I’ve been quiet for a while now.  Things have been so good lately as a Giants fan that frankly there’s less to complain about (and therefore less to write about).

For starters, I was WAY off base about how awful the bullpen was going to be.  Despite rocky patches, Wilson and Howry have been pretty damned good so far this season.  I still feel like the bullpen is meltdown-prone – but there are few MLB bullpens not susceptible to meltdowns.

Gordon Edes on Yahoo! Sports wrote about the Giants’ quest for a left-handed bat over the weekend.  The three players (all first basemen) that Sabean is particularly focused on – Nick Johnson, Aubrey Huff and Adam LaRoche – don’t really excite me too much.  True – Ishikawa has been pretty disappointing overall this season.  But he does have five homeruns over the last month, and has definitely been trending upward as the season has progressed.  These other three players involved in trade discussions only seem like incremental upgrades, and nothing to get particularly excited about.

Also in Edes’ write-up:  “They’ve also spoken to San Diego about a deal that would send starter Jonathan Sanchez(notes) to the Padres for outfielder Scott Hairston(notes).”

WTF?  Sabean has the worst timing.  Going into the season, everyone was talking about using Sanchez for trade bait.  Instead, Sabean starts shopping him around at the nadir of his trade value, and we’re talking about Scott Hairston?

Bochy and the Giants are one of the most overachieving teams I can remember.  To see a really mediocre team at the start of the season gather this momentum has been really awesome.  And needless to say, Pablo, Cain and Lincecum are fun to watch every time.

Even if it means Sabean getting undue credit, it sure would be nice to see this team catch the Dodgers or win the wildcard to sniff their way into the playoffs.  With Lincecum and Cain going twice in any 7 game series, there’s not a team in the NL that wouldn’t fear that pitching in the playoffs.

It’s way too early to be watching the Wild Card standings – but it’s amazing to see the Giants only one game off the lead, right behind the Mets and the Cardinals.  Wait a minute … those are teams with offense AND pitching.  How can the Giants – with their putrid offense – even be in the same discussion as the Mets and Cardinals?

Lincecum was outstanding again today, with the exception of surrendering a late inning, two-run homer that made this game a nail-biter.

In typical fashion, Wilson put the leadoff batter on and immediately compromised a one-run lead.  But he closed the deal again, and has really been tough lately.  The guy still drives me crazy, but he’s been getting it done.

There’s a ton of chatter in Giants blogs and on KNBR 680 about the Giants possibly shopping Jonathan Sanchez for a bat.  I’m not sure that his trade value is that high right now, but it would be great to see the Giants get a third baseman or a really tough middle- reliever to compliment Affeldt (Howry is not cutting it).  This team is a bat and a middle reliever away from being tough.

Alright – this is more like it.

I’ve been all over Wilson all season, so it’s only fair to give him credit when he looks sharp.  Tonight he was all business.  No baserunners allowed, and just really slammed the door on the Cardinals.

Matt Cain looked great… again.

And what’s with the Giants offense?  They flashed a stat on NBC tonight that said they’d scored 28 runs in 35 innings during this nice little stretch.

Man – too bad they lost all those consecutive one-run games.

But back over .500.  They need to win at least one of the  next two at home against the Cards in this series before they go on a long road trip.

The Giants have given up nine runs in four games.  A little more than two per game on average.  Most teams would go 4-0 over that stretch.  Maybe 3-1.

Not the Giants – who have only scored about one run per game on average over that stretch, and yesterday could not muster more than one run in a 12-inning game.

If you took Lincecum and Cain out of this Giants roster, you’d have a whole lot of nothing.  Pablo Sandoval could have a decent career.  Molina was awesome, but his career is coming to a close.  Winn was a great competitor, and has always delivered on his potential.  But other than that – one outstanding young pitcher, one potentially outstanding pitcher, two good veteran hitters and one potentially good hitter – this team has absolutely nothing going for it.

Mediocre bullpen.  Awful closer.  Perhaps one of the top 5 wimpiest-hitting lineups in the history of baseball.  And a completely inept judge of talent making personnel decisions.

Bochy should get manager of the year for even sniffing .500 this deep into the season, with this cast.  What exactly does Sabean get paid to do?

The Giants made another mediocre pitcher look like Cy Young yesterday evening – this time it was San Diego’s Chad Gaudin.  It must be nice after getting roughed up in your last three starts to face the Giants, get your ERA down nearly a full point, and just remember how it feels to make batters look silly.  The guy probably woke up this morning and felt like an elite pitcher.  Sabean says “you’re welcome.”

Seriously – this offense is pathetic.  Not a little questionable.  Not a few holes here or there.  Just outright pathetic.  The only three truly legitimate batters are Winn, Molina and Sandoval.  The rest of the lineup (Rowand and Lewis included) have zero discipline at the plate and never seem to capitalize on fat pitches.

