NL West

Entering the rubber match against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, the San Francisco Giants have not played up to expectations thus far this season.  

I know it's very early to say anything about any team, but the Giants are not playing to their strengths to win games.

Rating a team ten games into the season often seems like a lost cause. 

Imagine, for instance, critics panning a movie after watching ten minutes. 

What if a teacher wrote you off two weeks into the new semester? 

How about rating the Chargers after one game?

Yet ten games of the baseball season still represent more than five percent of the season, and Padres fans can explain firsthand about the difference a few games can make, let alone ten. For further references, I suggest googling the 2010 season.

Tim Lincecum is nicknamed "The Freak" for a reason, and this latest Red Bull video is further proof.

With one of only 50 cameras in the world that can follow a speeding bullet, the folks over at Red Bull decided to shoot Lincecum throwing a pitch at 1,000 frames per second.

The incredible part about Lincecum's motion is how far his arm extends behind his back before it catapults forward.

John Steigerwald, who writes a column for Observer-Reporter.com, places the blame for the beating out side of Dodger Stadium on Opening Day on the victim, San Francisco Giants fan, Bryan Stow.

He basically says Stow (which he originally spelled Snow, before the site corrected) was asking for it by wearing a Giants Jersey in Dodger country?

What is this, an episode of Gangland?

For the second time in a row, Clayton Kershaw made Giants hitters look like little leaguers. 

Last night, the southpaw allowed only six hits over 6.2 innings, striking out seven, while not allowing a single run. 

He has now accumulated 13.2 scoreless innings against Giants this season, 22.2 dating back to 2010.

The Diamondbacks won their first home series of the year, taking two of three from the Cincinnati Reds in games won by offensive outbursts. The Diamondbacks came back twice on Sunday and survived a ninth inning scare to secure the series win.

It was World Series schwag weekend in San Francisco, with rings and many other special commemorations for the defending champs' first homestand.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

While the Yankees and Red Sox were playing over the weekend, another rivalry is getting underway in San Francisco on Monday. The Dodgers took three out of four from the Giants to start out the season. Two of those wins were only by a run though. 

View From the Rockpile: Mile High Musings Along the Journey to Rocktober

The Colorado Rockies arrived at PNC Park last Thursday to face off against an improving Pittsburgh Pirates squad, managed by former Rockies manager Clint Hurdle.

April has never been kind to your average Rockies club.

This isn't your average team.

Off to their best start in franchise history, the Rockies took three of four from the Pittsburgh Pirates Sunday and ran their record to 6-2. The team also currently holds a one-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers.