Bumgarner and Sandoval Crush Padres 7-2

Madison Bumgarner had a good start a few games ago. 8 IP, 0 ER, 11K. He had a pretty good start yesterday, too. 8.1 IP, 2 ER, 13 K. Two games at the tail end of his year 21 season, a year removed from pitching the most innings of his life and being a postseason hero. This dude just turned 22 and is going to be good for a long, long time. He's having a better season than Tim Lincecum. Do you like pitching? Stick around for the next ten years of Madison Bumgarner. It's really going to be something.

On the other end of things, we have Pablo Sandoval. Dude hits multi-homer games and plays third base better than you ever thought a fat guy could. He's wacky, he's got newfound discipline, and he's just getting better. He had a bad sophomore season in 2010, going through a divorce, depression, and every box of Pop'Ems in the immediate vicinity. Now he's the guy who hits RBI ground-rule doubles in the All-Star game and belts homers in Petco Park like it's no big deal.

2012 keeps looking up, and the Giants have these two guys on lockdown for the next several years. That's really exciting. Not to mention Buster Posey, Brandon Belt, and two guys absolutely tearing it up above expectations at the low levels of the minors, Gary Brown and Joe Panik. The future looks good. Let's get there already.

Lack of Offense Drops Giants to 7 Games Back

At the beginning of the season, I wouldn't have believed I'd feel this bad for Bruce Bochy. I feel bad for all of these guys, because I love them all to death (well, maybe not Orlando Cabrera). They're lovable guys, every one of them. The Franchise has showed me that Bochy is a restrained goofball hayseed, and that's important to know. But they can't make it happen, try as they might.

I really, really hope the rebuilding process goes well in the offseason, because just having Posey and Sanchez back and healthy isn't going to fix this awful, awful offense. I'm hoping the Giants make plays for Jose Reyes or Jimmy Rollins, and are able to convince Carlos Beltran to come back. I hope Brandon Belt is able to start every day for a full season and that Huff is able to bounce back. I'm fearful that, instead, the Giants let Beltran go, re-sign Cabrera and Ross, sign Raul Ibanez, and convince themselves that Bret Pill is the answer rather than Belt. He's not, but this is an organization that still believes in RBI as a reliable barometer of offensive worth. That's terrifying.

Will they find their way? It's going to be extremely interesting.

Giants Win Feel-Good Game of the Year, 6-2

KABOOM CARLOS BELTRAN MOTHERF***ER

If Thursday's game was a turn-the-page palate cleanser, tonight was something else entirely. Matt Cain, throwing far, FAR less than his best stuff, held the Diamondbacks to two runs through eight innings. Carlos Beltran had his first true Carlos Beltran game as a Giant, going four-for-four with a triple and a monster home run. Jeff Keppinger's Unstoppable Bat missed a home run by a foot and a half. Cody Ross followed a Matt Cain walk with a signature Cody Ross left-field-bleachers bomb late in the game, and followed that up in the top of the eighth with a spectacular diving, sliding catch.

This was a Giants big-game game like we saw constantly last September and many times earlier this year. Pat Burrell took two walks and a million pitches. The Giants were able to limit damage in tricky situations -- like a bases-loaded moment in the top of the first. The Giants pitching was the Giants pitching, and for a change the Giants offense looked like a real major league team. The Diamondbacks had a nine-game winning streak snapped and looked nothing like the juggernaut we all feared they had become in August. Tomorrow all of this could crumble and the Giants could become the Giants once again, but tonight was incandescent. Tonight was glorious. For three brilliant hours, this was the 2011 Giants living up to every lofty expectation they promised in spring training, only minus Posey, Sanchez, and Wilson and up a Keppinger and a Beltran.

If the Giants don't play another competitive game this year...hell, if the Giants don't win another game this year, this is the game I will hold on to. This was all smiles and warm-and-fuzzies and fist-pumping victory in every sense of the word. This one will keep me warm in the winter, regardless of what happens from here on out. For one electrifying night, in front of a rabid AT&T Park crowd, this was hope and celebration and realized potential. The Diamondbacks can easily take the next two, and heck, they probably will, but this was all I could have ever asked for.

