San Francisco Giants

As the 2010 Regular Season is drawing to a close, the National League Wild Card Hunt begins in earnest.

The San Francisco Giants have been trying to catch the division leading Padres all season, without success.

Up for grabs is the NL Wild Card, and there is a host of very strong teams competing for this post season pass.

Do the Giants have what it takes to beat out the rest of the clubs and claim the NL Wild Card for playoff berth?

2010 has blessed Major League Baseball with a memorable rookie class.

Fantasy owners in Dynasty and Keeper leagues were quite familiar with this cast of characters long before they arrived in the show.

In commemoration of their foresight, let's take a gander at the top ten positional keepers for 2011.

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I truly thought it was gonna be hard for the Giants to best Monday's performance. I was wrong....they are now tied for first in the NL Wild Card.

Apparently the San Francisco Giants are trying to set the record for most outfielders acquired in one season.

On Friday it was announced that Cody Ross was claimed off waivers by the San Francisco Giants.

The move to claim Ross was done primarily to block the San Diego Padres from acquiring Ross, after center fielder Tony Gwyn Jr. obtained a season ending injury.

In the tight NL west division, claiming Ross was a very good decision, since there are now few available center fielders that the Padres can acquire.

I know the Giants are in the thick of the playoff race, but their recent troubles have got me wondering about next year and how we can improve.  I think it is clear that this team, while they still have a chance, remains behind the top teams in the National League in terms of talent.

Yes, this is an incredibly bold conclusion. Actually, I haven't concluded anything, I've just posed a question.

The fact of the matter is, the Giants have an incredibly fickle nature. Remember in July, when they won 20 games for the first time since September of 2000? Well, right before that month, they had a seven-game losing streak. Are they going to once again bounce back?

The future is looking bright for catcher's that can produce offensively. 2010 has seen the growth of many promising catchers, and the minors hold many future stars behind the dish. Here are the top 5 catchers of the future....

Note: There are no available pictures of Wilson Ramos and Jesus Montero

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The Giants got off to yet another promising start to the game, as Torres led off with a solo home run. The Giants would only tack on one more run in the game, though (Pat Burrell solo homer), as they suffered an 8-2 loss to the Phillies.

Matt Cain did a decent job, pitching six innings and giving up only two earned runs. A Mike Fontenot error, however, would lead to a Jimmy Rollins three-run homer that the Giants never answered.

At the beginning of August, the Giants trailed the Padres by one game and led the Wild Card race.

They came off a month where they won 20 of their 28 games. They led the majors in runs scored.

But since then they are 7-8 and have fallen to five games back in the division. Now they are on the outside looking in on the playoff picture.

What happened? Three things.

Power outage: