It’s now September, kids are back in school, parents waking up early to drive them to school, Labor Day has gone by and the San Francisco Giants are seven games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West standings.
That’s right everyone, it’s September and our beloved Misfits are seven games back in September with 22 games left on the season, the Giants have to conjure up some magic in order to take back the NL West from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Arizona Diamondbacks took two out of the three-game series in San Francisco and now lead the NL West by seven games. Arizona’s strong pitching stopped the Giants’ woeful offense and the D-Backs’ bats bested Lincecum and Vogelsong on Saturday and Sunday’s match-up. There was a glimpse of hope that the Giants would win the series against Arizona when on Friday, the Giants offense woke up with Carlos Beltran collecting four hits and driving 3 runs including a solo.
But on the weekend games, the Giants’ offense just fell flat again.
With 22 games left on the schedule all opponents from the NL West with records of .500 or below (except for Arizona), San Francisco have to take advantage of their NL West foes’ below .500 record and get back in the race before it’s too late. They won’t meet Arizona in the desert until September 23rd which means the Giants have to make up a lot of ground to face-off against Arizona in what could possibly the most important series this season for San Francisco.
One key for the Giants to catch up to Arizona and win the NL West in 22 games left?
The offense has got to wake up and produce runs to keep the pressure off of the great Giants’ pitching staff.
So far this season, no one on the Giants’ lineup or bench has got that pop in their bat that will help the offense push some runs across the plate. Sure players like Sandoval are bouncing back from a mediocre season last year, but players who have been struggling as of late this season, for example Aubrey Huff who looks nothing like the red-thong wearing player last year, have to step up to the plate and inspire other hitters to do the same. Other players like Beltran have to live up to the hype Giants’ fans expect from a high-profile acquisition or else he’ll face a similar fate like Rowand and Tejada, both of whom were cut ties from the organization for lack of stellar play.
So there you have it Giants’ fans, with 22 games left in the season and 7 games behind Arizona, this is going to one torturous month.