Giants' Pablo Sandoval no longer a question mark at third

May 4, 5:01 PMSan Francisco Giants ExaminerTheo Fightmaster

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Sandoval may be the Giants' offense MVP to this point. AP Jeff Chiu

Pitching and defense; it's what the 2009 Giants were built on. That begged the question, why were they putting an inexperienced third baseman next to an old and eroding shortstop?

Edgar Renteria has been better than advertised; just look at his eighth inning from last Friday night's game (not to mention his offensive numbers compared to the production the Giants got out of the short-stop position in '08).

But Pablo Sandoval has also answered the bell emphatically, not just at the plate, but with the glove.

The round mound of pound has not just carried the Giants' offense (at times squarely on his own young shoulders), but he has also been a joy to watch at third base.

The hot corner got the better of Sandoval on a few occasions in Scottsdale this spring. In particular, a ground ball that squarely hit him in the lips and forced him off the field at Ho Ho Kam Park in Mesa.

Thankfully that bad hop did more damage to Sandoval's smile than it did to his confidence. At third base this season (21 games, 51 total chances), Sandoval is errorless, but that's not all. The young man is handling the hot corner with aplomb. Over last weekend's three game series with Colorado, Sandoval made several fine plays to his back hand robbing Rocky hitters of extra bases, including two plays Sunday that proved significant in the Giants 1-0 win. Not only has Sandoval exhibited very good hands, but his footwork has been mostly excellent, and the part time catcher also furnishes a strong and accurate arm at third.

Clearly Sandoval is a bit of an improviser in the five slot.  He has twice employed the rarely featured under hand flip to second on balls hit to his left, forcing out a runner on his way from first. Another time he stopped a ball hit to his right and then spun back wards, away from his glove side toward left field, and tried to muster a throw to second. The runner was safe as Sandoval's throw bounced and was saved on a nice stop by Emmanuel Burriss. That play will likely not be added to his repertoire, and is really the only sign of inexperience he's shown thus far.

Another candidate for the third base job was minor leaguer Jesus Guzman. Guzman would have been a much less enjoyable adventure in the field, but his bat kept him in the conversation for much of the spring.  Today the Pacific Coast League announced that Jesus Guzman, who's playing everyday in Triple-A Fresno, has been named PCL Hitter of Week for April 27-May 3. Guzman had a great week while going 8-for-19 (.421) with 5 runs, 2Bs, 4 HRs and 13 RBI. In other words Guzman out performed the Giants entire offense in the Colorado series.

Tonight Jonathan Sanchez will look to keep the Giants afloat with more solid starting pitching, as he will take on Ryan Dempster. Sanchez has not allowed an earned run in his last 12.2 innings pitched, and will be looking to deliver another quality start. San Francisco is 10-3 this season when their starter turns in a quality outing, and since April 17th the staff as a whole has a minuscule 2.21 ERA ( 32 er in 130.1ip). That's nearly an entire run better than Milwaukee who's is second over that same span (3.15).