Mar 31, 2008 9:00 am US/Pacific
Giants Face A Tough Season In The Post-Bonds Era
By Scott Miller, CBS Sportsline
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS) ―
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Barry Bonds is absent from this year's Giants.
MGN
Welcome to the post-Barry Bonds Era. Please wear your hard hats, fasten your seatbelts and keep your air sickness bags with you at all times. There's some good, young pitching here, but little else. The Giants are the only NL West team you can look at and pretty much eliminate from the division race on opening day.
Strengths Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Noah Lowry. The Giants would like to think Barry Zito will be a strength, too, but after a rocky spring following a disappointing season, there are warning flares all over the place. Still, Zito will start on opening day in Dodger Stadium on Monday. Catcher Bengie Molina is coming off of a good year. Center fielder Aaron Rowand is a gamer and a terrific clubhouse presence, but he was hit in the knee with a pitch late in the spring and the Giants are hoping it doesn't carry over into the season.
Weaknesses The projected starting lineup combined for only 88 home runs last season, and 27 of those were hit by Rowand, who played in hitter-friendly Philadelphia. The Giants are going to have tremendous difficulty scoring, which is why manager Bruce Bochy drilled them endlessly on hit-and-runs, bunts, driving ground balls to the right side of the infield with a runner on third and the like this spring. Add to all of this injury issues -- Kevin Frandsen ruptured an Achilles tendon and is done for the season, the Giants aren't settled on who will play third and shortstop Omar Vizquel (knee) will open on the disabled list and, ugh.
Difference Maker Matt Cain. His 7-16 record last summer belied his impressive 3.65 ERA over 32 starts. The problem was, the Giants struggled to score on days he pitched and the concern is that a continuation of that this season could damage his psyche. Cain is a top-of-the-rotation starter who should only get better. But don't expect his numbers to improve much with this team.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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