San Francisco Giants: Pablo Sandoval's Injury Could Not Come at a Worse Time

Have the San Francisco Giants hit rock bottom yet?

Sure, that may be taking it a bit too far, but these are the World Series champion San Francisco Giants we are talking about. Not only is their hitting not getting it done as of late, but the pitching isn't too hot either.

Now, third baseman Pablo Sandoval is out 4-6 weeks with a broken wrist. He will have surgery today, May 3rd, or so he tweeted... I mean twittered...I don't know.

The Giants are averaging two runs per game in their last six games. Now, that's fine if the Giants had just played a series against the Philadelphia Phillies, but the Giants have averaged two runs per game against the Pirates and Nationals. Huh?

That was with their best hitter, Sandoval, in the line-up. Now, they don't even have him.

Sandoval was batting .313 with 5 home runs and 14 RBI's this season, and the Giants are 13-14 in 2011. They are third in the NL West at 4.5 games back of the Colorado Rockies.

With Mark DeRosa on the DL as well, who do the Giants turn to to replace Sandoval?

Time will tell, but something needs to change quick because the Rockies have the potential to pull away from the NL West very early in this season.

What we should be more worried about is Sandoval's recovery time.

Sandoval's struggle with weight has been well-documented over the last year. He lost 30 pounds in the off-season and that produced a bat-wielding Panda.

Suddenly, he was back. Now, he is gone, again.

Four to six weeks is a large timetable, and I always hate when they give us those numbers because there is such a big difference from one month, and a month and a half going on two.

From all the reports, we can guess that Sandoval's recovery time may be leaning a little more towards two months.

Think about it. Sandoval had just got all that weight off. Now, he can't workout for however long that will be.

What does that mean? What type of Panda comes back from the DL?

Giants fans can only pray that Sandoval somehow keeps the weight he will gain off for the next two months.

The only thing that can be said now that the Giants have lost arguably their best hitter, is that they have been here before.

The Giants were in this same position in the standings last season when there were talks about the Giants lack of hitting and the world was going to end.

The Giants went on to win the World Series.

No, it is not the end of the world, but things need to change anyway, whether that means going out and getting another bat or someone already on the roster stepping up their game. But it needs to happen quick.

I don't see the same Sandoval returning anytime in the near future, nor do I see the Rockies letting up in the NL West anytime soon.