Bits and Pieces

It's been quite the regular season for the Giants.

It seems that we have rearranged the roster a little bit. It's like in the beginning of a school year when you walk into a new classroom. A couple of the people know each other, and they're chatting away about their summers, and baseball stats, and how difficult it was to get up that morning. Then there are the new kids mixed in with the kids you've seen scuffling in the hallways between passing period.

The first day is always a little bit awkward.

By the end of the year though, there is no such thing as awkward. In the past, by the end of the year, everyone was practically sitting on top of each other; I mean, we had inside jokes. We were a tight knit dysfunctional family.

Point it, I felt like the Giants were like that. The Giants came together in bits and pieces.

Our outfield, except for Torres, is pretty much bits and pieces. We got Huff this year, and Posey behind the plate. We had to say goodbye to Molina though. We got some hard throwers in the bullpen. We had the guys who were there before, Zito and Wilson (B-WEEZY!).

Throughout the year we managed to add Guillen and Burrell and Ross and Fontenot. I looked at the team at the end, well, today, guess it's not the end for us, and I compared it to the team in the beginning.

The Giants are one helluva team.

There's a lot of personality going on there. No matter how they came together, they did, and I can hardly imagine the team without all those guys...even if the outfield is a little crowded.

"'I guess I get the last laugh,' Ross said, smiling. "When you hear that your old team just let you go, it's not a very good feeling. [But] this is what you dream of.'
'It doesn't matter, all the personal stats, the grand slams, the amazing catches. None of that compares to being a team and winning.'"

- Cody Ross to Los Angeles Times

In the end, we pieced it together. We worked it out. Bochy played with the line-up, and with all the new guys, there were a lot of things we could do. ...explore new frontiers...!

Just kidding.

These guys aren't just cast-offs. They WERE cast-offs, but now they're a part of our team. We couldn't be happier to have them here with us in San Francisco.

The regular season has been a rollercoaster.

It was from the start, back when we still had Todd Wellemeyer on our starting rotation. We had a tough first half in my opinion. We still had a phenomenal pitching staff, but we were somewhere lost in the land of inconsistent numbers. Sometime between all that, Aubrey Huff started putting together some mind-blowing numbers and we also called up Buster Posey from the minors, and he came out there and blew everyone away. He's a rookie? Hell yeah he's a rookie. Madison Bumgarner joined the pitching rotation.

Then our pitchers took some kind of mental-vacation because they were all GONE. Our starters were gone and our bullpen was gone too. Then September started, and they all began to come back, and our offense started to look alive. We played as a team, and that's what got us to the post season and carried us through a strong-ass September.

It's not bits and pieces anymore -- you can't even tell where the pieces are glued together anymore.

The Giants are going to the play-offs,

and they're going not as individual players who play well, but as one of the best teams in major league baseball.

Three days until it all starts, but until then, I think I'll just celebrate. It's October, and we're still playing ball, somehow I knew we would be.

October 3rd, Just another ballgame?

It's not easy to look at it, as "just another ball game."

It's not April anymore, it's not July or September, this is October baseball...but try not to look at it that way.

It's a windy day today in San Francisco. It's cloudy and the sun really doesn't look like it's going to make an appearance any time soon.  

Giants will go out there and play their bests,

we'll just have to see how things unfold for them.

The line-up today against the Padres features Freddy Sanchez, who sat out of yesterdays game. Bochy is also favoring (my favorite ... sarcasm implied) Guillen over Scheirholtz and Ross. Burrell is out in left, and Torres in center. Posey is behind the plate, and Huff is at first. The Panda is keeping an eye on third and Uribe is playing short.

On the mound for the last game of the regular season is Jonathan Sanchez who is coming into this game with a 3.15 E.R.A, and 12-9 record.  

No pressure, guys...

For the Padres, we have a certain-pitcher-who-should-watch-his-mouth, Mat Latos.  Latos is 14-9 with a 2.92 E.R.A.

The game started at around 1:06,

Sanchez's first pitch is recorded as a strike. The Padres lead off man singles off of Sanchez's second pitch.

