2009 San Francisco Giants Have Best Pitching Staff Ever Assembled

The 2009 San Francisco Giants are doing exceptionally well at the All-Star break. They have their prime pitching staff to thank for their success.

The Giants are currently in second place in the National League standings, according to ESPN, and have a strong chance of making the playoffs and even catching up to the Giants' arch-rival Los Angeles Dodgers, who have the best record in all of baseball.

The reason for the Giants' spectacular record at this point in the season is their awesome and awe-inspiring pitchers. The Giants have assembled the greatest group of pitchers on one team in the history of Major League baseball, bar none.

Tim Lincecum, All-Star Game Starting Pitcher

Giants pitcher Tim Linceccum has been selected as the starting pitcher for the National League in the 2009 All-Star game, according to MLB.com. That says an awful lot about how good he is, for him to be selected as, arguably, the best pitcher in the league. By the way, Lincecum won the 2008 National League Cy Young.

Matt Cain, Selected to All-Star Game

Matt Cain, another spectacular Giants pitcher, was also chosen to play in the MLB All-Star game but had to withdraw because of an injury, per a report by the Canadian Press. Cain, like Lincecum, had ten wins with only two losses at the All-Star break. Both had ERAs of less than 2.40.

Randy Johnson, One of the Best Ever

What more can be said about Randy Johnson? Besides the fact that he has won five Cy Young awards, he is still working as hard as he can at his age and he still can strike fear in the hearts of batters like any fresh 20-year-old pitcher out there.

Barry Zito, Super Star

Local product Barry Zito is still throwing long and hard for the Giants. Winner of the 2002 American League Cy Young award, Zito is stable and steady as ever with many more productive years ahead of him,

Jonathan Sanchez, No-Hit Man

Young pitcher Jonathan Sanchez may not have the ten wins like Lincecum and Cain, or Cy Young awards like Johnson and Zito, but he has something none of them has ever accomplished for the San Francisco Giants. Sanchez pitched the first no-hitter for the Giants since 1976, according to the Free Press.

These five pitchers are some of what is making the 2009 season one for the memories in the City by the Bay. Spend some time with the San Francisco Giants and their unbelievable pitchers. You may not see another pitching staff like this for a very long time.

Sources

MLB 2009 standings, ESPN.com

"NL gets Freaky: Lincecum gets starting nod," Mychael Urban, MLB.com, July 13, 2009.

"Giants all-star pitcher Matt Cain leaves in second inning after getting hit," The Canadian Press, July 12, 2009.

SF Giants, official roster

"Sanchez's no-hitter first by Giant since 1976," Free Press News Services, July 11, 2009.