Countdown to Opening Day: #8 San Francisco Giants

By Andrew Marcus
Sportswriter for Lansdale Reporter

Follow me on Twitter @amarcus515

#8 San Francisco Giants: Giants of the Decade?

PROJECTED LINEUP
CF Angel Pagan
2B Marco Scutaro
C Buster Posey
3B Pablo Sandoval
RF Hunter Pence
1B Brandon Belt
LF Gregor Blanco
SS Brandon Crawford
P Matt Cain

PROJECTED ROTATION
Matt Cain
Madison Bumgarner
Ryan Vogelsong
Tim Lincecum
Barry Zito

BULLPEN

Closer: Sergio Romo

Set-up: Santiago Casilla

Top Prospect: Gary Brown (OF)

The only thing harder to do than win a World Series is to win the World Series in back-to-back to years. It was impressive enough that the Bruce Bochy-led bunch has done in two-out-of-three years in this 30 team, 11 postseason games to win in-it-all era.

So with all professional sports being copycat leagues, let's take a deeper look inside of the Giants' success. Becuase while it is going to be very hard to repeat, the boys by  the Bay have just a good a shot to be in the Fall Classic as anyone else.
The main focus is starting pitching. The group of Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, Barry Zito, Tim Lincecum, and Ryan Vogelsong keep the Giants in every ball game. And they need to. The Giants never are offensive juggernauts and their ballpark would not let them be. So another focus is playing to the ball park.
They do have loose, motivated professionals. Pablo Sandoval, Hunter Pence, and Buster Posey are the furthest from business-like ballplayers. They love to play the game and they love to win. Other than the MVP Posey, the roster is full of clutch hitters. Posey is clutch and iconic.
So they have their pitching and a middle-of-the-order star. There are two things left that make the magic work. They have manager in Bochy that fits perfect with his players and the front office. And they also have a very smart General Manager in Brian Sabean. His mid-season under the radar acquisitions never seem to fail. Marco Scutaro's performance in the playoffs last season is Exhibit A.
The Giants are not the richest club in baseball, but they have a plan, they stick to it, and they are in the mix every season because of it.

THEY CALL ME MR. SUNSHINE - You thought last year was dominant winning 94 games and the World Series, wait to take a peak at a dynasty if formation. Tim Lincecum rebounds to Cy Young form and Brandon Belt finds his power stroke. The Giants are just on another level than every other team in the majors and Buster Posey makes back-to-back MVP awards.





REAL TALK - There is definitely good vibes going around A T & T Park and clearly more chemistry than any other N.L. West team trying to load up and dethrone them. The Giants went through an off season on the red carpet after 2010 and did not fair well in their repeat efforts. They can be more prepared for those talk shows and commercials, but the target on their back around baseball makes it nearly impossible to repeat in this era.

Breakout: Gary Brown (OF)

Bust: Marco Scutaro (2B)
Fantasy Baseball Sleeper: Ryan Vogelsong (SP)

LAST YEAR'S RECORD: 94-68 (1st in NL West)

PROJECTED 2013 FINISH: 88-74 (1st in NL West)

**Check back tomorrow for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim**