San Francisco Giants

No team in the National League playoff hunt is looking forward to September 1 more than the San Francisco Giants. Heading into the Colorado series, the Giants have only won six of their last 15 games.

The Giants desperately need a boost, especially in the pitching department. The team is fighting extremely hard, a credit to Bruce Bochy and the players, but the pitching looks tired. 

Buster Posey and Tim Lincecum are the big names in Giants territory. Newcomers Jose Guillen and Cody Ross are the new fan favorites.

However, the man right now red hot in San Francisco with his bat is Andres Torres.

Say who?

Even in his own Puerto Rico many baseball followers are starting to listen and know about Torres.

Matt Cain is the 2010 stopper. Lincecum was the go-to guy last year; whenever the Giants had a losing streak, he would stop it; which is actually not surprising at all, considering that he pitched behind Joe Martinez and Randy Johnson for a good part of the season, and he was a Cy Young winner.

Former two-time CY Young award winner Tim Lincecum is currently suffering through a five-game losing skid.

The San Francisco pitcher's downward spiral is taking all possible playoff hopes of this team with him.

The Giants are currently six games back of the NL West leading San Diego Padres with only 31 games left in the season.

Lincecum is stuck on his worst stint of his career, after a 6-0 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

The San Francisco Giants appear to be making a serious run at the playoffs, especially in the NL Wild Card race.

With Sept. 1 just a few days away, here are five September call-ups who could push the Giants over the edge, securing them a spot in the postseason.  

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The notion that Tim Lincecum's woeful performance in August was prompted by rookie catcher Buster Posey tipping pitches is utterly ridiculous.

Of course, the desperate search to explain how poorly Lincecum has pitched lately leads fans to suggest he cut his hair and has manager Bruce Bochy saying the two-time Cy Young Award winner needs to work harder to get in better condition during the offseason.

The San Francisco Giants are a team built around their starting pitching.  Over the past month, it's this aspect of the team that has been letting them down.

GM Brian Sabean has made several moves during the course of the season to bolster the offense.  Outfielders Pat Burrell, Jose Guillen, and Cody Ross give manager Bruce Bochy a lot of flexibility to go with the hot bat.  Infielder Mike Fontenot was a much needed acquisition when Edgar Renteria went on the DL.

As of late, Tim Lincecum has not been at the top of his game.

Around this time last year, Tim Lincecum was an NL Cy Young candidate in which he later won. But right now, Lincecum is not pitching like he used to... so what's wrong?

The two time defending Cy Young award winner is certainly not where he was last year, but why? Lincecum has the stuff and we know what he can do with it, he's just not showing us at the moment.

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.

In Wednesday’s series finale with the San Francisco Giants, the Reds looked like they were going to beat them as if they stole something.

Joey Votto, Jonny Gomes, and Ryan Hanigan all homered to stake Homer Bailey to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. It looked like payback time for the boys from the Queen City.

Votto hit another homer in the third inning, his 31st of the season, to cap a four-run inning and the Reds were on top 8-1.