Good news, is that our defense (except the throw to second to a jumping Freddy who thank god, caught it), is on it today.

San Francisco Giants' lead-off man, Andres Torres hits a ball that hits JUST on the fowl line, right on the left. IT TOUCHED THE FOWL LINE. The crowd is NOT pleased. Bochy is not pleased, no one is pleased.

Latos has thrown 8 pitches so far.

Unfortunately for us, Freddy grounded into a double play, but Aubrey Huff singles right after, meaning our offense is at least alive.

Both the Giants and the Padres have left a man stranded at second in the first inning. Its bound to be one helluva interesting game.

I think it's important today for ALL batters to note that the umps are a little whack, and the home-plate ump is in serious need of some specs. So, watch out. Despite the strike-zone, Jonathan Sanchez is doing a decent job getting himself out of jams, knock on wood. He has walked a couple batters, but with men on base, he's been able to get that third out to keep the game scoreless. Knock on wood again.

You know it might be all good...when you're pitcher triples. Freddy Sanchez comes through for us, and singles to put us on the board, a lead. Aubrey Huff also comes through for us, doubling and giving us a TWO run lead. For the first time in the Padres series, the Giants have an early lead.

Except for Posey's still having trouble registering pitches at bat, and Guillen is being the Jose Guillen who is like 4 for 20 in his last at bats. He's like a...rut in the line up. Rally! Rally! Guillen -- STOP!

The Red Sox took the series against the Yankees over in Boston. The Red Sox won today's game 8-4. Boston played a very nice last game of the 2010 season. J.D. Drew homered, and so did Jed Lowrie. Kalish had a great game as well. Boston scored 7 runs when Kalish stole home, and Nava stole second. Jed Lowrie homered again to score the final Red Sox run of the season. Despite the Red Sox being out of the post-season race, they did manage to get back at the rivals, the Yankees.

The Yankees will be going to the post-season, but they'll be going as the wild-card winner.

You can't make shirts that say, "WILD-CARD WINNER!." I mean you can, but it's just not as great as division winner. Yankees fans shouldn't be complaining anyway, but knowing them, they'd be whining.

It's nice to know Boston can still do some damage to the Yanks.

Sanchez finishes his game in the 6th, handing the ball over to Santiago Casilla.

Jonathan Sanchez definitely did EVERYTHING he could, especially offensively today.

Our team is also in it defensively -- is on it, the Giants manage to turn two in the 6th with the scoring runs on base. I would have expected Bochy to start altering the outfield after the 6th, which is something he tends to do. We do get to see Cody Ross in the bottom of the 6th, as a pinch runner, replacing Burrell who singled. Uribe keeps the inning alive...for Jose Guillen.

Great.

He's (4-33), Bochy, look at the numbers, PLEASE.

Of course, Guillen is a giant red light in the line-up, and we leave two men stranded.

Both Burrell and Schierholtz come out of the game after the 6th. Schierholtz goes to right, and Ross into left. So in a way, my wicked prediction was right. Though I thought we'd only see one of them. Does that make me double-right? Probably not how that works.

Our bullpen is solid, dependable, strong, throwing some amazing stuff.

Casilla errors and Ramirez comes out to take over with two down.

After Tejada puts up one HELLUVA fight, Ramirez takes him down on a swing and a miss to end a sticky situation in the 7th.

Andres Torres is instructed to bat right handed against Padres' Joe Thatcher in the bottom of the 7th. He looks kind of awkward. Velez is out on first after a failed sacrifice bunt intended to send Sandoval to second. Velez watch his base running.

There has been a crazy number attempts by Thatcher to pick Velez off of first base.

After Thatcher did what he could, the Padres replace him with Gregerson as Freddy Sanchez came up to bat.

Buster Posey I guess just "FOUND IT" again because he sent a solo shot into the stands.

3-0 Giants.

Thanks Buster.

I knew we couldn't do it without you.

Cody Ross came up to bat next. Yes, I cheered loudly. Ross singled on the second pitch he saw. Just another reason why he should be playing instead of Guillen. Just saying.

mlb.com

Pablo hits a ball hard into the outfield, but the ball is caught and the Giants leave a runner stranded.

