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If the All-Stars were today, these would be my 33 guys for the National League team. My breakdown is based on 20 position players, deserving of All-Star recognition, and 13 pitchers.  And one final player, 33rd man on the roster!

Starters:

 C   Yadier Molina  STL

1B  Albert Pujols  STL

2B Chase Utley   PHI

3B David Wright NYM

SS Hanley Ramirez FLA

OF Ryan Braun MIL

OF Carlos Beltran NYM

OF Raul Ibanez PHI

Reserves:

C Brian McCann ATL

1B Ryan Howard PHI

1B Adrian Gonzalez SD

2B Freddy Sanchez PIT

3B Chipper Jones ATL

3B Mark Reynolds ARI

SS Miguel Tejada HOU

OF Brad Hawpe COL

OF Justin Upton ARI

OF Adam Dunn WAS

UT Pablo Sandoval  SF

MY 33rd Guy: Either 1B Prince Fielder MIL  or C Bengie Molina SF

Pitchers:

SP Tim Lincecum SF

SP Chad Billingsley LA

SP Matt Cain SF

SP Dan Haren ARI

SP Johan Santana NYM

SP Josh Johnson FLA

SP Jason Marquis COL

SP Ted Lilly CHC or Yovani Gallardo MIL 

CL Jonathan Broxton LA

CL Francisco Rodriguez

CL Heath Bell SD

CL Ryan Franklin STL

CL Trevor Hoffman MIL

Tim Lincecum threw another complete game gem, this time a two-hit shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals in a 10-0 victory.  The complete game was Lincecum’s 2nd in a row and 3rd one in his last 4 starts. Lincecum has now 5 complete games for his career as he keeps adding to his post Cy Young resume. 

Lincecum is on verge for another Cy Young Award if he keeps pitching like this.  He is just absolutely dominant and has some of the best stuff in the game. He has a fastball that reaches 97, 98 MPH like it did against the Cards, he has a devastating changeup, he still has his nasty 12-6 curveball, and he has developed another good pitch in his sweeping slider. With these four pitches and his poise, Lincecum is proving to be one of the best pitchers in the game today.

Lincecum was very dominant in his most recent outing against the Cardinals as he threw a complete game two-hitter and was economical as he threw only 95 pitches.  He also added 8 more strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter.  Lincecum also went 1 for 3 at the plate with a sacrifice bunt.

Offensively, Lincecum got more than enough as the Giants scorched for 10 runs on 12 hits.  The red-hot Nate Schierholtz continued his hot hitting as he went 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored to raise his average to .322, good for 2nd on the team behind hitting sensation Pablo Sandoval (who went 0-3 with a run scored and RBI in the game).  Firstbaseman Travis Ishikawa went 1 for 4 at the plate, but his big hit was a 3 run homerun that broke the game open for the Giants. It was Ishikawa’s 5th of the season. 

“I’m throwing my pitches down in the zone better,” Lincecum said. “Their tendencies are that they don’t want to get too deep in the count. They’re swinging early and often. I just try to give them pitches they won’t hit out of the park.”

A fully rested Lincecum is destined to return to Busch Stadium on July 14. And unlike his All-Star experience last year, when he ended up in a New York hospital with a severe flu, he hopes to be an active participant.

“Well yeah, that’d be awesome,” he said. “Maybe I’d actually play in the game.”

Offensively, the Cardinals were silenced by Lincecum. However, Albert Pujols went 1 for 3 including a double, but Lincecum struck MVP-caliber Albert Pujols out in his 1st appearance. 

 The San Francisco Giants 2009 success so far has been because of their pitching, mainly their starting rotation.  The Giants (39-32) feature the 2nd best record in the National League, are 1st in the Wild Card, and our 2nd in the NL West behind the MLB Wins-leader and Divisional rival Los Angeles Dodgers.  It has been due to some strong starting pitching, good defense, and timely hitting. 

