FanNation

Dawgee Fresh said 02/29, 09:46 PM
One other rule: You can't pick the Chicago White Sox, too big of a homer.

The San Francisco Giants. Yes, the Giants. They are in a division where four different teams have won it in the last six years and the Giants could make a repeat. Yes, they got rid of Barry Bonds, but does that help them? Yes, I won't go into that now though.

The Giants have a good, young pitching core in Matt Cain, Barry Zito, and Ted Lincecum. Cain and Zito didin't have the best of years last year but that should change.

The NL is weak and the Giants can pound through it. They have Fred Lewis, who should grow into a much better player this year, and they also have Pedro Feliz, Bengie Molina, and Randy Winn. These guys are all good players, face it.

When you are going with an under .500 team you have to take risks and I think that my pick is risky, yet down to the truth.

No Bonds? No problem. It should be nice to see some new leadership and better chemisty resulting into more wins and more fans in the seat, they had a lot last year, but even more this year.

If any under .500 team has a shot to get into playoff contention next year, it's the Giants.

Dawgee Fresh said 03/01, 01:36 PM
The Cardinals have huge pitching problems and also have a lot of easy outs in the lineup. Albert Pujols is basically the only player on that team that can hit.

I will compare the team's pitching numbers:

Giants:
4.20 ERA
1442 hits
720 runs
133 HRs
1057 Ks
.261 BA

Cardinals:
4.67 ERA
1514 hits
829 runs
168 HRs
945 Ks
.271 BA

Games are won with pitching, and clearly, the Cardinals don't have it. They don't have the best of offense either. Troy Glaus slumped last year after being on the Mitchell Report, Kennedy hit .219 last year, I am not aware of an Izturis being on the team, Molina hit well under .300 last year. The list goes on and on. Pujols is the only bright spot in their lineup.

Dawgee Fresh said 03/02, 03:01 PM
The Cardinals scored 725 homeruns, only a little under 50 more than the Giants, and that was when they HAD Scott Rolen. You could say that now the Giants don't have Barry Bonds but he didn't play that much and was not a huge factor in the runs department.

San Francisco may be an aging team, like the Cardinals, but they do have Tim Lincecum, a future Cy Young candidate. Heck, he might even be a candidate this year if he plays up to his potential!

Albert Pujols is the player that carries the rest of his team on his back and once he goes past his prime, and those days aren't too far away. What are they going to do if Pujols gets injured? He's no kid anymore.

If Pujols gets injured then Molina will have to carry the team and when Molina is carrying the team or even the second best player on the team, the result is never good.