(By e.Chang)

The Week That Was:
Won 1, lost 3 against the A's.
Won 1, lost 2 against the Cardinals.

30-27 for the season; tied for 2nd in the NL West.

The Week That Will Be:
Mon: Off
Tue: at home against the Blue Jays (Bruce Lee Tribute Night)
Wed: at home against the Blue Jays
Thu: Off
Fri: at Arizona against the Diamondbacks
Sat: at Arizona against the Diamondbacks
Sun: at Arizona against the Diamondbacks

Everyone loves June. When you were a kid, the only schoolwork you had in June was making Father's Day cards with construction paper shaped like a necktie. April and May are OK, but if you're going to name you kid after a month, go with June (with apologies to Betty Draper). Look out your window. Beautiful, right? That's June.

For the Giants, June means it's no longer May, and good riddance. The Giants went 14-13 in May, which isn't awful, but it doesn't exactly inspire dreams of October. After two full months of baseball under our belts, the best we can say about our beloved teams is an emphatic "Meh." The worst thing we can say about our beloveds? Let's not go there there--we'll only end up arguing and you'll bring up the noodle incident and I'll withdraw emotionally and so let's just not.

coughPITCHINGcough.

Fine. Without a doubt, the story of the season thus far has been the collective suck of the pitching staff. Look, they may end up with the league's best ERA and WHIP and the fewest runs allowed and the lowest batting average against, but right now, and for the past two months, our guys suck. In May, Barry's ERA was 4.33, Madison's was 5.17, Timmy's was 6.37, and Vogie's was 9.00 before he broke his hand. That's not good, folks. WAR is one of the new crop of baseball stats. It stands for "Wins Above Replacement." What it answers is this question: How many more wins do we get from Player X versus a no-name replacement player from Triple-A? For example, Madison's WAR is 0.9--he has contributed 0.9 more wins than a replacement player would have achieved. Barry's WAR is -0.3, Matt's is -0.7, Timmy's is -0.7, and Vogie's was -1.6. Wait, wait, wait, does that mean if we sat our entire starting rotation, and replaced them with five kids from the farm, the Giants would have been better off this season?! Crazy, huh?

Speaking of replacements and kids from the farm, the Giants have been in need of one since Voglesong broke his hand and will be out for a couple of months. The Giants called up Mike Kickham from Fresno to fill in for Vogie. It didn't go well. He pitched into the 3rd inning, gave up four runs, and was put on the next Greyhound bus to Fresno. The next guy did better. Everyone, meet Chad Guadin, Vogie's new replacement and the Giants' new best starting pitcher.

So this was weird: Timmy has been sitting in the bullpen. With the relievers. The Giants' management is saying all the right things--he was there just in case the new guy doesn't make it past the 3rd inning, there was a double-header on Saturday, Timmy is still a starter, and that's all very true, but read that again: Timmy has been sitting in the bullpen. As in, he was ready to go as a relief pitcher. As in, the same role he excelled at in last season's post-season because he was left off the starting rotation. And he seemed ok with it. This may end up meaning nothing, or it may have meant everything. Whatever it was, it felt weird and I didn't like it.

Ah, June! The beginning of summer, Adopt-A-Cat Month, everyone's favorite Joy Luck Club daughter, and a fresh start for the stale Giants. Yes, the Giants have 18 games on the road this month, and yes, the Giants can't win on the road, and yes, the Giants have already lost two road games this month, but let's not waste time dwelling on such things. After all, what is so rare as a day in June?