Brian Wilson comes in to pitch in the 9th.

3-outs away from becoming the NL West Champions.

Uribe throws a ball to first.

2-outs away.

Fontenot throws to first.

1-out away.

Strike one to Veneable.

Fowl, strike two.

WILSON STRIKES HIM OUT SWINGING.

HE RECORDS HIS 48 SAVE.

LATOS GOT WHAT HE DESERVED. 

ON THE BOBBY THOMPSON ANNIVERSARY!

the Braves won their game,

and the PADRES, after putting up a fight,

suffer a SHUT-OUT and they're FINISHED.

THE GIANTS ARE NL-WEST CHAMPIONS.

WE'RE GOING TO THE PLAY-OFFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

not just another ball game.

Quotes.



It's been impressive how eloquent ballplayers really are.

So many fans are disappointed. I was disappointed, but it always cheers me up to read about what the guys have to say, it lightens the mood a bit, I guess.

Before though, the Red Sox and Yankees just played two extra inning games in one day, each walking away with a win. I'll bet they could fall asleep standing up at Fenway.

here we go:

"'You obviously wanted to come out the first night and get it done, but this game is so crazy,' outfielder Cody Ross said. 'This is the way the baseball gods drew it up. You've just kind of got to roll with it.'"

- Cody Ross to San Francisco Chronicle.

Roll Wit It indeed.

I'll say my prayers to the baseball gods tonight.

 Cody Ross is my Giants' best friend, only he doesn't know it.

That could so get pegged for creepy.

It's not. I promise.

He's just really cool and quotable...

On Andres Torres' absense.

"'I feel for Bochy, I do,' Huff said. 'He's been flipping and flopping ever since Andres went out. I wouldn't want his job right now.'"

-Aubrey Huff to American Chronicle.

I don't think I ever expressed this, but Andres Torres man, we are SO beyond glad to have you back.

"'This is what it's all about' infielder Freddy Sanchez told the Giants' official website. 'We all have one goal in mind and we want to get there.'"

- Freddy Sanchez to CBSSports.com

Let's go then.

On Buster Posey:

"'He did a great, great job behind the plate,' Cain said. 'I think I shook him off once and almost kicked myself. It just seems like he's always on the same page.'"

-Matt Cain to mlb.com.

Like I said, I might miss Molina just a little, but there's no better guy out there behind the plate. He's awesome to watch, plus everyone loves him. It's a win-win-win.

 "Zito said, 'You can't look at it like six months of baseball come down to one game.'"

- Barry Zito to The Bay Citizen.

</3

Right.

"'You could just sense this surge of energy in the ballpark,' All-Star closer Brian Wilson recalled of that game in late May."

-Brian Wilson to San Jose Mercury News.

There's always energy. The Giants fans could generate their own electricity.

"'For us to rally back down six runs and make a game of it, you can flip a coin,' Rowand said. 'They won the first game, but we definitely gave them something to think about, and we're not going to lie down.'"

- Aaron Rowand to San Francisco Chronicle.

Amongst the things to to do: lie down, roll over, play dead, over sleep.

"'Burrell saved my butt the last time, too,' Lincecum said. 'It kind of reminded me of the days when Bengie [Molina] used to save my butt with a big home run.'"

- Tim Lincecum to Pittsburgh Pirates News

You and me both Timmy,

I miss Molina, too.

We got Posey though, that's good.

"'I don't care about the other team,' said Juan Uribe, who homered for the second consecutive game on Sunday. 'We just go to the ballpark to win [our] game.'"

- Juan Uribe to mlb.com

Let's live up to that, shall we?

"'This group is not going to give in,' Giants left-fielder Pat Burrell said. 'We're going to fight.'"

- Pat Burrell to ESPN

Good.

"'We have to find a way to manufacture more runs,' Burrell said. 'It's tough to always rely on the big hit. Obviously we'll take them wherever we can get them...'"

- Pat Burrell to Pittsburgh Pirates News.

Glad we're on the same page.

On a serious note,

Truth is, no one really knows what's coming. Neither side, nobody, not the Braves not the Giants, nor the Padres should be breaking out Champagne right now.

