Pablo Sandoval

Professional baseball has been around for roughly 150 years and the result has been memories and moments that will last forever, talent that shines above the rest, amazing revenue for the national government, and some crazy rules that just don't make much sense.

Baseball is a game of tradition and honor (minus steroids).

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.

Almost as surely as flowers bloom in the spring, great young hitters slump in their second full seasons in the major leagues.  Well, maybe not with that much certainty, but it’s probably more common than not, particularly if you include a few spill-over stars who slumped significantly in their third (Chipper Jones in 1997) or fourth full seasons (Barry Bonds in 1989).

Evan Longoria was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays with the 3rd pick of the 2006 amateur player draft out of Cal-State Long Beach. Rays fans knew as soon as they heard about this kid that he was going to be great.

After spending two years in the minor leagues, Longoria hit a combined .301/.386/.534 with 44 home runs and 144 RBI, all before his 22nd birthday.

Knowing what they had on their hands, with a team that they felt confident with, Andrew Friedman knew that he had to call up Longoria if the team was going to contend.

Before the 2010 Major League Baseball season began, I really wanted to put the San Francisco Giants atop the division when previewing the National League West .

Instead, I stuck them in second and gave them the NL Wild Card because I figured the more grandiose vision was the product of the fan in me.

Furthermore, I thought granting them a postseason berth was still setting the bar pretty high. Possibly a little too high.

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.

Three games down, 159 to go.

What a three games they were.

The San Fransisco Giants completed an opening series sweep of the hapless Houston Astros this afternoon. The Giants ended the series with an offensive explosion that doomed Houston in a 10-4 defeat.

So what did we learn about the 2010 San Francisco Giants?

Well, one thing I think we all know is that they can pitch.

Whoa, Nelly, can they pitch.

The San Francisco Giants are one of baseball's toss-up teams this season. They could either have sustained success due to the depth of their starting pitching rotation, or miss the playoffs once again based on their offensive deficiencies. These five factors could make the difference between a long playoff run and an early end to to the season.

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There was something to be said for growing up in the 1960s and only being able to hear San Francisco Giants exhibition games on my transistor radio.

I felt all the hope of spring without actually seeing Jim Ray Hart butchering ground balls at third base or the parade of inadequate starting pitchers behind Juan Marichal.

When Street and Smith's baseball annual had the Giants picked to win the National League, I knew everything I needed to know about the club and the glorious summer that was surely ahead.