Hank Schulman recently sat down with Brian Sabean to discuss how things have gone so far this season. Not much really came out of that interview so I, the crazy crab will fill in and give the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Giants fans do not deserve nor should they have to put up with the sugar coating and dancing around the issues that Brian Sabean does during these interviews.

Q: What has surprised you during the first part of the season, positively and negatively?

The things that have surprised me so far this season first of all the positive is that the other teams in our division are doing about as equally poorly as we are. That is definitely the glass half full way of looking at things. If the Giants were in a division that had a true front runner that was playing well we could be folding down the tents right now. So we have the going for us which is nice.

Another positive surprise this season has been , I could have swore that the last couple seasons he looked washed up and on the downside of the career but he has played well this season. Another positive surprise is that he has an actuall leather glove that works, the whole off season the talk was about how he wasn't good defensively.

On a negative side, the team played really well in April and there isn't all that much to show for it. We had one of the best run differentials in baseball, the best pitching in the game and an offense that was able to perform at an average level. With the rest of the division struggling the team really should have jumped way out in front. This is the biggest negative surprise, we played well, had a good amount of good luck with things going our way and the team couldn't put any distance between them and the division rivals.

has been a negative surprise this season, I could have swore he was a can't miss ace after those spring numbers. Sorry that was a mistake there is no surprise here.

Q: How concerned are you that 's struggles are not a slump, and more that pitchers have figured him out and he is not adjusting?
I am not that concerned about he went through a similar slump last season and that turned out perfectly fine. Maybe pitchers have made some adjustments that the panda needs to see and figure out and change his approach. This is the game of baseball and there isn't anything in the kids track record to suggest that he can't make the adjustments and continue to hit anything that remotely close to the plate.

I think that getting some more help around him to alleviate some of the pressure of being the only presence of concern in the offense would go a long way to getting the Panda right.

Q: There's a perception in a tight division that the guy who wins it might be the general manager who makes the best move by the July trade deadline. Do you agree?
Yes the GM who does the best at the trade deadline will probably end up pushing their team over the top. All of the teams in our division are have major flaws. The Padres have no hitting in fact they are a near clone of our team just younger and more athletic. The Dodgers, Rockies, and Diamondbacks are hurting for pitching.

The Padres are not likely to spend much money in acquiring talent at the deadline with a half full stadium and apathetic fan base.

The Dodgers have a GM who learned his craft at the school of Brian Sabean and will likely make the same mistakes in getting players. Plus his hands are likely tied while dealing with his scum bag cheap owners.

The Diamondback who are not out of it have a good deal of young talent but they are playing poorly. They are more likely to be sellers in the coming months if things don't reverse course soon for them.

The Rockies are the most complete team in the division with a true top of the line Ace in and a lineup that gets on base and has power top to bottom. I am most concerned that if they go on their typical late season surge that they will run away with things especially if they can reinforce the injury depleted pitching. They have good fans up there in Denver and could spell trouble.

That brings us to the Giants, the team needs hitters that can get on base and hit the ball over the fence with regularity. A bullpen arm wouldn't hurt but there seems to be some good guys in Fresno to help out if needed (I am looking at you ). Now can the move to get a hitter be made? Probably not but if only little things are done like last season it will again not be enough.


Q: What do you make of the team's start against San Diego, which is at the heart of a 4-12 record against the West?
The Padres are a lot like our team just younger and faster. They are annoying like a bug that moves just enough out of the way so you can't get him. If the Giants think that they have a shot at the playoffs then so do these Padres who play well and seem to get every bit of good luck go there way.

I think that we should start a motion to move the games back Qualcom Stadium. Things seemed to be so much better for the Giants there. I don't know what else to do, maybe we can just send the Grizzlies to play them it couldn't be any worse and then we can give our line up a breather and not have their confidence shaken but the house of horrors.

Q: You were an 88-74 team last year. Do you still feel with the personnel you have you can be better than 88-74 this year?
To be perfectly honest I do not think that we will get to 88 wins this season not with out adding something to this team. To get to 89 wins the team must go 65 and 51 over the remainder of the season which is playing .560 ball. With more months like May and that wont happen.

With the other teams in the division it will probably take 90 wins to make the playoffs which seems to get further away from the Giants everyday. It wasn't too long ago that it felt like a probability now it seems like wishful thinking. We wrote about how to get there but now that seems far fetched.