So Far, A Success

If you only read ESPN and Fox Sports on a daily basis, I wouldn't blame you for thinking the Giants were the laughing stock of baseball, buried in the cellar of the NL West. Every mention of the team seems to be preceded by words such as "punchless," "pitiful," or "pathetic." In his weekly chat yesterday, ESPN's Keith Law sneaked this remark into his response to a question about the Cardinals: "When you've played more than 20% of your games against the Giants, you haven't exactly been challenged." Keith, I know you probably go to sleep early over on the East Coast, but the Giants beat the Cardinals four times, as opposed to all other teams, who beat them a combined seven times. Law is far from the only sports writer who has preordained that the Giants are the worst team baseball, and one of the worst in history at that.

The fact is, considering expectations, the Giants and their fans should be very happy with a 13-16 record, which is equal or better than 11 other teams, and good for third place in the NL West. The Giants cannot compete with the elites of the National League like Arizona, Chicago, and New York. But so far, the offense has been able to frustrate teams with weaker pitching (St. Louis, Colorado) while the pitching has been able to dominate sub-par offenses (San Diego). There's a lot of things to be happy about:

• Tim Lincecum has been the dominant pitcher we all know he can be, and there's no reason to think that he's a fluke. Jonathan Sanchez, who only made the rotation because of the injury to Noah Lowry, has been a great surprise, emerging as a legitimate third starter behind Lincecum and Matt Cain. Noah who?
  
• Outside of a few blowups, the bullpen, especially Tyler Walker and Brian Wilson on the end, has been solid. Merkin Valdez has been the best under-the-radar story on this team, and Vinnie Chulk has not missed a beat since coming off the DL.
• Fred Lewis has proven that he can, at the very least, be an above-average regular at the major league level. Eugenio Velez has shown dynamic flashes that leave us wondering what he's really capable of.
• Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand, who most pundits saw as laughable middle-of-the-order hitters, have been adequate run producers.

Of course, it's only May 2, and the Giants could still be a 100-run loss team. But their play in April has been given us reason to believe that this team is not as far off as many think, and hopefully, someone in the sports media will start to notice soon.