by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

file photo: San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeff Samardjiza was cruising to a no hitter until the New York Mets Yoenis Cespedes took him deep for a two run homer in his last outing. Samardjiza like the rest of the rotation has had some tough outings since the All Star break

SAN FRANCISCO–For the San Francisco Giants, the second half of the season has been anything but pretty. At the end of the first half they were looking like the best team next to the Chicago Cubs (who may I say were picked 4 to 1 to win the World Series by the odds-makers in Las Vegas). When Hunter Pence was hurt they lost a lot of intensity and offensive tenacity, they also had Joe Panik out for a while. Manager Bruce Bochy loves his veterans, especially pitchers Jake Peavy and Matt Cain, both of them are at the very end of their careers and they are hanging-on at the end of that rotation. Results in the second half of the season are no good for the Giants.

Since the first game right after the All Star Break, on July 15th they were swept in three games at San Diego and then went to Boston and got swept there also in another  three game series. Since then the Giants has gone down in a big way. They have lost seven series and won one, while splitting a four-game series against the Nationals.

They just lost a series against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium and are in danger of getting swept again,

The news from La-La-Land is not much better for the Giants, as reports confirmed that lefty Clayton Kershaw is on the mend and might be back pitching very soon. The Dodgers traded some prospects to the Oakland A’s for lefty Rich Hill and left fielder Josh Reddick, Hill won the second game of the recent series in Los Angeles, he had the best record among Athletics pitchers and exhibits a nasty cruveball that he can deliver from different angles making hitting a headache even for right handed hitters.

Reddick has not produced so far, but he is a much better player than his numbers indicated so far in LA, so chances are he will do much better the rest of the way. Meanwhile Yasiel Puig is hovering around .500 bating average while playing for AAA Oklahoma City. The Giants must find a way of returning soon into this fight or the dreams of another World Series(one every two years since 2010) will be going Adios.

I never liked the signing of Jeff Samardzija, he won 11 games last season for the Chicago White Sox, and that was his best year. Cueto has been very good and Bumgarner his usual, although he has lost twice to the Dodgers so far this season. Recently arrived lefty Mike Moore has yet to win as a Giants yet, and sorry I do not have much faith in Peavy and Cain, who (like I said before) are hanging-on that rotation with the loyalty of their manager Bruce Bochy.

The Giants are not assured of a postseason spot, there is also a fierce competition for the wild card, teams like St Louis and most improved Miami, are also fighting for a playoff berth.

Please listen to Amaury’s podcast late Thursday night from Buca Di Beppo Restaurant in San Francisco on line all the time at http://www.sportsradioservice.com