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Around The Beat: Baggarly talks Giants, Bumgarner, Bochy and Alex Trebek

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It’s an even year. And this is a really good team.

So there’s no surprise that the San Francisco Giants, who host the Orioles for three games starting Friday night, are considered one of the favorites to represent the National League in the World Series.

The Giants looked like they were going to roll into the postseason, but they’ve hit a speedbump, going just 8-16 since the All-Star Break and, subsequently, allowing the Los Angeles Dodgers back into the National League West race.

But they’ve gotten some injured players back recently – namely second baseman Joe Panik and outfielder Hunter Pence – and they added some reinforcements at the trade deadline: infielder/outfielder Eduardo Nunez, lefty Matt Moore and reliever Will Smith.

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Longtime Giants beatwriter Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News says this is the most talented team he has covered in 20 years in the sport. And Baggarly chronicled the Giants teams that won the World Series in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

In this week’s “Around The Beat” podcast, Baggarly breaks down the trade that brought Moore to the Giants and explains why a team that seemingly had a deep rotation would give up a young and popular infielder like Matt Duffy for another starting pitcher.

Baggarly goes deeper into that rotation and says this is the year that Madison Bumgarner, who pitches against the Orioles on Saturday, could claim the National League Cy Young Award.

Baggarly details what makes Giants manager Bruce Bochy so successful – spoiler alert Orioles fans, it sounds a lot like the formula that Buck Showalter follows.

He also suggests which Giant would be included on his NL MVP ballot right now, and it’s not catcher Buster Posey.

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You should listen to Baggarly. He knows his stuff. If you don’t trust me, then trust Alex Trebek.

Intrigued? Check out the podcast.

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Dan Connolly

Dan Connolly has spent more than two decades as a print journalist in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The Baltimore native and Calvert Hall graduate first covered the Orioles as a beat writer for the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record in 2001 before becoming The Baltimore Sun’s national baseball writer/Orioles reporter in 2005. He has won multiple state and national writing awards, including several from the Associated Press Sports Editors. In 2013 he was named Maryland Co-Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. And in 2015, he authored his first book, "100 Things Orioles Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die." He lives in York, with his wife, Karen, and three children, Alex, Annie, and Grace.