San Francisco Giants

The Giants, now without Barry Bonds, will need to find a new way to fill the seats and, in doing so, fast.

For the first time all season, the San Francisco Giants used their sixth starting pitcher. After numerous poor performances by Jonathan Sanchez, the Giants brought up Triple A starter Ryan Sadowski to at-least temporarily take over the last spot in the rotation.

After losing the first two games of the series, the Giants were putting their hopes on the rookie to avoid the sweep.

In the top half of the first inning the Giants offense went down quickly, giving Sadowski little time to shake off the nerves going into his big league debut.

It's a different Giants team and a different Giants organization since Barry Bonds has been gone. No longer are the Giants a team full of aging veterans past their prime like Omar Vizquel and Dave Roberts (if Roberts ever had a prime that is. I'm still wondering when it was).

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.

Desperate for something to change their offensive woes this year, Giants manager Bruce Bochy has made two interesting moves in the lineup within the last month.

First, after platooning him in the outfield the first couple of months of the season, on June 11, Bochy started giving outfielder Nate Schierholtz more consistent playing time in the outfield over Fred Lewis. Lewis was the starting left fielder last season, and in April, May and early June this year.

There are whispers in San Francisco. From the fog banked hills to the sun drenched downtown streets—there are whispers. Barely audible mutterings, a once very familiar phrase coming back.

As you get closer to China Basin and AT&T Park, the whispers get a little louder, and the words begin to form in your ears...playoffs...

Around the league you will not hear these whispers. And for good reason—it's a little early to begin talking about the 2009 Giants reaching the postseason.

As the Giants continue to surprise people in the National League early on, and the need for an offensive upgrade becomes more evident with each passing series, a lingering question is on the minds of Giants fans everywhere:

Who do we give up to make this team better?

And the main player who is deemed expendable by a majority of Giants fans, bloggers, and columnists?

Jonathan Sanchez.

Travis Ishikawa

Ishikawa’s first base defense has been astonishing to start the season.  He has been as close to perfect as you can get.  I checked out some of his defensive numbers on baseballreference.com.

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?

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Matt Cain is coming into tonight’s start against the Texas Rangers as a rising star. His stock around the league is rising, and fans across the nation are starting to know his name.

Yet Cain should not be looked upon as a new arm. After all, he’s compiled almost four full years of major-league service time, and has been playing professionally for the last eight.