Well, that wasn't what we were hoping for. Yes, the Giants did indeed lose their first game of the big road trip, 8-6 to the Washington Nationals. We haven't seen a road trip start off so badly since a camping trip we took years ago in which on the first night of the trip, we hit a deer (true story. The deer, luckily, was only dazed). And after being in first place a mere seventy-two hours ago, the Giants now find themselves in third.

We're okay with this loss, actually, even if this does mean they now have the phrase "two game losing streak" attached to them. Why? Because they found themselves down 7-2 early on and still rallied to make a fight out of it. In fact, down 8-6 in the ninth, they got the first two base runners on only to not doing anything about it, something we'll just ignore because it gets in the way of our story. In other words, they're still showing fighting spirit. We like fighting spirit. Mad props go to Ray Durham for hitting two home runs, one from each side. Ray-Ray is as responsible for the Giants turn-around as anyone.

Of much bigger concern is the Bearded One, Matt Morris, who sucked again, giving up seven runs quickly and as a commentor on McCovey Chronicles put it, didn't fool anyone with his "79 mph breaking ball without movement.." Morris started this season slowly then started putting it together and just when it looked he was going to be a great #2 pitcher, he lost whatever mojo he had and regressed. So far, if we'd have to compare the bust that is Matt Morris, we'd have to say he's not quite a The Island level bust, but so far more along the lines of Superman Returns. As for the New Guy, Shea Hillenbrand, he's a whopping 3 for 15 so far which even us non-statheads know isn't that good. He's already gotten on the bad side of various Giants' fans not just for not hitting, but for making the last out with runners on last night. Hildy is giving us flashbacks not to AJ Pierzynski, but to Sir Sydney Ponson, another Sabaen pennant race trade that didn't work out. Ponson is on our "Dead to Us" list after he mailed it in during Game 2 of the 2003 Division Playoffs.

Today's pitching matchup is Lowry (5-6) against Pedro Astacio (1-1).

Quick little side note on the 'Nats-- a number of residents who would ordinarily support them, refuse to wear their baseball hats due to the presence of a big "W" on it. "W," of course, is almost a verboten letter in certain climes due to it being attached to a certain simian like President.