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The Giants offense needs a boost, is it time to turn to Michael Morse?

Mike Oz
(AP)
(AP)

SAN FRANCISCO — Somewhere between Kansas City and the Bay Area, Giants slugger Michael Morse got hit with a flu bug.

There were Giants fans who wanted to see Morse — the team's go-to pinch hitter since the National League Championship Series — return to full-time duty in the outfield. The World Series shifting to San Francisco meant he couldn't be the Giants' designated hitter like he was in Games 1 and 2 in Kansas City. His bat, Morse supporters figure, is a necessity against these Royals.

The flu took that option off the table. It wasn't even abundantly clear that Morse would be able to pinch hit in the Giants' 3-2 loss in Game 3. Skipper Bruce Bochy asked Morse earlier in the day if he was well enough to pinch hit.

"I'll give you the best at-bat I can," Morse responded.

His post-flu best certainly helped the Giants. Morse's pinch-hit double brought home Brandon Crawford for the Giants' first run. Then Morse came around to score after two sixth-inning ground outs. That double, by the way, gave Morse more extra-base hits in Game 3 than Buster Posey has the entire postseason.

Two Giants runs in Game 3, and neither happens without Morse. He has a hit in each game of the World Series after that game-changing pinch-hit homer in the NLCS clincher. Doesn't it make you wonder if Morse should be playing full-time?

If the Giants need an offensive boost — and after a four-hit performance in Game 3, it's hard to argue otherwise — who better than Morse?

If the Giants need to move runners around the bases — and 17 runners stranded in their Game 2 loss says they do — wouldn't you want to have the biggest sticks possible in the lineup?

Morse played exactly one game in September because of an oblique injury, which is what thrust Travis Ishikawa into his no-experience-necessary starting left fielder gig. Morse missed the division series because he didn't have enough recent at-bats. So Morse was sent to Arizona for some grooming, then he joined the Giants when they met the Cardinals.

"I'm good to play," Morse said after Game 3. "I haven't started in a while, but I'm good to play."

The double Friday night was enough for reporters to ask Bochy about Morse's role moving forward, and if there were a chance we'd see him in left field for Game 4. Morse, a right-hander, has faced Royals' Game 4 starter Jason Vargas, a lefty, more than anyone on the Giants, with four hits and a homer in 13 at-bats.

"I'll sit and think about it," Bochy said, noting that Juan Perez could possibly start in left too. "It's not etched in stone, but again, what Morse has done off the bench, that's valuable too."

Asked how he'd feel if he saw his name as a starter on Saturday's lineup card, Morse said: "It would be fine. [But] I feel like I have a big role right now … My manager is confident in my role right now and I'm confident in him. Whatever he wants me to do, I'm 100 percent [ready] to do it."

It's clear the Giants need somebody to drive in some runs. Against these Royals, you can't wait long to do that. Opponents need to score before the seventh inning, or they'll run into that dominating trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland.

Morse could be the guy to ignite the offense if he gets three or four at-bats in a game. He's done it off the bench. He's done it with the flu. Maybe it's time he does it as a starter.

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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!