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SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
World champs have targets on their backs

By Tom Stern

OK, how did they do that? Come on now, how did last year's Giants win the World Series?

Their slugging star third baseman, Pablo Sandoval, saw his batting average tank as his waistline swelled. Their all-world ace pitcher, Tim Lincecum, lost his fastball and his pizzazz as he struggled through the key month of August, going 0-5 with an earned run average right around 8. Their two big-money guys, Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito, had spectacularly disappointing years. Lefty setup man Jeremy Affeldt was a rock in '09, but last year his ERA ballooned from under 2 to over 4, and he appeared in 21 fewer games. And one of the team's major off-season acquisitions, multipurpose veteran Mark DeRosa, was out virtually all year.

With setbacks like that, maybe a .500 season would be realistic. Or with a ton of luck, you might make the playoffs as a wild card and lose in four. Instead, a (sob) once-a-generation rookie, a series of inspired mid- and late-season moves by oft-maligned GM Brian Sabean, plus the magic touch of manager Bruce Bochy brought the miracle 2010 Giants to the Promised Land.

Was it all just a team playing out of its mind for two crucial months and catching lucky breaks? In an outrageous omission, the usually excellent ESPN TV show "The Sports Reporters" did not devote even one segment to World Series analysis after the Giants' five-game triumph. Had it been the Yankees or Red Sox, the same reporters would have spoken of little else. Their reticence suggested they thought it was all a fluke.

The Giants had some deficiencies last year, and they still do. They're going with an aging shortstop. Their outfield has some question marks. Runs were at a premium early on as key injuries to Andres Torres, Sandoval and DeRosa had the team reeling. Then, as we went to press, team captain and budding superstar catcher Buster Posey went down. In baseball, success and failure are next-door neighbors. And the heat is on — this season, every day, every team will be looking to knock off the World Series champions.

The pitching remains excellent and the offense looked just good enough before disaster struck. When center fielder-leadoff man Torres got hurt, Rowand did fine, but the Giants know they need a healthy Torres to spark the attack. Meanwhile, replacing Sandoval, out until well into June, and Posey, out maybe for the year, will be impossible.

One of Sabean's moves during the 2010 campaign landed LF Pat Burrell, who's back after delivering some memorable clutch home runs. We'll see if he still has that pop. Because if not, Nate Schierholtz looks like a new man this year. (And hello, Darren "Bullet" Ford, whose speed gives the Giants a potent late-innings weapon.) The two locks are Torres and right fielder Ross, who defines "scrapper" — where would the team have been without the late-season pickup from Florida. When he arrived, it was "Cody who?" But that changed when fans beheld his hustle (he plays with the intensity of a sane Eric Byrnes) and those epic postseason dingers.

The infield is strong at the corners with Sandoval and Huff (1B-OF). Sandoval, still only 24, slimmed way down over the winter and came roaring out of the gates. Huff and Freddy Sanchez (2B) are two tough-minded veterans who've finally tasted the glory. Sanchez's ferocious drive and Huff's willingness to play anywhere are qualities that make teams winners. Posey, 2010 Rookie of the Year, was a five-tool catcher if that's possible. His replacement, Eli Whiteside, has the most unenviable job in baseball. Miguel Tejada (SS-3B), if he has anything left, even at 37 should be good for 140 games. Spelling him will be DeRosa and Mike Fontenot. DeRosa is itching to shrug off a series of injuries and help this club. I have a good hunch about Fontenot, grabbed by Sabean from the clueless Cubs. He looks like a sleeper: a versatile team player with a lifetime batting average right around .270. If heralded rookie Brandon Belt adds offense to his great play around first base, he'll bolster the Giants' infield and play some outfield too.

If he could just stop issuing free passes, lefty Jonathan Sanchez has the stuff to join the unflappable Matt Cain and a reinvigorated Lincecum at the top of the rotation. The No. 4 slot doesn't worry me, despite Madison Bumgarner's horrid 0-6 start. The young southpaw's poise and mastery in the World Series was no hallucination. As for the fifth spot, I hate to say it, he's a good guy, but Zito is the Alex Smith of Bay Area baseball.

I'd suggest Zito put aside the guitar for five years and concentrate on pitching. Music is too demanding a mistress. Pick the brains of guys like Jamie Moyer, Mark Buehrle or Dallas Braden, all lefties and proven winners whose fastballs are as unremarkable as Zito's. They've won with smarts, guile and control, and Zito's curve might be better than any of theirs. I fear the Giants have a big hole to fill here. Is Ryan Vogelsong ready to step up his second time around with the club, or is he this year's Todd Wellemeyer?

The bullpen will flourish if Affeldt bounces back after his lights-out performance in the playoffs. The Casilla-Lopez-Mota-Ramirez-Romo-Runzler unit, or any portion thereof, is as effective as any other middle-relief squad in the bigs. Stopper Brian Wilson can close out a one-run game like few others.

So how goes the rest of the NL West? The Rockies are the Giants' biggest threat by far. Colorado's potent attack is led by shortstop Troy Tulowitzky, the best player this side of Albert Pujols, and outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who sported a gaudy OPS of .974 last year. The pitching is good enough, though ace Ubaldo Jimenez is a concern. The big right-hander started 2010 in spectacular fashion, then tailed off, and the team wilted in late September like a suede jacket on a radiator. The closer, a still-young Huston Street, is the same pitcher who, when with the A's, found the darnedest ways to blow leads.

The Dodgers have a nice core of young veterans, led by talented twirler Clayton Kershaw, slugging right fielder Andre Ethier and head case Matt Kemp. But unless Don Mattingly pulls off a managerial masterpiece, they have a lot to deal with because of turmoil at the top, which became so egregious in April it even roused comatose Commissioner Bud Selig, who summarily wrested the reins from L.A.'s vile owners. We'll see how much it affects the team. I heard the great Barry Larkin recalling how his Cincinnati Reds were driven to distraction by the surreal antics of then-owner Marge Schott, the whiskey-and-tobacco-addled collector of Nazi memorabilia who used to let her dog relieve itself on the infield before games.

Arizona has a lethargic offense and a patchy pitching staff, but fiery manager Kirk Gibson had the team playing well for the first third of the season.

Bringing up the rear is San Diego. Bud Black, skipper of the Padres, did a managing job for the ages in '10, keeping his anonymous team in the hunt till the last day of the season. The front office rewarded Black by letting young superstar first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, the Pads' only scary hitter, escape to the big-bucks Boston Red Sox. The Padres need a lot of young players to come through to be relevant this year.

The Giants will battle Colorado all year, even with their best player gone. The Rockies might overtake the champs, but they'll have to win 96 games to do it.