It’s no surprise that this lineup can’t score runs.  Last year Molina led the Giants with 16 homeruns!  He’s on pace to get many more than that this year.  But other than Molina, there is no pop in this lineup.  (I do really like Winn, and Sandoval is obviously exciting as well – but neither of them even remotely qualify as guys that ‘have power’)

It’s a bunch of slapping Judy’s on this team, and it’s incredible that a guy (Sabean) gets paid big bucks to do nothing but get the right personnel on the field, and this is the best he can do!?  To get out-slugged by the freaking Padres?  There is a growing body of evidence that Sabean is the worst GM in all of baseball.

Haven’t Giants fans suffered enough watching impotent offense for the last three years?  At what point do the Giants decide to get a real offensive weapon in the offseason?  They clutch onto guys that are replaceable (like Brian Wilson) and have trade value, and insist on keeping critical holes (first base, second base) unaddressed.  And I’m sorry – but every time I see Rich Aurilia take an AB, I find it really insulting as a Giants fan.

This is a very poorly run organization from a personnel perspective.  Sabean is obviously not “the right guy.”  So when is someone going to step up and fix it?  This year could’ve very well been the one where the Giants made a move in the West.  And instead we’re watching a team that’s going to have to overachieve just to reach .500 (at which point I’m sure the organization will pat itself on the back for a job well done).

Competition – heard of it?  Offense – heard of it?  Gotta score more than 1 or 2 runs to win baseball games.

I’ve dished out a ton of poisononous criticism of Zito during his tenure with the Giants – and he deserves it all.  But in all fairness – this year he’s looking more like a great pitcher than a hundred million dollar bust.

He’s hitting corners consistently.  He’s got control with the curve and is making batters look silly.  The guy looks like he could be a 12 or even 15 game winner (if he got some run support).

All I can say is that all is forgiven if the guy turns things around.  I say that as the Giants are down 2-1 going into the top of the ninth.  Whether they come back and win this game or not (most likely not, with their lightweight hitting going up against a tough Heath Bell), Zito pitched another great game, and is a huge asset to this team so far this season.

It would be a remarkable turnaround if this guy turned things around and went on to have a winning season this year and beyond.  I had him written off for dead.  I don’t feel that guilty for all the harsh words, given Zito’s enormous salary.  But it’d be nice to be dead wrong on this one.

Great win for the Giants tonight.  Getting swept in a four game series at home would have been brutal – though there is no doubt the Mets are by far the better team.

I wasn’t at the game, so I can’t say for sure – but based on ESPN’s camera work, it appeared that Wilson did NOT give his patent “X” move after completing the save.  If that’s the case, thank goodness somebody finally pulled him aside and talked some sense into him.  For the record, Wilson faced the bottom of the Mets order for tonight’s save.  So I don’t think we can conclusively say he has officially put the most recent meltdowns to bed.  But it was an encouraging outing.

Boy, Affeldt is tough.  After getting into a runners on second and third with no out situation in the top of the eighth, he somehow works his way out of it with a double play.  Other than Lincecum, I think he’s the most mentally tough pitchers on the team.

I’m really happy that Cain is off to such a great start.  Everybody who has watched the Giants generally feels like Cain wasn’t *quite* living up to his potential the last two years.  This is the kind of pitcher Giants fans thought / hoped he could become.  You know Lincecum is going to put together a couple of big winning streaks.  If Cain keeps rolling and either Randy or Jonathan Sanchez can just win half their games…

How is it possible that the only guy on the Giants roster that has his own tv show, his own radio show, his own ridiculous badboy hairdo AND his own special signature “move” (like a wrestler) is also the worst player on the entire roster?

Triple digit fastball.  Single digit mental toughness.

Affelt for Giants closer.  Send your letters to the SF Giants front office.  Make it happen.

Based on what I just saw from Jeremy Affeldt – stranding a runner at third with nobody out in a key game – I think he should be new Giants closer.  Brian Wilson is too much of a liability.  The guy should be relegated to either the set up role or middle inning relief, and have to earn his way back to the closer role (I do not believe he would ever earn it back).

What else does Affeldt need to do to win the closer job?  Every time I see him he’s showing up big in a big situation.  No gestures, no fanfare – just does his job with nasty stuff.  And a lefty.

I have a lot of issues with Sabean – I think he’s useless, and his track record is shameful.  I generally have no beef with Bochy – but one forceful statement he needs to make tomorrow is to announce that Jeremy Affeldt is the new closer of the San Francisco Giants.

Familiar story?  Lincecum leaves in the seventh with the score 6-3 (runners on first).  Valdez walks a batter to load the bases, then gives up a double to David Wright that ties it 6-6.

At some point there have to be consequences for Sabean.  The guy does not understand player personnel.  Every single Giants fan knew the bullpen was lacking in the offseason.  We all knew that the “moves” were suspect.  And here we are – golden opportunity to contend in the West – and instead of shoring up the bullpen, Sabean throws big money at a dinosaur like Renteria and we have no bullpen.  Brilliant.