2nd inning: 10-8

Following their lackluster opening inning of 8-10, the Giants stepped up their game and rolled out a rather, well, lackluster 10-8 inning. After 2/9 of the season the orange-and-black are a .500 club. Fortunately all the teams in the West are playing below par and the 18-18 record puts them in a virtual tie for first place with the 17-17 Los Angeles Dodgers. It was an ugly weekend for baseball in San Francisco. The team couldn't hit, score, run, field, or pitch in relief. That felt like a really big win yesterday, as ugly as it was.

In the big scheme of things, the Giants 167 runs scored puts them at fifth-best in the NL and sixth-best overall, which is just fine.This is despite the fact that Buster Posey, Joe Panik, Matt Duffy, and Denard Span are all under-performing. Interesting that only the Boston Red Sox at the top spot are from the AL. The other five high-scoring teams (Cubs, Cardinals, Rockies, Diamondbacks, Giants) are all from the NL.

As far as the flip side goes, runs allowed, the Giants stink. Their 171 runs are 11th out of the 15 NL teams and 24th of the 30 MLB teams. The Giants average 4.75 runs allowed per game! Like I said, that stinks. This is despite the fact that Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, and Jeff Samardzija are all pitching well. Interesting that the top three spots for fewest runs allowed (Cubs, Mets, Nationals) are NL teams, while the next six (Indians, Orioles, Mariners, White Sox, Rays, Blue Jays) are all from the AL. They are having some fun in Chicago as the two teams have the best records (Cubs 25-8, Sox 23-12) in baseball.

It's a team game. You have to catch the ball, throw the ball to the right guy, and not make outs on the bases. The Giants are usually really good at those things, it seems like they haven't been so good this season. I expect that to improve. Bullpen roles have been a little fluid, it's taking some time to sort out who's who and what's what. But it looks like they have good enough arms although it would be nice to get George Kontos and Sergio Romo back. The continuing Jake Peavy-Matt Cain saga at the bottom end of the ro' obviously needs a rewrite. That would certainly pick up the win pace. Boch is standing behind his guys--what else can he do?--so I expect I will, too!

Time to win some games against Arizona. GO GIANTS!

--M.C.