NL Wild Card – Who Are These San Francisco Giants

Sep 24, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Steve Perry, former lead singer for the band Journey, and San Francisco Giants right fielder Hunter Pence (8) pose for a photo during pre-game batting practice before the Giants game against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

The 2014 San Francisco Giants suffer from multiple personalities.  The Giants appeared to be the alpha male in the National League when they stormed out of Spring Training and played great ball for two months.  Then the team became introverted for the next couple months, nothing like that alpha dog.  Down the stretch, the Giants morphed into just another bunch of guys with healed wounds who played well enough, but didn’t come close to that monster that tore up baseball for a while.

The Giants had a league leading 37 wins heading into June.  The team then won just 16 games before the All-Star break.  San Francisco finished flat and Pirates fans are trusting that shi**y middle personality shows up at the blacked out PNC Park tomorrow night.

The Pirates took two of three from the Giants in May and then two of three again from them in San Francisco in July.  The Pirates outscored the Giants 29-23 during the series which featured some wild games.

Sep 22, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants center fielder Gregor Blanco (7) and second baseman Joe Panik (12) celebrate after the final out in the 13th inning of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Giants won 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Who’s Hot:  Buster Posey is hitting nearly .400 in his past 30 games with four homers.  Joe Panik.  The second baseman is hitting .345 since August 4th and .299 in his past 30 games.

Who Has a Bad Back:  Buster Posey hit like the beast that he is during September, but his back let him down during the final week of the season.

Who’s Not:  Hunter Pence is hitting .198 in his past 30.  Must be all those hilarious #HunterPenceSigns.  [HUNTER PENCE DIDN’T TIP THE SAX MAN]

Pence is hitting under .200 in his last 30 games.  [click to embiggen–and please notice that Madison Bumgarner has two hits in his last nine at-bats.  On the season, Big Country hit .258 with four bombs, 15 RIBEYES and a .470 slugging.]

Kung Fu Panda has an awful triple slash .218/274/.276 in September.

The Giants offense the last 30 games.

One of the hottest Pirates hitters is Josh Harrison.  So let me give you a Josh Harrison Fact of the Day: JHay is four-for-five off Bumgarner.  On July 28, Josh Harrison blasted a two-run bomb as the Bucs shutout the Giants 5-0.

Travis Ishikawa Fact of the Day:  Seriously?

Sep 22, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28) reacts to a called third strike in the sixth inning of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Potential Lineups:  

Giants: CF Gregor Blanco (.260, 5 HRs, 38 RBIs), 2B Joe Panik (.305, 1, 18), C Buster Posey (.311, 22, 89), 3B Pablo Sandoval (.279, 16, 73), RF Hunter Pence (.277, 20, 74), 1B Brandon Belt (.243, 12, 27), LF Travis Ishikawa (.252, 3, 18), SS Brandon Crawford (.246, 10, 69).

Crawford has seven strikeouts in 20 career at-bats against Edinson Volquez.

Pirates: 3B Josh Harrison (.315, 13, 52), RF Travis Snider (.264, 13, 38), CF Andrew McCutchen (.314, 25, 83),  C Russell Martin (.290, 11, 67), LF Starling Marte (.291, 13, 56, 30 SBs), 2B Neil Walker (.271, 23, 76), 1B Gaby Sanchez (.229, 7, 33), SS Jordy Mercer (.255, 12, 55).

Sep 17, 2014; Phoenix, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Santiago Casilla against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The Giants defeated the Diamondbacks 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Relievers:

Much like the Pirates, the bullpen has went through changes during the season.  Santiago Casilla has converted 17 of 18.  If it gets to Casilla on Wednesday night, the game is all but over.

Giants Bullpen: RH Santiago Casilla (3-3, 1.70), RH Sergio Romo (6-4, 3.72), RH Jean Machi (7-1, 2.58, 2 saves), RH Tim Lincecum (12-9, 4.74), RH George Kontos (4-0, 2.78), LH Jeremy Affeldt (4-2, 2.28), LH Javier Lopez (1-1, 3.11)

Summary:

The Giants were a losing team after their league leading hot start.  The team really sucked down the stretch and bring in some big names with not so big numbers.  The Pirates have some history against left handed pitching and their offense will need to use it in order to win this game.

I still have no idea who I am picking.