The San Francisco Giants started the season hot, and they haven’t cooled down. But they’re bound to stagger eventually, right? Won’t the favored Padres and Dodgers eventually take control in the National League West, as nearly all Major League Baseball observers predicted before the campaign began?
Not if you ask Giants first baseman Brandon Belt. After the Giants won yet again on Saturday, 7-1 against the Padres, the former All Star and two-time World Series champion in San Francisco was feeling quite bullish on his squads long-term prospects.
“We’ve got a pretty good ball club, and we’re here to stay,” said Belt, who described [Brandon] Crawford as “at the top of his game,” and [Buster] Posey as “looking like his 2012 self — maybe better.”
San Francisco Chronicle/Susan Slusser
Well, that seemingly that settles it. The Giants aren’t going anywhere this summer.
Belt got to the heart of the Giants’ success this season: the older, championship experience of himself, former NL MVP Buster Posey, and former Gold Glove and All-Star shortstop Brandon Crawford. Most incredibly, Posey leads the team with a .397 batting average and has swatted eight home runs.
It’s all added up to a 20-13 record, good for first place in the NL West, as San Francisco prepares to face the Padres again on Sunday. With the championship spirit from the Giants’ dynasty of the 2010s still alive and well, there’s hardly reason to discount Belt’s supreme confidence as the Giants continue their season-long hot streak.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons, flicker)
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