{GIANTS} {MLB}

By Jeremy Kahn

It is hard to believe that it was only two seasons ago that the San Francisco Giants were on top of the baseball world for the second time in three seasons.

Things looked bleak for the Giants in the early going, especially after being sept in the first three games of the season against the reigning NL West Champion Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

After leaving the desert, the Giants headed to Coors Field for a series against the Colorado Rockies with Barry Zito on the mound.

Zito pulled something off that no Giants pitcher ever did in Colorado, as he pitched a complete game shutout against the Rockies.

In the finale of the series, things got even worse for the Giants, as they suffered a significant injury to closer Brian Wilson.

The closer, for the second time in his career suffered a torn ligament in his pitching elbow and would undergo Tommy John surgery and would be lost for the season.

Instead of throwing the season, the Giants strived with their closer by committee, as Santiago Casilla, Jeremy Affeldt and Sergio Romo were fantastic.

Buster Posey came back from his grusome leg injury, and would go on to win the National League Most Valuable Player Award.

Matt Cain did something in June, that no Giants pitcher in the teams’ 130-year history ever accomplished before.

Cain threw a perfect game, as the Giants shutout the Houston Astros by the final score of 10-0 and Cain struck out 13 Astros on the night.

Melky Cabrera made a fantastic catch, but it was Gregor Blanco’s amazing diving catch in the right-center field gap that will go down in Giants lore as one of the great catches of all-time.