Major League Baseball

20 things to ponder about the San Franciso Giants

Published Oct. 13, 2010 10:13 a.m. ET

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With the sweep of the Cincinnati Reds completed, the Phillies now turn their attention to the San Francisco Giants, a team fresh off a 3-1 series victory over the Atlanta Braves.

San Francisco got into the playoffs on the last day of the regular season. By defeating the San Diego Padres, 3-0, on Oct. 3, the Giants clinched their first division title since 2003. Led by two-time defending Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, the Giants rely heavily on strong starting pitching and scoring just enough runs to win.

Here are some things you should know about the Giants:

1Despite a perceived weak offense, San Francisco has a decent amount of power. The Giants hit the sixth-most home runs in the National League. Their total of 162 was only four fewer than the Phillies' 166.

2San Francisco isn't exactly prolific on the basepaths. The Giants stole only 55 bases on the year, tied with the Cubs for the lowest amount by any MLB team.

3Maybe you've heard of this Buster Posey kid. The rookie-of-the-year candidate started the season in the minor leagues before joining the team on May 29. The Giants originally played Posey at first base, but the trade of Bengie Molina to the Rangers allowed Posey to start behind the plate. Posey hasn't disappointed, hitting .305 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI in 108 games.

4Juan Uribe has started 96 games at shortstop this season in place of Edgar Renteria, who went to the disabled list three times. Renteria, who is in the last year of a 2-year, $18.5 million deal, is considering retirement.

5Third baseman Pablo Sandoval has taken a significant step back this season. After hitting .330 with 25 home runs and 90 RBI in his first full season, "Kung Fu Panda" has seen his average drop to .268 while hitting only 13 home runs and 63 RBI. Sandoval's OPS was .943 last year compared with this season's .732 mark.

6In case you've been living under a rock for the entire season, the Giants have some stellar pitching. Their staff's earned run average of 3.36 was the best in all of baseball, as were their 1,331 strikeouts.

7That being said, San Francisco's pitching staff has had control issues this year. The 578 walks they allowed were the fourth-most in baseball and third-most in the National League. No playoff team walked more batters than the Giants.

8Tim Lincecum had a down year by his standards but still won 16 games while recording a 3.43 ERA and striking out 231 batters. Lincecum was dominant in his playoff debut against the Braves, pitching a complete game while allowing only two hits and striking out 14.

9Lincecum might be the marquee name but Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain arguably had just as impressive of seasons. Sanchez went 13-9 with a 3.07 ERA while Cain went 13-11 with a 3.14 ERA.

10Closer Brian Wilson has been dominant for the Giants. His 48 saves were the most in baseball. Since 2008, when he took over as the team's closer, Wilson has 127 saves and 243 strikeouts. Wilson struggled in his first appearance against the Braves but regained his composure in Games 3 and 4 en route to consecutive saves.

11Wilson isn't the only solid arm out of that bullpen. Ramon Ramirez (0.67), Javier Lopez (1.42), Santiago Casilla (1.95) and Sergio Romo (2.18) all had ERAs under 3.00 during the regular season.

12With Atlanta's Bobby Cox out of the playoffs, Giants manager Bruce Bochy is the most experienced manager left. In 16 seasons, Bochy has managed 2,574 regular season games, winning 1,274.

13Speaking of Bochy, he was behind the plate for the San Diego Padres when Pete Rose smacked his 4,192nd hit, which broke Ty Cobb's record.

14The Giants got better as the weather got hotter. On July 4, the Giants were 41-40 and 7 1/2 games back in the NL West standings. The Giants went 51-30 the rest of the way and ended up winning the division by two games over the Padres.

15Former Phillie Pat Burrell salvaged his season when he signed with the Giants. After hitting .202 with a .625 OPS with the Rays, Burrell hit .266 with 18 home runs and 51 RBI in 96 games with San Francisco.

16Barry Zito, the team's highest-paid player at $18.5 million, was left off the NLDS roster. Zito was 7-4 with a 3.74 ERA at the All-Star break, but went just 2-10 in the second half of the season.

17Another former Phillie, outfielder Aaron Rowand, is on the roster but isn't receiving the playing time that the Giants likely envisioned when they signed him to a 5-year, $60 million deal following the 2008 season. Rowand had only 357 at-bats this season because of a broken cheekbone and has been replaced by Andres Torres in centerfield.

18If you combine Zito's, Rowand's and injured utilityman Mark DeRosa's salaries for 2010, they total $36.5 million. That's more than the entire Pittsburgh Pirates' payroll of about $35 million. Zito, as previously mentioned, and DeRosa are not on the roster. Rowand had two at-bats in the NLDS.

19This is the first time that San Francisco has made the NLCS since 2002, when Barry Bonds led the Giants to the World Series, which they lost, 4-3, to Anaheim. The Game 7 loss to the Angels was the last game that Dusty Baker managed with the team.

20The Giants have yet to win a World Series since they moved to San Francisco from New York in 1958. Before the move, the Giants won five championships, the last in 1954, including one over the Philadelphia Athletics in 1905. *

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