(By e.Chang)

The Week That Was:
Won 0, lost 3 against the Dodgers.
Won 1, lost 2 against the Rockies.

The Week That Will Be:
Mon: Cincinnati against the Reds
Tue: Cincinnati against the Reds
Wed: Cincinnati against the Reds
Thu: Cincinnati against the Reds
Fri: home against the Dodgers
Sat: home against the Dodgers
Sun:home against the Dodgers

I love San Francisco. Yes, being born and raised and never having lived more than 90 miles from where I touched down at the Kaiser on Geary probably makes me biased, but damn, this is a great little city we have here. Although the strange yellow circle in the sky causing all this heat is oppressive, it's kinda great! And let's think of this morning's traffic madness as a reminder of what our cousins in Southern California deal with on the regular. In San Francisco, we wave rainbow flags on Sunday and picket signs on Monday and it's all business as usual.

Another reason why being in San Francisco is great? Here are all the 4th place teams in the National League, and how far they are from 1st place:

NL East: Mets, 13 games.
NL Central: Cubs, 15.5 games.
NL West: Giants, 3 games.

Your San Francisco Giants, ladies and gentlemen--4th place, but in the NL West! Brunnhilde hasn't sung, so although it ain't over for the other teams, it pretty much is. But not so for the Giants! For the past couple of weeks, we've discussed how the NL West has remained as bunched up as a frustrated fist, largely by beating up on each other. Hell, if it weren't for the other teams in our division, who knows where the Giants would be? The Giants have a losing record against NL East, NL Central, and American League--the only team in the division to post losing records in all three categories. But within the NL West, the Giants are 23-17. And that's AFTER this terrible, terrible week.

Six games against NL West teams. One win. Five losses. And worst of all? We got swept by the Dodgers. By the DODGERS!!! The last place Dodgers. The laughingstock of baseball Dodgers. The Bums. Not anymore. The Dodgers are now the hottest team in the NL West, posting an 8-2 record in the their last 10 games, and sweeping the Giants was Chevron with Techron to their fire. They are four games back from 1st, and one Giants loss and one Dodgers win from pulling even with us. Oh, and don't look now, but tonight, we have Michael Kickham on the mound for the Giants while Kershaw gets the next Dodgers start.

On the bright side, the Giants have four games against the Reds, who are 3-7 in their last 10 games, so they've been almost as terrible as the Giants. On the not-so-bright side, those four games are in Cincinnati, where the Reds are 26-14, while the Giants are 15-27 on the road. On the other bright side, we'll always have this on the Reds:

Watch it again and again. You'll get happier each time, I promise you.

P.S. Happy Birthday, Liv! You are forever young.
P.P.S. The San Jose Earthquakes beat the LA Galaxy in the California Clasico!
P.P.P.S. Brazil beat Spain!