Giants Notebook: What to look for in season's second half

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What to watch in the second half of the season

1) The starting rotation will have a new order. Madison Bumgarner leads the pack, followed by Tim Hudson, Tim Lincecum, Ryan Vogelsong, and Matt Cain. Seeing Cain last in the order looks weird, but he's definitely not been the same over the past few years. His record looks worse than his actual pitching, however, and none of the pitchers have showed that they deserve to be demoted from the starting lineup.

Cain's move to the final starter is still it bit shocking, considering he's improved over the course of his last three starts and given up just four total runs.

Over the course of the Giants' downfall, Tim Lincecum probably emerges as the starting pitcher the Giants can trust the most. We'll see if Bumgarner can gain some more consistency and if Hudson can return to the form he was at in the first two months of this season.

2) How will the bullpen improve? As of late in the Giants' tumble in June, the starting pitching has been less of an issue and more of a bullpen problem. There are a handful of games that they could have come away from victorious and instead it took Sergio Romo failing in the final inning or multiple relievers blowing a lead or a tie down the stretch.

Jean Machi needs to return to how he was pitching earlier in the season to aid the bullpen, and it would be terrific for San Francisco if Santiago Casilla could become the go-to guy at the closer position.

3) What helps the Giants down the stretch? They have the easiest record based on win-loss total in the National League. The NL West is a disaster, but more importantly, they have to win games at home again. While it is the easiest schedule, there are more trips further out East. Chicago, Kansas City, Milwaukee, New York Philadelphia, Washington, tonight in Miami are all part of a brutal month and a half slate.

Basically, any stretches of 6-16 a AT&T Park will be unacceptable. They must keep winning the series at home.

Keys to the second half of the season

1. Angel Pagan's health. Now for two straight years, the Giants have fell off the map when Pagan is out for an extended period of time. There's talk of the Giants going after some bats, bud I'd wait to see what happens when Pagan is back at 100 percent.
2. Lincecum's return to dominance. He's absolutely been tearing it up, and fans have truly been celebrating "Tim Lincecum Day" because it's turned out to provide this team's best chance to win in recent weeks.
3. Smash it early. On offense, the Giants need to do two things. Start hitting the ball out of the park again, and do it early. San Francisco is 38-11 when put the first run on the board. They aren't built to be a comeback team. They're built to destroy everybody on the mound, play small ball, and to get runners in with two outs. All of that went missing in June.

Next up: at Marlins (44-50)

Similar to San Francisco, Miami has really struggled heading into the All-Star break pit stop. The Marlins have been a pain in the Giants' side, but they've been tougher to handle at AT&T Park. Dealing with plenty of injuries like Jarrod Saltalamacchia and A.J. Ramos out along with their ace Jose Fernandez, SF must capitalize and get off to a solid start in the back half of the season just to gain a little bit of momentum.

WSD Sports Page: Kings dominate against Blackhawks in 3rd period, tie series

Photo via Flickr

In the first 38 minutes of the game, Chicago was up 2-0 and cruising to take a 2-0 lead in the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Then, things escalated quickly after Los Angeles broke through with a goal.

Five more goals were scored by the Kings after Justin Williams scored on a tip-in with under two minutes left in the second period, winning by the final 6-2 tally and evening up the series. The Kings took advantage of two power play opportunities early in the final period and Jeff Carter had a hat trick in that final stretch.

It was incredibly uncharacteristic for Chicago to get ran out on their own ice like that. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews admitted that it just got away from them once the Kings were able to garner all the momentum (via NHL.com):

"You're bound to give up something," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "If they score a goal to pull within one it doesn't mean they have to score six unanswered. I think we always want to close out periods. We want to try to keep that momentum going into the next one but sometimes it happens. So we just needed to find a way to bounce back early in that third and we didn't do it."

The second power play opportunity given to LA was a mental error by Chicago's Brandon Saad, but that likely put the nail in the coffin after the Kings were able to grab the 3-2 lead just three minutes into the final period.

Don't forget about Jonathan Quick, who had a stellar first period just to keep the game within reach. He saved 19 shots in the first two periods before Chicago was held to just six in the final frame.

It took five periods, but the Kings finally broke through to make it a series against the Blackhawks.


Other Headlines

MLB: Giants beat Rockies 5-1, lose pitchers Cain and Casilla

Matt Cain continues to have the worst luck this season. After three innings, San Francisco's starter pulled his right hamstring and had to exit the game. He gave up zero hits and walks along with recording three strikeouts on 36 pitches, en roue to what looked like a great start. Luckily, the bullpen was able to break through and save the day, with Yusmeiro Petit picking up the win after three innings of work himself.

Another injury was sustained by reliever Santiago Casilla, who was trucking to first base and landed awkwardly on his leg, tumbling down and was in agony for quite a few minutes. With a quick turnaround today thanks to a day game, the Giants have to work quickly to come up with a plan to replenish the pitching roster as they deal with injuries.

In better news, the Giants got the much-needed win with solo long-ball shots from Hunter Pence, Pablo Sandoval, and Brandon Crawford.

