San Francisco Giants Spring Training Tickets - Preseason Outlook

In 2008 the San Francisco Giants finished in fourth place in the NL West with an overall record of 72-90. This past season saw a one game improvement from the year previous for a team that hasn't won over 75 games since 2004. Still, there were some very good reasons to buy Giants tickets for games last year, as evidenced by the fact that, despite the team's losing record, the Giants finished seventh in the NL in attendance. There's more than a few people who think this team can jump to a winning record very quickly, given the right moves before and during the next season.

The Giants' fan base is filled with optimism and ought to purchase massive quantities of San Francisco Giants spring training tickets online to see this team warm up before the summer. Let's take a look at some of the best and worst things about last year, and then take a look into the future of this team as they head to spring training.

2008 Highlights
The most obvious highlight on this team was young pitching phenomenon Tim Lincecum. Tiny Tim was the National League Cy Young winner, got the TSN Pitcher of the Year Award, and received quite a few votes for the league MVP. His stats were absolutely Lincicumian (or will be, when Lincecumian becomes a word that means Herculean). He had the most strikeouts, the most shutouts, the fewest hits allowed per nine innings pitched, was second in ERA and wins, and had the number one WHIP in the National League.

But Lincecum was an obvious pick for the team highlight. Lincucum himself will sell half the San Francisco Giants spring training tickets for their Cactus League games. What about the others? Closer Brian Wilson made the All-Star Game, and Matt Cain, another young starting pitcher, had a solid season with 186 strikeouts and a 3.76 ERA. On offense the Giants were powered by a couple of solid hitters, such as Randy Winn, who ended with a .306 average and 183 hits. Bengie Molina was good for some hot streaks, and Aaron Rowand was a solid contributor, though no match for Bonds as the power in the lineup.

2008 Lowlights
There's no need to dwell on the Giants' offensive woes, but they must be mentioned. So gulp if you have to and brace yourself for some bad news. The Giants hit the fewest home runs in the NL, and scored the second fewest total runs in the league. While the team batting average was boosted by players like Winn, Ray Durham and Fred Lewis, the team's slugging percentage was among the worst in the business, and opposing pitchers were daring the Giants to hit all year long, based on the number of walks they received. Okay, now breathe in. The bad news is over.

The Future
The good news is that the future is looking Lincecumian. So far in the offseason the Giants have not lost anyone of note from their offense, and they've bolstered it if anything by adding Edgar Renteria, a veteran shortstop who might be good for another 12 home runs and has a career batting average of .290. By no means will Renteria solve everything, but it's an instant upgrade over Omar Vizquel, another veteran SS who last year averaged .222 with zero home runs and only 23 RBI.

Pitching-wise, the Giants should be even better than they were last year, as they kept all their young talent and added veteran fast baller Randy Johnson. Randy will fit in in the fourth slot in the rotation, and if his stats from last year hold (3.91 ERA and 173 strikeouts), the Giants will have a formidable pitching staff once again. If Cain continues his upward trajectory and Barry Zito finds his game, this could be a great defensive team led by superstar Tim Lincecum, already my pick for next year's NL Cy Young.

Seed Newsvine

Bookmark this article in your preferred program

Comments

Add Comment

Popular Articles in this cathegory

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.