Giants, A’s off to slow starts

Six games have been played this season between the two bay area baseball teams and a grand total of one win shows in the standings thanks to the 1-3 Oakland Athletics.

For the Giants it’s been an odd story in their first two games both resulting in 5-4 defeats. The Giants last season went 55-9 in games when they scored four or more runs; this year 0-2 so far.

Believe it or not it is the pitching that has been the downfall in San Francisco’s first two games. Starting pitchers Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner have both been rattled by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first inning of each contest.

Yes the Giants offense looks improved however room for improvement remains. New-come outfielder Melky Cabrera looks good with three hits in his first nine at-bats including a double and a home run. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for fellow new-come outfielder Angel Pagan. Pagan after a miserable spring training showing has just one hit in his first nine plate appearances.

Third baseman Pablo Sandoval looks good as he belted a deep home run in yesterday’s defeat and catcher Buster Posey returning to play in regular season games at last collected a couple of hits on Friday.

The two Brandon’s, Belt and Crawford are young players who need time to develop themselves offensively. Hopefully for everyone’s sakes they start showing signs sooner rather than later.

No need to panic if you are a Giants fan it is just two games and when the pitching settles down the wins should go up.

Meanwhile, the A’s are off to a 1-3 start after last night’s completion of the odd-four games series with the Seattle Mariners that started a week and a half ago in Japan. Not that the A’s have high expectations to live up to this year but if they planned on surprising any one this year, they are off to a lousy start.

Oakland was battered in its home opener Friday night losing 7-3 to the Mariners, a team who isn’t exactly a powerhouse offense at least according to the experts. The A’s followed up Friday’s defeat with an 8-7 loss last night.

Good news is that the A’s rallied back last night after trailing 7-0 in the early innings. Bad news is that A’s starter Bartolo Colon whose expected to be a productive pitcher for Oakland was shelled for seven earned runs in four and a third innings pitched. This came just a night after A’s ace Brandon McCarthy failed to make it past the fifth inning.

It’s been a cold start in the bay area but many games remain to be played, remember baseball is a marathon not a sprint. However, the sooner these teams start showing a little more life the better.