Wednesday's Giants lineup featured a big surprise: no Buster Posey.
That's because Posey is, per Bruce Bochy, dealing with a tight hamstring and was scratched from the lineup. Yes, you may begin to freak out now.
In Posey's spot, Hunter Pence will bat cleanup, with Joaquin Arias slotting at fifth, Hector Sanchez at sixth, Brandon Belt at seventh and Justin Christian eighth.
That lineup is significantly, significantly worse than the standard Giants lineup. Not that it should be a surprise for that to be the case, since Posey's clearly the best Giants hitter on the roster.
But the point is that the lack of pop in the lineup is precisely what Giants fans have to fear when it comes to a serious Posey injury -- if he misses any time at all, the lineup is suddenly not the sort of lineup that wins a division and scares people in the playoffs.
Of course, the good news is that the Giants have already won two of their games against the Dodgers, giving them a series win before the third matchup. That's huge, even if L.A. can get one back on Wednesday.
This is primarily because the Giants, if Posey's dealing with an issue that could get worse by playing additional time, need to rest him. They have a window here to rest him, and they're doing just that.
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Or so goes the optimistic line of thinking. The pessimistic line of thinking involves just staring at the lineup card until you freak out. Don't do that. Yet.
