No sense in harping on what's wrong here, unless you, like Malita Monkeypants now that she's discovered music, insist on listening to the same song over...and over...and over...and over. Because it's got counting in it, her latest obsession is Feist's 1-2-3-4, which is one-tenth more than the Giants are scoring per game this year.
Other than noting that "Aaron Rowand, Leadoff" is an anagram for "Lipstick, Pig," I'll make one observation about last night's game. Yes, the Giants were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position, which made them 1 for 22 for the series, but twice they hit the ball well and got nothing. Man on third, one out, and Ishikawa lined one to first; later on, Sandoval hit a seed up the middle that Eckstein dived and caught, throwing out Sandoval and saving a run. So credit the Padre D a little. However, there's a bigger picture: when you don't hit balls out of the yard or into the gaps, the opposing defense has chances to make great plays.
Instead of grousing, I'll register my pleasant surprise that this team, despite world-record awfulness at the bat, can remain competitive. Step back from the last week of futility: the three losses to the Mets were painful but not blowouts. A sharper Lincecum, an accurate throw to third by Brian Wilson, and it could have been a split. One or two more hits, and this series could be 1-1, not 2-0. It's easy to play woulda-could-shoulda, and a loss is a loss is a loss, but the larger point is, the team of the past seven games isn't much different than the one that went 16-8 just before. You could argue that this is as good as we'll see and the wheels could easily fall off, but haven't they already done so on the offensive side? The pitching's been good, but it actually could be better: A couple more quality starts from the Big Unit, Wilson and Howry settling down, Merkin Valdez getting it together, and this group would be iron-clad.
In other words, there's a lot of upside. At one game below .500 and 8.5 behind the Dodgers, this team isn't built to win the division, but better work from certain guys and a couple roster changes could make the wild card an interesting proposition.
By no means do I advocate disrupting long-term plans for a short-term chase, but I also don't think trading young players is verboten. I'm fairly certain this front office isn't going to make a desperate lunge for veteran Hillenbrandish savvy at the trade deadline. But with Tim Alderson and Madison Bumgarner making short work of the AA Eastern League so far (Alderson: 14 IP, 11 H, 1 BB, 18 K), the Giants should be more confident every day that trading Jonathan Sanchez isn't going to blow a long-term hole in the rotation. Besides, that decision is still a couple months away, a nice cushion for the team to keep evaluating guys like Kevin Pucetas and Joe Martinez, who has started throwing again, as back-of-rotation replacements and start thinking about the 2010 rotation, which might not have Randy Johnson in it.
Speaking of rotations, it looks like the Padres are about to trade Jake Peavy to the White Sox, but Peavy must approve the deal. According to various reports, the Sox will give up top pitching prospects Aaron Poreda (University of San Francisco grad!) and Clayton Richard, plus a couple others. That's called setting the market.
Peavy's a true ace. But he's also got $60 M due him through 2012. He's only 28 but has a lot of mileage on his arm. If the Pads can extract that bounty for Peavy, what might the Giants get for Sanchez? At least one very good young hitter, don't you think? Now imagine what they might get for Matt Cain...
