San Francisco Bay Area

The second place San Francisco Giants are good enough to win the National League West as is.

Yes, with a pitching staff that features two Cy Young candidates, nobody is denying that.

But to make a serious run in the post-season, the Giants are going to need some additional help.

Ranked No. 19 in home runs and No. 24 in runs batted in, San Francisco can't continue to expect flawless pitching from its staff.

Even after absorbing Tuesday's loss to the visiting Baltimore Orioles, the San Francisco Giants are humming along now that May is but a memory.

Since the calendar flipped to June, the Gents (quick note—I don't care that the New York nickname was Gints and neither does anyone else in the Bay Area) are 9-5. If you include the last five games of a mediocre preceding month, San Francisco is 13-6.

So things are good for the baseball-conscious in the City.

Nevertheless, there are three glaring and potentially enduring problems with the club.

Call it Christmas in June for the usual suspects in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Given the warm yuletide season around here and the scorching hot couple of days the City's seen recently, the analogy works splendidly. The only real difference is that baseball is being played at the Oakland Coliseum and AT&T Park.

And it's in the outfield of the jewel formerly known as Pac Bell where the anti-Brian Sabean ogres will (soon) find their unexpected present.

Friday marked the sixth time Bleacher Report and I have been welcomed into the press box at the Oakland Coliseum. My five previous trips were all stellar experiences, but this one felt different the minute I crossed the parking lot's threshold.

Generally when I arrive around 3:30 pm, the lot is dotted with one hand's worth of early birds. Today, the number was closer to triple digits.

Barbecues were in full smoke, games of catch featuring both footballs and baseballs were breaking out, and there was a general air of festivity hanging over the scene.

If you haven't heard them before, you should definitely start to hear them now.

Sooner or later, the revisionist sharks will begin circling one of their favorite pieces of bait, San Francisco Giant general manager Brian Sabean.

My guess is that they've already started and the first bite is only a matter of time.

The lineup and batting order that makes the most sense for the Giants—and why it makes sense—is of some interest as the club hits San Diego looking to move into first place in the National League West.

1. Aaron Rowand, center field

Rowand's been more productive in the leadoff spot than he has anywhere in the lineup in his two-plus seasons in San Francisco. Don't mess with a good thing...unless he goes 0-for-4 and the Padres win 2-1 in the opener.

2. Freddy Sanchez, second base

During his pregame session with the media, before the Oakland Athletics took on the Texas Rangers, manager Bob Geren revealed that Justin Duchscherer "had an MRI and it said there's just some inflation" in his left hip.

So it goes in the mental and physical siege known as the Major League Baseball season.

You'll forgive Geren if one conversation bleeds into another, even if it is only May and the 162-game slate is less than 20 percent complete. I mean, can you really blame his subconscious for transposing the American economic plight with that of his charges?

Don't ever let anyone tell you that the Baseball Gods lack a sense of humor; it's simply not true. The collective funny bone is intact—the problem is that comedy doesn't tickle it.

Instead, it's cruelty that gives the diamond deities a case of the giggles.

Over the course of any team's 162-game season, a fan will see ample proof of this perversity. At the moment, aficionados of the Oakland Athletics are getting their eyeful.

Every now and again, certain fans like to remind the sports' landscape that the word is short for "fanatics," which comes to us from the Latin "fanaticus ." The latter means "insanely but divinely inspired."

Yep, that about covers it.

Although I'm not sure Chicago Cub aficionados would agree with the "divine" bit.