State of the San Francisco Giants

My first blog!!! Woo Hoo Yipee!! Well after much thinking I have decided to kick-off my blogging career my talking about the State of the San Francisco Giants. For essentially all of my life I have been a Giants fan, and believe me I have stuck it through the good times and the bad with this team. I was at Candlestick when Brian Johnson hit a walk-off homer against the hated Dodgers to clinch the West and send the Giants to the playoffs. I also remember almost crying as a thirteen year old kid when the Giants blew game 6 of the World Series and ended up losing the entire series to the Angels. However, as I have grown up I have started to become more and more critical of this team. The way this team has played the second half of this season just frustrates me beyond belief. First of all I am going to start at the top with manager Bruce Bochy, and I have many thoughts on the incompetence of this man. His stupidity was clearly portrayed Sunday afternoon as ace Tim Lincecum was on the mound. With a runner on first and 1 out in the top of the seventh, Bochy left "his guy" in to face top pinch-hit man Seth Smith with top reliever Jeremy Affeldt greased up and ready to go in the pen. Smith then went to hit a 450 ft. homer off Lincecum and the Giants ended up losing the game that they desperately needed in the Wild Card race. Seriously Bochy, what in the hell were you thinking?? Lincecum was erratic all day long and tried to find some stability in his stuff by reverting to the stretch for the entire game, but that didn't help either. Take the guy out and be smart enough to play the match up properly. Now let me get to the offense... It almost hurts my eyes to watch these guys attempt to try and execute the way they are supposed to. Aaron Rowand basically refuses to bunt with a runner on second and no outs in a one run or tied game. Pablo Sandoval and Bengie Molina are so ridiculous as free swingers that it is very surprising when they don't see more than two or three pitches per AB. Fred Lewis may be the most talented athlete on the team but has no idea what he is doing on a baseball field, and the team should honestly just cut their ties with him and give him the "boot." Edgar Renteria was signed for $9 million per season in the off season and is hitting a measly .260 with like three homers. God this offense is hard to watch sometimes. Now let me assess how the defense is playing. I don't have too many complaints here, but playing Edgar Renteria and Fred Lewis is just hurting the team. Edgar has terrible range (basically because he is 35) and bone spurs in his elbow so he cannot play short anymore. Fred Lewis flies around the outfield on his heels, which causes his head to bob up and down, and this causes him to drop so many balls that would probably hit him in the face. Despite all these problems the Giants are still in the middle of the NL West race and the Wild Card hunt. The Pitching has carried them, and the trade deadline deals they made have given them a boost to hold their own in these battles. They honestly need to figure their problems out, or once again they will be on vacation in October watching the playoffs on TV.

Vocab Words (interesting words I have found)-
-juxtapose- to place close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast.

-mnemonic- assisting or intended to assist the memory.