Thursday, June 2, 2011

Nate Schierholtz, the every day starter?

Nate Schierholtz, Giants right fielder has been on fire recently both offensively and defensively, so why is he not in the lineup every day? The only reason I can think of is because of his sore right shoulder from a driving catch he made during a game against the Dodgers. But, we clearly saw that did not influence his two great plays today in the game versus the Cardinals. Today, he got an RBI that tied the game and got the go ahead run to win the game in the 11th inning. If he were not in the lineup today Giants would of potentially lost the game. Schierholtz needs to be in the starting lineup every day, he is key to our lineup. In Colorado we all saw how he shot those home runs out of the field. Not only has he been hitting extremely well but also been playing amazing defense. Whenever the Giants need a play to happen, he is always there to make it possible wither it being a diving catch or throwing a runner out on the base path. He has one of the strongest arms in the team, Posey would of had Cousins out with the throw Schierholtz made but due to the collision that was not possible. Currently Schierholtz has been an amazing overall player, which is why I think he should be in the every day lineup.

Whitey filling in for Posey


As Blake has mentioned below, the Giants catcher and former rookie of the year is out for the whole season due to his injury. So, will Giants get a new catcher or will they stay with their back up pitcher Eli Whiteside. Bruce Bochy has decided to give Whiteside and opportunity and will not get a new catcher. Yes, the fans might not be very happy because as we have seen, Whiteside is not the best hitter. It is hard to see our catcher going 1-4 or 0-4 through the game, not helping get runs up on the board. He might not be the best batter but we need to think about his job, which is catching. We need to remember last year when he caught Jonathan Sanchez's no hitter. Whiteside has done a good job at catching and it is only fair to give him the opportunity to be the Giants new daily catcher. Hopefully, hit hitting will improve as the season continues. Giants wont be getting Posey back until next year so for the remaining of time we need to trust that Whitey, as Bochy calls him, will get the job done. Fans are not currently happy with Bochy's decision, they have even made a video about it http://youtu.be/ro109khfgWw, but they need to adapt to this new decision and support Whitey.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Injury!

There is a major trend in the MLB this year, injuries. There are six teams that have been affected more than the others. These six teams are the Twins, Cubs, Rockies, Giants, Mets, and Orioles. The Twins have suffered the loss of their all star catcher, Joe Mauer. This loss has been huge for the Twins. They are just not the same. They have also lost their star closer Joe Nathan to the DL. Without that presence in the later innings, the Twins are vulnerable to late inning comebacks. It is not only these stars who are hurt. There are seven more prominent names on the Twins that are suffering injuries. 

The other teams have suffered a lot of losses but the Giants have suffered one large one. Buster Posey was hurt on a play at the plate. It has really hurt an already struggling Giants offense. Lets hope their amazing pitching staff can keep them in the race.