It's been a long wait for fans of our triumphant yet ever-underestimated baseball team. Sure, the 49ers went to the Super Bowl, but it's just not the same at all, is it?

Today the wait is finally over. It's officially baseball season, and that means summer is on its way, along with hordes of black-and-orange clad fans sipping $8 stadium beers, heroics on the field (we hope) and general revelry for all. Except Dodgers fans, of course.

Today at 1 p.m. the Giants return to regular season play and square off against the hated Dodgers with ol' reliable Matt Cain on the mound in LA. The Giants, if you'll recall, are coming off a World Series championship title, their second in three seasons. By all accounts the force is still reasonably strong with them. With Buster Posey now locked into a 9-year, $167 million deal, the pitching staff still going strong (with the possible exception of newly shorn Tim Lincecum, who may still be struggling with his mechanics), and most of the players who helped lead the Giants to victory last year still on the roster, the Giants are more than capable of taking on the rival Dodgers, who will probably be the NL West's team to beat this year.

Pshaw. We'll see about that.