Every Giants fan has been shuffling the same list through his or her mind in the early stages of itsonlysixgamesitis:

• No offense is this bad.
  
• The bullpen could be effective. At least a majority of the relievers have good arms.
  
• There have been encouraging signs from Matt Morris and Noah Lowry.
  
• Wilson Valdez playing out of his freaking mind means everything in the short-term, but nothing in the long-term. That was just a regrettable fluke.
  
• It's only six games, you weenie. Snap out of it. Every team has bad stretches throughout a season.

Fair points, all. But imagine standing outside of an abandoned and dilapidated house. Your buddy is daring you to go in. C'mon, go in. No, you go in first. The debate lasts for ten minutes before you go in through an unlocked door. You walk around for a bit, trying to make noises that will scare your friend. Then you find a dead body in the bathtub with dried blood all over the bathroom ceiling. There are probably several ways to explain how the body got there -- or what the cause of death was -- that aren't inherently freaky. All things being equal though, the most appropriate reaction would be one of extreme terror.

So, yeah, I know only six games have been played out of 162. I get the idea that the season is a marathon and not a sprint. But I didn't have a good feeling entering this season, and the first six games were a corpse in a bathtub. Getting swept by the Dodgers isn't acceptable in a 110-win season, much less the beginning stages of an uncertain season.

I think Zito will be fine.

I'm sure at least two of the relievers will prove themselves to be reliable.

This team is never going to drip liquid power, but they'll hit more home runs than what we've seen.

I would not be surprised if this wretchedness continued.

While I am absolutely not giving up on this season, I would much rather have this team mess themselves out of a race in the first two months of a season than the the unfortunate teases of contention we've seen over the past two seasons. So, we have that going for us. Which isn't nice. Two or three straight wins would go a long way toward diffusing the panic.