We raced out of a meeting at work and ran to our desk to listen to the start of tonight's Giants' game on MLB audio. Down 2-1 and at the top of the fifth, we hopped into our car and listened as the Giants took the lead and somehow managed to escape an inning in which the first two Nats hitters got on base and were then bunted into scoring position (something which almost caused us to crash our car as we were too busy slamming our fist on the dash board in celebration to notice all the traffic around us.) Finally, we got to the gym just in time for the bottom of the ninth, hopped onto a machine right in front of the TV, cranked "Freebird" on the trusty iPod, and then watched in horror as ARMANDO BENITEZ BLEW YET ANOTHER SAVE.

How painful was this game? We couldn't even watch most of the inning. We spent most of the inning craning our necks to watch CNN on another TV because watching reports on the Middle East conflict is less stressful than watching Armando flail. How painful was this game? We went to the dentist this morning for the first time in over a decade and suffered through a cleaning which brought us to tears and we would rather do that again than have to watch.

For those not keeping score at home, Armando went out there, walked the first batter on four pitches, and then threw three straight balls before throwing his first strike. A strike, by the way, which should have been called as a ball. He then managed to strike out the batter but only because he (Alfonso Soriano) swung at everything even if the ball was over his head. Then the next batter hit a liner which Ray-Ray bobbled and then there was a single to tie the game and then a sacrifice fly for the win. Yes, the inning might not have happened if it weren't for Durham's bobble, but damnit, Armando throw a friggin' strike. Seriously, how hard is it to go out and pitch just one inning? We may not know stats that much or could break down pitching mechanics, but we've gotten pretty good at watching athletes body language and Armando's body language that entire inning was pretty much along the lines of "oh no, not again."

So now the Giants are the proud owners of a three-game losing streak and three behind the Pads. In other words, they just undid all the did they accomplished during their five game winning streak.
Ugh.

it's Cain vs. good ole Livian Hernandez in an East Coast morning game which means a 10 AM start for the folks here. If the Giants lose tomorrow, keep your pets away from us-- we might just be in the mood for some puppy punting.

Photo by AP