World Series momentum, a full field of All-Stars and dynamite pitching kept Giants in it till the end, but injuries, misfortune, a lack of a consistent offense derailed Giants’ chances at a repeat.

World Series momentum, a full field of All-Stars and dynamite pitching kept Giants in it till the end, but injuries, misfortune, a lack of a consistent offense derailed Giants’ chances at a repeat.

Bright spots: After receiving their World Series rings, left, the Giants opened their home schedule with back-to-back walkoff wins, above. At the midway point of the season, five Giants were bestowed All-Star honors, bottom, along with NL manager Bruce Bochy. Along the way, Ryan Vogelsong, far right, blossomed into a legitimate starter after toiling in the minors and Japan previously. By the end of the season, Pablo Sandoval, below, and Carlos Beltran, right, provided genuine power threats in the Giants’ lineup. Beltran was acquired in a midseason trade.

Walking wounded: Injuries were the theme of 2011 for the Giants. Buster Posey, above, Freddy Sanchez, right, Barry Zito, left, and Brandon Belt, below right, were just a few of the many players who spent time on the disabled list. Other moments the Giants would like to forget include Aubrey Huff’s performance at the plate and in the outfield, bottom, and the bench-clearing skirmish in a blowout loss to the Phillies in August, below.

Read More: Cody Ross (RF – SFG), Miguel Tejada (SS – SFG), Pablo Sandoval (3B – SFG), Aaron Rowand (CF – SFG), San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants have gotten off on the right foot thus far in the second half of the season, winning their first two games at Petco Park and looking for more Saturday evening.

Skipper Bruce Bochy is going with a few mroe veterans in tonights lineup as Aaron Rowand will start in center field and bat in the lead off spot, while Miguel Tejada will be at shortstop and bat second. Cody Ross will start in left and bat clean-up, Nate Schierhlotz will be in right, while Pablo Sandoval will look to start a new hitting streak tonight batting third.

Your San Francisco Giants:

1. Aaron Rowand CF
2. Miguel Tejada SS
3. Pablo Sandoval 3B
4. Cody Ross LF
5. Nate Schierholtz RF
6. Aubrey Huff 1B
7. Eli Whiteside C
8. Emmanuel Burriss 2B
9. Barry Zito P

San Diego Padres Lineup:

1. Cameron Maybin CF
2. Jason Bartlett SS
3. Chris Denorfia RF
4. Ryan Ludwick LF
5. Jesus Guzman 1B
6. Orlando Hudson 2B
7. Alberto Gonzalez 3B
8. Rob Johnson C
9. Cory Luebke P

First pitch is set for 5:35 pm PT this evening with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.

For more discussion and analysis of the San Francisco Giants, head on over to McCovey Chronicles to get in on the action.

Conor Gillaspie is currently on the major league roster, but will presumably return to Triple-A once Pablo Sandoval is deemed ready for major league action.

Gillaspie has accrued a .284/.350/.402 line in his three-plus years of minor league service. Still 23, he has loads of major league potential, and could contribute as early as this year if given the chance.

San Francisco has two (three if you include Aubrey Huff) possible replacements for Sandoval at third on the active roster, Gillaspie in Fresno, and Mark DeRosa on the disabled list (hope springs eternal). 

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for backstops. San Francisco’s system is utterly bereft of catching talent above High-A San Jose. 

There are legitimately zero fail-safe options for the Giants in Triple-A, or even Double-A. The team would have to pull a Brandon Crawford and call up Hector Sanchez or Tommy Joseph from San Jose if they wanted an in-house solution..

Putting Sandoval at catcher would hide how thin the Giants are behind the plate by favoring the stronger depth they have at the hot corner. 

ST. LOUIS » The San Francisco Giants’ top RBI man finally acted like him again.

Aubrey Huff hit three home runs and matched his career best with six RBIs, and the San Francisco Giants hammered a pair of rookie pitchers making their major league debut in a 12-7 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night.

“It’s a tremendous day,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “It’s a day he’ll never forget and a big day for us.”

Huff, who entered batting .219, hit two-run homers in the fourth and ninth innings and a solo shot in the seventh for his first three-homer game. He also had an RBI single in the sixth. Huff raised his average 14 points while leading the surge for the Giants, who set a season high for runs.

