Giants’ Gen-X pitchers will relish national spotlight

Added on Oct 04, 2010 by Ted Sillanpaa in

MLB

The Philadelphia Phillies are favored to win the National League pennant, but no one who pays attention can really make the case that they have the best pitching staff in baseball. The San Francisco Giants, who open the NL playoffs at home Thursday against the wild-card Atlanta Braves, counter the Phillies trio of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels with a dymanic threesome that will, finally, be in the national spotlight when the Giants open against Atlanta righty Derek Lowe.

Two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum will start the Braves series. He made the transition from power pitcher to craftsman on the fly and uses a fastball in the low 90s to set up a nasty change-up, his curveball and a slider that he incorporated in September after a woeful August. Right-hander Matt Cain and baseball’s most effective pitcher in September lefty Jonathan Sanchez follow Lincecum. Rookie left-hander Madison Bumgarner finished 7-6 with a 3.00 ERA in 111 innings, but the 21-year-old might not even get a start against the Braves. Cain would be the ace of most rotations in either league. Sanchez has the best pure stuff on the staff. Bumgarner’s a 21-year-old the Giants refused to consider dealing in trade talks involving Milwaukee Brewers slugger Prince Fielder.

The Giants really separate themselves in the bullpen. The Phillies, Reds and Braves have struggled to find combinations to get to unpredictable closers. San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy has received a sterling performance from his bullpen, particularly in the final month of the season. The Giants’ bullpen isn’t just a little bit better than the rest, it’s a great deal better and that’s why a team that struggled to score runs in the regular season enters the postseason as the darkhorse pick to win the NL crown. Closer Brian Wilson had 48 saves in 53 opportunities. He had 96 strikeouts and just 23 walks with a 1.81 ERA in 74 2/3 innings. Right-hander Sergio Romo relies on a slider delivered from a series of arm angles as the eighth-inning guy, although Bochy will use left-handers Javier Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt to match up against left-handed hitters to get to Wilson. Wilson and Romo are both sporting long beards that they’ve dyed black for reasons that make the two among a group of Giants pitchers most likely to acquire a national following if the club survives for long in the postseason.

Lincecum’s already got one, but this postseason finally gives him and Cain a chance to earn the attention lavished on Halladay and Oswalt. Affeldt and Lopez will most likely be joined by Bumgarner to give the Giants three southpaws to call on in late-game situations, meaning that they can utilize right-handers Santiago Cassilla, Ramon Ramirez and veteran Guillermo Mota for one batter or for a two innings, depending on the situation. The actual numbers don’t adequately explain the quality of the performance that the Giants pitching staff turned in to win the NL West.

The club is 17^th in hitting and 19^th in on-base percentage in Major League Baseball. The Giants are without speed, save lead-off hitter and center fielder Andres Torres, so they hit into an inordinate amount of double plays. And, key run-producers Pat Burrell, Juan Uribe and Aubrey Huff struck out with frequency down the stretch. Take rookie sensation Buster Posey out from behind the plate and the fourth spot in the batting order and the Giants pitching staff would’ve won the NL West title without the benefit of much power, any speed or many truly proven big league hitters beyond second baseman Freddy Sanchez.

Lincecum struggled with the rest of the starting staff in September, but tweaked his delivery to return to Cy Young form down the stretch. Cain is largely unheralded nationally, but would be a No. 1 starter for teams who don’t have a two-time Cy Young Award-winner at the top of the rotation Sanchez was 3-1 with a 1.95 ERA in his last six starts. He’ll walk hitters, lots of hitters, but his 95 mph fastball and biting slider make him the Major League leader in strikeouts-per-nine innings this season.

Hamels has the reputation, but Sanchez enters the postseason as the guy hitters don’t want to face. His high pitch counts haven’t hurt the club because of the bullpen depth. Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Bumgarner might have been playing in the West Coast spotlight while most of the rest of the country slept, but the young foursome has proven that the favored Phillies veteran trio has nothing on them.