Let's just come right out and say it: the Giants, now 8-10, had a crappy week. They went two-and-five against teams that, even without Barry Bonds (whose return is still shrouded in steroid-enhanced mystery) and Moises Alou (who returned to action on Friday night and hit his first homerun as a Giant on Sunday), they should have won at least four games. Until this point, the Giants' offense had been the bright spot of the season, but last week they averaged just three runs-per-game. And while the pitching staff has settled down a bit from its rough start in the first two weeks of play, when they seemed to yield at least one huge inning every other game, they gave up an unacceptable five runs-per-game in the last seven contests.

The Giants opened the week in San Diego with a pair of losses, being held to two runs in either game, and returned home to split yet another two-game series with the Diamondbacks, finally winning their first game of the week on Thursday. Over the weekend, they dropped two-of-three to the Brewers, who had lost seven straight before coming to San Francisco.

So, that crappy week is over. Here's hoping the Giants will perform better this week. They host a three-games series against San Diego starting tonight (and don't forget, you crazy co-eds, tonight is college night), continuing tomorrow night (with special prices for hotel industry employees and free Jason Schmidt posters to the first 20,000 fans), and concluding Wednesday with a day game. (And by the way, if you've never been to a weekday day game at Willie Mays Field, they're great; you really oughtta skip out of work this Wednsesday and watch some baseball.) They have Thursday off and then they play a three-game set over the weekend against the Pennsylvania Rockies, er, Pittsburgh Pirates. Let's hope the trip to the Keystone state works out like the one to Colorado did. Or better. Go Giants.