In fact, leave that shit at home,

there ain't nothing to celebrate about yet, breh.

Two Blown Chances

Despite the loss, last night's game was the best game I'd been to all season. It was rather quiet through the first half, the Padres hitting home runs of off birthday-boy Matt Cain. I'd pity him and all, but the only person I'm pitying right now is myself -- trust me I need it.

Last night, Andres Torres walked away with the 2010 Willie Mac award, and he definitely deserved it. He plays amazingly, offensively, and defensively. He can run, he can steal, and I've heard he works crazy hard, so congrats to Torres.  

My distance perception must have been off last night, probably something to do with the fog because I couldn't tell at all how far the ball went. It was nearly impossible to tell whether a foul had been hit, or it was a pop up.

Our offense was quiet for most of the night. I was worried that we would just roll over and die. For a large part of the foggy evening, I was FREEZING and whining about Cody Ross not being in the line-up. I kept LOUDLY proclaiming that Ross' presence in the game would turn the whole thing around. I got one heck of a gut feeling. People around me thought I was crazy. Believe it or not, in the fifth inning, my friend pointed out into right field and said, "Becca, who's that?!" and I screamed...
"CODY!!!!!!!!...I think..."

Did I mention that I'm actually pretty blind...meaning my vision SUCKS.
But the announcer confirmed that it was him.

I lit up like a Christmas tree. The guys in front of me hella laughed, but they weren't laughing for all that long.

Cody Ross started to turn that game around.

...and all of a sudden, what I had been saying, wasn't so funny. It was however, shocking, even for me.

Cody doubled and got to second base smiling. There was hope again, and the stands started standing up and cheering, waving out their orange rally rags in the air like they did the moment the game started.

Freddy Sanchez, who had a shaky night in terms of defense (and base running) came up to bat. Freddy had been making contact last night, however, all his hits were directed right at the outfielders, but he came through for us, knocking in the first Giants run of the game. The throw to home was off, and Ross came home to an enthusiastic crowd.

Cody Ross' hit sparked a somewhat rally, and our offense woke up.

In the 6th, Pat Burrell got on base.

Aaron Rowand came up for a pinch hit. Yes, Aaron Rowand, I could have sworn the entire bleachers section groaned. While I was busy whining about Bochy's awful decisions, I heard audible bat and ball contact, it literally echoed throughout the entire stadium.  I looked up and the ball flew straight into the left field bleachers. The crowd just ROARED.

I swear the adrenaline swallowed my whole freezing body.

We were standing on top of the bleachers, and there was just this moment where nothing could go wrong, even if we were losing. We were hugging each other and jumping up on the down, belting out the lyrics to songs, high-fiving. All that matters in those moments is that game -- or not even, just that play, that hit, that crack of the bat that sent the ball sailing. It brought the place to life. My face was BURNING from yelling. I swear the whole placed warmed up, but it was probably just all the jumping. We were fighting! We fought! We fought! We fought! We weren't going to roll over and die!! Thanks Cody!

Cody came up to bat three times, and got on base...three times. Twice, he hit doubles. Do you believe in weird coincidences like that? Weird. Weird. Weird.

I've just got a kick ass gut feeling.

We lost that game, but last night, I came home happy, with Giants pride. Pride that we fought. Even if the defense was sloppy, and Freddy ran to second when he shouldn't have and caused a double play in the bottom of the ninth....

When I woke up this morning, my throat was killing me, but I was still really happy. I got this feeling that we're going to make it to the play-offs somehow, knock on wood.

We got what it takes to do it -- to win.

So screw the haters,

and we've always got tomorrow, right?

Wrong.

Bruce Bochy finally decided to put Cody Ross in, but it didn't fix everything. Though I think he finally came to some senses, because Guillen (grr...) was 1 for 18 in his last at-bats. I don't get why Bochy keeps him in the line-up. I mean the numbers clearly say that Ross can do better in the game...and he plays a mean right field, too. He's a good candidate for a starter, but apparently, he hadn't earned the right to start until last night. Offensively speaking, he didn't really help much today, and I feel like we'll be seeing a lot more of Scheirholtz soon, but nevertheless, he should get something of a second chance, because he can hit, and he can field much better than Guillen can.

