Maybe it's because we're back to work after a long weekend, but SFist has taken to getting nostalgic for those glory days of yore- last week. Ahh, last week, what a week that was- Gwen Stefani's "Holla Back Girl" was climbing the charts, all of TV nation was breathlessly awaiting the season finale of "Lost" in hopes that a lot of questions will be answered, and the Giants were rolling. Good times, good times. But that was then and this is now and as Diamond David Lee once sang, channeling the great Ray Davies before him, "where have all the good times gone?"

When we last posted, the Giants had taken two from the A's and won the first game of a three game stand against the Dodgers. After one more victory against LA, the Giants played a tight, close game on Thursday only to have the bullpen come in and blow it. Then on Friday, the Giants played another tight, close game only to have the bullpen come in and blow it. And on Saturday they played another tight, close game only to have the, well, you get the point. After starting the home stand so well and making people think that they might be able to start making some noise, the rest of the home stand turned into a total disaster as they were swept by the division leading, so hot right now, Padres. Your main culprit in the blowouts? Closer du jour Tyler Walker who gave up big hits seemingly every damn night.

Image of Omar Vizquel expressing his dismay that the hatch on "Lost" was finally opened only to reveal a long tunnel from SFGate.

Finally, Brian Sabean had enough. On Saturday, he traded former starting pitcher Jerome Williams and relief pitcher David Aardsma, both stuck in the minors, to Chicago for relief pitcher LaTroy Hawkins. The move was made to bolster what was obviously the biggest problem on the team, the bullpen. Hawkins is a set up man and the thought is that if he can get the Giants through the eighth inning to when Walker can come in, the Giants will be, in Sabean's words "stabilized." Again, this goes into all the big thinking about how important bullpen roles are. This move was a bit of a surprise in that most teams wait months to make major changes but Sabean is shaking things up now, hoping that he can somehow figure out a way of saving a season that has "struggling to make .500" all over it. It's a desperate move for a desperate team. Peter Gammons gave it his blessing, but on the Giants' portion of the blogosphere, the reaction has been, well, fairly nasty. Most of the bloggers out there think that it's just one more example of Sabean selling out the team's future for a present that probably can't be saved. The trading of Williams' was particularly teeth gnashing as Wiliams is 23, has won before, had the cool pukka shell necklace and laid-back Hawaiian demeanor, and had an uplifting fighting-off-family-tragedy back story. We've never been sold on Williams however, as we've always kind of suspected him to being a total Van Landingham, a young Giants pitcher who starts off really well but fades into mediocrity fairly quickly. As for Aardsma, he was young, had a last name that made him the first entry in the Baseball Almanac, and according to one poster, had a really hot sister. Also gone is last year's closer, Matt Herges, a total gamer and all around good dude who unfortunately got a bad case of the yips while being a closer and never recovered.

As for SFist's opinion, we always like the fact that Sabean has the cojones to do something. We are also well aware of the fact that it's easy to sit behind a computer and play GM as opposed to sitting behind a multi-million dollar business with a twenty-million dollar a year debt load and famously fickle fans and be GM. While the bloggers maybe all excited about seeing the kids, we doubt that the cell-phone wielding, WiFi using, Giants fan will be. It's apparent more than ever that the team's strategy is basically one mad, desperate gamble to keep the team afloat long enough for a 41 year old, rickety kneed Barry Bonds to return from the DL and carry the team once more on his back. Risky as all hell, but at this point, there’s nothing else the team can do. What the hell, indeed.