As the San Francisco Giants sprint past the halfway point of their 36 game Spring Training schedule, there is a distinct lack of drama surrounding players and management as all those embarrassing wins continue to pile up. If asked, the politically correct baseball establishment would not doubt follow the proper script and insist the team’s 14-4 Cactus League record is completely meaningless; but imagine the stories that would flow from the national MLB media if the Giants were 6-12.
It may be a West Coast thing, or it may be FoxSports TV’s continuing addiction to the Yankee-Red Sox crack monster, but San Francisco has simply not received the level of respect from the national sports media that they earned in taking the 2010 World Championship crown. You see it in virtually every 2011 baseball season preview show, feature article, and commentary. The only Giants-related story that will get the interest of ESPN, or Fox Sports, or SI.com, or the MLB Network is if the World Series champs stumble significantly at any point in 2011.
And that, I suppose, is life in the big city.
Getting back to the Giants’ extremely impressive 14-4 Spring record, by far the best record in the Majors, here are some top fives in a number of offensive and pitching categories at the halfway point:
| AB | TB | XBH | OBP (min. 20 ABs) | ||||
| 1) Pablo Sandoval | 40 | 1) Pablo Sandoval | 24 | 1) Pablo Sandoval | 6 | 1) Buster Posey | .556 |
| 2) Brandon Belt | 38 | 2) Buster Posey | 19 | 2) Buster Posey | 5 | 2) Andres Torres | .448 |
| 3) Mark DeRosa | 32 | 3) Brandon Belt | 17 | Brandon Belt | 5 | 3) Cody Ross | .438 |
| 4) Aubrey Huff | 30 | Cody Ross | 17 | 3) Cody Ross | 4 | 4) Pat Burrell | .387 |
| Nate Schierholtz | 30 | Andres Torres | 17 | Nate Schierholtz | 4 | 5) Mike Fontenot | .355 |
| 5) Mike Fontenot | 28 | 4) Nate Schierholtz | 16 | Pat Burrell | 4 | ||
| Miguel Tejada | 28 | 5) Pat Burrell | 15 | Mike Fontenot | 4 | ||
| Andres Torres | 4 | ||||||
| IP | SO | WHIP (min. 6 innings) | ERA (min. 6 innings) | ||||
| 1) R. Vogelsong | 12.2 | 1) Tim Lincecum | 14 | 1) Jeff Suppan | .44 | 1) Sergio Romo | 0.00 |
| 2) Tim Lincecum | 12.1 | 2) M. Bumgarner | 12 | 2) Sergio Romo | .67 | 2) Jeremy Affeldt | 1.50 |
| 3) M. Bumgarner | 11.0 | 3) Ryan Vogelsong | 11 | 3) Dan Runzler | .96 | 3) Jeff Suppan | 2.00 |
| 4) Barry Zito | 9.2 | 4) Jonathan Sanchez | 9 | 4) Santiago Casilla | 1.00 | 4) J. Sanchez | 2.08 |
| 5) Jeff Suppan | 9.0 | 5) Jeremy Affeldt | 7 | Guillermo Mota | 1.00 | 5) Ryan Vogelsong | 2.13 |
| Dan Runzler | 7 | 5) Madison Bumgarner | 1.09 | ||||
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