Giants extend winning streak to two

Well, they should beat the Padres, dammit.

First two-game winning streak since June 18/19. I'm not saying you should take your pants off. It's a free country. But that's what we're all doing.

It was annoying that the Giants didn't get to wear Seals uniforms, dang it. It's also embarrassing for the Padres to wear clearly superior uniforms for one night a year. What a tease. Enjoy the ... navy blue and whatever ... for the rest of the season.

The Giants were 8-for-19 with runners in scoring position. Also, they had 19 runners in scoring position. The eight hits with runners in scoring position is the highest total in two months. It was the … seventh time? … they've scored 10 runs this year. Dang, that doesn't seem right. But it was the first time in a month, though.

It's not like everything was so different, though. They weren't bombing home run after home run. They were "stringing hits together." Up until now, the Giants were playing blackjack like this:

Dealer: King.

Giants: /puts card in mouth

Giants: /eats card

Dealer: ...

Dealer: Ace.

Giants: /lights card on fire

Giants: /snorts ashes

To get them to sign on the line that is dotted. That's what the Giants have had problems with. To close the deal. To get runners in. Because anyone can get runners on base.

The trick is to drive them in. Normal teams can do that. The Giants have been a normal team before. It would be swell if they could be a normal team again.

And this was the first game rooting for the newly icky Chad Gaudin.

It's such a shame. He was such a good story. And the good story is obviously secondary to real-life stuff, but it was what we were focusing on before the awful revelations. The guy who had a shot to chase Octavio Dotel's record for most teams was suddenly a huge asset. One of the better assets on the team, actually. Pretty heady stuff for a guy who was fighting for his roster spot this spring.

As a baseball player, he's still a good story. He's found that tipping point with his command (I'd like to think) that moves him from average to above average, and that's for a relief role or a starting role. Everything else was already there. He just needed to shake the Sanchezes out. He walked three on Friday night, but I'd like to think he still has some idea where the ball is going.

As a representative of the Giants' organization? Still gross. Again, maybe that's unfair/presumptuous/premature. He pitched a whale of a game tonight, though.

Kensuke Tanaka, first four games: .400/.471/.400

Mel Ott, first four games: .250/.250/.250

Frank Robinson, first four games: .235/.278/.353

Hank Aaron, first four games: .200/.333/.333

Gregor Blanco scored four runs tonight. A list of players who have scored four runs in a game this season:

• Brandon Belt

A list of players who have scored four runs in a game for the Giants since 2000:

1. Angel Pagan
2. Barry Bonds
3. Brandon Belt
4. Damon Minor
5. Edgardo Alfonzo
6. Ellis Burks
7. Freddy Sanchez
8. J.T. Snow (four times!)
9. Jeff Kent
10. Kevin Frandsen
11. Marvin Benard
12. Michael Tucker
13. Omar Vizquel
14. Pablo Sandoval
15. Pedro Feliz
16. Rajai Davis
17. Randy Winn
18. Ray Durham
19. Russ Davis

My point? Ha ha ha, I just like typing those names when I get the chance, you fool. The other point is that Blanco has been a dandy of a player, even though he had one hit over the last month or so. Blanco is back, he said without a trace of irony or trepidation, and he's been a pretty good player. Beats watching Nick Swisher melt into a puddle of Rowand goo for the next three years.

Also, an aside: I think it would have been really annoying if the Giants moved into Pac Bell Park in 2001. That 2000 cutoff is easy for so many reasons.

There was an umpire who futzed up a play because his finger was in his nose, a hidden-ball trick that didn't work, a rundown that ended in an interference call, and a 10-run explosion. As long as the Giants can do that every night, they'll make the playoffs.