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		Giants really need to step it up against Pads By Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin May 18, 2010

	SAN FRANCISCO--It's really early yet to determine how the race between the Giants and Padres might turn out but if it's an indication the Pads certainly have the upper hand with two sweeps of the Giants and a seven game winning streak over San Francisco which bore out on Monday night. There are a lot of games left were just a month and half into the season, you have to remember this is a young staff, San Diego is for real and their impressive. Their young and they'll probably fade a little bit because young pitchers tend to do that as the season progresses. Any Giants-Padres series is key and the Giants although they've lost badly to the Padres in their last few meetings are still just 2.5 games out of first place. Matt Cain is having a good year at 2-3 ERA 3.33 and in the last couple of games he hasn't really been pin point he lost Monday night going seven plus, six hits and two runs both earned, it was a game that cost him. Cain hasn't been quite on the way as he should have been. In all reality pitcher Barry Zito wasn't on on Sunday either. These are things that you hope for when their in Petco that the pitching will be productive against what can be considered the toughest line up in the Western Division. The Giants pitcher Jonathan Sanchez and the Padres pitcher Mat Latos match up had resulted in both wins for Latos which included a near perfect game. In that game last Thursday Sanchez pitched a very good game and he's capable of shutting a team down. The one scratch hit by Eli Whiteside for the Giants only hit against Latos and the Padres pushed across a run for a 1-0 win. Sanchez can bring it and throw strikes and is capable of winning every time he goes out on the mound, so theoretically the Giants can win too if they can only get to Latos. Giants manager Bruce Bochy was talking about outfielder Andres Torres and said that he had the spark and the speed to make things happen, he can get the base hit. He's hitting and seeing the ball really well and in the clubhouse he mentioned that Torres is hitting for average for a .288 clip with one home run and 9 RBIs. Torres' confidence level is there and from a Giants standpoint Bochy is hoping that Torres can keep going. He's given the team the spark now and Sunday was a good example, Torres came up with a couple of key hits. Juan Uribe is leading the team with RBIs and he moved the runner up pretty good Saturday, that was the difference when Uribe homered for 450 feet which accounted for a two run gamer the key runs to beat Houston 2-1 on Saturday. Not only is Uribe a good player and is playing extremely well and he'll be in the line up somewhere and he could play more than one position. Uribe has been playing shortstop with Edgar Renteria and Bochy will keep him in the line up and evidently Uribe also is a very likable person in the clubhouse and keeps everybody loose. He's a very positive aspect for the Giants. Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin cover Giants baseball each week for Sportstalk radio