Giants score run, still drop fifth straight

Again, this is a violation of lawful treaties. The Giants hold the Rockies to one run on three hits at AT&T Park; the Rockies score eight runs in the ninth inning of every game at Coors Field. That's the deal. Always and forever. It makes the hometown fans happy, There is no call for this sort of chicanery, and I'm not sure what the Rockies are trying to prove.

That written, it would have been advisable for the Giants to score more than a run. Here's a fun fact for you:

In 2014, the Giants had six games in which they scored one run or fewer, despite getting 10 runners or more.

In the last five days, the Giants had three games in which they scored one run or fewer, despite getting 10 runners or more

Whoaaaaa, we're halfway there. These fun facts start as normal facts, and then they devour your fun, leaving you a moldering, funless husk on the side of the road. Here's another one! The Giants are 3-for-40 in their last 40 at-bats with runners in scoring position. Tim Lincecum was 3-for-44 last year. Jonathan Sanchez was 3-for-41 in 2009. So for the last five games, every time the Giants have gotten a runner on second or third base, every hitter loping up to the plate is Tim Lincecum. This is how they're losing. This is how they're annoying you.

More fun facts: Gregor Blanco hit fifth on Tuesday night, and he did so on purpose. This was not the first time Blanco has hit fifth for the Giants -- they've scored eight runs in another game he hit fifth! -- but it's still a fun fact. The worst part is that there wasn't an option below him that would make you get mad at Bruce Bochy for putting him there. Matt Duffy? Intriguing, but mostly powerless. Hector Sanchez? Nah. Brandon Crawford? In the middle of a gutter-slump. Tim Hudson? The strongest contender, but doing that might offend the other hitters.

Even more fun facts: The Giants hit some balls hard. Joe Panik drove one into Triples Alley, a home run in about 28 other parks. Buster Posey almost tied the game with a booming shot to center that couldn't fight through the viscous seagull leavings that permeate the air before causing slow, lingering diseases that we'll find out about in 20 years. Matt Duffy's sac fly -- praise be unto thee -- was a single on another day. Brandon Belt had a splash foul. So it goes.

The silver lining about a losing streak early in the season is that a three-game winning streak suddenly puts the Giants at a .545 winning percentage, or on the higher side of preseason expectations. These early-season swings sure are hell on our fragile, spoiled baseball fan psyche, mostly because we've seen very little baseball over the last five months, and almost all of it has been exceptionally bad.

★★★

Before the days of 1-800-KARS-4-KIDS, there was a KNBR commercial with Mike Krukow that went something like ...

Curveballs that don't. Fastballs that aren't. I hate these things. But I love (product) and heartily endorse it.

I don't remember the product. I remember those first two lines, though. Curveballs that don't. Fastballs that aren't. I think about it often when there's a pitcher going through a rugged stretch in a game.

Tim Hudson had a sinker that didn't for the first three innings. Glove goes to the outside, glove comes back to the inside. Glove goes to the outside, glove comes back to the inside. Glove goes to the outside, glove comes back to the inside. That might work if the tremendous movement is doing so much work, but that wasn't the case. They were hanging sinkers, and if Hudson can't hit the corners or the bottom of the zone, he's practically useless.

The obituary was half-written, and then he turned it around. Oh, that guy. I remember him. He was effective, efficient, and a net positive toward the Giants' efforts to win, which he was for most of last season. Are you looking for a silver lining? I'll say it: That start was of a certain quality. It was, to coin a phrase, a quality start.

It was good enough to be a silver lining, and I'll take it. It didn't look possible after three innings.

★★★

The Rockies starter was Shelbyville's Tim Lincecum.

Diminutive. Shaggy. Bad facial hair. It was creepy. Now, to learn his name and keep an eye on him.

★★★

When the best part about a game comes from a play the Rockies make, welcome to the odd year/terrordome.