Giants overpower Padres 9-1.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Jon Miller mentioned on the broadcast Bruce Bochy's response to the question, "Do the Giants have a 13-2 run in them [which is the run the Dodgers had just gone on to essentially secure their playoff spot]?", which was, "Absolutely. It's something we've done already this season." Mike Krukow chimed in at the end of that story with, "They're a streaky team." Which, yeah, I suppose they are. They have indeed had *two* 13-2 stretches this season (May 15-29 and July 7-July 27), so, considering that this streak skips a month, it would appear that the Giants are due.

There's every chance that this was mentioned late in the broadcast to make sure that fans keep coming to the park to spend money on concessions, parking, and merchandise and to keep watching and listening to the commercials on the organization's broadcast affiliates, but the reason why the whole exchange isn't solely an edict from the Marketing Department is that despite the tailspin of the past six weeks, the Giants *have* managed to average 4 runs per game since August 1st, which is essentially the same as the Dodgers (4.00 to 4.02). Of course, Giants pitching is a bottomless pit of despair with no hope of improvement the rest of the way, but even a few breaks here and there might be enough to maybe, possibly -- nah. The Padres will shut them out tomorrow and none of this last bit will matter haha.

Still... still... there is something to be said for holding on to that last shred of hope. The Giants did, after all, gain a game on the Dodgers for the first time in three weeks. Stranger things have happened in the game of baseball! And even if nothing strange comes of this and 2015 is indeed a lost season, then at least the Giants won't have to spend most of the offseason reversing the mental stigma of "we suck" because they'll have spent the past six weeks maintaining a positive attitude. Believe it or not, having a positive attitude in life is a good thing. Maybe in the game of Baseball it's so, so silly, but in life, it's pain relief.

Nah. They're definitely getting shutout tomorrow.

★★★

Jake Peavy is blind.

In the third inning, Jake Peavy threw a slider off of Buster Posey's foot because he couldn't see what pitch Posey had called. But he agreed with it anyway. And then he went ahead and made an impressive leaping catch of a chopper to make an out at first base.

There's a degree of Mr. Magoo in Jake Peavy, sure, but he actually has the chance to injure his teammates whenever he plays. That's a scary thought.

And then in the second inning, he was asked to bunt over Tomlinson and Adrianza to third and second, respectively, and successfully laid down the bunt, but COULDN'T SEE what happened so didn't run out of the box. That play looked like this:

Jake Peavy isn't a candidate for corrective laser surgery and it would appear that there is nothing on earth that can correct his vision, so, it looks like it's the players who will need to wrap themselves in bubblewrap and simply steer clear of him when they see him.

But he had a six-pitch first inning and a strong start overall. Since returning from the DL, he has been the backend of the rotation starter the Giants signed him to be in a season where he was called upon to be a front-end starter. Nice job, Jake Peavy. If you can see this, I'm definitely giving you two thumbs up.

★★★

It's important to remember that Angel Pagan is a handsome devil worthy of cheer. A play like this one that he made in the seventh inning says to me, "Oh, I'm afraid this Angel will be quite operational when the playoffs arrive."

You know, should the Giants somehow get there...

★★★

Two Giants made their season debuts tonight: Cory Gearrin (also his debut with the Giants) and Brett Bochy.

Cody Gearrin's debut was impressive because he did not blow an eight-run lead. He also managed to get two quick outs, which catapults him above Cody Ransom (Game 160 against the Dodgers will always be his claim to fame) on the list of "All Time Giants Codys". As correctly pointed out in the comments, he's Cory, not Cody so that's a big error. /wipes flop sweat

Brett Bochy's debut was impressive because he put on two baserunners (single, HBP) in the ninth inning after getting two outs and his DAD walked out to the mound with perhaps the intention of pulling him out of the game. If you didn't see it, this was exactly what happened:

BOCHY: (Bochy noises, then) You're embarrassing me.

BOCHY: (Bochy noises, then) You're embarrassing me!

BOCHY: (scratches head) What you want to do here?

BOCHY: (scratches head) Uh, maybe, strike him out.

BOCHY: (grimaces) Guess that'll do.

TOMLINSON: (extremely excited to be here voice) CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS GUY'S LAST NAME IS PRONOUNCED JERK-O?

Bochy and Bochy make eye contact, shake their heads. Bochy goes.

Now, I'm not a scout, but it would appear that Brett has taken this long to make it to the big leagues because his velocity and stuff are easily bested by other arms (such as Cody Gearrin's). However, it's tough to beat his impression of Bruce Bochy for a closer face:

I wonder how often Tim Flannery confuses them.

★★★

* As long as Marlon Byrd has that bat speed he will still be dangerous because he still has the ability to be late on something and hit the ball with authority. #VestQuest

* Ehire Adrianza went 2-for-3 with an RBI and drew two walks. Two walks. This feels like it should be important. Maybe it will be. Maybe it's setting up The Big Moment in game 7 of the NLCS against the Dodgers when Adrianza (hitless for three weeks coming into the at bat) wins it for the Giants with a double down the left field line.

* Bumgarner goes tomorrow. He's thrown a lot of innings already this year, but he's got a shot at reaching 20 wins and the Giants have a shot at reaching the playoffs. The Dodgers lost tonight, too. Hope is intoxicating.