Until last night I wasn't particularly going full jihad on the St. Louis Cardinals even though they stand in the way of the San Francisco Giants making the 2012 World Series. The reasons for that are several and straightforward.

First, there's the lingering legacy of Tony La Russa around the Red Birds and I have always admired La Russa's respect for the game and its history. Second is the fact that the Giants did not have to go through St. Louis en route to their 2010 World Championship, which kind of took the Cardinals off my drone attack matrix over the last several years. But all that changed last night.

Game 2 of the National League Championship Series saw the perfect confluence of Cards' left fielder Matt Holliday acting like a complete aperture for the evacuation of human waste, and FoxSports TV broadcastor Tim McCarver once again demonstrating why we might just need death panels in this country.

The scenario has been told and reviewed in great detail the past 24 hours: in the first inning of NLCS Game 1 Matt Holliday took out Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro to break up a potential double-play. Problem was Holliday didn't start his slide until after he hit the bag at second, and he proceeded to put a brutal and gratuitous body block into Scutaro's legs. Scutaro went down hard and didn't move and it appeared he would have to leave the game.

Up in the FoxSports TV booth dunderheaded analyst Tim McCarver immediately defended Holliday's nasty play, declaring Holliday's slide was good old hard-nosed baseball. More on McCarver (blog above) and why he has become intensely irrelevant the past twenty years (or whenever his broadcast career started).

Holliday: Blindsiding on the Field, Mewling in the Clubhouse
Matt Holliday is not evil and I don't believe there was any intent to injure Marco Scutaro, but his play in the first inning was reckless and dangerous. Luckily Scutaro was not seriously hurt and actually played several more innings before having to leave the game. Not that it's needed, but we saw even further evidence of Marco Scutaro's grit and heart when it counted most.

I agree with astute SI.com columnist Tom Verducci who wrote that Holliday's play was actually interference and both Holliday and batter Alan Craig should have been declared out. The analogy here is when a runner from first base attempts to disrupt a double-play by going for the fielder at second instead going for the second base bag.

After the game in the Cards' clubhouse Holliday was subdued and indirectly apologetic for his unprofessional play. To the reporters gathered around his locker Holliday whimpered, "I wish I had started my slide earlier". Yeah like maybe on Sunday. 

What is irrefutable is that Holliday's illegal play absolutely fired up the San Francisco Giants at a time when they needed some type of combustible material ignited under their butts. San Francisco has spent some amount of this post season sleepwalking through the play-offs and their starting pitching was surprisingly moribund and ineffective.

Kudos to Matt Holliday for giving the Giants new energy and determination at just the right time-- a critical must-win game for the Giants at home.
 
The National League Championship Series-- Now it's Personal
Thanks to Matt Holliday, my preparations for the upcoming NLCS games have dramatically changed.

First, my posse and I will get ready for each game by by donning our camouflage jumpsuits complete with Code Pink skull ribbons; then we'll apply imported orange eyeback and fire up our laptops to Baseball-Reference.com. Finally, we'll set up our traditional Jack Daniels and Cheetos oyster bar.

Hopefully we'll see some serious Giants payback for the Scutaro take-out. Can't wait to see Matt Holliday take a 78MPH Barry Zito fastball off his butt. Hope he notices.

Just like the Major League Baseball season is long, a seven game playoff series is also long. There is time to lose, time to regroup, and time to recover and win. But... all the evidence suggests the National League Championship Series just got shorter for the San Francisco Giants with their 6-4 loss to St. Louis in the opening game.

You can point to the Giants' NL Division Series down 0-2 come-back against the Reds as evidence of what can happen when a team is behind. Only that had never happened before. And as Yogi Berra might have put it, "there's only so many never-happened-befores you get before it stops happening".

The positive spin is that the Giants need only to take the next four of the six remaining games against the St. Louis Cardinals, and you don't need a miracle to have that happen. What you do need is to have your starting pitching go 6 or 7 damage-free innings each start.

To that end, San Franciso Manager Bruce Bochy has his starting pitching lined up perfectly and it should be formidable: Ryan Vogelsong will start Games 2 and 6, Matt Cain will start Games 3 and 7, and Madison Bumgarner gets another shot in Game 5.

The Giants' bullpen also showed off its stuff in Game 1 with 5.1 shutdown innings, allowing no runs, no hits, 1 walk, and striking out five Cardinal hitters.    

Unfortunately, there is an 800lb negative spin sitting in the room.

