The MLB All-Star Game is next week, but just about every team in the big leagues has hit the halfway point in their schedules. For the San Francisco Giants, it was nothing short of an intriguing first half for the team that is trying to win their fourth World Series title since 2010. Here is what we learned about the Giants through the first half of the season.
They’re a resilient bunch
If someone were to tell you that a major league club lost its starting third baseman, its starting right fielder and vocal leader in the clubhouse, one starting pitcher and a key piece of its bullpen all to injury, yet they still carried one of the best records in baseball, what would you think?
You might think they were crazy, but that’s exactly what has happened through San Francisco’s first half of the season. Third baseman Matt Duffy, outfielder Hunter Pence, starter Matt Cain and reliever Sergio Romo are all currently on the DL for a variety of maladies.
And none of this even takes into account the fact that second baseman Joe Panik is missing time right now due to concussion symptoms, outfielder Angel Pagan has spent time on the DL, while bench and roll players like Ehire Adrianza and Kelby Tomlinson are also out.
Yet, here are the Giants, once again in contention. They entered play on Sunday with a very healthy 51-32 record and a five-game lead over the second-place Los Angeles Dodgers and a 12.5-game lead over the third-place Colorado Rockies in the National League West standings.
How much longer the Giants will be able to keep this pace up with minor league reinforcements might be the team’s biggest storyline in the second half.
Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto have arguably been the best one-two punch in baseball
The Giants were looking to reload their starting rotation last offseason with the impending departure of Tim Lincecum and the retirement of Tim Hudson, so they went out and lured Johnny Cueto to the Bay in hopes that he could help soften the drop-off in the rotation after Madison Bumgarner. But Cueto has far surpassed that expectation.
After combining to go 11-13 with a 3.44 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP and 81 runs allowed in 212 regular season innings last season with Cincinnati and Kansas City, the Dominican native has started 17 games through Saturday and has posted an impressive 12-1 record with a 2.57 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP and 35 earned runs allowed in 122.1 innings pitched.
The Bumgarner/Cueto combination has become a formidable one-two punch not only in the NL but arguably all of baseball. The two have combined to go 21-5 this season. As the season approaches the All-Star break, the only other one-two punch that could be comparable is that of the Cubs’ Jake Arrieta and John Lester, who have combined to go 21-7 through Sunday.
Pitching (once again) is still the foundation of their roster
Its often been said for over five years now that as the pitching goes, so go the Giants. And once again this season, that appears to be the case.
Why have the Giants been able to maintain their winning ways despite the injuries to key components of the roster? Because of the pitching. Through Saturday, the starting staff’s six complete games ranked first in the NL, while the staff as a whole has been charged with 211 walks, the second-best mark in the league.
Even their staff ERA (3.66), earned runs allowed (304) and home runs allowed (77) were all ranked in the top-five in the National League.
Need further proof that the San Francisco starting pitching has been solid? The Giants have won five or more consecutive games three times already this season — which has accounted for 21 wins total — and the starting pitcher was credited with 13 of those 21 wins, and that includes back-to-back complete game victories from Bumgarner and Cueto on May 17 and 18 in San Diego.
With key parts of the starting lineup like Pence and Duffy on the DL, it will be vital for the whole Giants pitching staff to duplicate their first half performance here in the second half.
In what has become a calling card for the Giants — an even-year — we learned in the first half that whether you believe in the magic or not, this is a contending team.
The post What we’ve learned about the Giants in another even year appeared first on Todays Knuckleball.