I could have done without that one

Ryan Vogelsong, toughing it out against Chris Carpenter, and Jeremy Affeldt, throwing as well as he has all season, staked the Giants to a 3-1 lead after seven innings. They turned the ball over to Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez and the Cardinals scored three runs in the 8th to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Romo, after my effusive praise yesterday, threw only four pitches to give up his two runs. Lopez threw twelve pitches to five guys and one of them was an intentional walk, so that's eight pitches to four guys. Whatever those boys were throwing, the Cardinals were whacking for hits. It was not the usual way the Giants finish games.

The Giants end the month of May with a 16-12 record. Add that to March/April's 13-13 and you come up with the 29-25 they sit at now. Fifty-four games played means it is one-third of the way through the regular season. The Giants were 10-8 in their first inning of baseball, and 10-8 in the second as well. In the third inning--this last 18-game stretch--the Giants only managed a 9-9 record. Every 18 games is one-ninth of the season, three sets of 18 make 54, and thus you have three innings, or one-third, of the season completed. The Giants have played 33 road games and have 16 wins against 17 losses. They are 13-8 at home.

The Giants have scored 187 runs--second to last in the league. They have allowed 193 runs--third best in the league. The Phillies, by comparison, have allowed 192 runs in 54 games, but they have scored 227 and have five more wins. The Braves are the best, allowing only 185 runs in 56 games, but they have only one more win than the Giants despite scoring 215 runs. Neither of those teams can boast a potent offense. Philadelphia is squarely in the middle of the pack and Atlanta is a notch below that. Neither of those teams can hit like St. Louis. The Giants have done well to allow them only seven runs so far--they average almost five per game.

--M.C.