Throughout the 2012 post season San Francisco's starting pitching has given every indication it simply is not up to championship standards: in two games started Bumgarner is 0-2, 11.25 ERA, 2.13 WHIP; Matt Cain is 1-1, 5.06 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and Barry Zito lasted 2.2 innings in his only start with a 6.75 ERA. Ryan Vogelsong has a 1.80 ERA in his one start, but he lasted only 5 innings and did not get the win.
 
The corollary here is that St. Louis big boppers Carlos Beltran, David Freese, Alan Craig, and Matt Holliday have indicated they are capable of taking advantage of any lapses in the Giants' starting pitching. So there's your 2012 NLCS set-piece: will San Francisco's starters mound-up and get it done? 

I'm going to go out o a limb and put all this in the "Seriously Troubling" file folder inside my "Go Giants" file cabinet.

Today in Game 2 San Francisco will be facing the recently (and repeatedly) rebuilt Cards' starter Chris Carpenter. Around Carpenter's various pitching arm medical procedures in recent years he went 15-5 in 2004, 21-5 in 2005, 17-4 in 2009 and 16-9 in 2010. Facing Carpenter will be a good test for the Giants starting line-up: if they can get him out of the game early it will start to put pressure on the St. Louis bullpen and their 95+mph arms.

And then the NLCS will go to a more familiar (and recently successful) best of 5 series.

The 2012 National League Division Series between the Giants and the Reds will be remembered as one of the most exciting and super-charged MLB playoff match-ups in years. Cincinnati's initial two game sweep at AT&T Park was answered by San Francisco at Great American Ball Park with overwhelming spirit and drive that lasted right up to the last out of Game Five.

The Giants out-scored the Reds 16-8 in the three final games as they made National League history by being the first team to ever come back from being down 2-0.

In the process, Giants' franchise history got richer with Buster Posey's extensive resume quickly turning into a multi-page document, and the emergence of Hunter Pence as the team's newly designated inspirational speaker.

Posey's 5th inning grand slam added to his MVP credentials and performance-based prowess as the team's leader. He also killed a two on, no outs Cincinnati rally in the 6th, completing a strike out-caught stealing double play by nailing the Reds' Jay Bruce trying to steal third base. 

Pence delivered an inspirational speech to his teammates before Game 3 that reliever Jeremy Affeldt later called "moving", and "like poetry". Reporters heard the sounds of cheering and yelling coming from the Giants clubhouse when Pence was finished.

Pence gave a second energy-charging stump speech in the dugout before the start of the final game of the series that also had Giants players buzzing. In the visiting clubhouse after the Game 5 victory, a circle of Giants formed around Pence amid the chaos and spraying liquids as he railed and gestured like a Baptist preacher.

San Francisco's NLDS win was a full team effort, fueled by virtually every player on the roster. And virtually every contribution turned out to be critical-- the Reds had the tying runs on base in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings, and the winning run on base in the 9th.

Gregor Blanco, who had a roller-coaster season first as the Giants right fielder then platooned with Xavier Nady in left field, had a tremendous series. (Which is yet another reason why Bruce Bochy is the NL Manager of the Year, and I am an enthusiastic, although highly knowledgeable, writer.)

Blanco ended the series hitting .286 with a .946 OPS, with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI. He also made two outstanding catches in the field to help shut down the Reds' offense.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford, center fielder Angel Pagan, and right fielder Pence also made run-saving plays in critical situations that denied the Reds run-scoring opportunities. 

Reliever George Kontos appeared in four games with 3.2 IP, giving up 2 hits, 0 runs, and striking out 2. Closer Sergio Romo had and epic bottom of the 9th in Game 5, at one point throwing 12 pitches to Cincy slugger Jay Bruce with one out and two runners on base in a tension-filled 6-4 game. Buster Posey called Bruce's at-bat "one of the most intense I have ever experienced [as a catcher]".  

Two sights will always stand out for me in this amazing Division Series win by the Giants. First, Tim Lincecum coming in from the bullpen in Game 4 to pitch 4.1  innings, giving up 1 run, no walks, and striking out 6 in a desperately critical situation. After not being named a playoff starter, Lincecum's attitude and spirit was the ultimate example of a player giving his all for the team and the franchise.

Two Cy Young Awards and dominating performances in the 2010 Championship series would have had some ball players grumbling to the media or complaining to their teammates about being iced out of the starting rotation. But not Lincecum.