The Giants formidable rotation feature a Big Three in ace Tim Lincecum, Randy Johnson (Big Unit) and a rising star in Matt Cain.  The Big Three of the Giants combine with a record of 23-8. However, their bottom of the rotation of former Cy Young Barry Zito and Jonathan Sanchez combine with a record of 6-15.  Conversely, Zito has been pitching better than his record indicates due to a low-run support when he pitches, but Zito is 4-7 with a 4.54 E.RA. and is 3-1 in the month of June after a 1-6 start.  Sanchez, however, is the achilles heel of the Giants rotation as his 2-8 record and 5.54 E.R.A indicates. Sanchez is dealing with consistency and battling to keep his job in this strong starting rotation of the Giants. Sanchez has tons of potential and has great stuff, but lacks command.  Hopefully he can turn it around and help anchor this rotation the rest of the season.

Going back to the Big Three (Lincecum, Johnson, Cain) they are ranking up there to the best trio of any rotation  in the major leagues today.  First, ace Tim Lincecum and reigning NL Cy-Young Award winner is 7-2 with a 2.57 E.R.A and leads the majors in strikeouts with 124.  The Big Unit, Randy Johnson is 7-5 with a 4.68 E.R.A. and is 2-1 with a 2.93 in June.  And the rising star and another ace of the staff Matt Cain, is having a Cy Young type of season and is almost a shoe-in this year’s All-Star Classic next month as he is 9-1 with a 2.28 E.R.A.

So for the Giants to continue their success and stay in contention for playoffs, they will need their Big Three to stay strong and for their bottom of the rotation to pick it up a little bit. 

What’s on Tap:  Matt Cain takes the ball for the Giants as they go on the road to face the Milwaukee Brewers, who are second behind them in the Wild Card race. Cain is searching for his 10th win and to be the 1st 10 game winner in the National League. He will be opposing Brewers young ace, Yiovanni Gallardo, who is 7-4 with a 3.00 E.R.A.

One thing for certain is Tim Lincecum is still one of the top pitchers in the league today. The reigning NL Cy Young Award winner couldn’t have a better season as he did last season. Well, it is safe to say that Lincecum is having another pretty special season again, only this time he has some competition and a counterpart on the same staff as him in Matt Cain, who is 9-1 with a 2.28 E.R.A and making a bid to start in the All-Star game next month. Lincecum’s numbers for the season are he is 7-2 with a 2.57 E.R.A. and leads the league in strikeouts with 124: WOW!

Lincecum was dominant in this outing against the A’s last night as he threw another complete game, his 2nd against the A’s this season and 4th complete game overall for Lincecum in his career. Well, Lincecum threw a gem as he gave up just one run on 7 hits and had 12 strikeouts in the Giants 4-1 victory. He was absolutely filthy throughout the game, but there were couple times where he had to work out of bases-loaded jams. And that is what he did, worked out of them without being scored upon as he induced two inning-ending double plays in the 5th and 6th innings respectively. That is what good pitchers do, is they bare down and make their pitches when they need to.  Lincecum is definitely seems to be the definition of what a good pitcher is. 

Pablo Sandoval got the Giants offense going in the first inning off A’s starter Vin Mazzaro as he ripped a double down the left field line driving in speedy outfielder Andres Torres to put the Giants up 1-0. Bengie Molina would then drive in Sandoval on a sacrifice fly to right field putting the Giants up 2-0.  The RBI was Molina’s 42nd of the season.  On the night, Sandoval was 1 for 3 with an RBI, run scored, and he drew a walk.  Sandoval’s average remained at .336 and he is now 3rd in the NL in hitting.

Other bright spots in the Giants lineup was shortstop Renteria went 2 for 4 with an RBI double and a run scored and Nate Schierholtz went 3 for 4.

A’s were stymied offensively by Lincecum as they could only muster 7 hits and one run on a solo homerun off the bat of Jason Giambi.  Orlando Cabrera and Ryan Sweeney both went 2 for 4 for the A’s.

The San Francisco Giants fell to their Bay Area Rival Oakland Athletics 5-1 Monday Night in game 1 of this Bay Bridge Series. 

Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez battled and competed, but once again struggled with command of his secondary pitches and lasted only 5 1/3 innings giving up 8 hits, 4 earned runs and had 3 walks to 3 strikeouts and suffered his 8th loss of this season in this setback to the A’s.

Oakland A’s rookie 21-year old starter Trevor Cahill stole the show and dominated the Giants offense as they struggled to get anything going against him.  Cahill went 7 innings giving up only 4 hits on one run and had 5 strikeouts in the outing. Cahill is now 5-5 on the season. 

Cahill’s only blunder was a solo home run in the 2nd inning off the bat of Giants firstbaseman Travis Ishikawa, his 4th of the season. 

A’s offense was led by Orlando Cabrera, who went 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI and Bobby Crosby, who went 1 for 4 with 3 RBI’s in the game.  

Giants hitting sensation Pablo Sandoval only went 1 for 4 with a double, seeing his average drop a couple points to .336, still good for 3rd in hitting in the NL behind the Dodgers Juan Pierre (.337) and All-Star thirdbaseman David Wright (.348)

Barry Zito carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, with the Giants leading 2-0 until he allowed a two-run shot to Rangers cleanup hitter Andruw Jones that hooked around the left-field foul pole. It was the first hit Zito allowed and it was a big one as it not only ruined his no-hitter, but it ruined his shutout and also tied the game at 2 apiece.

However, Giants would rally in the bottom of the 7th inning with Barry Zito out of the game and Randy Winn delivered the go-ahead RBI single to score Rowand and give the Giants the 3-2 lead and the well deserving win to Barry Zito. With the victory Zito improved to 4-7 on the season. 

Bob Howry threw a scoreless 8th and closer Brian Wilson finished the game and picked up his 19th save of the season.  With the Giants 3-2 victory over the Rangers, it gave the G-men a sweep over the AL-West leading Rangers and the Wild Card lead.  At 37-31, the Giants are 2nd in the NL West and 7.5 games back of the NL West leading Dodgers and are a 1/2 game ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the Wild Card Lead. 

Pablo Sandoval continued his hitting surge as he whacked two doubles and went 2 for 3 for the game and he also drew a walk to raise his average to .338, which ranks him 2nd in the NL in hitting. 

Fred Lewis was in the midst of a slump offensively, where he was 4 for 32 in the month of June. But Lewis came up big as he hit a go-ahead two-run homer and a no-doubter off Rangers Starter Scott Feldman to lead the Giants to a 6-4 victory. Lewis went 1 for 3 in the game with his HR and 2RBI’s, but he struck out twice in his first two at bats. Nonetheless, Lewis’s big hit must of been a relief to him and his peers and it definitely sparked the Giants to a victory.

Randy Johnson took the no decision in the game as he pitched 5.2 innings and ended up giving 4 earned runs as he left with 2 runners on with the Giants leading 3-2, but reliever Brandon Medders came in and on his first pitch, Rangers outfielder Marlon Byrd delivered a go-ahead two-run double to put the Rangers up 4-3 and make Johnson in line for the loss. 

However, Lewis changed that quickly with his big homerun that ended up richocheting off a fan’s hands and into McCovey Cove. 

Sergio Romo came in the 7th with runners on 1st and 2nd and just one out and he got a couple outs to hold the Giants lead and pick up his 1st victory of the season.

NL holds leader and setup man Jeremy Affeldt came in to throw a 1,2,3 8th inning and lowered his E.R.A. to 1.65. And Wilson pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up his 18th save of the season and lowered his E.R.A. to 3.23. 

Giants offense was led by Aaron Rowand, who went 3 for 3 on the day which included a lead-off homerun to start the game, his 3rd one of the season and 4th of his career. Rowand is currently hitting .303 with 7HR and 31RBI and he needs the fans support to get him voted into the All-Star game in St. Louis next month. 

San Francisco Giants fall to the Angels again 8-1 this time after another rough start by their starting pitcher. The achilles heel of the Giants seems to be they’re bottom of the rotation and lack of offensive punch at the bottom of the order.

