2003 S.F. Giants Baseball Graphs Review

The Giants started out strong and, except for a couple of first-half runs by the Dodgers, never looked back. The Giants' best stretches were from mid-June to mid-July, when they effectively took out the competition, and mid-August on, after Barry came back from his father's funeral.

If you will, the Giants were a very "lucky" team in 2003. They were 28-12 in one-run games and 21-10 in two-run games. They beat their projected wins total by 7 games. Winning close games can be a function of character, and the Giants certainly exhibited character throughout the year. But winning close games can also be a matter of chance/luck and the Giants certainly had some Pythagorean luck going for them in 2003.

The Giants' pitching, as measured by FIP, was better than average. However, this measure is not adjusted for ballpark on this graph, and Pac Bell has been an anti-home run ballpark in the past. The Giants' pitching may actually be about league-average. In fact, the Giants home ERA was 3.32 vs. 4.17 on the road. This was entirely driven by FIP, which was 0.67 at home and 1.32 on the road.

On the other hand, team DER is adjusted for ballpark (Pac Bell is fielder-friendly) and it looks as though the Giants' fielders and pitchers did a great job of inducing and converting "fieldable" balls. In fact, team DER was essentially the same at home as on the road. The small size of the circle indicates that fielding had less to do with the team DER than one might assume, and that the Giants' staff was good (or lucky) at getting batters to hit balls near fielders.

Jason Schmidt's stats are worth noting. His FIP was -0.46 and his DER was .750. Those are killer stats.

The Giants' best runs were at the very beginning of the year and in late July. Those runs corresponded with two of their best offensive surges of the season. That latter run was played almost entirely at home, which accounts for the strong pitching performance (that July FIP looks awesome) and makes the offensive surge even more impressive. It also came against the other Western division teams, and effectively sewed up the division for the Giants (well, that and the Dodgers' continued offensive drought.)

May and September were very good months for the offense, though August was putrid. The Giants were pretty well balanced offensively, offering both strong OBP and SLG performances when their offense was on. Overall, they were slightly above average at both.

San Francisco Giants' Win Shares

Player          Team    Pos     Hit     Field   Pitch   Sum     WS	
--------	----	----	-----	-----	-----	-----	---	
B Bonds         SF      OF      36.06   3.15    0.00    39.21   39	
J Schmidt       SF      P       0.00    0.00    21.95   21.95   22	
M Grissom       SF      OF      17.29   4.60    0.00    21.89   22	
E Alfonzo       SF      3B      13.55   3.63    0.00    17.18   17	
J Cruz          SF      OF      11.47   5.29    0.00    16.76   17	
R Durham        SF      2B      10.03   5.84    0.00    15.87   16	
J Snow          SF      1B      12.29   1.66    0.00    13.95   14	
T Worrell       SF      P       0.00    0.00    13.47   13.47   13	
B Santiago      SF      C       8.21    4.99    0.00    13.20   13	
R Aurilia       SF      SS      7.55    5.56    0.00    13.11   13	
J Nathan        SF      P       0.00    0.00    10.84   10.84   11	
A Galarraga     SF      1B      8.45    0.97    0.00    9.42    9	
J Williams      SF      P       0.00    0.00    8.99    8.99    9	
P Feliz         SF      3B      6.20    1.84    0.00    8.04    8	
N Perez         SF      2B      2.11    5.87    0.00    7.98    8	
F Rodriguez     SF      P       0.33    0.00    7.53    7.85    8	
Y Torrealba     SF      C       3.85    3.10    0.00    6.94    7	
J Brower        SF      P       0.00    0.00    6.72    6.72    7	
K Rueter        SF      P       0.00    0.00    6.03    6.03    6	
S Eyre          SF      P       0.00    0.00    4.92    4.92    5	
D Moss          SF      P       0.00    0.00    4.77    4.77    5	
M Herges        SF      P       0.00    0.00    3.96    3.96    4	
J Hammonds      SF      OF      2.99    0.68    0.00    3.67    4	
K Ainsworth     SF      P       0.00    0.00    3.28    3.28    3	
S Ponson        SF      P       0.00    0.00    3.20    3.20    3	
K Correia       SF      P       0.00    0.00    3.13    3.13    3	
D Hermanson     SF      P       0.00    0.00    2.90    2.90    3	
J Foppert       SF      P       0.00    0.00    1.84    1.84    2	
C Zerbe         SF      P       0.00    0.00    1.64    1.64    2	
E Young         SF      2B      0.00    1.13    0.00    1.13    1	
R Rivera        SF      OF      0.17    0.88    0.00    1.05    1	
N Lowry         SF      P       0.00    0.00    1.04    1.04    1	
T Linden        SF      OF      0.75    0.10    0.00    0.85    1	
M Benard        SF      OF      0.00    0.75    0.00    0.75    1	
J Christiansen  SF      P       0.00    0.00    0.68    0.68    1	
A Castillo      SF      C       0.32    0.30    0.00    0.62    1	
C Ransom        SF      SS      0.00    0.31    0.00    0.31    0	
C Valderrama    SF      OF      0.16    0.12    0.00    0.28    0	
R Jensen        SF      P       0.24    0.00    0.00    0.24    0	
L Niekro        SF      1B      0.22    0.01    0.00    0.22    0	
F Santos        SF      OF      0.00    0.05    0.00    0.05    0	
J Ellison       SF      OF      0.00    0.04    0.00    0.04    0	
T Lunsford      SF      C       0.00    0.01    0.00    0.01    0	
M Aybar         SF      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
B Powell        SF      P       0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	
T Torcato       SF      OF      0.00    0.00    0.00    0.00    0	

There is absolutely nothing new I can say about Barry Bonds. He may be the primary reason the Giants won so many close games. He was absolutely on fire when he played in July and August (BAs of .415 and .472; let's not even discuss OPS) despite his emotional trauma. He may be the best player ever.

There are a few other players worth mentioning. Jason Schmidt is a legitimate Cy Young contender, who pitched very well both at home and on the road. Marguis Grissom surprised many with his second good year in a row. Jose Cruz hit early and Edgardo Alfonzo hit late. Todd Worrell also did a great job of stepping up and replacing Rob Nenn.

In the end, the Giants' fine year came down to winning close games, a Cy Young year from their ace, good supporting players, getting batters to "hit 'em where they are" and Mr. Barry Bonds.