San Francisco Giants

Three games down, 159 to go.

What a three games they were.

The San Fransisco Giants completed an opening series sweep of the hapless Houston Astros this afternoon. The Giants ended the series with an offensive explosion that doomed Houston in a 10-4 defeat.

So what did we learn about the 2010 San Francisco Giants?

Well, one thing I think we all know is that they can pitch.

Whoa, Nelly, can they pitch.

Ask around Major League Baseball and most people close to the game will tell you the same thing about Spring Training—it's an incredible window into the game that a true fan needs to experience.

I've never gone myself, so I can only trust in the wisdom of those words, but my faith is strong.

Granted, the same thing that I'm sure makes the Show's exhibition run so exceptional is the same thing that makes it confounding to professional prognosticators—it's utterly meaningless.

Barry Zito’s six scoreless innings in Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over the Houston Astros fit the profile the once-brilliant left-hander has slowly established in rebuilding himself after two horrendous seasons with the San Francisco Giants.

Oh, it would be nice to believe that the Zito, who gave up three hits while striking out five with just a single walk, was the result of his latest change in attitude and approach.

Ordinarily, I'd be writing that opening the 2010 Major League Baseball season with two dominant wins over the Houston Astros is no reason for fellow San Francisco Giant fans to get excited.

By all accounts, including a very limited eye test, Houston is going to be awful.

The offense is frail and still should be questionable even when Lance Berkman returns from the disabled list. The pitching looks shaky even if Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez pitch to expectation.

John Bowker's spot on the Giants' opening day roster wasn't a guarantee when spring training opened.

With a minor league option left and players ahead of him ahead of him in the pecking order, Bowker had to earn his way onto the roster. And it looked like at the beginning of the spring, if he was going be on the roster breaking camp, it wasn't going to be as a starter.

The San Francisco Giants Jonathan Sanchez had a year of great improvement in 2009, which featured a no-hitter and an amazing second half of the season. 

His electric stuff led to a lot of strikeouts, but also a fair amount of walks.  He struck out 177 batters in 163.1 innings pitched (for a K/9 of 9.75), which is seventh best among Major League Baseball starting pitchers with a minimum of 100 IP. 

It's just a spring training game in a big league ball park.

Doesn't mean a thing. Nothing. Zero. Nada.

The Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants 9-0, on a chilly night in front of sparse crowd at AT&T Park Thursday.

Really. Don't give the game another thought. It didn't count in the standings.

It's tough coming north from Arizona and getting acclimated to ...

Who am I kidding?

Barry Zito was the Barry Zito we've seen struggle for the bulk of his Giants career.

OMG!

It's finally here. I'm sorry for the delay. It's been tough balancing two blogs (this and 500 Days of Zobrist , the fantasy baseball blog) so I've kind of slacked a little the past week on posts here at Remember '51.

As the smell of Grapefruit and Cactus exits the collective nostrils of Baseball fans across America it can only mean one thing: Time to play ball. And as the San Francisco Giants break camp and head north to the city by the bay they do so with the best record in the Majors through spring training and more wins than any other team.