And the second standout moment? Watching Barry Zito celebrating with his teammates in the visiting clubhouse in Cincinnati after the clinching Game 5 victory. Zito was not on the 2010 postseason roster and watched the entire proceedings as a non-participant from the dugout. To see Zito splashing champagne and yelling at the top of his lungs as a member of this postseason squad was gratifying and poignant.

Cincy starter Mat Latos has dominated San Francisco hitters for years, first as a San Diego Padre, then as a Red. He had never given up a grand slam in his four year career. But the Giants plated 6 runs against Latos in the 6th inning and drove him out of the game.

The San Francisco Giants hit a collective .126 in the first three playoff games against the Reds; they hit .286 in the last two games. When the Giants arrived at the Reds' hitter-friendly ballpark their bats came alive, out-scoring one of the best teams in baseball 2 to 1.

It is a story that will help further define this team's unique identity, and finally and completely separate them from the World Series team of two years ago.
    

To say that the two opening NLDS games between the San Francisco Giants and the Cincinnati Reds were "disastrous" wouldn't exactly be the most accurate description of what happened to the Giants at AT&T Park this past weekend. I'm thinking that "catastrophic" presents a more precise picture of what I saw in person and on TV the last two days.

The Giants didn't hit, they didn't pitch and they didn't win.

Reds lead-off man Brandon Phillips and #5 hitter Jay Bruce combined to go 8 for 18 with 7 RBI and 3 runs scored in the two games. Throw in the fact that San Francisco was outscored 14-2 overall and Reds starter Bronson Arroyo and two relievers shut them out Sunday. Now you begin to see why the Giants' performance wasn't good enough to merely be called "disastrous".

The curse of the five game series now looms in that mid-America wonderland known as Ohio. The Cincinnati Reds went 50-31 at home his season; only the New York Yankees won more home games (and they won exactly one more).

The Reds pitching staff knows how to pitch in the fishbowl known as Great American Ball Park (3.51 ERA, 1.22 WHIP) and Cincy hitters will now be unbound by AT&T Park's unfriendly confines.

Not that the Giants' wide-body ball yard on 3rd and King Streets in any way stopped the Reds' hitting attack from posting 5-2 and 9-0 victories.

The hope here is that San Francisco's Tuesday line-up will also stretch its legs and start pinging line drives off (and over) the fences. Giants' starter Ryan Vogelsong just needs to remember that those long fly outs he's used to getting at home end up in row 20 of the bleachers at GABP.

As far as the Giants approach to the NLDS, Bruce Bochy got almost everything right in setting up his starting pitching and batting order. Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarger, Ryan Vogelsong and Barry Zito were the obvious choices to start, with Tim Lincecum adding depth to the bullpen.

But the batting order had one glaring mistep: Gregor Blanco starting in left field. On a team with the lowest number of regular season home runs (103) in the Majors, all potential power bats needed to be on deck and in play last weekend. Which should have included Xavier Nady starting both games in left field.

Even though Blanco went 2 for 5 in the first two NLDS games (with a double), that's not good enough. When was the last time an MLB team went into the playoffs with a left fielder who batted .244 with a .344 slugging percentage during the regular season? Blanco also struck out twice this weekend and did not create any runs. Which is what corner outfielders do. 

Bochy's adherence to the righty/lefty mantra can at times lose sight of the greater need. Cincy starters Johnny Cueto and Bronson Arroyo are righties and Blanco bats left. So he started. No way Xavier Nady's bat should have been on the bench for any at-bats during those two games.

Having said all that, let's focus on NLDS game 3 on Tuesday. Cincy starter Homer Bailey may have thrown a no hitter in 2012, but his over-all record is a lot more down-to-earth: 13-10. 3.68 ERA, 26 home runs allowed (tied for 5th most among NL starters).

The Giants' Ryan Vogelsong feels he has to continually prove himself to the baseball establishment-- a victory in game 3 would go a long way to solidify his late-career resurgence. The Giants bullpen also needs to get assertive and it may be time to sit Santiago Casilla down for a game or two.

The San Francisco Giants have a large rock to push up an immense mountain down 0-2 to the Reds. This is a team, however, that has overcome an array of franchise and personal issues throughout the 2012 season; they have been repeatedly tested and each time they have come together and won ballgames.

Now the biggest test of the season faces this Giants team over the next three days.
 

Comparisons between the San Francisco Giants 2010 World Championship team and the 2012 team about to take on the Reds in the NLDS are unavoidable. But they're also instructive.

