SF Examiner: Optimism remains for Giants despite season rife with issues

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The headline wasn’t wrong. "Injuries Leave Big Holes for the Giants to Patch." That was in the New York Times. About the New York football Giants, not to be confused with the San Francisco baseball Giants, who have as many big holes because of injuries and virtually no time to patch them.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Scrappy Giants getting by with what they've got

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

A veritable laugher by those offensively challenged Giants. A win with only a few grimaces. A win manager Bruce Bochy said was “important.” A win without anybody in the lineup batting higher than .290. A win because of that old, reliable pitching.

Every day is a party at AT&T Park, where the stands are full — Wednesday was the 27th consecutive sellout of 2011 — the games are torture and the town’s team is almost immune to the consequences.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Bad breaks are piling up for the San Francisco Giants

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

June has arrived with promise and reminders. June rhymes with moon, spoon, loon and, as those who remember the Giants’ bad old days, swoon. A tradition presumably abandoned.

After a May in which San Francisco lost its star catcher and six games during the final eight days, the new month couldn’t be as troublesome as the past when a quick start became a sudden decline.

Read the full story  here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Giants in Shock Over Loss of Posey

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

SAN FRANCISCO — The fog melted away Thursday, but not the gloom. Buster Posey is gone for at least two months, most likely for the season, and the reality hit the San Francisco Giants with the force and impact Scott Cousins of the Florida Marlins hit Posey.

That happened Wednesday night in the 12th inning of a game that will live in infamy on the shores of the Bay. Cousins and a throw from Nate Schierholtz arrived at home plate at almost the same moment of a tie game.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Giants catcher Buster Posey is determined to succeed

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Perhaps it is best left to Brian Wilson — who himself falls into the category of “is he fact or fiction?” — to summarize the life and career of the kid who catches his pitches.

“It’s like a movie,” said Wilson, the Giants’ closer, “‘The Buster Posey Story,’ or something. But it’s real.”

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company