“When Huffie gets going, he can carry the team. He did it last year,” said Freddy Sanchez, who had a homer and four RBIs. “He’s getting that confidence back and his swing is back.

“I don’t think it’s any coincidence that he’s getting it going and we’re getting going.”

Huff has four homers and seven RBIs the past two games after totaling four RBIs the previous 16 games.

Colby Rasmus hit his second career grand slam and had a career-best six RBIs to help make it a contest for the Cardinals, who dropped three of four at home to the Giants for the first time since June 30-July 3, 2003. Albert Pujols had two hits, a steal and scored twice.

“He’s got a ton of talent,” manager Tony La Russa said of Rasmus. “The more at-bats, the more consistent he’ll be.”

But Rasmus misplayed a leadoff double by pitcher Jonathan Sanchez to open the Giants’ three-run sixth, drifting to his right on a ball in the gap that bounced off the warning track and into the stands.

“I kind of gave up on it there a little bit,” Rasmus said. “I ain’t going to blame it on anything, I just missed the play.”

The Cardinals had been 13-1-1 in their previous 15 series since dropping two of three at San Francisco from April 8-10, leaving town with a 3-6 record.

Triple-A callup Lance Lynn (0-1) needed 56 pitches to get through five innings while working on three days’ rest, but retired only one of four hitters to start the Giants’ sixth. Double-A reinforcement Mikail Cleto hit 98 mph several times on the stadium radar gun in the seventh but walked the first two hitters and surrendered back-to-back homers to Freddy Sanchez and Huff in a five-run inning that made it 10-3.

“There wasn’t anything in Lynn’s stuff to say he was pitching on short rest,” La Russa said. “I mean, the situation was difficult. It would be difficult for anybody who would have pitched in the big leagues.”

ST. LOUIS, June 2 (UPI) — Aubrey Huff hit three home runs and had six RBI Thursday in powering the San Francisco Giants to a 12-7 victory over St. Louis.

Huff hit a two-run homer in the fourth, had an RBI single during a three-run sixth, delivered a solo shot in the seventh and had another two-run blast in the ninth.

Freddy Sanchez added a three-run shot for the Giants and combined with Huff and Andres Torres to drive in all of the San Francisco runs.

The homer by Sanchez came while the Giants were scoring five times in the seventh to take a 10-3 lead. That was enough of a cushion for San Francisco to survive a St. Louis grand slam homer by Colby Rasmus in the seventh.

Torres drove in a run with a single in the sixth and another with a seventh-inning double.

Jonathan Sanchez (4-3) lasted 5 1/3 innings to get the win. He gave up three runs on four hits with six walks.

The loss went to Lance Lynn (0-1), who was called up Thursday to make his major league debut. Lynn’s arrival in the majors was one of the St. Louis roster moves brought about by injuries to outfielder Matt Holliday and pitcher Kyle McClellan.

Read More: Miguel Tejada (SS – SFG), Jonathan Sanchez (P – SFG), Allen Craig (LF – STL), San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants at St. Louis Cardinals, Jun 2, 2011 5:15 PM PDT

No big changes from yesterday for the San Francisco Giants. And by no big changes I mean no changes at all.

1. Andres Torres CF
2. Miguel Tejada 3B
3. Freddy Sanchez 2B
4. Aubrey Huff 1B
5. Nate Schierholtz RF
6. Cody Ross LF
7. Brandon Crawford SS
8. Eli Whiteside C
9. Jonathan Sanchez P

There’s been plenty of hand-wringing over Tejada, who has not hit well out of the two-hole. His current percentages are .120/.120/.160. 

1. Ryan Theriot SS
2. John Jay RF
3. Albert Pujols 1B 
4. Allen Craig LF
5. Bengie Molina C 
6. Colby Rasmus CF
7. Tyler Greene 2B
8. Tony Cruz 3B
9. Lance Lynn P 

So many right handers to take on the leftie Sanchez. Tony Cruz moves from catcher to third base, Tyler Greene the backup second baseman comes on to make some things happen, and Lance Berkman gets pulled in favor of Allen Craig; Jay gets shifted over to Berkman’s spot in right field. Craig takes Jay’s position in right.

For more on the Giants, head over to McCovey Chronicles.