Who's Going to Drive Them Home?

RBIs must be the snipe hunt of this summer's Giants camping trip. They seem impossible to come by. The Giants are currently ranked 28th in RBIs, ahead of only San Diego and Seattle. It's no surprise that it's been a struggle to score runs this year, but what does tonight's lineup looks like through the rose colored glass of average with runners in scoring position. It doesn't look that good, really.
 

Nate Schierholtz is the big surprise on this list. He's the leader of the team for clutch hitting if you don't include Belt's .333 average wRISP in only 6 ABs. Nate's been the breakout of the year, and I'm hoping he doesn't get his playing time reduced if the Giants pick up Beltran. The only downside on Sheirholtz's production is his dismal .185 avg. when he's hitting fifth. With some luck, the guys ahead of him tonight will get on against Hamels and he'll be able to drive them home from the seven spot.

As the lineup jumble begins to settle down, it's easy to point to hitters that are not pulling their weight with runners on. Aubrey Huff's numbers have been the most worrying this year, as he's dropped from a near .300 hitter with RISP down to just above his weight. That's detrimental to run production when it's any hitter, but doubly so when it's your clean up man.

If the rumors hold true and Carlos Beltran was in the lineup tonight, he'd lead the team with a prodigious .340 avg. w/RISP. I know Dan Murphy's hitting behind him, but Pablo's just as effective. With a middle of the order that includes Schierholtz not in the five spot, those slippery RBIs just might start piling up. And the pitching staff would appreciate those runs even more than Giants fans. Now we just wait to see if they can score more than two runs and if they end up with Beltran.

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