Barry Zito.

Oh Zito, what hapenned?

I had to close my eyes when you walked the pitcher!

As most people know, I'm notoriously defensive of Zito usually, but in this case, Barry Zito, was Barry Zipo. Doesn't that mean I don't have faith in him. I've stuck with Zito through the fails, the epic fails, the success and the epic successes. I know he has what it takes to blow every batter away, but he JUST ISN'T BRINGING IT. I guess the rest of the team didn't really "bring it" today either.

Uribe hit a home run, and Bochy got ejected for arguing a third strike during Buster Posey's at-bat. In the end, we left the tying runs stranded, 4-2, as Guillen came up for a pinch hit after Pablo Sandoval (the Panda, by the way, is back). Guillen...kept to his recent crappy record and grounded into a double play to end the game. Heath Bell recorded his 47th save and literally skipped off the mound.

I hope Huff is back on his feet tomorrow, and Posey, too. I hate to sound...dependent, but we can't do it without them. I love those guys.

What happens tomorrow determines whether or not things get complicated. If we lose, there's another game on Monday, and then there's a tie breaker with the Braves for the wild-card. Then winner of that goes to play the Phillies. Boo-yah.

Oh a completely different subject, Mat Latos, who do you think you are?

"'Baseball works in funny ways,' Latos told CBSSports.com. 'The only way I could honestly put it is, we could be like the Giants and go and change our whole lineup, put guys with 'San Francisco Giants' across their jerseys. We didn't.'"

Ross replied with,

"'It's asinine to say. We're a close-knit group and this is our team,' Ross told the San Francisco Chronicle."

-latos dick comment here-

First off, I had to find a dictionary to look up the word, "asinine," turns out it means stupid, and ass-like. Couldn't have just said stupid, had to make our brains work.

Mat Latos will pitch tomorrow. Hopefully, he gets what's coming.

No one knows what's going to happen tomorrow.

You know what really pisses me off? People who have already thrown in the towel, literally. The Giants are a great team. They can do great things, but giving up on them means nothing. Giving up means that you're a coward. Screw them.

Briefly, let me just say, the Red Sox and Yankees have played TWO extra innings game, one's actually still going. Holy mackerel, that's like 9-straight hours of baseball.

It's cheesy, but tomorrow is a new day. So let's just sleep through what's left of today, wake up tomorrow with the intention to win.

The Giants have been criticized by fans for not, "wanting it."

I know they want it. Who doesn't want it?

Tomorrow, we'll wake up, put Sanchez on the mound and Posey and his colorful mask behind the plate, and do it again, only this time, we'll do it better.

Lincecum Dominates and Burrell Plays Knight in Shining Armor...

Nothing like team work.

I was more than a little worried when the game started today because Lincecum gave up a home run on the second pitch to the first batter he saw. However, it's no doubt that he warmed up quickly. Though the Diamondbacks managed to score 1 in the first, Lincecum managed to keep them there until the fourth, when our offense decided to kick in. 

Aubrey Huff singled, and Buster Posey drew a walk. It's always like that, if Huff's got flow, Posey's got flow. Pat Burrell comes up to bat, and he hits a home run to score himself, Huff and Posey, giving the Giants a two run lead. (3-1 Giants)

Andres Torres also played tonight's game. He had a hit, and he even stole a base. He also played a phenomenal outfield as always, making catches like nobody else can.  I have to keep reminding myself that he just recovered from surgery.

Pablo Sandoval also seems to be getting back in the groove, and gaining some patience.

Maybe he spent some time meditating in the outfield with Barry Zito.

While Pat Burrell is obviously a hero tonight for Giants fans, I'd say that Lincecum is the man of the hour. Originally, Lincecum was slated to pitch tomorrow and Bumgarner tonight, but instead they flip-flopped and Bumgarner will be pitching tomorrows day game. Unfortunately, I'll be missing that day game due to school. I'll sneak a couple peaks at the scoreboard during passing periods for sure. Lincecum struck out 11 batters throughout the 7 innings he pitched. He took a little to warm-up, but all in all, it was an excellent night for the two time Cy-Young award winner. 

