Giants open up at Minute Maid with Lincecum By Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin April 4, 2010     SAN FRANCISCO--The Giants open up in Houston Monday night for the opener at Minute Maid the Astros will start their ace Roy Oswalt and the Giants in turn will start Tim Lincecum. Some of the things the Giants need to do to get things off the ground will be that great pitching from Lincecum and the rest of the rotation. A few times in spring training the staff threw some good ball games. Lincecum's last outing was a job well done going six innings surrendering one run and he had given up a run. Lincecum could have went eight in that game but cut his finger and had to leave. If the Giants get strong pitching in this series that'll be the key and the Giants need some bats and defense. If their game against the A's on Friday night (a 9-0 loss) and on Sunday a 7-1 Mariners lead until the game was called due to rain in the sixth is an indicator you have to wonder, but Monday night is the real thing so everyone comes in with a clean slate. John Bowker is the right fielder something that was a question mark going into this week who was going to start in right field Bowker or Nate Schierholtz. It looked for a moment that Schierholtz was going to win out the job but Bowker who hit well in camp won out the job. With Schierholtz it's too bad because defensively he's an asset out there in right field at AT&T where it's not an easy place to play. The problem for Schierholtz is his bat and the Giants are hoping that he can bring the bat around a lot better. If Schierholtz can improve his average a little bit and get a little more time at bat and get some base hits the job is his. The problem, Schierholtz is not hitting the way he should but that's why there was some controversy as to who was going to start in right which was decided after the game on Sunday. Bowker who won the job and he did well in spring but overall his average has not been up to speed. He'll hit in the six hole where he hits well and it helps when he's got some guys in front of him. Bowker has had a good spring but again what they do in spring is not always an indication of what they'll do during the season. Bowker is a good veteran he played with the Orioles and then the Rays last season and is a sturdy player. He should do well and he did well in the American League east. We would expect Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff to do well with the Giants, again it's very difficult to try to asses a baseball team in general less than 24 hours before the first game of the season. Pre season is a different than when the season starts.Right we expect Huff to do the job over there at first base. Pablo Sandoval has had a spring and facing the A's on Saturday Sandoval went 3-4 with two runs, two hits and three RBIs. The A's were using different pitchers in that game so A's manager Bob Geren could get a look at what he has out there. On Monday in Houston Giants manager Bruce Bochy expects Sandoval to do well. His bat was good last year but again we have cautioned many writers and broadcasters that spring training is not the regular season so it's hard to say whats going to happen but the Giants are expecting good things from the Panda in 2010. Sandoval has faced a lot of different pitches to get ready and Bochy has been busy trying to get the club ready for the opener on Monday. You play a little bit differently during the pre season than during the regular season. Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin do Giant analysis each week on Sportstalk Radio

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