Thanks, guys.

So You've Decided to Be in Second Place: Giants Lose, 9-2

"Nope, I don't see any hits over here, either."

I'm pretty sure the final score was 9-2. I stopped watching. Why would I do that to myself? This is some Absolute Zero of a team right now, and it's not getting better. The bad news is that the Giants head to Miami and Atlanta to get their clocks cleaned on the road for a while before wrapping things up by losing a series to the Houston Spoilers.

It is important that this is a team that has been ravaged -- and that is the appropriate word, ravaged -- by injuries to key players, and other key players having absolutely catastrophic seasons. Bochy and Sabean are not to blame for what is going on. Well, not entirely, anyway. This is what the universe decided was a fitting repayment for last year's improbable World Series victory. And that's cool. I more or less resigned myself to the Giants missing the playoffs a couple of weeks ago. It's a shame, but it's really pretty admirable they have been able to do so much with so little thus far. This is a team that is dangerously close to fielding a tee as their fifth starter. They can get 15 hits in a game and score less than two runs. They can get three hits in a row with RISP and score none.

The fact that the Astros are giving the Diamondbacks fits indicates that, perhaps, the Diamondbacks are not the unstoppable juggernaut I imagined they were. They hit lots of home runs, and have a Justin Upton, but they're only marginally better than the Giants at this point. They can be caught, and overtaken. There are nearly two months left. But if the Giants miss it, it won't be the end of the world. Posey and Freddy will be back next season. Zito and Rowand will be closer to the end of their deals, if they're still around. Beltran and Ross will likely be gone, which opens up a potential spot for Belt. There's a chance the Giants will acquire an actual shortstop. Given their track record, I'd bet on Jimmy Rollins. Things look a lot better in 2012.

My hope is that things start looking better in 2011. It's hard to imagine things looking worse.

Life is Meaningless: Giants Lose, 4-3

For the first half of the game, it was the best the Giants had played in weeks. They kept moving the line. They took advantage of Cardinals mistakes. They got a hit with a runner in scoring position! Their young guys, Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford, got starts. Aubrey Huff sat this one out. The Brandons got hits and took walks. The Giants hitters went deep into counts and made Chris Carpenter throw a ton of pitches. They made an opposing starter toss 100 pitches through five innings.

Then, it became the worst Giants game since Scott Cousins took Buster Posey into a back alley and pumped rounds into his kneecaps. The Giants wasted leadoff doubles. They brought Huff into a pinch-hit situation. They brought Rowand into a pinch-hit situation. Eli Whiteside struck out a bunch of times and said a bunch of cusses. The Giants bullpen imploded, giving up three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Brandon Belt is probably injured.

Does Bochy learn that Michael Tejada should not bat second in the lineup? Does he learn after this that "LOOGY Javier Lopez" means "Left-handed one-out guy Javier Lopez" and not "This guy can probably get three outs from St. Louis's right-handed Murderer's Row Javier Lopez?" No, I would bet any sum that he does not. I'm guessing tomorrow night we get Tejada back in the two-hole, Huff back in the three-hole, Belt on the DL, Burrell playing shortstop, and Time Lincecum throwing a one-hitter that the Giants lose, 6-0.

That's my prediction, anyway.

Ryan Vogelsong Has the Nerve to Allow One Run, Giants Lose 1-0

THE UNMITIGATED GALL

Well, this went about as well as expected on The Day After. Posey wouldn't have started today anyway, given he caught 12 innings of baseball last night, but the amazing, AMAZING news was that Brandon Belt was called up today and got to watch Aubrey Huff swing and miss at balls in the dirt roughly a million and twelve times.

Great takeaways: Ryan Vogelsong looks like he's really for real, really. He went eight strong and walked one and allowed one measly run. The Giants never had a chance from that point on.

