There's the morbid part of me that wants to know just how you would have reacted to a no-hitter today. There were two options: disgust and defeat. You would have either been disgusted and angry that you spend two or three hours on the ultimate Giants gianting, or you would have just slumped your shoulders, drawn the curtains, and sat in the dark, reevaluating the choices you've made in your life, especially when it comes to how you spend your free time.
So the no-hitter was the only thing I was thinking about for the first seven innings. It just felt like a no-hitter was coming. Randall Delgado wasn't throwing a lot of pitches, and it would have fit for Orange-Black-and-Blue Tuesday. Rookie no-hitter? Sure. At that point, it would have almost been amusing. It would have been a 1-0 loss to punish us for our hubris in thinking that the 29-(-1) record in one-run games the Giants had before the break was somehow indicative of the team's quality.
And how would that one run have scored? A misplay on a bad bunt that injured the starting pitcher, followed by a sacrifice, followed by a single by the deadline acquisition the Braves picked up. The Giants' deadline acquisition was put on the disabled list today. The Giants had to give up their top pitching prospect to get that acquisition. The Braves didn't have to give up one of their four top pitching prospects -- in fact, one of those pitching prospects pitched tonight. It felt too perfect, too symmetrical. It was quadruple jeopardy for making the wrong trade at the deadline.
Even when Ross tied the game with a home run, all I was thinking of was the no-hitter. After a few seconds, it dawned on me that the Giants had tied the game. Heck, there was a 2% chance that they could score another run and win the danged thing. And when Aubrey Huff made his amazing circus catch, I realized that they were trying to win. Not that I thought that they were actively trying to lose, but I figured that they were just as cynical as we were. For a second, I harbored a stray thought that they might actually win.
Didn't last long.
So to recap: two of the three deadline acquisitions are hurt (but the awful one is healthy), Nate Schierholtz is hurt, Sergio Romo went on the DL today, and Jonathan Sanchez looked like an actual pitcher before he was injured. Two DL trips, one probable DL trip, and two possible DL trips in the same day. The Giants have had better days.
Three-and-a-half games back. And the lineup actually got worse today. So did the Diamondbacks' lineup, actually, but Lyle Overbay was three-for-four against Roy Halladay.
This is some Faustian **** right here, and it creeps me the hell out. I'm not superstitious. Don't believe in karma. But this is a weird, weird year.