Two years ago San Francisco squeaked through the back door to take the National League Western Division title on the last day of the season. Yes, just like the Oakland A's did earlier this week. That Giants team was all about pitching and a never ending battle to scrape together just enough runs to create wins.

In 2012 not only is hitting and run scoring on the table for San Francisco, those will need to be the Giants' #1 weapons if they are going to pull off a Division Series win against a terrifically strong Cincinnati Reds team.

Because, all of a sudden, the Giants no longer have the best starting pitching or the best bullpen in the National League.

Led by NL batting champion (and deserving NL MVP) Buster Posey, this is the season Giant hitters discovered it's possible to plate more than three or four runs in a game, averaging 4.43 runs per game. The Milwaukee Brewers ended up leading all NL teams with 776 RS and 4.79 per game.

Here's the breakdown between the 2010 and 2012 Giants, with the 2012 Reds thrown in just because (NL rank in parentheses):

	W/L	Runs scored	Team ERA/WHIP	Bullpen ERA/WHIP	Extra base hits
2010 Giants	92-70	697 (9th)	3.36 (1st) 1.27 (3rd)	2.99 (2nd) 1.31  (2nd)	476 (8th)
2012 Giants	94-68	718 (6th)	3.68 (5th) 1.27 (7th)	3.56 (8th) 1.34 (10th)	447 (9th)
2012 Reds	97-65	669 (9th)	3.34 (3rd) 1.23 (2nd)	2.65 (1st) 1.22 (2nd)	498 (5th)

Oddly, the 2010 Giants hit almost the same number of doubles (284 to 287) as the 2012 team and a lot more home runs (162 to 103). But the 2012 Giants hit nearly twice as many triples (57 to 30) leading all MLB teams in that category. The 2012 Yankees only had 13 triples, Boston had 16.

For the first time since the Barry Bonds/Jeff Kent era (1997-2002) Giant hitters are driving the team in partnership with the starting pitching. The big drop-off from 2010 is San Francisco's bullpen which has been rearranged and reinvented several times this season to compensate for the loss of closer Brian Wilson.

The two 800 pound gorillas sitting in the room throughout the Giants-Red NLDS will be the effects created by their respective ballparks. AT&T in San Francisco is one of the top pitching ballyards in the game and Giant starters have become expert at using its vast dimensions to their advantage by pitching to contact and putting balls in play. Otherwise known as long fly outs.

At Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park baseballs sail over the fence or ricochet off the walls like popcorn in a popper. Opened in 2003, three years after AT&T Park, it is one of the top hitters' parks in the Majors and a beautiful venue. In 2004, then-Cincy left fielder Adam Dunn hit a 535 foot home run off the Dodgers' Jose Lima that landed in the Ohio River.

The questions here are: 1) will Giant hitters be able to take advantage of the GABP's comfy confines; and, 2) can Reds' pitchers adjust to AT&T Park's forgiving depths? 

You would think those types of adjustments would be easy to make but it turns out they're not easy at all. The Reds played a total of four games at AT&T Park in 2012, while the Giants played three games at Cincinnati. Between both teams' hitters and pitchers, I think the overall advantage here goes to Giant hitters who really don't have to adjust their "style' for the GABP. Warning track fly balls at AT&T will leave the yard in Cincy, and that's OK.

Reds' hitters on the other hand could get frustrated very quickly at AT&T Park as solidly whacked baseballs are harmlessly picked off in front of the warning track.

The pitching match-ups will also play big. Cincinnati's staff have adjusted well to their little ball yard, so AT&T shouldn't bother them too much. But Giant pitchers had better quickly make some serious adjustments in Ohio or they will pay a very big price.

The regular season series between the two teams went to Cincy 4-3. The Reds won 2 of 3 at home and then split a 4 game set in San Francisco. In those games Cincinnati beat Matt Cain twice and Barry Zito once. The Giants beat Reds ace Johnny Cueto and tagged a loss on set-up man Sean Marshall.

In 2010 the San Francisco Giants cut a swath through the post season with dominant starting and bullpen pitching. The big surprise this year will be just how dangerous and dominant a new generation of Giant hitters can be.

The San Francisco Giants know they will be facing either the Washington Nationals or the Cincinnati Reds in the upcoming 2012 National League Division Series. As though speaking in one voice, virtually every Bay Area sports commentator, broadcaster, sports talk radio host and peanut vendor has pronounced that the Giants would be much better off if they faced the Cincinnati Reds rather than the Nationals.

But here's the thing: they're all wrong, dead wrong.

