Aubrey Huff

The San Francisco Giants lost to the Colorado Rockies in 15 innings on Independence Day to fall further back in the NL West and NL wild-card race.

Since frustrated fans have run out of cockeyed ways to fix the lineup or the pitching staff, firing manager Bruce Bochy is now their solution to all of the club’s problems.

Fair enough.

Offering opinions in print, particularly on the Internet, curses the writer to be haunted by his opinions forever.

Oh, it must be nice to be in the electronic media where you can offer an opinion and have it just disappear into thin air.

It's hard to deny having opined that the San Francisco Giants would finish 75-87 once the opinion appears in print. Say it on TV or radio and ... "Well, I mentioned that they COULD potentially finish 75-87, but I think I made a bit larger point and, really, I'm not surprised to see them in the thick of the NL West race."

Dear SF Giants Offense,

We're writing this letter to express our deep concerns over a growing team problem: good offense.

In 2010, the Giants' offense has scored less than three runs accordingly:

April: 9/26  34 percent.
May: 11/28  39 percent.
June: 1/12  8 percent. 

The offense is currently riding an 11 game streak of scoring three runs or more.

Before we dive in, let us remind you since the departure of Barry Bonds, we have become accustomed to sluggish inconsistent limp offenses.

Ever since the Giants parted ways with Barry Bonds in 2008, wait check that, ever since the last couple seasons of Bonds's career, the San Francisco Giants simply couldn't score runs.

From 2006-2009, the Giants lived and died with their pitching staff. And prior to 2009, they did nothing but die with their pitching staff because in each of the previous four seasons, San Francisco finished under .500.

But then came 2009, and the Giants pitching staff put together one of the best seasons a staff has ever had.

If you talk to any Giants fan this year, they'll probably talk to you about Aaron Rowand's dismal slump, the equally underwhelming season by Bengie Molina, and the slight concern about franchise players Tim Lincecum and Pablo Sandoval and their sub-par seasons.

You'll hear stories about the lack of opportunity for young guys like Nate Schierholtz and John Bowker and the clamoring for youngsters like Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner.

And, as always, you'll hear plenty of criticism for San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy.

The Giants have recalled Buster Posey and signed Pat Burrell to a minor league deal, leaving some to question where all the pieces will fit if things go as the club would like.

Posey started with a bang on Saturday night, playing first base. Let's imagine that he is in the big leagues to stay. And, let's pretend that the veteran outfielder Burrell uses his time in the minor leagues to prove he belongs in the big leagues.

When a team musters just a single run in a three game series, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the offense is struggling.

Essentially, changes to the San Francisco Giants' lineup are a guarantee.

Even if their manager was napping in the clubhouse during the past three games, changes would be made after looking at the final box scores.

Once the manager wakes up after such a dreadful offensive series, he will see 20 straight zeros in the boxscore and will naturally be inclined to shake things up.

Enough with watching these Giants snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and having to listen to some knucklehead impersonate a first-grade teacher and say, "There's no reason to panic. It's still early in the season."

Oh, we'll hang with the Giants through all 162 games. It's the folks who think anything short of accepting every loss gracefully is actually a show of pure panic.

Save your sabermetrics and your OPS and OBS and all those other statistics that address a hitter's ability to produce.

The 2010 San Francisco Giants, when healthy, score a few more runs a week than the 2009 Giants did. This bunch, however, is no better than last year's club at scoring a run when they really, really, need one.

The easiest way to score a run is, naturally, to jack a ball over the fence. Pablo Sandoval is a consistent home run threat. Beyond Sandoval, the club is without a true source of power.

The baseball season is 162 games long, so some losses just have to be written off and filed away in a folder tagged "Stuff Happens."

The San Francisco Giants' 6-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday wasn't one of those games. Manager Bruce Bochy and his willingness to go by the book cost the Giants the game.