San Francisco Giants

I wanted to write this blip after the Giants' loss to the Rockies on Sunday, prolonging their trend of taking the series then failing to sweep. It would have been more honest perhaps, and certainly a bit more dour than my current assessment after 2 impressive wins against the Marlins.

Barry Bonds has set some remarkable records. What is notable is not the fact that he set them, but that he broke the old marks by such a wide margin.

Babe Ruth was the most feared batter in baseball history until Bonds, late in his career, discovered how he could become even more frightening to pitchers than the Ruth.

Pitchers wanted to face Barry Bonds as much as a pudgy kid wants to face a naked salad. 

Tim Lincecum can’t seem to catch a break.

In his past two starts, Lincecum was the epitome of the stat “quality starts,” striking out 23 batters through 15.1 innings and only allowing five runs on eight hits. But because of his bullpen, the Freak failed to record a win in over a week.

For one game a week fans, the inability to close out games for Lincecum has created some murmurings that the San Francisco Giants bullpen could be in trouble.    

Going into today's start against the Marlins, Barry Zito has been incredible. He is 4-0 with a 1.53 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in 35.1 IP. That is far from the Zito Giants fans were used to seeing from 2007 to the first half of 2009.

How did Barry Zito make this transition from "major" disappointment, to "rebounding" stud?

Here are five aspects that have contributed to Zito's success from the second half of 2009 to now.

(Information courtesy of Fangraphs.)

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The Colorado Rockies scored a run off Jonathan Sanchez in the fourth inning on Sunday to take a 1-0 lead over the San Francisco Giants.

Sanchez left the game with the Rockies still on top 1-0, with runners on first and third, with one out in the fifth inning.

It's going to require a more patience than what fans and, perhaps, the Giants are showing in order for the hard-throwing left-hander Sanchez to truly emerge as a consistently solid starting pitcher.

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.

Barry Zito has been known as a slow starter throughout his career. Since he came over to San Francisco, fans have come to the conclusion that he's not worth watching until July.

But in 2010, a new mindset and new approach has quickly led him to the front of the pack of National League pitchers. With Brian Wilson's first blown save of the year falling after a brilliant start by fellow fast starter Tim Lincecum, Zito is now first on the team with 4 wins in five starts.

Enough with watching these Giants snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and having to listen to some knucklehead impersonate a first-grade teacher and say, "There's no reason to panic. It's still early in the season."

Oh, we'll hang with the Giants through all 162 games. It's the folks who think anything short of accepting every loss gracefully is actually a show of pure panic.

Getting off to a good start is important in almost every facet of life.

In baseball, starting off the season on the right foot can set a team up for a nice run deep into the season.

The ability to collect a surplus of wins in April does wonders for losing streaks that a team may experience further down the long road that is the Major League Baseball season.

Like any team in the MLB, the San Francisco Giants have had their own ups and downs during the first month of baseball.

Every now and again, certain fans like to remind the sports' landscape that the word is short for "fanatics," which comes to us from the Latin "fanaticus ." The latter means "insanely but divinely inspired."

Yep, that about covers it.

Although I'm not sure Chicago Cub aficionados would agree with the "divine" bit.