Giants 5th starter Jonathan Sanchez was rocked for 10 hits and lasted only 3.2 innings and gave up 7 runs (6 earned). Sanchez fell to 2-7 on the year and his trade value has dropped drastically and he might be on his way down to the minor leagues soon.  So expect Kevin Pucetas to be called up from Triple-A to replace Sanchez in the rotation in the coming weeks and maybe days to give the Giants some new life at the bottom of the rotation.  Sanchez has battled inconsistency and lack of command all season and hasn’t figured it out so far this year. 

The struggling Emmanuel Burriss was sent down to Triple-A and replaced on the roster by Matt Downs, who made his MLB Debut tonight, but went 0-3, however, he hit some hard balls to the outfield but didn’t have anything to show for it. Downs time in the big leagues will probably be short-lived as Kevin Frandsen will most likely take his spot on the roster in the coming days, however he couldn’t be called up cause he was just sent down recently and has to be down there 10 days before he can get called back up.  So expect some roster moves in the near future.

Fred Lewis, continued to struggle, as he came into the game off the bench and went 0 for 2, seeing his average drop to .254 now.  So Lewis might find himself getting demoted to the minors real soon, as he hasn’t seemed to figure it out offensively. 

Pablo Sandoval also had a bad day defensively, which is unusual, as he committed three errors in the game and made two on one play that proved costly in the Angels 4 run third inning. However, Sandoval still went 2 for 4 at the plate and raised his average to .335. Sandoval is expected to start at third base tomorrow in the finale of this three game series.

Angels Starter Sean O’Sullivan, just 21-years old, was phenomenal as he made his MLB Debut in his spot start for the banged up Ervin Santana. O’Sullivan was strong for 7 innings, giving up just 5 hits and 1 earned run and added 5 strikeouts in his outing. O’Sullivan picked up his 1st major league victory, but he was sent back to the minors to Triple-A Salt Lake, after the game as Santana will make his next scheduled start in the rotation, leaving no room for O’Sullivan. However, O’Sullivan should expect to get called up in the near future after a great performance on the mound. 

Angels offense has been sizzling lately, after scoring 9 runs last night, they scored 8 runs against Giants pitching and had 15 hits, including two home runs by Maicer Izturis and Mike Napoli. 

What’s on Tap: The Giants turn to their ace Tim Lincecum and look for him to be the stopper and get the Giants back on the winning track and looks to end their mini 2-game losing streak and look to avoid a sweep of the Los Angeles of Anahei

Matt Cain was phenomenal in his outing against the Oakland Athletics. Cain led the Giants to a 7-1 victory and helped them complete a sweep against their Bay Area rivals.

Two days after Tim Lincecum’s complete game gem against the A’s, Matt Cain hurled one of his own complete game gems, his 3rd complete game of the season and 7th of his young big league career.

One thing is for certain, Matt Cain is having one of those seasons that people around the nation are going to start talking about. Cain is not only making his case for this year’s National League Cy Young, but he is also making the case to be the starter for the National League team in this year’s All-Star classic in St. Louis next month. 

Matt Cain’s numbers are spectacular as he is now 9-1 with a 2.39 E.R.A.  He ranks 1st in the NL in wins, 3rd in the NL in E.R.A., and is on a personal 7 game winning streak. He hasn’t lost since May 2nd against the now hot Colorado Rockies. He is also 3-0 with a 2.65 E.R.A. in the month of June. 

In this particular outing against the A’s, Cain went the full nine innings, gave up only 4 hits, 1 earned run on a solo homerun by Jack Cust, and had 9 strikeouts en route to a 7-1 Giants victory.

The offense was led by some role players and one unheralded star of this Giants squad. First, Andres Torres, filling in at Centerfield and the leadoff spot for Aaron Rowand to give him much needed rest, went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored.  And Nate Schierholtz vying for an everyday job as the rightfielder for the Giants had a spectacular day as he went 2 for 4 with a HR and 3RBI’s on the day. His homerun was not your ordinary homerun either as he hit a ball into triple’s alley for a three-run inside the park homerun. It marked the 1st homerun of the season and 1st major league career homerun for Schierholtz.  However, Nate will take it anyway he can get in the Giants’ pitcher friendly park.  Schierholtz also threw out Jack Hannahan at second base on a single down the line after Hannahan tried to turn it into a double. All in all, Schierholtz was the star of the game.