Wrong in the way that the NFL ref-lites were wrong in the Green Bay-Seattle game. Wrong like cauliflower pizza or the Pittsburgh Pirates having a winning season. I mean really dog-def wrong. And here's why.

Baseball experts and insiders agree that nothing is more important in a short playoff series than a solid, high performance bullpen. It's nice to have home runs and you'd like to see your starting pitchers go seven, but a team's bullpen will likely be the real difference between making or breaking your post season dreams.

And no team in Major League Baseball has a better bullpen than the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds' pen is #1 in MLB saves with 54, #1 in ERA at 2.61, and they lead the Majors with 10.04 strikeouts per nine innings.

A couple of other relevant numbers: in the National League Cincy is #1 in opponents batting average (.215), #1 in WHIP (1.20), and #4 in strikeouts (462).

The Red's closer is one of the most dominating young players in the game. Twenty-four year old Aroldis Chapman has put up some some stunning numbers to date: 36 saves, 1.55 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, and 119 strikeouts in 69.2 innings pitched. He routinely throws at and above 100 MPH and backs up his four seam fastball with a darting slider. As of August, Aroldis Chapman's career strikeouts to innings pitched is 14.66.

Backing up Chapman are two of the best set-up men in any bullpen: Sean Marshall and Jonathan Broxton. Marshall has a 2.62 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP with 73 SO in 58.1 IP. He has 9 saves and 21 holds. Since coming over from Kansas City in July Broxton has a combined 2.25 ERA with 43 SO in 55.2 IP. He has 9 holds and 27 saves (23 with KC).

Another huge advantage to playing the Nationals over the Reds is the ballpark factor.  ESPN's Park Factors rates Cincy's Great American Ball Park as the third highest home run ballyard in the Majors. The Reds have built their offense around the home run, while the Giants have the lowest home run total in the Majors at 95 (and they're the only MLB team with under 100 HRs) .

That means if the Reds just split the first two games of the Division Series at AT&T Park they will have a huge advantage with the next three games being played on their home field, also known as Home Run Fantasy Park.

The Giants' strengths are starting and bullpen pitching and that's where they can go head to head with the Nationals-- beat the Nats on that and you have the series. Getting into a home run derby with the Reds in Ohio will likely not have a happy ending.

The last important reason for wanting to play the Nationals over the Reds is the experience factor.

The Reds made the playoffs in 2010 led by Manager Dusty Baker and top hitting first baseman Joey Votto. Years before, Baker took the Giants to three post seasons including a World Series in 2002, and a number of Reds players have playoff experience. That kind of resume counts for a lot when you're in the pressure cooker known as post season baseball.

The Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos franchise made the NL playoffs a total of one time in 44 years-- in 1981 when they lost the NLCS. So Washington enters the NLDS as a young team with virtually no playoff experience. 

And two weeks ago the Nat's brilliant brain trust decided to shut down Stephen Strasberg, maybe the best young pitcher in the Majors-- just in case he gets hurt. Thanks to this amazingly bad ownership decision, Strasberg's 15-6 record, 1.15 WHIP, and 197 strikeouts in 159.1 innings pitched will not be a factor if the Giant's face the Nationals.  

San Francisco's World Series Championship season was only two years ago. Manager Bruce Bochy, his coaching staff, and eleven players on the current active roster were part of that winning team. This is a young and very hungry squad with a ton of recent playoff experience.

All due respect to the local sports pundits, talk show mavens and stadium insiders, San Francisco should cross their fingers and hope the Cincinnati Reds end up with the best record in the National League when the 2012 season ends. Then the Giants can start the playoffs against the Washington Nationals.

A baseball season always looks so clear after the fact. How clear? In the words of Jack Nicholson's Col. Nathan Jessup, "crystal". And that rule can apply even before the season is actually over. Like, for example, the San Francisco Giants' 2012 regular season (you didn't really think I was going to do 650 words on the Houston Astros... ).

Looking Back
The Giants will play game #154 tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with eight left to play to finish the regular season-- two more with the Snakes, three against the Padres, then finishing up with three against the flailing Los Angeles Dodgers and their additional $275 million in new contracts.

Having clinched the 2012 National League West title last Saturday this is all about looking ahead, and we will certainly do that. But first a brief look back.

The date this team turned it around and began playing to its potential was July 13, 2012, the first game following the All Star break. In the 67 games from July 13 through September 23rd, the Giants went 43-24 (.642), and they will finish the season having spent a total of 79 games in 1st place (49%).

