SFGate

In the top of the sixth inning Monday night, the Colorado Rockies knocked out San Francisco Giants' starter Madison Bumgarner. They coaxed five walks out of him on the night and cut the Giants' 3-0 lead to 3-2 against him.

All Major League Baseball stadiums have their own sets of appeal and charm—whether the history of Wrigley Field or the beauty of a new building like Target Field.

The debate as to what stadium is the greatest in the league is one that has raged on for many decades, and I would imagine that it will not be dying down any time soon.

What I wanted to do was to attack this argument from a different angle—taking the actual stadium itself out of the conversation.

As the San Francisco Giants attempt to repeat as World Series champions, there are a some major concerns that face them. 

In 2010, GM Brian Sabean did a remarkable job infusing the team with players who helped lead the Giants to their first ever world championship in San Francisco.  Sabean may very well need to work his magic again in 2011. 

Tim Lincecum is the face of the San Francisco Giants, but in a time where team loyalty is down and money is king, is it possible that he and other beloved Giants will end up elsewhere?

If there was ever a pitcher in baseball who deserves a lifetime contract extension, it would be Tim Lincecum.

Buster Posey was a force of nature around the Bay Area even before he became a fixture in the San Francisco Giants' clubhouse.

The top two pitchers for the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies are arguably the top tandems in the Major Leagues. 

Each of these pitchers is an ace in his own right, but combined with the other, they make a great one-two punch for their respective teams.

Before the start of the season, I wanted to see which pitchers statistically had the best fastballs, curveballs, sliders, cutters, changeups and splitters of the 2010 season.

Here are a look at the top fastballs of the 2010 season. A few notes:

The Pitch Value data was created by Fangraphs.com. I will be using the statistic, wFA, which denotes the runs above average for a particular pitch—in this case a fastball.  

The San Francisco Giants have been dominating their Cactus League opponents throughout the start of spring training.

Excited and ready to gear up for back-to-back World Series championships, the Giants seem to be heading down the right road. Veterans and rookies alike are playing great baseball, and Giants fans should be starting to get the itch that only comes when it's time for baseball to begin.

I headed down to Scottsdale, Arizona last weekend to take a look at the Giants for myself, and they looked to be in great shape. Here's how I rate their performances thus far.

After being a San Francisco Giants fan since I was a little kid in 1962, and enduring so many disappointing failures, the 2010 season made it all worthwhile.  I was beginning to think the Giants winning the World Series would never happen in my lifetime. 

Although I am still basking in the afterglow of the Giants' first world championship in San Francisco, spring training is in full force.  The 2011 San Francisco Giants will be looking to defend their World Series title.

It's been going on for many moons in leagues across the nation.

In Major League Baseball, it's no different. The rooks get messed with by the savvy vets.

The objective? Humiliation.

Over the past decade, hazing has gotten a bad rap, mostly due to the fact that high-school athletes seem to focus their hazing rituals on cruelty rather then good-natured fun.

While most stories involve cross dressing and costume shenanigans, let's take a look at some funny times in MLB hazing history.