San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Brewers Staff Just What Doctor Ordered

On this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss the perfect medicine for lineup woes, and battle off-day blues by speculating on the upcoming DH.

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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. On Wednesday, the Giants completed a three-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers with a 10-1 win, matching their biggest margin of victory this season (opening day, also against the Brewers). Johnny Cueto won his 10th game, while Jimmy Nelson took the loss.

The Los Angeles Dodgers also won on Wednesday, keeping the deficit in the division at six games. Don’t look now, but the Colorado Rockies are just one game under .500, and are still two games behind the Dodgers.

1 – Brewers’ Pitching Staff Just What the Doctor Ordered

The Giants’ offense has needed a boost for a long time, and the Milwaukee pitching staff was just what the hitting doctor ordered. The team hit just one home run, Denard Span‘s leadoff Splash Hit on Monday, but racked up 42 hits and scored 24 times in the three-game series, and finally looked like the offense we’ve been waiting for.

Individually, there were huge series up and down the lineup. Joe Panik entered the series with an uncharacteristic .251 batting average, but picked up seven hits to boost that average up to .267.

Matt Duffy was in the same boat, with a .238 average and a bad luck streak a couple miles long. The balls found holes against Milwaukee as he picked up six hits of his own to jump to a .251 marker.

Gregor Blanco woke up on Monday riding an 0-27 skid, and after two hitless at-bats to start the series opener, he broke the slump with a two-run single. He added five more hits in the final two games to boost his average from .231 to .252.

And there was Buster Posey, who was off to a terribly slow start (.251) but usually starts to get into an unstoppable hitting zone around this time every year. He was in that zone against the Brew Crew, picking up eight hits, spraying the ball all over the field in the three games. His average made the biggest leap, going up 23 points to .274.

Before his injury on Tuesday, Brandon Belt had three hits in seven at-bats, including a double and two RBI. After coming off the disabled list and starting a day earlier than planned on Tuesday, Angel Pagan provided that familiar offensive spark with four hits, including two doubles, two RBI, and three runs scored, in nine at-bats.

With the Giants’ pitching staff throwing as well as they have, this is the kind of offense that the team could use to pummel teams. They certainly did that against Milwaukee, at least on Monday and Wednesday.

2 – Potential DH Ideas for Next Series

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With this day off, there’s plenty of time for armchair managers to sit and ponder potential ideas as to who should be the Giants’ designated hitter this season, and I want to play armchair manager too.

The Giants have plenty of options as they take the field with a DH for the first time this season. After catching six straight days, Posey could take a half-day of sorts by acting as the DH. Or, Posey could move to first base, get another day out of the squat, and let Belt stay off his bad ankle/foot as much as possible by making him the DH. There’s also the possibility that Gillaspie plays at first another day to give Belt some time off his feet.

Jarrett Parker seems like a pretty good bet to be a designated hitter, with his constant power threat. He only collected one hit in four at-bats against Milwaukee, but was on base five other times via walk or hit-by-pitch. He could also spell Pagan in left field, and have Pagan DH. Maybe Denard Span gets another day off from the field as the DH, and Blanco gets another game in center field. Or Blanco can play right and Parker can DH, or vice versa. So many possibilities!

Here’s my guess for Friday’s lineup, about 36 hours in advance:

Span CF, Panik 2B, Belt DH, Posey 1B, Duffy 3B, Crawford SS, Parker RF, Brown C, Pagan, LF

What’s yours?

Next: Giants Morning Minute: Bumgarner's Presence Leads to Winning Run

And that’s it for another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. After the off-day, the Giants start an interleague series with the Tampa Bay Rays. Jeff Samardzija matches up with Chris Archer in game one. And if you happen to be in the Tampa area, the Rays are dedicating Friday’s game, “Pride Night”, to the victims of the senseless tragedy at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Ticket proceeds go to the victim funds, and there will be blood drives at Tropicana Stadium. It’s a great cause if you can make it.

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