting to be a bit much to watch.

There have been many times throughout the 2011 season prior to this losing skid that I asked myself and my friends, "How is this team hitting so poorly and winning?" Well, the answer is it couldn't last. Yes, it has gotten worse, but not that much worse.

The Giants have just stopped delivering in the clutch. It happens occasionally, but not enough. And with so little margin for error, the Giants are losing more than they're winning. There is no reason that this trend won't continue.

At this point, it is beyond me to somehow believe that this team will somehow start scoring enough runs to win more then half of their games. Even if they somehow were able to beat the Diamondbacks in all six games between the two teams (not likely at all, but possible), the Giants somehow need to figure a way to beat teams like the Padres, the Dodgers, the Rockies and the Cubs.  And they've shown no ability lately to be able to beat anybody (except themselves).

If the Diamondbacks go just over .500 the rest of the way (14-13) that would give them 90 wins. That means the Giants would have to go 19-8 just to tie. That's a winning percentage of .703.

So either the Diamondbacks somehow forget how to win and the Giants somehow back in, or it's vacation time for your Giants. I hear Hawaii is beautiful this time of year!

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