Giants fans, does the following sound familiar to you?

"The lack of offense has wasted some effective starting pitching while accentuating the flaws of a shaky bullpen."

Ah, but it's not the men in French Vanilla of who Jerry Crasnick speaks -- it's the Chicago White Sox, who are even more offensively inept than we are. Perhaps reading about their plight will make us all feel a bit better about the Giants. (Just ignore the fact that their team is only two years removed from a World Championship. Really. Don't even think about it.)

Also, warnings for anyone thinking that we should trade for Dye:

Dye, 33, has always been more of a gliding, single-speed kind of player than the explosive type. When he's productive he makes the game look relatively effortless, and when he struggles it can appear as if he's coasting. The challenge now is figuring out whether his skills are slipping or he's simply in a funk.

"I saw a lack of first-step quickness on defense and he was pushing a lot of balls to right-center field," the scout said. "That makes you wonder if his bat is slowing down."