Bruce Bochy

The San Francisco Giants clearly need some offensive help from the free-agent market but re-thinking the way they evaluate their own home-grown talent would help boost their offense from within.

For instance, while the Giants have a plethora of inconsistent young talent including players who may or may not develop into everyday starters, Nate Schierholtz doesn't belong amongst that group.

Throughout the past couple years Giants fans have grouped together such players like John Bowker, Eugenio Velez, Fred Lewis, Travis Ishikawa and Schierholtz in the same category.

Sooner or later, I'll get around to writing my thoughts on the San Francisco Giants' 2009 season. Right now though, there's still some unfinished business i.e. the Los Angeles Dodgers. As long as their season lives on, the final flourishes haven't been brushed on the Gents' season.

That's not to say I define the San Francisco vis-a-vis the Bums, but—as any die-hard fan of los Gigantes must acknowledge—if the Dodgers were to win the World Series, the Orange and Black year takes on a grayer hue.

With the news that both GM Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy have received two-year extensions to stay in their respective roles for the San Francisco Giants, fans and media alike are starting to look for a new scapegoat.

Managing partner Bill Neukom and the rest of the Giants ownership group saw it fit to retain both men in their respective roles.  Why they made such a decision is a question fans will be pondering for a long, long time.

After going through computer issues while taking in my first month of college life, there wasn't much time for yours truly to bash the man in charge of the "Orange & Black". However, with my computer back and having down time on a Friday afternoon, there are two succinct advantages. First, I no longer have to borrow my roomate's laptop, and second, I now have time to dissect the absurd decisions that Giants manager Bruce Bochy makes on a daily basis.

For the first time since 2005, the San Francisco Giants have a chance to be in the playoff race down to the final week of the season.

Players like Pablo Sandoval, Nate Schierholtz, Sergio Romo, and Ryan Sadowski have seemingly come out of nowhere to be major contributors to the NL Wild Card leading San Francisco Giants.

Combine the surprising young studs with the savvy 1-2 punch of aces Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, the Giants have a core group that may end up taking the team to the playoffs.

For those of you who haven't heard, the 2009 San Francisco Giants are built on pitching and for the most part, their pitching has been nothing but dominant.

Both the starting rotation and bullpen have been rock-solid all season long, but not without their fare share of weak spots.

One of those weak spots was recently replaced when rookie pitcher Ryan Sadowski took over the fifth spot in the rotation from a struggling Jonathan Sanchez.

With a chance to take three out of four games against one of the best teams in baseball, it would make sense to keep your team's hottest hitters in the lineup.

But with Giants manager Bruce Bochy throwing out his 45,699th lineup of the season on Thursday, both right-fielder Nate Schierholtz and shortstop Edgar Renteria were absent from the lineup.

To be fair, after picking up 14 hits in a six-game stretch, Schierholtz went 0-for-4 in back-to-back games heading into Thursday's series finale.

Tonight's 5-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers is only one game. The Giants are still 39-33 and still in good shape as a team overall (even though the Rockies are nipping on the heels of the Giants at a breakneck pace).

And after all, there is more than half a season of Giants baseball left to be played.

But that doesn't mean that this road trip against Milwaukee and St. Louis is one to be taken lightly. Sure, the Giants are in a close race with Brewers for the Wild Card position.

That being said, Wild Card races only get serious come August, not in June.

Being already the 23rd of June in the year 2009, the current MLB season is over 40 percent complete.

This year's San Francisco Giants stand at 37-32, a record that few predicted for the orange and black, but more amazingly, they are doing it despite poor general managing and poor coaching.

First off, let it be clear that this is not a pessimistic article. In reality, it is an piece filled with optimism if you read between the lines.

But let's get to the issue at hand, shall we?

Ever since former Giants manager Dusty Baker made the preemptive move of taking out starter Russ Ortiz in Game Six of the 2002 World Series, Giants' fans have had plenty to complain about when it comes to the manager.

Although it is a sore subject to bring up among Giants' fans, it is worth revisiting for the knowledge of those who follow the other 29 MLB clubs.

In Game Six of the 2002 World Series, the Giants and starter Ortiz had a 5-0 lead into the seventh inning when Baker elected to make a move to the bullpen.