Nate Schierholtz

Andres Torres, the center fielder and lead-off hitter, is the most irreplaceable member of the San Francisco Giants' lineup.

The Giants have to replace him, though, because he's out for the remainder of the regular season following surgery on his appendix.

Where were we?

Oh, right, nothing about yesterday's game matters once today's game starts.

The Giants belted the Padres 7-3 to win the opener of the important four-game NL West series Thursday in San Diego. Giants fans were roaring that everything had fallen into place.

Then on Friday night, the Giants squeaked out a gut-wrenching and fascinating 1-0 win over the Padres to move into a tie for the NL West lead.

On Monday, the Giants did what their team was built to do: win behind dominant pitching, and just enough run support.

The Giants have recalled Buster Posey and signed Pat Burrell to a minor league deal, leaving some to question where all the pieces will fit if things go as the club would like.

Posey started with a bang on Saturday night, playing first base. Let's imagine that he is in the big leagues to stay. And, let's pretend that the veteran outfielder Burrell uses his time in the minor leagues to prove he belongs in the big leagues.

During my time here at Bleacher Report, I've been given plenty of praise and plenty of hate in the comments section of my articles.

Now notice I did not say "fair share" of both, because honestly the majority of criticism is unwarranted.

Am I saying this simply to toot my own horn?

When a team musters just a single run in a three game series, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the offense is struggling.

Essentially, changes to the San Francisco Giants' lineup are a guarantee.

Even if their manager was napping in the clubhouse during the past three games, changes would be made after looking at the final box scores.

Once the manager wakes up after such a dreadful offensive series, he will see 20 straight zeros in the boxscore and will naturally be inclined to shake things up.

Before the 2010 Major League Baseball season began, I really wanted to put the San Francisco Giants atop the division when previewing the National League West .

Instead, I stuck them in second and gave them the NL Wild Card because I figured the more grandiose vision was the product of the fan in me.

Furthermore, I thought granting them a postseason berth was still setting the bar pretty high. Possibly a little too high.

San Francisco Giants right fielder Nate Schierholtz had a tough Spring Training and fellow Giants outfielder John Bowker had a fabulous Spring.

But why should anyone care?

Spring Training means absolutely nothing and numerous Giants are currently verifying what should be an obvious notion.

Tim Lincecum had an ERA approaching seven during the exhibition season, while Todd Wellemeyer finished with an ERA in the mid-two's.

But did Lincecum lose his No. 1 spot in the rotation? No.

Did Wellemeyer move up in the rotation? No.

Save your sabermetrics and your OPS and OBS and all those other statistics that address a hitter's ability to produce.

The 2010 San Francisco Giants, when healthy, score a few more runs a week than the 2009 Giants did. This bunch, however, is no better than last year's club at scoring a run when they really, really, need one.

The easiest way to score a run is, naturally, to jack a ball over the fence. Pablo Sandoval is a consistent home run threat. Beyond Sandoval, the club is without a true source of power.