The first two months of the season is in the books and the Giants are not scuffling at the bottom of the NL West because of these two heroes: Ryan Vogelsong and Melky Cabrera.
Honestly, with Tim Lincecum at 2-6 so far and Pablo Sandoval still being out, it's a small miracle that the Giants are not sub-.500 at this point.
Instead, Vogelsong has been rewarding the Giants' faith in him by getting wins. The Giants have won in his last 5 starts and are 6-3 when Vogelsong is on the mound this year. Compare that with the 2-9 mark the Giants have when Tim Lincecum has been pitching this year including 6 straight losses when he's on the mound.
Vogelsong is the reason you didn't hear a peep from the Giants in the hunt for Oswalt. Although Lincecum has struggled mightily, the rest of the Giants starters including (gasp) Barry Zito, have been turning in solid starts and giving the team a chance to win each and every time out.
On top of all that, I just like to be proven right, and watching Vogelsong snap pitches into the zone and utilize high heat like a master chef, I pronounced him the best pitcher on the staff, barely 3 weeks into the season.
Meanwhile the pitchers are getting support from the Melkman, Melky Cabrera gathering an otherworldly 51 hits in the month of May to stake him to a .373 average and a .429 average for the past month. In case you want to feel even better about Melky, take a look at Jonathan Sanchez's stat page.
This may go down as one of the best moves that Brian Sabean has ever made. Although for the guy who traded Joe Nathan and Francisco Lirano for AJ Pierzynski I guess it's about time.
Melky in the lineup suddenly makes Giants' faithful wonder what Bochy does when Pablo Sandoval comes back to the lineup. Yes that's right, how do we fit the Giants' best hitter back into the lineup now that Melky has cemented himself in the 3rd spot of the lineup?
Do you hear that? It's the sound of thousands of miniature violins...
When Sandoval gets back, this team that has already turned a corner offensively will finally have a solid 1-8 major league lineup. Remember when the Hulk joined up with the rest of the Avengers?.. Yeah... something like that.
Laws of the Day
Last Giant to have 51 hits in a month: Randy Winn
(sorry for the downer guys...)
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