Story Title

I agree completely. I think that the standards were lowered so much that I’ve cherished every single win so far. It also helps that we’ve had some nice pitching performances to watch so far (Sanchez’s 10K game comes to mind) and hopefully we’ll have them for the rest of the season. Who’s Barry Zito?

Mix 3 parts low expectations, 2 parts warm appreciation of every good thing that unexpectedly but occasionally happens, and 1 part resigned acceptance of the rest. Garnish liberally with even lower expectations. Imbibe as needed.

I’ve also been amazed about how much I’ve not really cared about the losses this season. I think the biggest part, for me, was that I accepted a long time ago that this team would be bad, possibly even very bad. That’s called “setting the bar low” so when someone actually does something nice, it is indeed nice.

I think it’s also called being dead inside, but I haven’t figured that out yet.

I could very well snap come August, but I think for most of us, it’s like being heavily medicated on some sort of drug. The lows aren’t too low but neither are the highs. Everything is just “meh”.

has been a revelation for me. He takes good AB’s, looks like he belongs in the bigs, and can fly. I’m excited.

I’m a bit disappointed, but the only two games I’ve been able to follow so far have been the last two. I’m sure things will pick up with Caincecum going the next few days.

And I’m still super excited to come home and actually WATCH the games.

.375 would be their worst winning percentage since 1902, when they went 48-88 (.353) the year before John McGraw took over.

or the dude that took over when Greg left?

Greg Rollie, I have to say, rocks.

Infinity is a great record.

I think we’ve known it all along: If key building blocks to the future (Cain, Lincecum) don’t take a step back, and a couple of other players look like they have future roles on a contender (so far maybe Lewis, Bowker, Velez, Merkin, Wilson, Sanchez, and Correia to varying degrees) then this year is a success. We all gave up on the wins and losses thing before the season started.

has more to do with the fact that things could be worse. We expected worse. We expected to be prom dates with the ugliest, fattest, sweatiest, most clingy man/woman (who knows?) attending the nearby Center for Kids that Don’t Read Good. What we got wasn’t hot or much less sweaty, but it wasn’t the other thing. And we knew that if we drank a bit and found favorable lighting, they might have a shot at being likeable. They could grow on us – less like a fungus and more like a… benevolent mole.

Someone recently asked me what i thought of the Giants – expecting despondency – and i said, “the only thing worse than losing with a bunch of youngish guys is losing with a bunch of thirty-six year olds.” As long as we aren’t losing with Rich Aurilia, Ray Durham, Omar Vizquel, and Dave Roberts in the same starting lineup… i can survive this season.

just give me some favorable lighting with my Newcastle.

If Greg Rolie thinks there’s hope, then I’ve gotta agree.

Hey, you don’t suppose Jonathan Cain is related to Matt, do you?

Two games ago, they were on pace for a 69-93 season. Every loss or win is magnified. It would be like thinking that Bowker was on pace for 149 HR season after two games. Small samples and all that.

So you got to go with feel: does the team feel like they are better to you or not? Sure, it’s subjective, but that’s really all we got right now.

And while the runs say otherwise, Correia has just been unlucky in his starts, look at his hits, walks and K’s, he has actually pitched well, just with bad luck. He’s going to be fine going forward if he continues to pitch like this.

And I would give Magic Merkin a shoutout for how well he has pitched thus far. And Walker too, just that one bad game, he was good in the other 7 games. And Taschner has pitched well in 7 of 9 games.

where that Journey-related link was going without clicking through. I am embarrassed.

I think the “optimism” is simply local trending. We started 1-5, then played some .500 ball at home. After that 1-5 ANYTHING would look good.

I think people will begin to get disgusted when the Giants pull a 4-20 month.

With this team, every win is like finding a $10 on the sidewalk (an unexpected windfall), and each loss is akin to paying the sales tax on some groceries (we may not like it, but there’s no use getting upset about it).

In each case, the key is extremely low expectations, which have been prescribed for Giants fans this season. That way, you simply can’t be disappointed. So far, so good.

but we have had a tough schedule so far this year. LA, SD, Mil, Stl, AZ, I’d consider all in the top half ot the NL (Stl might not stay there but they’ve played good so far). Based on this, I wouldn’t be surprised if we actually win 70-75 games this year, which is much more than I thought at the beginning of the season. Mix in there has been no regression with Cain or Lincecum, Sanchez has shown some glimpses of dominance and the young hitters are producing makes for a successful year so far.

Rob Neyer blogging about yesterday’s 22 inning affair in San Diego

Beginning in the ninth inning, there were exactly 53 times when a Padre could have ended the game with a home run. I mention this only because the Padres haven’t hit a home run in a long, long time. Not since Adrian Gonzalez homered in the first inning on April 7, 94 innings ago. With six homers all season, the Padres are tied for worst in the majors. Want to guess who else has six? Nope, not the Giants. They’ve got seven. The A’s also have only six homers (and in one more game, no less).

“The 1899 Cleveland Spiders of the National League were so bad that a local sports writer named Elmer Bates wrote half of a prehistoric Top Ten list to describe the good points of following such a terrible team:
– There is everything to hope for and nothing to fear.
– Defeats do not disturb one’s sleep.
– An occasional victory is a surprise and a delight.
– There is no danger of any club passing you.
– You are not asked 50 times a day, “What was the score?” People take it for granted that you lost.”

Would this season be less appealing if it was Dave Roberts on a 7-game hitting streak, Ray Durham showing unexpected life in his bat, and Rich Aurilia homering on consecutive days? I think it would, and I even like those guys (well…Aurilia and Durham, anyhow).

Take that Matt Cain!

The Giants already have as many wins against the Dbacks as the rest of the NL West.