28-year old righty closer Brian Wilson just keeps getting better with age like a fine wine. He has pitched in 53 games (0 starts) for the Giants this year and he is 3-1 with 35 saves, a 1.94 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. He has whiffed 75 batters in only 55 2/3 innings which gives you an idea of what kind of stuff he has. Wilson also keeps the ball in the yard as he has only given up 2 homers this year which makes it really hard for teams to mount a comeback against him.

The Giants have placed 36-year old righty reliever Guillermo Mota on the 15-day disabled list due to a knee problem. He has pitched in 51 games (0 starts) for the Giants this year and he is 1-3 with 1 save, a 4.78 ERA and a 1.39 WHIP. Mota’s probably not injured too bad but the Giants needed his roster spot for Cody Ross.

The Giants have designated 26-year old righty swinging infielder Matt Downs for assignment. Downs played in 29 games for the Giants this year and he was 19 of 78 (.244 avg, .690 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 1 homer and 7 RBIs. He played in 46 games in two years for the Giants and he was 28 of 131 (.214 avg, .619 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 2 homers, 9 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Giants needed Downs’ roster spot for the newly acquired Cody Ross.

UPDATE: (8/25/2010) - The Giants have lost Downs on waivers to the Astros.

The Giants have claimed 29-year old righty swinging outfielder Cody Ross off waivers from the Marlins. Ross played in 120 games for the Marlins this year and he is 120 of 452 (.265 avg, .721 OPS) with 60 runs scored, 11 homers, 58 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Ross has now played in 603 games in seven years in the majors and he is 518 of 1,958 (.265 avg, .787 OPS) with 263 runs scored, 83 homers, 312 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. The Giants were probably trying to block a team ahead of them in the standings (Padres, Phillies) from getting their hands on Ross. They probably didn’t think the Marlins would just let him go like they did. This could wind up being a great move by the Giants as they gave up nothing for Ross who can play any position in the outfield.

34-year old outfielder Jose Guillen and 30-year old infielder Mike Fontenot are off to good starts for the San Francisco Giants. Guillen has played in 5 games for the Giants and he is 7 of 16 (.438 avg, 1.125 OPS) with 1 run scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs. Fontenot has played in 4 games for the Giants so far and he is 3 for 12 (.250 avg, .583 OPS) with 1 run scored. The bullpen has really gotten good work out of the new guys. 28-year old righty Ramon Ramirez has pitched in 8 games (0 starts) and he is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a 1.30 WHIP. 32-year old lefty Javier Lopez has pitched in 9 games (0 starts) and he is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA and a 0.57 WHIP. Chris Ray is injured right now and one or two bad games have really skewed his stats. Ray has pitched in 20 games for the Giants so far and he is 3-0 with 1 save, a 5.40 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP. I really like the moves the Giants made to improve the team as they really didn’t give up much talent in any of these deals.