Feeling rosy with Posey

Fifteen days ago the Giants were on the precipice of disaster.

They had fallen to just one game over .500 by virtue of dropping seven straight and were straddled with the task of beating the hottest pitcher in decades to stop the slide.

But in a "this is why they play the games" moment the G-Men did just that. They torched Ubaldo Jimenez for seven runs, melted in the middle innings allowing the Rockies to take an 8-7 lead before a season-saving comeback gave them an 11-8 win.

They lost a torturous 15-inning affair the next day, losing three of four to a divisional foe in the process, but getting to Jimenez set the tone for a complete 180 that began two days later in Milwaukee.

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The Giants were flying high in mid-June, topping out at 37-28 but a 2-4 road trip to Toronto and Houston and a win in the opener against the Red Sox led into that seven game swoon. After splitting those final two games in Denver the G-Men were at the midpoint of their season and sat at just 41-40.

For a team loaded with starting pitching, expecting its bullpen to be strong, confident that some timely hits could produce runs and eager to improve on a surprising 88-win season the year before it was a troubling predicament.

So what happened?

In two words: Buster Posey.

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Aubrey Huff, Andres Torres and Travis Ishikawa have been fabulous.

But the whiz kid simply put the team on his back and took over.

Bengie Molina was shipped off to Texas and in July Mr. Posey is hitting .500 (26-for-52).

He has an 11-game hitting streak, eight multi-hit games and in a 10-game span did something no rookie in the history of the National League has done when he banged out 19 hits, clubbed six homers and plated 13.

Since dropping the finale to Colorado the Giants have won nine of 10, losing only to Stephen Strasburg and the Nationals, and have leap frogged the Dodgers and Rockies in the NL West standings are are currently tied for the wild card lead.

They clobbered Milwaukee, sweeping the Brew Crew in four straight by a 36-7 margin, took two of three in the nation's capital and absolutely stifled the Mets for the first three games after the Midsummer Classic behind two complete game shutouts and another dominating performance last night to guarantee at least another series win.

It's a very long season and teams certainly go hot and cold more than once but the emergence of Posey, at the plate and behind it - Giants pitchers went 24 innings before yielding a run after the All Star break - has been exactly the kind of spark necessary for them to reestablish themselves as contenders.