That doesn't really make any sense, because April 5th was Opening Day in 2010, and the Giants beat the Astros 5-2. Tim Lincecum dominated Roy Oswalt, Edgar Renteria had 13 hits, and Brian Wilson got the save and the first idea of a World Series beard popped into his head. A standard 2010 Giants game.
And then they went to southern California and this happened.
That was 2010.
In 2009, there weren't even regular season games on April 5th, but after that things looked very similar. The Giants scored 19 runs in three days, and then got on a plane for San Diego and Los Angeles.
Here in 2011, the reigning World Champions have started off like so, with April 5 looking like the Giants just got Padre'd.
So what am I trying to say here? That everything is fine?
No, I'm not. The defense is still not clicking, or catching anything. The magic that was inside is suddenly not there. The bullpen that was stellar all last season is missing its anchor. And seriously. These errors.
Basically, the Giants are not playing well right now. At all. The fact that there was no opening series against the Astros/Brewers to make us feel better didn't really help, because now the Giants are 1-4 and there's only 157 games left.
But Brian Wilson is coming back today, which is good. Some fire is good. That's one thing that I can say about Buster Posey and Brandon Belt (so far): they're great, great, great players. But exciting? Freddy Sanchez is exciting. Pablo Sandoval is exciting. They yell, and have nicknames, and have facial expressions.
Brian Wilson will bring some life back to this team. Aubrey Huff (0-4 on Tuesday) is too tired to do so right now. Pat Burrell has nothing to get excited about (3-18 so far). They need it from somewhere. And fast.
There are still six full months until the end of this season. Plenty of time to work things out. Look what's happened the last two years. Now, that's not exactly indicative that the team will turn it around the rest of the year and all of a sudden repeat as World Champs just because they looked terrible on their first trip inside the division.
All they DO need to do is to win. That 10-0 win felt great, and it made it seem like the Giants were right back where they were. But that's the only time this year that I felt comfortable watching the team. These games against the Dodgers and Padres will never be easy, and they will always expose some flaw in the Giants that wasn't there before.
It just stinks that us fans had to watch these two teams out of the gate. I can't wait for this southern swing to end. I mean, since when have any of you been relieved to have Albert Pujols and the Cardinals roll into town?
P.S. Aaron Rowand is hitting .571/.571/1.000, and the Giants are undefeated when he starts. Start your revolution, friends.
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