Seeing solid pitching is always a good thing, especially during this time of year. 

It's necessary to have a solid pitcher on the mound, and Lincecum no doubt demonstrated his ability to dominate tonight. 

Bochy went out to have a talk with him the 7, fearing that his ace was getting tired. After a brief discussion on the mound, Bochy returned to the dugout without Lincecum, and the crowd cheered. Bochy's decision to let Lincecum finish the inning was a good one because he struck out the batter he was facing, earning his 11th strike-out of the night. 

Speaking of decisions by Bochy...it's a wonder to me why Scheirholtz is in right field again. He's not a favorite of mine. Seeing him do a pinch hit or two is always good, though in terms of pinch hitting he is, in my opinion, second to Travis Ishikawa. Also, we have Cody Ross who also plays right field. I'm not saying this because I'm biased, but because Cody Ross has been a hot hitter. While we're talking about hot hitters, where in the world is Freddy Sanchez? It's the second night we've seen Fontenot out there. I wonder if they're just resting him for the Padres series.

We had to fight tonight, and frankly, I think it's good for the team. We're still scoring on home runs though -- AGAIN.

I'm just worried about how that would turn out for us if we make it to the post season.

Wilson tonight earned his 47 save of the season.

I think the Giants are indeed taking it "one game at a time."  

(thanks my former-marlin-giants-outfielder-best-friend)

It's a good motto to be playing by right now,

we need to be able to focus on the game we're playing now.

Not the game yesterday, or the game tomorrow, or post season.

What happens NOW is infinitely more important than all that, and I think the Giants are finally understanding that, thank goodness.

2010 Red Sox and Mike Lowell

When I think about the 2010 Red Sox season, I think about half the roster on the disabled list. Then I think of Terry Francona trying to make a play-off team out of players there were...for lack of better wording, very fragile. 

2010 wasn't the best year for Boston baseball, but like any good Red Sox fan would say,

"There's always next year."

We'll give the boys the winter and whatever's left of fall to piece it back together.

Despite the frequent visits to the doctor's office, we had some pretty great moments this year. Before Pedroia's foot got smashed in San Francisco, he hit 3 home-runs in a 5-hour game against the Colorado Rockies JUST SO we could walk away with the win.

Clay Buchholz will be coming out of this season with one of the lowest earned run averages in all of Major League Baseball.

Jon Lester, my hero will likely find himself (like he has a majority of this season) on the list for most strike-outs in all of MLB.

And who can forget about my favorite fighter rookie who hit a grand-slam on his first Major League at-bat, Daniel Nava (other hero)? 

Today, Josh Beckett will pitch for the last time in the 2010 season. The worst part about this time of year is that there are so many, "lasts."

Speaking of lasts,I realized today, that this is the last week that Mike Lowell will play for the Red Sox, as he is retiring at the end of this season. I realized this in the middle of math class as I looked out the window out at the midsummer-esque weather and thought about summer. Summer makes me think of baseball, and then I thought about Boston, and Fenway, and it hit me that Lowell wasn't going to be back next season.

Lowell will take the field as a Red Sock (...) and a major league ballplayer for the last time this Sunday at Fenway park.

Lowell came to the Red Sox from the Florida Marlins, sort of a package deal with pitcher Josh Beckett. In 2007.

The 2007 season turned out to be one of Lowell's best, in which he set career bests in hits, RBI, batting average, OPS, and played a key role in helping the Red Sox win their second World Series in four years. One of the early highlights of the season came on April 22 when Lowell was one of the four Red Sox players to hit consecutive home runs against the Yankees. During the first half, Lowell hit .300 and led the team with 14 home runs (tied with David Ortiz) and 63 RBI. This performance helped earn him a spot on the 2007 American League All-Star Team as a reserve player voted in on the player's ballot. 

- lowell's wiki bio



Each player has an influence on their team of course, but also on the fans, and the ball park in which they play in. Each player leaves there mark on the fans. The Red Sox will honor Lowell on October 2, 2010 in Boston. Fenway will never be the same again, it's never the same when a player walks off that field for good.  