And the Melky Cabrera meltdown? San Francisco put up a 27-11 record after Cabrera's August 15th suspension for a positive PED test, a .711 winning percentage. Bottom line here is the Giants started to find themselves right after the All Star break, and one month later kicked it into high gear after their best hitter was suspended for the rest of the season.

The three reasons for the Giants' turnaround + focus are really simple: 1) an outstanding starting rotation and bullpen; 2) the trades for Marco Scutaro and Hunter Pence; and, 3) outstanding performances from Buster Posey and Angel Pagan.

And, sure, this is a truly a team effort and every player on the roster contributed, most notably Barry Zito. But without #1-3 above, 2012 would have ended in a desperate (and probably losing) fight for an NL Wild Card slot.

Looking Forward
How team management deals with clinching a playoff spot eleven days before the regular season ends is fascinating. Washington Nationals Manager Davey Johnson has already declared that he will give his regular starters a rest. Giants' Manager Bruce Bochy appears to have suggested that he will keep everyone going in their usual roles right up to the playoffs.

This is a classic situation where both approaches are supported by logic, reason, and experience. Why rest Ryan Vogelsong just when he seems to have rediscovered his mojo after seven poor starts in a row? Why hold Tim Lincecum back when he has put together a string of good starts and now looks like he has a chance to be the biggest contributing number three starter of any playoff team?

On the offensive side, Pablo Sandoval has had an impressive rebound over the last two weeks and may be getting his approach to the plate together at just the right time, so why sit him on the bench? 

On the other hand, would Vogelsong get stronger if he skipped a start, does Matt Cain or Madison Bumgarner need a break, could the bullpen regulars stand down every third game no matter what the score? It's been a long comeback year for Buster Posey who's been working hard no matter how many games he's started at first base. And how long do you play 36 year-old Marco Scutaro five or six times a week without a break?      

Other regulars in the line-up have legitimate personal goals that also work for the team: Buster Posey has 98 RBI and Hunter Pence has 96 RBI-- 100 RBI is within reach for both players. Posey is also only 5 points (.332) behind National League leading hitter Andrew McCutchen (.337) of the Pirates to win the NL batting title. Angel Pagan has 92 runs scored and 15 triples, which leads the Majors. Brandon Belt and Pablo Sandoval would probably love to move into the 60+ RBI category before the end of the season.

And no doubt shortstop Brandon Crawford wouldn't mind in the least if his batting average nudged up to .250 by the final game of the season.

Team wins are not the biggest consideration at the moment, but runs scored may well be. Demonstrating that they have finally improved their chronically poor offensive numbers over recent years, the San Francisco Giants are on line to score 723 runs in 2012, the most in six years:

SF Giants runs scored
2006	746
2007	683
2008	640
2009	657
2010	696
2011	570

 
  







Two different philosophies in preparing for the post season from two winning managers. It's more likely that Bochy and Davey Johnson will ultimately fall somewhere in the middle of their stated approaches as they prepare their teams to take the field for the 2012 National League Playoffs.

There are a number of players who will be chasing prestigious Major League Baseball records over the next ten days, and one of those players might achieve something that hasn't been done in almost a half century.

First, let's talk pitchers. On Saturday September 22nd Washington Nationals starter Geo Gonzalez (19-8) will go for his 20th win-- an achievement reached by only 11 pitchers over the previous five years.

Three other pitchers also have an outside shot at 20 wins: the Mets' R.A. Dickey (18-6), the Angels' Jered Weaver (18-4), and Tampa Bay's David Price (18-5). With 196 strikeouts Gonzalez also looks like a lock to surpass 200 strikeouts.

The potentially historic moment involves Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera, who could become the first player in 45 years to win the elusive Triple Crown-- leading either League in battting average, RBI, and home runs. Boston left fielder Carl Yastrzemski was the last player to win a Triple Crown, in 1967. Only 15 players in the history of the game have won the Triple Crown, making it one of the singular achievements is all of professional sports.

Cabrera is currently first in the American League in RBI with 130 (Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers has 123); first in AL batting average with .333 (Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angel is hitting .324); and second in AL home runs with 41 (Josh Hamilton has 42 homers). One of the best stories in baseball will be the real home run derby down the stretch between Cabrera and Hamilton.

But not all records and statistical achievements are noteworthy or make MLB history. In fact, some are barely even noticeable.

