The San Francisco Giants offense seemingly will keep them from the World Series, and that is nothing short of a crying shame with the starting pitchers they have.
Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Jonathan Sanchez can go toe-to-toe with any pitching trio in baseball, including Philadelphia’s. But it’s the prospects of the Giants having to scrap together runs for those three pitchers that should have people worried.
In draft terms, the Giants are nothing short of geniuses when it comes to their starting staff. Forget the massive load of cash they chucked at Barry Zito (who was omitted from the postseason roster), and the blueprint was a success.
Thanks to the Orioles taking Bill Rowell number nine overall in 2006, the Giants “settled” for two-time Cy Young Award winner Lincecum. Cain, too, was a first-round selection, going 25th overall in 2002. Sanchez has proven to be quite a find, as he wasn’t drafted until the 27th round of the 2004 draft.
The upcoming NLCS should be a number of low-scoring affairs, and to me Sanchez is the wild card. If he deals like he did in Game 3 (1 hit, 11 strikeouts in 7.1 innings), the Giants could have a real shot to pull the upset. In watching him throw and seeing how lethal his stuff is, he reminds me a lot of another dominant lefty, Jon Lester.
So forgive the lineup of journeymen San Francisco runs out on a nightly basis and appreciate the drafting of three formidable arms. Maybe that will be enough to propel them in the end.
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