San Francisco Giants Begin 2007 Season Struggling

By David
Kaye

A new manager, a healthy Barry Bonds and $126 million spent on an ace pitcher was not enough to prevent the Giants from starting the season 1-4.

Due to a group of aging veterans, a poor bullpen, shaky starting pitching and inexperienced young players, it was forecasted for San Fran to have a poor season and finish either fourth or fifth in the NL West, but it was not expected for them to begin the 2007 season by losing their first four out of five games.

San Francisco has only been outscored 14-10 to begin the new season and that is an indication that their starters have pitched pretty well. Matt Cain is an up and coming right-hander who's primed for a monster season, Noah Lowry is a quality left-hander who had a superb outing last night, Barry Zito did not pitch particularly well in his first start as a Giant, but has the opportunity to defeat the Dodgers' tomorrow afternoon, Matt Morris is looking to improve on a disappointing 06' and Russ Ortiz has not been impressive in his return to the Bay Area.

They can survive with the pitching staff they currently have, but their bullpen is very uncertain. If San Fran begins to fall deeper out of the race Brian Sabean would not hesitate to trade closer Armando Benitez and past him the Giants have no other reliever they can trust. In the NL West where most teams are evenly matched, having a strong bullpen can separate you from the pact. L..A. and San Diego have terrific late inning relief and that is a testament to why they're always competing towards late September for the division crown.

There is an abundance of buzz around the city of San Francisco because they will be hosting this July's All-Star Game and their favorite player Barry Bonds is only 20 home runs away from breaking the immortal Hank Aaron's record. Having a winning baseball team would add to the buzz and excitement around the Bay Area.