Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Significance of an early winning start

The significance of the Giants 15 and 3 winning record has been questioned by some very knowledgable people who have a day by day interest in the game. They point out that only 18 games has been played by the Giants, that the season has a long ways to go, that it cannot be considered a sprint but is more in the nature of a marathon, that the team that has momentum during the last few weeks is the team that wins.

Click below and I’ll tell you why this start is significant in the context of the long season.
All of this is undeniably true. The Giants were the team last year which had the momentum the last few weeks of the season. Arizona and the Dodgers simply could not pick up ground on them. In fact, the Giants came from a fair distance back of Arizona those last four weeks or so simply because they were on a winning streak and Arizona was fading. The Giants maintained that winning attitude until the 7th inning of the 6th game of the World Series.

However, let’s keep this in mind. Arizona is 10 losing games behind, LA is 8 losing games behind. Both Arizona and LA have losing records. Each is struggling to get to .500 which is the magic percentage which a team needs to get to before it can make a serious run at the top. If the Giants were to play .500 ball from here until the All Star break they would be 12 games over .500 at that time, a very respectable position at the mid-way point. Arizona would have to win 22 games over .500, LA 20 games over .500 from now until mid-season to draw even with the Giants. The likelihood of that happening is remote. It is more reasonable to expect the Giants to play better than .500 ball from here to the mid-way break. This would place an even greater burden on the others than described above.

None of this means that the Giants have it won. It is true that it is a long season and many unfortunate things can happen between now and the end. The Giants, for instance, have lost Nen for a good part of the year and it is questionable whether he can return in as good shape physically as demanded of his closer responsibilities, the pitching may not hold up, the left side of the infield may not hit, Bonds may begin to feel his 39 years, Snow may decide that he is really a .240 hitter and not a .380 hitter and one can go on and on.

However, when all is said and done, it’s a great deal better to be 12 games over .500 today than 8 or 10 games under.

0 comments

1 marty { 04.22.03 at 1:10 am }

Well said as usual Ed. The Giants now become the”hunted team” which can be difficult for a team without a first rate pitching staff. Let’s see how they play on the road. The Philadelphia series this weekend is a good test since they should see Millwood, Padilla, and perhaps Wolf, pitchers who can go deep into the game plus play a Phillies team that can swing the bat.

Marty

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