San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford certainly shares his team's passion to make the playoffs, get into the 2012 World Series and come away with a World Champsionship ring. But the rookie infielder is also on another mission: Crawford wants to finish the 2012 season with at least a .250 batting average.

In 133 games and 411 ABs this season Crawford is hitting .246 with a .658 OPS, 43 RBI, and 33 extra base hits. And that's good production from a world class-fielding shortstop.

But Brandon Crawford understands that statistics can have great symbolism for players as well as fans, and the world on the far side of a .249 batting average is dramatically different. It's a happy, carefree world where slick fielding shortstops are officially deemed to have contributed enough at the plate to fully justify their presence in the everyday line-up.

Crawford has come a long way since he dug himself a deep offensive hole to start the 2012 season: batting .203 in April and .231 in May. June showed some improvement with a .260 average but then Crawford stumbled and fell back to .235 in July.

Then Brandon Crawford got hot and stayed hot: a .281 August was followed by a .293 September and a .871 OPS for the month.

At the same time Crawford was working to upgrade his offense he was also correcting a shaky defensive start that saw him make 12 errors in his first 60 games. In his last 70 games he's made 3 errors. Because of Crawford's extraordinary range and infield acrobatics many baseball insiders put him at the top of their best-shortstops-in-the-game lists.

And that's all good, except when it comes to reaching the .250 mark. For Crawford the goal is very reachable and tantalizingly close. And he has maybe nine starts left to get it done.

Now is the time for MLB teams with a shot to make the post season to make critical decisions about their starting rotations and batting line-ups. Setting up for the playoffs involves not only putting your best players in a position where they can excel, it's also about first round match-ups with likely opponents.  

Few playoff bound teams aren't grappling with at least several serious key player performance or injury issues. Maybe the Cincinnati Reds and the Washington Nationals come the closest to having their ducks lined up, although the Nationals' decision to shut down ace starter Stephen Strasberg is by far the most controversial story of the 2012 post season.

As the San Francisco Giants continue to lengthen their lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in pursuit of the NL West title, it is the Reds or the Nationals they will probably face to start the playoffs. And San Francisco approaches the 2012 post season with maybe the most serious issues of any potential playoff team. Here are three problems that must be tackled to give the Giants their best chance to go deep into the upcoming postseason:

1. The Starting Rotation
This starts and ends with Tim Lincecum.
Lincecum has turned his season around, but it hasn't been a dramatic improvement. On July 8th Lincecum was 3-10 with a 6.42 ERA and 1.58 WHIP; as of his September 12th win against Colorado he is 9-14 with a 5.08 ERA and 1.48 WHIP.

Lincecum has shed an impressive 1.34 in ERA over that span but his 6-4 record and 3.65 ERA over that period only hits a 7.0 on the cautious optimism scale. San Francisco needs to go into the post season with a primary rotation of Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong-- in that order. Lincecum was brilliant in the 2010 post season and World Series. But that was then.

And here's the shocker: this time around the Giants better take Barry Zito along for the post season ride because when the need comes up (as it will during the playoffs) for a fourth starter, Lincecum just might be watching Zito walk out to the mound.

2. The Left Field Problem
When the Giants brought veteran outfielder Xavier Nady up from Triple A Fresno to play left field in the September 1st game against the Cubs, it looked like the gaping hole in the batting line-up left by Melky Cabrera had been patched. Nady went 4 for 12 in 5 games with 3 RBI before he went down with a left hamstring strain.

Deposed left fielder Gregor Blanco has filled in admirably for Nady, going 7 for 21 since September 4th, but that effort only raised Blanco's average from .234 to .242. Although Blanco has proven he is not an everyday outfielder, he does bring much needed speed and defense from the bench as the fourth outfielder.

Xavier Nady and his extra-base hit bat should be back in the line-up this weekend for the three game series against Arizona and the hope is he's fully healed and able to play every day. With a 1 through 7 line-up of Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro, Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, and Brandon Belt the Giants offense is in great shape.

But add Xavier Nady batting in either the 6th or 7th slot, and that line-up has run producing potential from top to bottom.

3. Chilling Out the Panda
Pablo Sandoval has struggled through two stints on the disabled list this season that cost him and the team 53 missed games. Coming back from those injuries has at times been a struggle for Sandoval who is a gamer of the first order. His August stats were terrible-- a .211 BA, 2 extra base hits and no home runs. He has gone from hitting +.300 to .276, all likely the result of trying too hard to make up lost ground.

Manager Bruce Bochy wisely sat Sandoval on the bench one game this week just before an off-day. He obviously needed that time off and he may need more. What San Francisco needs is a healthy and rested Pablo Sandoval fully contributing from the third hole in this line-up throughout the playoffs. And, yes, the weight issue and conditioning is still a problem.

While it's somewhat preemptive to assume anything until this team actually clinches a playoff spot, think about this: if the Giants went 9-10 in their last nineteen games their record would be 90-72. For the Dodgers (74-70) just to tie the Giants they would have to go 16-2 the rest of the way.

It's time for the Giants to realign their starting pitching and reboot their offensive attack to have the best chance for post season success.

In September 2010 the San Francisco Giants were in a heart-stopping race to try and catch the San Diego Padres and somehow wrestle away a first place finish in the National League West. The pitching-rich Padres spent 128 of the first 145 games of that year firmly in 1st place and it looked like the Giants were running uphill.

But in the final 17 games of the season San Diego would be in 1st place for for only 3 days, and on the final day of the season the Pads would lose the NL West title to the surging Giants.

Giants' starter Barry Zito was 9-14 in 2010 with a 4.15 ERA and 150 SO in 199.1 innings pitched. Probably not what either the baseball establishment or the sabermetric community would call a standout year. Except this: without Zito's 9 wins Giant players, coaches, and owners would have watched the 2010 post season on their 60 inch HDTVs in their media rooms instead of winning the World Series against the Texas Rangers.

This season Zito has once again been an invaluable component of a winning team, and once again it will be his pitching that makes the difference if the Giants are able to hold on and take the NL West title.

Universally thought of as the permanent #5 starter on this Giants starting staff, Barry Zito has actually been in the #4 slot most of this season right behind Matt Cain in the rotation. His 11-8 record, 4.33 ERA and 95 strike-outs only begin to suggest his contributions in what has been the most difficult and upside down regular season for the San Francisco franchise in over a decade.

Giants' ace Tim Lincecum has gone through a storm of uncertainly and failure in 2012, occasionally punctuated with a promising outing that he invariably cannot sustain. To have your top starter, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, have an 8-14 record with a 5.11 ERA and a 1.473 WHIP in mid-September during a race for the playoffs would spell disaster for almost any other team. But not the Giants.

And here is where Zito has made two major contributions to San Francisco's 2012 season: first, he's pitching better than he has since his final year with the Oakland A's in 2006 (16-10, 1.403 WHIP); second, Zito has effectively offset Lincecum's difficult year. Which allows Matt Cain, Madison Bumgarner, and Ryan Vogelsong to take the lead in creating wins and driving this team forward.

The impact on the team's resurgence after the Melky Cabrera meltdown has been significant: the Giants have won all seven of Zito's last seven starts, and nine of his last twelve starts.

The best example of this, and perhaps Barry Zito's greatest game as a San Francisco Giant was the rubber game of a three game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park this past weekend. In first place and up 4.5 games on second place LA, the Giants were in a position to put the Dodgers into a mathematically slippery rat-hole if they could take at least two of three games.

Game one was another Tim Lincecum revival meeting-- 6.1 innings pitched, 4 hits, 0 runs, 7 strikeouts (and 7 walks). The Giants bullpen did their thing and threw 2.2 innings of 2-hit no-run baseball to seal a 5-2 victory. Game two was a tight battle with Matt Cain giving up 2 runs in 7.1 IP-- but the Giants lost 3-2.           

Barry Zito's assignment was to win game 3 and put the Dodgers down in the middle of a raging September battle to make the playoffs. He responded with 6.1 innings pitched, 4 hits, 0 runs, 4 SO and 3 BB. Zito got the win and the Giants took a 5.5 game lead in the NL West race with 22 games to go.

It was a masterful effort from a pitcher who has to actually pitch with every throw-- he lives on the edge of different speeds at different heights; he needs to get the ball inside and he needs to get the ball low; and Zito has an arching curve ball that floats in and breaks at the same time. That curveball could make Ted Williams or Shoeless Joe Jackson turn pirouettes in the batter's box.

The next two and a half weeks of Major League Baseball should be amazing. The two wild cards in each League, the intense battle in the American League East, the astounding Oakland A's, the White Sox and the Tigers tearing it up in the AL Central, and Atlanta and St. Louis clawing for spot in the NL post season. Fierce competition and extraordinary personal performances will likely abound.

In the middle of it all, a lefty starter for the San Francisco Giants will work in the shadows of his fellow starters and his own former greatness. But the man can still get it done whether anyone is watching or not.