(By e.Chang)

The Week That Was:
Won 2, lost 1 against the Padres.
Won 1, lost 3 against the Marlins.

38-37 for the season; 2nd place in the NL West.

The Week That Will Be:
Mon: at Los Angeles against the Dodgers
Tue: at Los Angeles against the Dodgers
Wed: at Los Angeles against the Dodgers
Thu: OFF
Fri: at Colorado against the Rockies
Sat: at Colorado against the Rockies
Sun: at Colorado against the Rockies

Last Thursday night, the Miami Heat beat the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Tens of thousands of people, along with all four Miami Heat fans, stormed the streets and celebrated in South Beach. 3100 miles away in San Francisco, as another Miami team played in another South Beach, the final score of the basketball game was announced and 40,000 boos rained down from the stands at PacBell Park. The Marlins then went on to beat the Giants.

Winning baseball games is hard. Winning four straight against the same team is almost asking too much. But if it must be done, it should be done against the Marlins. They're garbage. That's not biased opinion — it's science. They rank at or near the bottom of every meaningful offensive category. They draw the fewest fans of all 30 teams, and for good reason — their win/loss record is 25-50, the worst in all of baseball. And their owner? The Worst!

These were the Marlins, damnit! From Miami! At least win three of them? Split it 2-2? No? Just one? God, I hate Miami.

Winning baseballs games is hard. Winning three straight on the road is almost asking too much. But if it must be done, please let it be against the Dodgers. The Dodgers may not be garbage, but they're stinking it up something awful, which, to my nose, smells like a bouquet of perfumed roses. You may remember that the story going into this baseball season was the resurrection of the Dodgers franchise. After years of neglect and mismanagement by a derelict owner, the Dodgers got fancy new owners who flashed fancy new cash and the Dodgers were once again very, very LA. That's what the story was, anyway. The reality, it turns out, is so much happier. They've been keeping last place warm the entire season. Their manager is about two innings away from getting fired. Their stock has fallen and it really is quite nice.

But before we get too smug, let's remember the Giants have won exactly one game more than they have lost. The Giants are tied with the Rockies for 2nd place, with the Padres 0.5 games behind. Even the last place Dodgers are only 5.5 games behind the Giants. The standings of the NL West can be figuratively flipped on its head in one week's time. The Giants know this. Six road games against two division rivals — it's time to make a stand.

Bartender, the Giants will have the Dodgers on the Rocks, please. Let's drink.

Et cetera: to my nephew, welcome to the world, kid! Being a Giants fan is gonna be a helluva thing.

Ugh. The Marlins won this afternoon, effectively sweeping the Giants. What a horrific series. Please go home now, Florida. You've done enough. We don't hate you. We know now you didn't mean it. It's just... please leave and allow us to heal. We're so very, very tender here in San Francisco.

As far as yesterday's Posey collision goes, it was all part of baseball, folks. During a pre-game press conference, Bruce Bochy explained:

It's part of baseball. I understand that. Guys run into catchers. Being a catcher, I've been in a few of them. You're in harm's way there. I do think we need to consider changing the rules a little bit because the catcher's so vulnerable -- and there are so many who've gotten hurt, and just a little bit. I mean, they've had their careers or shortened. And here's a guy that's very popular in baseball. Fans want to see him play. Now, he's out for a while. I'd like to see maybe something considered here where we can protect these guys a little bit more. They just don't have the protection to take a guy coming in full speed, with that kind of force. But, it's part of the game. He had two paths to go; he could have gone for home plate, but he elected to try to knock the ball loose, even though Buster had dropped the ball.

On the brighter side, it's still early in the season. So quit your bellyaching. Giants take on the Milwaukee Brewers, Friday, May 27.

[SFGate]

Giants 8 Marlins 7- Again, we have no statistics to back us up, but it seems like Giants team after Giants team goes down to that humid, plastic, empty stadium in Miami and dies. We can’t remember a good series the Giants had down there. But finally, the worst Giants team of the past fifteen (twenty?) years appears to have gotten one over the Fish by taking a four game series. About four years too late if you ask us. Hell, ten years too late. Anyways, a real live pennant race is coming to the Phonebooth tonight as the Giants play host to the Cubs who are involved in that threeway race for the NL Central crown. You can't be any sort of baseball fan and not by psyched by the prospect of a pennant race between the Cubs, Cards, and the Milwaukee Brewers. And as we kind of like the Cubs being loveable losers and hate Tony LaRussa, we're hoping the Giants continue with their winning ways and help the rumblin', stumblin' Brew Crew out.

A's 6 Jays 4- Your A's hero of the game? Slammin' Jack Hannahan who hit his first home run ever in the third, a three run jobber. Hannahan is yet one more in the A's continuing season-long saga of "Who the Hell Are These Guys?" Beane's made a bunch of big, sort of splashy signings over the past few years (Mike Piazza anyone) yet the guys who've been doing it for the A's are guys we're not even sure Beane thought would do much. Athletic's Nation sums it up best, calling this A's team "the Misfits." And, hey, those Misfits are now just two games away from .500.