GameDay: Will Early Struggles Doom Giants?
CBS 5 Sports Director Dennis O'Donnell hosts "Gameday" every Sunday night at 11:30pm on CBS 5 and offers his unique sports analysis here.
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) -- Check out the Giants box score and you'd swear it was a group of names affiliated with the Toledo Mud Hens: Gregor Blanco, Conor Gillaspie, and Joaquin Arias?
The Giants dropped below .500 with Thursday's loss against the Marlins, with a record of 12-13. And it's not a pretty 12-13.
Their 28 errors rank second in the Major Leagues and they simply can't hit with runners in scoring position (RISP) after going 0-for-5 Thursday and dropping their RISP average to .197. By the way, if you move those letters around you get RIPS.
Have you seen the sick bay? Five key players from the 2010 World Series team are on the disabled list:
Freddy Sanchez
Aubrey Huff
Brian Wilson
Jeremy Affeldt
Pablo Sandoval
The feel-good story of Buster Posey's remarkable comeback still feels good, but overcoming the loss of so many key players is impossible, regardless of the pitching staff. The Giants were swept by a struggling Marlins team and it should have been worse. Miami, also inept with RISP, left 30 runners on base.
Alas, I bring good news. The Los Angeles Dodgers aren't likely to keep the magic through the summer. Point being, it hasn't been a good start for any of the NL West favorites. So the Giants have time to get healthy, with the obvious exception of Brian Wilson. Five games out in May isn't the same as being five games out in September. As my good buddy Mick sang out, "Time is on my side." Tick, tick, tick.
By the way…Blanco, Gillaspie, and Arias? They play better than Mud Hens.
(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
