Excluding the All-Star break (which is only three days this season), today is the last off day the Giants have until August 2. That's a pretty remarkable screw job by the MLB schedulers. Be that as it may, over the next 38 games we're about to find out just how good the boys in French Vanilla actually are. To wit:

21 of their next 31 games are on the road. Current Giants road record: 14-18.

Their next homestand starts Friday against the Red Sox, who are destroying National League opponents (16-4 in their last 20 interleague contests) and whose pink-hatted fans will noisily fill The Big Phone this weekend. (I'm just the messenger.) Next, the Evils (9-9 in San Francisco the last two seasons) come to town.

Then, the Giants take off on an 11-game road trip with four-game series in both Colorado and Milwaukee and a three-game series in super-humid Washington (i.e., not a good place for a Lincecum start) against Strasburg and the Nats.

Post-ASG, there's a four-game home series against the Mets, three in LA against the Dodgers, four in Arizona against the D-Backs, then back at home with four against the Marlins and three more against the Evils. By which time the trade deadline will have passed and Sabes will have turned Madison Bumgarner into Jermaine Dye.

Comment starters:

Talk amongst yourselves.