Giant of the Week: The Giants

What a stretch it has been. After winning a season high five straight, including a sweep of the lowly San Diego Padres, I think its safe to say the 2008 Giants are fun to watch. I like seeing the young kids, the pitching remains top notch, and Rowand and Molina seem to be enjoying themselves as well. Rookie mistakes are still happening, but even with that, the team is on its way to their first winning month of the season. As the Giants easily took care of Atlanta, Florida, and then San Diego, we found it difficult to award just one player.

Here's a rundown of some players who have made an impact recently: Brian Wilson gave up three runs in the ninth, blowing a would-be win for Matt Cain. Still, he didn't give up the lead and the Giants still won. He returned the following day and pitched a scoreless tenth to earn the win. He saved the last two games against San Diego, to raise is league leading total to 35. Cain has certainly found his stride whether he earns wins or not. He's boasting a 2.14 ERA in his last ten starts.

Remember that talk of Tim Lincecum's "cover boy" curse? Didn't think so. "The Franchise" collected his 200th strikeout of the season, throwing eight shutout innings against the Padres. Pablo Sandoval has spent time at catcher, first and third. Also, five of his first nine major league games have been multi-hit games. Lastly, we can't forget Bengie Molina's five RBI day yesterday.

Giant of the Week: Randy Winn

It was a dismal week for the Giants. After a joyful weekend against the Dodgers, the team suffered a four game sweep in Houston that could easily qualify for the worst series of the year. Really, the best things that happened this week were that some draft picks were signed and Tim Lincecum didn't get hurt too bad. But while the team flounders, one Giant is tearing it up at the plate this month. The right fielder is batting .446 for the month of August, and last night missed the cycle by a triple with a solid 4-for-4. His home run was also career dinger number 100.

Giant of the Week: Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson is the unsung hero of the 2008 San Francisco Giants. He has presence on the mound, without any flashiness, as if he prefers to let his fastballs do all the talking. While the bullpen around him has had plenty of ups and downs, he has held leads with remarkable consistency. With only two blown saves to his name (and only one resulting in a loss), who knows what this season would look like without Wilson. Last week, Wilson racked up four saves, preserving leads after great outings from Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum. He shut the Dodgers out for an inning on Saturday, as well, helping send the game into extra innings. Wilson has only improved as the season progresses, proving that he is a closer that you could build a bullpen around.

Giant of the Week: Tim Lincecum

We're a few days late on our Giant of the Week. Still, the unrewarded efforts Tim Lincecum put up last week are worthy of praise. The All-Star turned in two brilliant performances, both of which resulted in no-decisions. Lincecum threw seven innings of three-hit ball last Friday, and left the game with a 2-1 lead. The bullpen could not hold it for him, but the Giants still won in 10. His 11 strikeouts that night also pushed his league-leading total to 167. A week earlier, Lincecum suffered a heartbreaker - he outdueled Brandon Webb for seven innings (while striking out 13) only to have the bullpen blow a one-run lead in the eighth. Lincecum's exit after the seventh proved to be a point of criticism directed at Bruce Bochy. Still, whether we're winning or losing, this kid remains a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

Giant of the Week: Matt Cain

When Matt Cain struggled in the first half, fans started to get antsy that the pitcher was not all he'd been built up to be. To believe that is to neglect the fact that Cain is only 23 and still receives some of the worst run support in the National League. Of course, when a report surfaced that the Phillies were interested, few were searching for truth in it. After allowing four runs in a 9-1 loss to Milwauke last week, Cain returned to form yesterday with the team's most brilliant pitching performance of the season. In two hours time, Cain allowed just four hits, no runs, no walks, while striking out four. In the most character building of moments, Cain was faced with the challenge of needing to retire two hitters in the ninth, with runners on second and third. Bruce Bochy let him face the challenge and two flyouts later, the Giants had their first complete game shutout of the season.

Honorable Mentions: Bengie Molina, Brian Wilson, Barry Zito, Omar Vizquel.

Giant of the First Half (Will's Pick)

Each week Will and Charlie pick a "Giant of the Week." To kick off this feature, each writer is selecting a "Giant of the First Half."

Will's Pick: John Bowker
.274, 9 HR, 38 RBI

Tim Lincemcum is the obvious choice, and Brian Wilson deserves serious consideration as well. But Giants fans were told to anticipate promising young pitching. The questions that lingered into the start of the season - what would the offense look like and are there any promising hitters in this organization? While the Giants offense has floundered at times, both Bowker and Fred Lewis have shown a level of progress that is invigorating. Bowker is the most pleasant surprise of all. The young outfielder provided a shot of adrenaline, homering in his first two big league games. Despite slumps here and there, he leads the team in homers, while also batting a respectable .274. The team quickly converted him to first base with the outfield already crowded. Working with J.T. Snow, Bowker does have natural instincts for the position. He hasn't been perfect, but his willingness to work at the position consistently shows why Bowker is the kind of player this team needs to keep around. Only in his first big league season, and Bowker already looks like a leader both with his numbers and with the example he sets.