Flaws Unearthed as Giants Stumble to Win

I suppose it's true of any team when it's going bad, but it seems that every game highlights yet another Giants flaw.

Game One against the Cubs was no exception. They finally got off the schneid with a Renteria blooper, Huff breaking a 1-for-18 skid, and  Pat Burrell's bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 11th. But it was one of those wins where you don't celebrate, you just breathe a sign of relief.

Hats off to Madison Bumgarner, who once again pitched better than the numbers would show. The defense let him down, and several plays that should have been made weren't. Too often the Giants were just a step too slow. Hard to blame the pitcher in that regard.

Poor defense was evident. So was the infield's lack of range, which extended a number of innings. There was poor placement of the infielders -- why the hell was Uribe at double play depth with two out in the first? Lack of team speed came into play when Ishikawa was gunned down in the 10th. The double play bug was back in full force. And of course, once again the Giants coudn't seem to get the big hit when it mattered.

Totally forgettable game from Sandoval. One hit (with two weak grounders) before being lifted in a sixth-inning double switch. But his defense was the real sore spot. He could have gotten Bumgarner out of the first unscathed but geeked a playable liner. Range -- or lack thereof -- played a role on an infield single. He gagged on two throws: one going for an error and Ishikawa saving his bacon on another. He needs to contribute something more than a gimmick to sell cute hats, and right now he's not geting it done.

They say Sandoval plays with a lot of little kid in him. You know how that kid got in there? Pablo ate him.

Burrell turned in a nice game, adding two doubles and a pair of walks to his game-winner. He's not the impact bat the Giants need, but his approach is something the rest of the team needs to emulate. Burrell rarely beats himself. This team has too many guys who are more than willing to contribute to their own demise.

Other than Burrell's sac fly, the only good news of the day came when the Giants designated Todd Wellemeyer for assignment. Not to blow my own horn, but a carefull review of this blog will prove that I never wanted this stiff. I also questioned the signings of DeRosa, Huff, Burrell, Molina and Uribe. I hated Bautista and Casilla. I've never been a proponent of either Sanchez.

Okay, I missed on Huff and, to an extent, Burrell. With regard to the rest, the Giants would have been better served with me as the GM instead of Brian Sabean. Of course, that's not saying much. The Giants would be better off handing the reigns to a chimpanzee as opposed to Satan, uh, Sabean.

The law of averages appears to be catching up with these guys. They certainly weren't good enough to go on the run they had in July based on talent alone. They got a lot of breaks against some teams that have real issues. You had to figure that at some point that would even out. The hope was that the Giants would work to improve the team in the interim. Instead they chose to ride the streak and hope it lasted forever.

No streak does. Eventually the Giants had to come back down to Earth, and the front office didn't provide any help to cushion the fall.

So it was a win, but you wouldn't  expect to struggle this badly against a team that came in 17 games under .500 and sans two big cogs in it's offense (Lee, Soto). Right now, win or lose, the Giants squad can be described with one word: bleh!