Barry Zito

Fans haven't been hesitant to point to the player or the plan that keeps the San Francisco Giants from soaring to the top of the NL West and well past the field in the wild-card race.

As it turns out, though, most things that fans insisted the Giants do to get things going have been done and things haven't gone very well at all in the last month. The club is on the verge of falling out of the division race and has to keep pace with the Philadelphia Phillies, a tall order, to win the Wild Card.

Major League Baseball wasn't necessarily meant to be enjoyed with one finger extended in an attempt to find a target for today's round of criticism.

Oh, the 2010 San Francisco Giants have made it easy for fans who want to affix blame, find solutions to every potential problem, and moan about what will go wrong next from Opening Day through the dog days of summer.

Baseball managerial practices are organic. They change and shift according to knowledge into the laws of physics, culture, and economics.

In times of yore, a five-man rotation was thought to be useless, Cy Young started 49 games in a single year, and the concept of a closer would have been bizarre.

Getting back to the present, Stephen Strasburg's muscles flared a few weeks ago, and it seems he may be shut down for the year.

For the second straight game, the Mets got shut out by the Giants—this time 1-0 at AT&T Park.

Barry Zito pitched an absolute gem, one which may have even been better then Tim Lincecum’s start yesterday.

The Mets lineup seemed lost without Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan . It was a Mets lineup that featured Jeff Francoeur as the five hitter, Ruben Tejada as the leadoff man, and Jason Bay hitting second.

Bengie Molina didn't win the the San Francisco Giants' Willie Mac Award twice because him teammates liked how he looked in his uniform. He was, obviously, a very popular and respected teammate.

Let's put the idea that his departure to the Texas Rangers will spell doom for Giants pitchers to rest immediately, however.

Friday marked the sixth time Bleacher Report and I have been welcomed into the press box at the Oakland Coliseum. My five previous trips were all stellar experiences, but this one felt different the minute I crossed the parking lot's threshold.

Generally when I arrive around 3:30 pm, the lot is dotted with one hand's worth of early birds. Today, the number was closer to triple digits.

Barbecues were in full smoke, games of catch featuring both footballs and baseballs were breaking out, and there was a general air of festivity hanging over the scene.

There are certain players in baseball who have been fantasy studs over the first month and a half of the season that would help any team. At the same time, there are players who have overperformed and are bound to come back to life.

In this list, I will point to five players who have been fantasy stars so far and helped your team win that are not going to be able to hold up this level of production throughout the season. I will also list five players who's skills at the plate or on the mound does not transition well to the fantasy game.

David Ortiz may be starting to turn a corner, as he's hit safely in his last six games and driven in 11 runs over his last nine.

I wanted to write this blip after the Giants' loss to the Rockies on Sunday, prolonging their trend of taking the series then failing to sweep. It would have been more honest perhaps, and certainly a bit more dour than my current assessment after 2 impressive wins against the Marlins.

Going into today's start against the Marlins, Barry Zito has been incredible. He is 4-0 with a 1.53 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in 35.1 IP. That is far from the Zito Giants fans were used to seeing from 2007 to the first half of 2009.

How did Barry Zito make this transition from "major" disappointment, to "rebounding" stud?

Here are five aspects that have contributed to Zito's success from the second half of 2009 to now.

(Information courtesy of Fangraphs.)

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