There's nothing really left to say except for,

Mike Lowell, you will be missed. 

Wild National League West.

If I could live in anytime, I would definitely go and live in the wild west. How cool would that be? Shoot outs in saloons, cowboy hats, rodeo shows...

It was probably not as cool as it is on TV,

nothing is as it is portrayed on television. Things are tampered with, bleeped out, edited. There are retakes...oh and of course, 99% of that stuff is pure fiction, or at least a fiction alloy.

The television, however, can not hide a bad start by pitcher Jonathan Sanchez.

I turned on the television, and he walks the first batter.

Great.

Following that, I turned it off.

He started on the wrong foot, but you know, I wasn't ready to pray that Bochy start warming up the bullpen just yet, after all it was the top of the first. 

Sanchez has been a pretty solid pitcher; now is NOT the time to start playing games.

I know that they're playing through a heat wave.

Yup, amidst the end of September, the 90 degree weather in the usual cool and foggy San Francisco.

But it's not an excuse to let them score in the 2nd inning. I can't say that it's all bad news, considering the fact that as long as I'm doing my elementary school math correctly, we still have 7 innings left. After a long road trip, I hope that our offense isn't sleeping-in, because believe me, this isn't the time to be hitting the snooze button repeatedly.

With Torres back in, my unofficial right hand man (not Zito), Ross, is not in tonight. Can't honestly say I'm not happy to see Torres back in again though. The dude needs to take it slow.

Luckily, we are getting men on base...

Un-luckily? Unfortunately, we aren't getting those men home, which logically means that no runs are scored for us. Boo-hoo.

More unfortunately, the Diamondbacks are playing just fine, homering off Sanchez in the third.

Now would be a great time to call up the bullpen. Again, it's only the 3rd, we have 6 innings to come back. Maybe we're so used to be in nurtured in a fog cloud of mild weather that the heat is screwing with our brains. The Diamondbacks on the other hand, are after all, from Arizona, so this heat, it's not even making them sweat.

Speaking of Torres, he hit a triple out to right field in the 4th, and was knocked in one pitch later by Mike Fontenot. It's good news that we're no longer depending on only on home runs to score. Especially on a night like this, with minimal wind. However, it's not that home runs are bad. Juan Uribe tied the game at 2 in the bottom of the 4th inning with a solo shot. It'd be a lie to say that home runs are bad.

Looks like we're getting used to the heat.

This whole summer was sans the heat. A cloud basically smothered the city, and save for a few warm days here and there, the Giants played in the fog.

We HAVE to be getting used to the heat because we're HAWT. I'm not a huge Schierholtz fan. I like seeing him up at the plate every once in awhile for a pinch hit or two. Today was good for example, since he knocked in the tie-breaking run (Sandoval coming home to score.) You know what I want to see? I want to see Cody Ross...I know his specialty is center field, but he's slightly flexible right? By slightly flexible I mean, he isn't Aaron Rowand. I mean, Guillen isn't being all that productive, so we should just put Cody in, but I might be a little biased.

I guess in the end, it doesn't matter so long as we won, which we did 4-2. It wasn't really an easy win.

While everyone else is busy clinching their divisions, the situation in the NL West is a little more complicated

It's a tight race and each win and each loss has an unbelievable magnitude in the standings.

All in all, it's good to have a win the first night back here at home...during a heat wave. It was good to see the lights at the park come on again and swarms of orange and black getting on BART. It's almost a relief.

It's maybe a little bit of a sad day today because the Red Sox are officially done. Even though I saw it coming, it still hurts a little bit. They had a good run, and I think it'd be GREAT for them to get some rest and heal those wounds; battle scars. I am no doubt excited for the first Red Sox pitch next April, and I will be so happy once spring training starts.

For now, I've turned my attention to my home team, the Giants. With five games left, things are looking up. They'll finish the season through the heatwave. Personally, I like to think that they're return into San Francisco caused it.
The weatherman would likely disagree, unless he was a Giants fan too.