Rumors are still flying fast and heavy about Posey's injury, how long he'll be out, and who the Giants might try to make a deal for in a vain attempt to snag an above-average rental catcher. It would all be pretty funny if not for the palpable regret. Giants get swept at home and hit the road to meet up with the red-hot Brewers. Hey, there's only holes at first, third, short, and catcher now. Things are looking up!

Requiem for Buster Posey

It had been a rough season for young Gerald Posey.

The reigning National League Rookie of the Year and World Series Champion had been getting dinged up for two months straight. Foul balls finding the small gaps in his catcher's gear. Bats hitting him in the hands and wrists on opponents' backswings. Sometimes taking two or three foul tips in one game right off his facemask. Giants brass and coaching staff said they were worried, and for good reason.

The postseason hero who energized and led a team to the most unlikely and overdue world championship in recent memory was starting his first full season in the majors as the most vital component of an iffy ball club. The Giants, who knocked the cover off the ball throughout Spring Training, have been utterly bereft offensively since the season began. Their first place standing in the National League West in late May is a tribute to sheer luck and little else. The team is last in runs scored in the NL, last in home runs, last in everything and -- get this -- they have a negative run differential.

Posey was the glue that held this team together. He managed the Giants well-stocked pitching staff with ability that belied his years of expertise. Posey, as it is widely reported, was a lifelong shortstop before moving behind the plate in college. As the Giants front office has wrung their hands about the abuse Posey has taken behind the plate this season, there has been a smattering of Giants fans asking, "Well, why don't we move him back to the left side of the infield? There's a hole or two over there, you know." The response, when these obvious lunatics have been humored, is that Posey is a catcher or a fill-in first baseman. Catching, we're told, is Posey's "calling." And I get that, I really do.

But I sat in the living room on Wednesday night, watching the Giants game on my computer as it went to extra innings. As Scott Cousins barreled toward Posey, I held my breath. The throw from Schierholtz in right field was a good one. It always is. It was going to be an extremely close play. An instant later, Posey's helmet flies off as he's sent sprawling. He flops to his stomach, clutching at the dirt in agony, writhing around and pounding at the ground in despair, and frustration, and hopelessness. I find myself audibly saying, "Oh no!"

I'm reminded of my grandmother, crying out from the dark of my father's bedroom, where she's laying in bed and listening to the Giants game on the radio. My grandmother -- who taught me what baseball was and who the Giants were and how to love both of them -- was no stranger to yelling at the radio during baseball games, but this was altogether different. It was a wail of despair, and I'm pretty sure the first intelligible words out of her mouth were, "Oh no!" My sister and I ran in to see what was the matter. The Giants were in Montreal, and Dave Dravecky had just tumbled off the mound after throwing a pitch, his cancer-weakened arm shattered. How could this be? We'd just been there at Candlestick, live and in person, for his comeback win against the Reds. It was only five days ago! He was right there! But then...he was gone.

Buster Posey is not Dave Dravecky. Nor is he Jorge de la Rosa, the Colorado Rockies' de facto ace, who has just gone down for the season with a ligament tear in his pitching elbow. He'll need Tommy John surgery, but as far as pitching injuries go, he's likely to return to 100%. The early news with Posey is that it's a broken leg, along with torn tendons. We probably won't see him again in 2011. We may never see him catch again. Is it career-threatening? Too soon to tell.

I keep trying to thing of another time that the single most key player on a team has gone down with a season-ending injury on a potential playoff team, and I keep coming up empty. Maybe the Giants will rebound from this. Maybe Posey will come back sooner than we think. Maybe it will all be okay. But it's the uncertainty that really fills Giants fans with despair. That was the hardest part of watching Posey react to his injury last night. As someone who has gotten injured plenty and seen plenty of people I care about get severely injured, that was the one emotion I recognized most clearly: despair.

I have this awful feeling that this is what I'll be thinking about in October. Watching a young man become consumed with despair, and Giants fans being completely unable to do anything other than say, "Oh no."