The Offensive Juggernaut Known As The Giants

The funny part about this is that I actually used the offensive juggernaut known as the Giants tag to mock their pitiful lineup throughout the regular season. Turns out the joke was on me. The Giants have now scored 20 runs in the first two games of the World Series. And to my surprise, the Giants destruction of the Rangers pitching hasn't come from the bat of blog favorite Buster Posey. The Giants offensive outburst has come from the unlikely names such as Edgar Renteria, Juan Uribe, Aubrey Huff and Freddy Sanchez. Okay, maybe not Huff so much as he was a pretty good hitter during the regular season.

Still, I don't think anyone imagined the Giants would light up Cliff Lee in Game One and then pin nine runs on the Rangers bullpen in Game Two. Of course, Ron Washington has been managing his bullpen like a Golden Corral that was going in the red because Bengie Molina bought a season pass. Washington's refusal to use his best reliever, Neftali Feliz, in high leverage situations (or at all) continues to boggle everyone's mind.

Speaking of mind boggling, has anybody been watching Matt Cain this post season? He's now started three games and pitched 21.1 scoreless innings. Another scoreless 8 inning performance in Game Six (if necessary) would break Walter Johnson's record for shutout post season innings. Note: I didn't do any real research, I'm just going off of a Jayson Stark tweet that I hope I accurately remember. I'm awesome at journalism.

The Rangers will lean on Japanese League superstar Colby Lewis to cool off the hot bats of the Giants when the series resumes Saturday in Arlington. The Rangers can plug Big Daddy Vladdy back into the lineup as their DH which should help them offensively and defensively. Vlad still crushes lefty pitching so there is still a little hope for Rangers fans if he can get a few good swings against Jonathan Sanchez.

While I never got around to publishing my World Series prediction post, I had the Giants in six. If the Rangers don't turn it around soon, I might look bad for reinserting that pick here.