As mentioned in the last post, the Giants’ faced a weird challenge this week. They “only” had five games on the schedule, the five most challenging games of the month (judging by by records), while at the same time enjoying the odd 2-day off week.

Given a history of June swoons, this felt like an important week. With some key players hurt and slumping, it didn’t seem unreasonable for the familiar pattern to set in.

And there were moments, especially against the Dodgers this weekend, that felt swoonish. Somehow, though, they gutted out a 3-2 week, increased their lead on the Dodgers, and head into the end of the home stand (and start of an easier stretch) more healthy with the return of Matt Cain tonight (which also happens to be the 4-year anniversary of Cain’s perfect game).

All seems just a bit brighter in Giants’ land today. That being said these “easy stretches” are never actually that easy, and now is no time to relax.

Week in Review: 1 of 2 from the Red Sox, and 2 of 3 from the Dodgers (all at home); 5 game lead in the NL West.

Hitter of the Week: Buster Posey sat out the Red Sox series and then didn’t really light the world on fire when he came back (only hitting .167 in the 3 games against the Dodgers), but he certainly passed the eye-ball test. His walk off single against the Dodgers on Saturday received the appropriate praise attention, but I was more impressed with his at bat against the same foe (Kenley Jansen) the night before. He bombed a fastball into triples ally, a ball that harmlessly fell into the glove of Klay Thompson’s brother, but that was the quintessential Buster swing. When he’s driving the ball to right field with power that is a very good sign.

Pitcher of the Week: Tip of the cap to Alberto Suarez for doing an admirable job filling in for Matt Cain. Feels like the Giants found something good with Suarez (maybe a Yusmeiro Petit-type weapon). But, the pitcher of the week award goes to good ole’ Jake Peavy, who simply needs to do what he did Sunday night to be more than a positive asset to this team. Quality starts (by definition, 6 innings, 3 earned runs or less) are what he needs to provide. Keep the team in the game, keep the game competitive Jakey and everything will be alright.

Looking Ahead: the Giants get the Brewers at home for three to start the week. They run our Cain, Bumgarner, and Cueto in this series which is calling out for a sweep. Then an off day on Thursday and a three game weekender in Tampa Bay to start off a road trip. Here’s to hoping some of these positive trend lines continue moving upward.