Giants News

Welcome to Giants News, your one stop shop for everything Giants in 2008. Whether it be injuries, transactions, results; if it involves the Giants, you'll hear about it.

Get ready for Opening Day, Giants fans, Giants News will bring you all the action.

Giants News Edition 1-2008 Giants Season Preview

As we prepare to raise the curtain on another fabulous season of Major League Baseball, it’s time for us to take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the team and how they will perform up against the NL West powerhouses that are Arizona and Los Angeles.

The Giants open their 50th season in San Francisco with high hopes of the celebrations lasting long into October, as fresh faces and young blood were the themes of Giants camp in Spring Training. With these youngsters comes hope amongst Giants fans across the globe that the team from the Bay Area can finally break the duck and bring a World Series title home.

The Giants projected Opening Day line-up for 2008 is as follows:

1. Rajai Davis-LF
2. Craig Stansberry-2B
3. Aaron Rowand-CF
4. Jonny Gomes-RF
5. Dioner Navarro-C
6. Dan Ortmeier-1B
7. Joel Guzman-3B
8. Ben Zobrist-SS
9. Pitcher

Giants’ fans have every reason to be optimistic with Bruce Bochy sending out the most powerful line-up the Giants have seen since the times of McCovey and Mays. The Giants hope for double-digit homer seasons from Rowand, Gomes, Navarro, Ortmeier and Guzman, with the other players in the line-up assisting with the other key fundamentals of speed and defense. If the offense can fire, the Giants could cause a boil over in the West in 08.

The pitching staff figures to be the cornerstone of the Giants team for the upcoming season. They send out arguably one of the best one-two punches in baseball, Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. The two will be charged with the responsibility of leading a very young rotation, and will be supported by 07 surprise packet Kevin Correia, veteran lefty Barry Zito, and the very solid Noah Lowry.

In the bullpen, another youth movement exists, with the oldest player being lefty Jack Taschner at age 29. Brad Hennessey wrapped up the closers job with a stellar 2007 season, saving 39 games in 45 attempts. Vinnie Chulk is once again the 8th inning bridge after posting a 3.35 ERA in 75 innings last year. Young Henry Sosa breaks camp as a major leaguer for the first time, commencing the season as the long reliever on the team, hoping to break into the rotation if the circumstance arises. The Giants added one new face to the bullpen, with 28 year old righty Zack McClellan adding another solid arm to the relief corps. Zack struggled in limited playing time last season, but figures to improve when given regular work.

Gains: Dioner Navarro-C (Trade-TBD), Ben Zobrist-SS (Trade-TBD), Craig Stansberry-2B (FA), Miguel Olivo-C (FA), Zack McClellan-P (FA), Luis Cruz-AAA 2B (FA), Steve Colyer-AAA P (FA), Garrett Jones-AAA LF (Trade-MIN).

Losses: Johnny Estrada-C (Released-signed by BOS), Barry Bonds-LF (Released, Unsigned), Ryan Klesko-1B (Retired), Tyler Walker-P (Released, Unsigned), Sunny Kim-P (Released, Unsigned), Russ Ortiz-P (Released, Unsigned), Tim Alderson – Rookie P (Trade-TBD), Sergio Romo- AA P (Trade-TBD), William Bergolla-2B (Trade-MIN).

Prediction: 3rd place finish, 84-78. The Giants have made some significant additions to the lineup which will help them win a handful more games than they did in 2007. These extra wins may vault them into 3rd in the West, but the powerhouses that are the Dodgers and the D’Backs will be winning 90-plus games in 2008.

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Lago wrote:

very nice, ill be following this.

Thanks, I'll be trying to produce regular updates.

Love it!

After a slow start, the San Francisco Giants are making ground in the NL West, pulling to within 5 games of the Los Angeles Dodgers mid way through May.

The Giants hitters struggled through the early parts of April, slumping to a 4-8 start, with the team leader in homers being Joel Guzman hitting 3 longballs.

The team needed to pick up its act, heading into a rough end to April which saw the Giants face off against NL West counterparts, Los Angeles and Arizona.

The Giants pitching and hitting came together against the tough opponents, with the Giants taking 3 of 5 against the D'Backs and 5 of 6 against the San Diego Padres.

The Giants started off May on a hot streak going 8-2 (including a 7 game winning streak)to climb within 1 game of the Dodgers before losing 4 straight to slip to 5 games back.

Joel Guzman continued to impress, leading the team with 6 homers. Tim Lincecum, in just his second professional season, and second in the bigs, is living up to the hype after struggling last year, posting a 5-1 record with a 2.77 ERA.

On the injury front, the Giants will be without starters Henry Sosa and Noah Lowry as well as utilityman Eugenio Velez for the rest of the month. Barry Zito will rejoin the rotation after losing his spot to Sosa earlier in the year, Australian Travis Blackley will slot in as the temporary number 5 man, and Nick Pereira will join the big league roster for the first time as the long relief man.

The fast start from the Giants, who finished 4th in the NL West last year, leaves them in good stead for the rest of the season, hoping to make up ground in the coming weeks, with a mixed bag of opponents whom the Giants will face before the end of May, including the Mets, A's, D Backs, Padres and the NL Central leading Cardinals. The Giants will then square off against the Pirates, Royals and White Sox in early June.

Stay tuned for more Giants news updates.