The Giants have looked much more like the team we expected coming in over the last two days. They salvaged the series in San Diego with a win behind Johnny Cueto then opened up their season at home with a win over the D-Backs behind a gem from Matt Moore.
The victories over the last two days have moved the team back within a couple of games of .500 at 3-5 but now they'll face a new challenge, at least for the next week or so. If you watched the home opener Monday, then you saw that pitch that hit Posey square in the helmet in his first at-bat and you probably thought like I did immediately; please don't be one of those concussions that cause nasty recurring symptoms that impact his 2017 season. Well, we won't know it's impact on Posey for at least a week, as the Giants placed him on the 7-day DL with concussion symptoms, although they are saying he's fine and it's just a precaution. The Giants have become all too familiar with concussions in recent seasons after it ended Brandon Belt's 2015 season and then hampered Joe Panik's '16 season after causing him to miss a month of play. Needless to say, the Giants have had some bad luck with concussions over the last couple of seasons and now it's struck a player that they can least afford to lose. Also, because Posey catches everyday, it puts him at further risk to where a foul tip off the mask could cause his symptoms to return. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a couple starts at first base when he is activated for that very reason.
It really does come at a bad time for the Giants too. They seem to be getting their 2017 legs underneath them the past couple of games and look primed to take off from here. The starting pitching has been pretty solid from the get go, although a few mistakes were really magnified in Arizona, but Matt Cain looked very bad in his first start on Friday and as we talked about in our season preview, I doubt he's going to have the leash he's had the last couple seasons. He's in the final year of his deal and each time he takes the mound from here on out could be his last attempt to get right, at least here in San Francisco. In fact, I'd give him till the end of April, and if the Giants aren't seeing any positives or any sign of him turning things around, it wouldn't surprise me to see them make a move. Everyone else has been pretty solid though. Jeff Samardzija will start Tuesday night, coming off an outing which didn't look all that great in the box score, but if you saw him throw, you saw the stuff was definitely there. He got burned by a couple location mistakes and the light Arizona air, but I expect him to keep the ball in the yard at AT&T. Cueto and Bum have looked pretty solid, and Matt Moore just threw a gem on opening day Monday, so the rotation is definitely picking up steam in week two of the season.
So, the Giants have started to claw back from their 1-5 start. Brandon Crawford likes primed for a career year and I'm getting good vibes from Eduardo Nunez, but the big questions coming into the year have yet to be answered. Besides Matt Cain's instability in the fifth spot, the play in left field as well as performance from their middle relievers are still very much in question. I believe Giants left fielders went 1-15 to start the season, with a bunch of strikeouts, and the bullpen has already cost them at least one ballgame (although Mark Melancon was largely at fault in that one as well). Also, another spot to watch is center field and Denard Span. The leadoff hitter missed most of the first week of the season after his hip flared up on Opening Day. It's the same hip that caused his 2015 season to get cut way short and he got operated on the winter before last season. It's also what many believe to be the cause of Span's down '16 season as he wasn't really moving like he did in years previously. Now hopefully his hip holds up because the Giants already have one outfield spot potentially needing to be addressed.
The victories over the last two days have moved the team back within a couple of games of .500 at 3-5 but now they'll face a new challenge, at least for the next week or so. If you watched the home opener Monday, then you saw that pitch that hit Posey square in the helmet in his first at-bat and you probably thought like I did immediately; please don't be one of those concussions that cause nasty recurring symptoms that impact his 2017 season. Well, we won't know it's impact on Posey for at least a week, as the Giants placed him on the 7-day DL with concussion symptoms, although they are saying he's fine and it's just a precaution. The Giants have become all too familiar with concussions in recent seasons after it ended Brandon Belt's 2015 season and then hampered Joe Panik's '16 season after causing him to miss a month of play. Needless to say, the Giants have had some bad luck with concussions over the last couple of seasons and now it's struck a player that they can least afford to lose. Also, because Posey catches everyday, it puts him at further risk to where a foul tip off the mask could cause his symptoms to return. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get a couple starts at first base when he is activated for that very reason.It really does come at a bad time for the Giants too. They seem to be getting their 2017 legs underneath them the past couple of games and look primed to take off from here. The starting pitching has been pretty solid from the get go, although a few mistakes were really magnified in Arizona, but Matt Cain looked very bad in his first start on Friday and as we talked about in our season preview, I doubt he's going to have the leash he's had the last couple seasons. He's in the final year of his deal and each time he takes the mound from here on out could be his last attempt to get right, at least here in San Francisco. In fact, I'd give him till the end of April, and if the Giants aren't seeing any positives or any sign of him turning things around, it wouldn't surprise me to see them make a move. Everyone else has been pretty solid though. Jeff Samardzija will start Tuesday night, coming off an outing which didn't look all that great in the box score, but if you saw him throw, you saw the stuff was definitely there. He got burned by a couple location mistakes and the light Arizona air, but I expect him to keep the ball in the yard at AT&T. Cueto and Bum have looked pretty solid, and Matt Moore just threw a gem on opening day Monday, so the rotation is definitely picking up steam in week two of the season.
So, the Giants have started to claw back from their 1-5 start. Brandon Crawford likes primed for a career year and I'm getting good vibes from Eduardo Nunez, but the big questions coming into the year have yet to be answered. Besides Matt Cain's instability in the fifth spot, the play in left field as well as performance from their middle relievers are still very much in question. I believe Giants left fielders went 1-15 to start the season, with a bunch of strikeouts, and the bullpen has already cost them at least one ballgame (although Mark Melancon was largely at fault in that one as well). Also, another spot to watch is center field and Denard Span. The leadoff hitter missed most of the first week of the season after his hip flared up on Opening Day. It's the same hip that caused his 2015 season to get cut way short and he got operated on the winter before last season. It's also what many believe to be the cause of Span's down '16 season as he wasn't really moving like he did in years previously. Now hopefully his hip holds up because the Giants already have one outfield spot potentially needing to be addressed.
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