NBA: Spurs flex muscles again, throttle Thunder to take 2-0 lead

I don't want to say a series is over after two games, but Oklahoma City is on life support. The loss of Serge Ibaka was a huge loss for the Thunder, and Scott Brooks needs to figure out a game plan to both slow down San Antonio and get more of his players involved. Russell Westbrook took over the game and missed a billion shots during the Spurs' huge run that spanned the second and third quarters.

There's plenty of time to work some magic, but clearly, Gregg Popovich is showing how superior he is as a head coach and how much better of a team that he has in the Western Conference -- which is an unbelievable statement.

NFL: Smith pleads no contest to three felony weapons, two misdemeanor DUI charges

Sentencing will happen shortly after training camp opens up this summer for the team. Obviously, being an NFL player and all, he won't be facing much, if any, jail time. But he should easily see a suspension from the NFL, or at the very least a suspension from the team. His actions are indefensible, and so was the abomination at LAX last month. Smith shouldn't be seeing action until October, but we'll see how severe his punishments are.


Today's Slate
(Central times listed)

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 3
Canadiens at Rangers (NYR 2-0) - 7:00 NBCS

NBA PLAYOFFS - CONF FINALS
No games

MLB
-Giants at Rockies - 2:10 MLBTV
Dodgers at Mets - 6:10 MLBTV
D'backs at Cardinals - 6:15 FSMW
Cubs at Padres - 9:10 CSCH

CBB - BIG 12 TOURNEY
Kansas vs Baylor - 9:00a FSSW+
Texas Tech vs Oklahoma - 12:30 FSSW+
TCU vs W Virginia - 4:00 FSSW+
-Oklahoma St vs Texas - 7:30 FSSW+

WSD Sports Page: Clippers lack playoff experience, costly against Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Los Angeles Clippers in six games, and another blown lead--not any calls from the refs-- was the main story again.

Photo from TheHoodgirl

Once up 16, the Clippers let everything slide away again in the second half and lost by a 104-98 final margin. Kevin Durant was incredible, putting up 39 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 assists in an incredible night, nailing all 10 free throws. The whole team was aggressive getting to the foul line and it paid off. They went 29-of-33 from the charity stripe while LA hit just 12-of-20.

That +15 edge at the line overcame the Clippers having a +24 advantage in the paint.

Clippers fans were obnoxious during the whole disaster, but this time, they don't have the aid of a controversial finish and a Doc Rivers breakdown to latch onto. Two straight games blowing double-digit leads doomed the team, and while they looked like the best team in the NBA at times throughout the season, playoff experience prevailed for the Thunder.

People forget that LA's other team, despite becoming more popular than the Lakers, simply have next to zero playoff experience in their franchise history. The team is trending in the right direction, and they'll continue to be a factor as they re-tool the team and continue being led by the trio of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan.

But for now, the Thunder get the opportunity to play the San Antonio Spurs, a.k.a the West's Finest. They won't get the luxury of blown leads this time around.

---

NBA: Pacers advance with beatdown of their own

The Wizards couldn't take advantage of a dominant Game 5 and fizzled at home in a 93-80 loss. Finally, Indiana put their foot down after getting embarrassed at home. Now the question is, how ready are they against the Heat?

MLB: Cain grabs first win in Giants' 6-4 win over Marlins

After 11 straight winless starts, San Francisco's Matt Cain finally grabs a victory, and it was technically his worst start of the season after giving up back-to-back jacks in the first two innings. San Francisco's lineup is red-hot after two games, and figured out Nate Eovaldi's fast ball pretty fast rocking nine hits in the first 4.1 innings.

CBB: Oklahoma State clinches Big 12 regular season title

The Cowboys lock up the one seed in the Big 12 tournament next week after defeating their in-state rival, Oklahoma, in the opening game of a three-game series and TCU lost to Baylor. OSU has now won 11 straight games overall, six in Big 12 play.

NBA: Lakers GM says Bryant isn't going to be involved in coaching search

Obviously, Kobe wants to have his say on who's going to become the next coach LA's more historic franchise, but Mitch Kupchak won't give him a seat at the table to talk. Which is fine, because that's not Kobe's job. It's not in his contract to help the team pick a coach. That doesn't mean Bryant can't give his input, and it's not like Kupchak won't give it consideration.

NBA Draft Combine: Wiggins jumps a billion miles in the air

Look at this picture of Wiggins during a workout. Dude's got some serious hangtime.

Today's Slate

(Central times listed)

TENNIS

ATP/WTA BNL d'Italia (Qtrs) - 5:00a TNNS

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS - ROUND 2

-Kings at Ducks (Game 7) - 8:00 NBCS

NBA

Scouting Combine - 9:00a ESPNU / 12:00 ESPN2

MLB

Padres at Rockies - 7:40 MLBTV

Dodgers at D'backs - 8:40 MLBTV

-Marlins at Giants - 9:15 MLBTV

CBB

11Washington at 1Oregon St - 6:00 P12

20TCU at Baylor - 6:30 FSSW

-19Texas at Kansas St - 6:30