Moreover, the forgotten man in this game is Giants young hitting sensation and versatile Pablo Sandoval. Sandoval hit a long 2 run homerun to left field off of A’s young starter Brett Anderson in the first inning to give the Giants a 3-1 lead and it also turned out to be the game-winner.  So Sandoval was the unheralded star in this game and he also played a solid game at 1st base picking balls and stretching like he has played the position all his life. No matter where you put the “Panda”, he is going to give you 110% percent and play that position well and smoke balls when is at the plate. 

Sandoval, like Cain and Lincecum, is a spirited player and is starting to make a name for himself and hopefully he can join his fellow teammates in the All-Star Classic next month.  Sandoval is now hitting .325 on the year (which ranks 7th in the NL in Batting Average) with 6HR and 29RBI. 

Random Fact: In this series, Giants starters went 25 innings, gave up only 15 hits, and struck out 29 batters and gave up only 2 walks en route to a 3-0 record and sweep of the Oakland Athletics. The Giants Big Three (Lincecum, Johnson, and Cain) are proving to be a Godsend for these Giants as their combined record is 21-7, which is best in the Majors out of all the 1,2,3 punches in the rotation around the league.  Giants offense also outscored the A’s 15-3 thanks to some excellent starting pitching by Tim Lincecum, Randy Johnson, and Matt Cain.

Tim Lincecum single-handedly beats the San Francisco Giants’ Bay Area Rival Oakland A’s with his arm and bat in the 3-0 victory. Lincecum was dominant as he threw a complete game shutout and scattered 7 hits and added 8 strikeouts in the game.  It only took Lincecum 110 pitches to finish the game. 

With the score deadlocked at 0-0 in the 5th inning, Lincecum came up with the bases loaded and only one out and  delivered an RBI single, that turned out to be the game winner, and put the Giants up 1-0. Rowand then delivered the knockout punch with a two-run single to left field passed the diving Orlando Cabrera to put the Giants up 3-0. That proved to be all Lincecum needed as he got strong later in the game only giving up 2 hits in his last four innings of work.

Oakland A’s young rookie starter Vin Mazzaro was outdueled by reigning NL Cy Young Tim Lincecum, but he pitched well in his six innings of work. He carried a no-hitter and his scoreless innings streak since his callup and MLB Debut into the 5th inning, but the Giants scored three runs off Mazzaro, which were the first runs he has allowed in his young big league career.  Overall, Mazzaro gave up 6 hits, 3 earned runs and had 4 strikeouts in his outing, but picked up the hard-luck loss. His record fell to 2-1 and his E.R.A went up to 1.37. 

Lincecum was the better pitcher on this given night, but Mazzaro wasn’t bad himself.

 He didn’t allow a hit until Pablo Sandoval’s leadoff bunt single in the fifth and pitched 17 2/3 scoreless innings to start his career.

“I wasn’t expecting him to bunt. It was a good one though,” Mazzaro said. “You have to expect anything from anybody.”

In the end, though, Lincecum dazzled and came on top in the Giants 3-0 victory. With the win, Lincecum’s record went to 6-1 and his E.R.A. lowered to 2.66. 

I guess it looks like this year’s Cy Young at this point in the season is a battle between two Giants pitchers, both just 24 years of age in Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. Cain is 8-1 with a 2.55 E.R.A, but Lincecum ranks in the top of the league in strikeouts, innings pitched, and E.R.A.

One thing is for certain, that Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain will most likely be representing the Giants in this year’s All-Star Classic in St. Louis, although centerfielder Aaron Rowand is making a push to make the All-Star Squad. Rowand went 1 for 4 with 2 RBI’s in the game and his numbers for the season are: he is hitting .310Avg. with 6HR and 30RBI and also has 4 stolen bases.