Padres Week Ahead: Finish Strong!

Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Giants Preview

The Padres will likely not face Tim Lincecum again this season. That is a good thing, since he has no-hit them twice in two years. No, now The Freak is in the bullpen for the Giants as they try to finish out a season and make the playoffs. If they just get in, anything can happen, or so the story goes.

The Giants bats are going cold at just about the worst time possible. Season long contributors like Michael Morse are banged up, Brandon Belt had a hot April but then injury and poor play have him hitting under .230, and even perennial MVP Candidate Buster Posey has not been able to carry this team to the NL West crown. Make no mistake – the Dodgers earned their division title (coming any day now), but they did under-achieve where they should’ve been with that talent. The title easily could’ve been the Giants to take with more consistent output.

Tim Hudson might be in his final year in the majors. He started out the season well, but has struggled of late. He is a competitor though, and I wouldn’t count him out if the Giants have one pitcher on their team not named Bumgardener who can pull out a signature victory when they need it most. Watch out for him this week. Matt Cain has struggled all season to prove to people that he is back from a dismal 2013 campaign, and Ryan Vogelsong, while making a nice comeback story after years of being lost in baseball purgatory, also appears to be at the end of his run. Despite a playoff run approaching, the Giants face some serious rotation questions themselves heading into 2015.